Alumni of the prestigious Kiwanis Doernbecher Fellowship program at OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital recently took the time to reflect on the priceless clinical training, therapeutic research, and patient care they learned as a Fellow. Empower future Fellows to build the same exceptional expertise with a donation today!

Shelton Viola, 2015 Graduate, Kiwanis Doernbecher Fellowship

“I had an incredible experience as a Hem-Onc fellow at Doernbecher. Every single member of the faculty performed their clinical teaching duties with vigor and excitement. This enthusiasm carried forward for me to create a strong clinical foundation for patient care after my training. In addition, there are so many great research opportunities at OHSU, and I was encouraged and supported by the faculty to take full advantage of those that I found personally intriguing. This support allowed me to be very productive in my research years, which has opened doors for continuing the momentum after fellowship through involvement in cooperative clinical trials and in my own lab-based projects. Perhaps most importantly, being a fellow at Doernbecher has given me a life-long network of colleagues, mentors, and friends with whom I feel wholly comfortable seeking advice for the remainder of my career and beyond.”

 

Melinda Wu, 2014 Graduate, Kiwanis Doernbecher Fellowship

“I loved my experience as a Pediatric Hem/Onc fellow at Doernbecher. The supportive faculty and community at OHSU created a wonderful and stimulating environment that allowed me to stretch myself intellectually and also delve deeper into my personal areas of interest. The education was both comprehensive and collaborative. It provided me with both clinical skills to treat very complicated hematology and oncology cases, and research skills that allowed me to pursue a physician-scientist career. I feel fortunate to have been a part of this program and grateful for the life-long colleagues and friends that I’ve made through this training.

 

Kristina Haley, 2013 Graduate, Kiwanis Doernbecher Fellowship

“All along, I wanted to be a hematologist. But, I also wanted to be sure that I could practice any aspect of pediatric hematology/oncology – just in case. When I was looking for a fellowship program, I sought out a place that would train me well and give me opportunities to develop my passion for hematology. In addition, I was really hoping to get back to the Pacific Northwest with access to waterways and mountains! I was so happy when I matched at Oregon Health & Science University. In my three years as a pediatric hematology/oncology fellow, I received a state-of-the-art education in diagnosis and management of the most common as well as the most rare pediatric hematology/oncology conditions, in exercising collaboration and communication skills with multidisciplinary teams, in thinking critically about patient information as well as scientific articles, in creating relationships with colleagues and families, in asking thoughtful and specific questions, and in determining how best to get a patient with a mediastinal mass from the east side of Oregon to Portland during a snowstorm. I was able to carry out research in a laboratory in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, testing my ability to learn new skills and generate new ideas. And I was given the opportunity, in addition to learning everything I needed for becoming a pediatric hematologist/oncologist, to hone my skills as a pediatric hematologist. New consults were funneled to my clinic, and I gathered important clinical experience that informs my current practice on a day-to-day basis. And all of this was done while surrounded by bright, compassionate, creative, and inquisitive colleagues.

 

Bill Chang, 2006 Graduate, Kiwanis Doernbecher Fellowship

“I came to Portland in 1993 for the combined MD/PhD program. Since then I never left. I believe the training at OHSU was by far the best that I could have received. My era of scientific training focused on intracellular signaling and blocking key pathways in malignancies. My clinical training in this program allowed me to experience almost every disease that may present to a pediatric hematology and oncology program and allowed me to focus these paths to my current position as the Director of the Leukemia and Lymphoma program at Doernbecher. At different points in my career, opportunities arose to seek further training and positions outside of OHSU, but at each fork, all paths continued to lead me here. Of course, opportunities to seek adventure in nature in the NW goes without saying.

 

Veronica Flood, 2005 Graduate, Kiwanis Doernbecher Fellowship

“My fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at Doernbecher was the start of my career as a hematologist. I had the opportunity to work in a coagulation lab with David Farrell, and learn clinical hematology from the wonderful staff physicians (special recognition to Greg Thomas, Larry Wolff, and Lynn Boshkov for their wonderful teaching). Although my research and clinical focus is now on von Willebrand disease in a city far from Portland, I will always appreciate my fellowship training.