Cancer Survivorship
Last week, the Oncology Interest Group sponsored a talk on Cancer Survivorship and the cardiovascular complications of cancer therapy. For many patients and health care providers, the lasting effects of cancer therapy are often an afterthought during treatment: lost in the workflow of hectic inpatient admissions and emotionally draining outpatient appointments. However, as cancer treatments have significantly improved mortality and more patients are surviving their original diagnoses, these long-term adverse effects can rear their ugly heads to serve as nagging, unwelcome reminders of the iatrogenic trauma necessarily sustained by cancer patients. With a growth in this patient population, the idea of cancer survivorship has grown exponentially over the last decade.
Luckily for us, Vanderbilt is home to physicians like Dr. Javid Moslehi, who is a leader in the new and burgeoning field of cardio-oncology. Dr. Moslehi discussed his serendipitous path into this exciting field at our event. He finds his job rewarding because in every clinic, he has an opportunity to describe new clinical syndromes that have never been previously documented. He hopes that one day cardiology can follow the path of oncology and use the in-depth molecular understanding of clinical syndromes to ultimately improve cardiovascular care. Thanks to the Oncology Interest Group for hosting such an interesting and important talk for Vandy students!