Medical oncology is a dynamic and rapidly evolving speciality which involves both cutting edge research and a commitment to the care of a varied and often complex patient group.
Medical oncology trainee characteristics
Medical oncology will particularly suit trainees who:
- have good communication skills
- enjoy practising evidence-based medicine; by analysing and adapting the results of recent research in order to optimise patient outcomes
- are interested in a broad spectrum of academic research, including basic and translational science and clinical trials
- can work as part of a multidisciplinary team, including surgical oncologists, clinical oncologists, palliative care physicians, radiologists, pathologists, and clinical nurse specialists.
Working in medical oncology
One half of the UK population will develop cancer during their lifetime and the majority will undergo specialist treatments aimed at either eradicating or controlling the cancer, to maximise quality of life and patient outcomes.
This burden of disease is predicted to increase as the population ages and has led to high levels of government funding for clinical and research posts in medical oncology.
The remit of medical oncology is broad, ranging from pure translational or clinical research to management of patients with a wide variety of acute and chronic illnesses in the clinical setting.
Underlying these diverse aspects of medical oncology practice is the necessity to regularly assimilate the changing evidence base which results from the high level of active research in the speciality.
This, and the ability to work collegially with surgeons, clinical oncologists, radiologists, palliative care physicians and clinical nurse specialists are the key attributes needed to progress in this field. To support this, and recognising the significant overlap between Medical and Clinical oncology specialties in practice, a new curriculum will be introduced during 2021, creating common ST3 outcomes with Clinical Oncology.
The treatment of cancer has evolved rapidly within the last decade, and the United Kingdom remains at the forefront of this research. Exciting, new therapeutic strategies have emerged, entered practice and remain the subject of active research. For example, a growing understanding of the molecular biology of malignancy has led to therapy that can be personalised to target the genetic or proteomic phenotype of each patient's cancer. Furthermore, drugs altering the immune response to cancer have been practice changing in selected groups of patients and cellular approaches to harnessing the immune system to target cancer are also looking promising.
Medical oncologists are the key specialists at the core of this 'bench to bedside' research. One of the aims of medical oncology is therefore to progress the results of molecular and genomic laboratory research into large-scale clinical trials of novel agents which may offer meaningful benefit to patients with cancer.
In order to encourage this physician scientist approach, many trainees will take time out during their specialist registrar training programme to pursue a higher degree (MD or PhD). New discoveries and developments in cancer therapeutics will continue at a rapid pace over the coming decades and medical oncology will therefore remain an exciting and dynamic specialty.
Additionally, the NHS Acute Oncology programme will provide many future career opportunities within the hospital setting.
Overall, this is a great time to consider medical oncology as a career.
Further information
