Fellowships help train tomorrow’s physician-scientists
Katherine Ender, MD, is beginning her day at Children's Memorial Hospital's outpatient oncology area. With a reassuring smile she gently examines Jhalil, a toddler who had infant leukemia and has undergone two stem cell transplantations. A bit later she will check his cerebrospinal fluid for any signs indicating the disease has returned. Tomorrow, Ender may start her day at Children's Memorial Research Center working to find ways to treat young cancer patients with less toxic therapies.
Ender is one of seven young physicians participating in the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. The program's members are fourth-, fifth- and sixth-year residents pursuing careers in academic medicine, who receive training in both clinical medicine and medical research. As a fellow, Ender receives support from an endowment created by the Founders' Board of Children's Memorial Hospital– the Jane Ingersoll Hardy Fellowship in Hematology/Oncology in addition to a Clinical Oncology Research Training Program Grant from the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern University Medical Center.
David Walterhouse, MD, director of the fellowship program for the hospital's Division of Hematology, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation and associate professor at the Feinberg School of Medicine, says fellows are essential, because they represent the field's future specialists. “We are training them to become the next generation to invent new treatments for cancer,” he says.