Message from the program director

The Hematology-Oncology Fellowship at UMass Chan Medical School is a four-year, ACGME accredited program. The overall goal of this training program is to assist committed physicians, who are board-eligible or certified in general internal medicine, to develop the attitudes, knowledge and skills needed for them to become outstanding scholars, practitioners, and investigators in the field of adult hematology and oncology. Training in our fellowship program will also prepare them for further training in stem cell transplantation.

The training program is based on the expectation that fellows-in-training are mature and responsible physicians. As such, they are to be treated by the senior staff and faculty as junior colleagues in the discipline of internal medicine and the subspecialty disciplines of hematology, oncology and stem cell transplantation. It is also expected that the trainees are capable and willing to accept a major share of the responsibility for their own education.

The goal of the faculty is to convey, by example and by didactic teaching, a comprehensive, thoughtful and analytical approach to the whole patient. All humane and competent physicians must take the time to view the patient as a whole and to understand the specific illness with which the patient presents in the broad social and cultural context of that patient's prior and current experiences. This requires a broad base of knowledge in general internal medicine with emphasis on the underlying scientific principles of physiology, biochemistry, immunology, pathology and other relevant biomedical disciplines. The teaching and learning of these underlying principles of basic science, particularly of pathophysiology and rational therapeutics are central to all good medical education. Excellent care in oncology also requires expertise in geriatrics, care of the dying patient, and supplemental issues such as nutrition and pain control.

Sakiko Suzuki, MD
Program Director, Hematology-Oncology Fellowship
UMass Chan Medical School
Phone: 508-334-1048
Email: Sakiko.Suzuki@umassmemorial.org
Hailey.Hernandez@umassmemorial.org