Name(s): Ryan Leo & Matt Lin
Date: 2/13/2023
Preceptor: Dr. Sachin Jhawar
For the clinical preceptorship, we were paired with Dr. Sachin Jhawar. Dr. Jhawar is a physician specializing in radiation oncology and treats many patients at the Stefanie Spielman Comprehensive Breast Center. He works alongside roughly 40 other members at the breast center with backgrounds in physics, physical therapy, and computer science.
So far, we have had two meetings with Dr. Jhawar and were given a brief tour and introduction to the breast center. During the tour, we saw the many rooms and offices of the building and saw some of the equipment used for radiation therapy. Next week, we will begin shadowing Dr. Jhawar while he completes clinical procedures, and we will also begin brainstorming ideas for a project that we will work on for the semester. We will also work closely with Dr. Jhawar’s team, and for whatever the project calls for, we will work with a member of his team with that area of expertise.
Additionally, Dr. Jhawar provided multiple resources to us to learn more about radiation oncology in terms of videos and papers written for medical students. In these resources, the science behind radiation therapy is discussed and the step-by-step process for the procedure on patients is described. An intriguing topic in one video was the use of devices to immobilize patients so that radiation therapy is comfortable for long periods of time and repeatable. We asked Dr. Jhawar about working on a project in this field, in which we would work on developing a new kind of immobilization device. He said that one of his team members would gladly work with us, but an immobilization device is just one example of a project we could work on. Dr. Jhawar further talked about how he not only wanted to treat the symptoms of his patients but also the convenience of them. The problem with a lot of these available treatments is that they are time-consuming, and patients have to regularly come in, especially if receiving palliative care. We also started brainstorming a couple of ideas on this topic and will find out about the project we are working on in the upcoming weeks.