The The NIH Hematology Oncology Fellowship Program provides a unique opportunity for physicians interested in academic careers to develop and integrate both their clinical and basic research interests. This program combines hematology and medical oncology into a series of clinical rotations encompassing 18 months of fellow's training. The clinical portion of the training consists of primary responsibility for the clinical care of inpatients and outpatients with a board spectrum of adult malignancies and hematologic diseases. During the first clinical year, there is an emphasis on exposing fellows to the basic science and clinical hematology and oncology. During the research years, the fellow will join one of the several hundred available investigators within the NIH to acquire the skills necessary to become an independent biomedical investigator. The NIH works hard to guarantee at least two years of protected research time to all of its fellows. During the first year of training, fellows devote 100% of their time to clinical training in inpatient and outpatient care at the NIH Clinical Center (NIH-CC), Georgetown University's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, MedStar Washington Hospital Center. University of Maryland and the Johns Hopkins University. This ensures that fellows undergo comprehensive clinical training and extend their experience with a wide spectrum of human cancers and hematologic diseases. Training in clinical diagnostic procedures such as bone marrow examination, thoracentesis, and paracentesis is a routine part of the first-year experience. Following completion of this 18-month clinical period, the fellow does laboratory or clinical research for up to 4 years of fellowship along with continued outpatient clinical duties. The remaining time in the second and third years is protected time for research in any of the NCI or NHLBI Clinical Teams or any NIH laboratory. Offered throughout the Program are lectures, research seminars, conferences, journal club, teaching rounds and conferences relevant to clinical hematology and oncology and cancer research. Most of these are organized specifically for hematology oncology fellows. These include a core curriculum lecture series in clinical hematology and oncology, which meets once a week throughout the year, and offers lectures by members of the senior staff across the spectrum of issues in neoplastic disease. Fellows are responsible for preparing case presentations and lecture material. In addition, there are 10 to 15 research seminars and lectures given per day throughout the NIH; these are advertised in a weekly announcement and are regularly open to the entire NIH community. It is expected that each fellow's research activities will lead to at least one abstract presentation at a national meeting and one or more peer-reviewed publication.All fellows are expected to actively engage in a hypothesis-driven research project(s) in a clinical, translational, or basic science. The NIH-CC emphasizes the development of new approaches to the treatment of cancer and its complications. Current areas of clinical emphasis include prostate cancer, ovarian cancer, renal cell carcinoma, lymphomas, Hodgkin's disease, chronic leukemia, new drug testing, stem cell transplantation and AIDS, and its associated malignancies. Patients with AIDS and AIDS associated malignancies constitute approximately 5% of the total patient population; nearly all these patients are involved in studies of experimental antiretroviral compounds and chemotherapy.
