Research or other scholarly activity is an important component of fellowship education. However, the type of scholarly activity will vary depending upon the career interests of the fellow. During the first year, each fellow meets with a mentorship committee composed of members of the Division of Hematology and Oncology. The committee works with the fellow to help the fellow discern her or his career goals. By the end of the first year, fellows will determine the training track they will pursue (Master Clinician, Clinical Investigator, Medical Educator, Physician Scientist). The goal is to align the scholarly activity with the career goal of the fellow.

The research mentor is not limited to a member of the division, and can be an investigator in another department of the University of Iowa (for example, the School of Public Health for those interested in outcomes research, a basic science department such as Immunology, Pharmacology or Biochemistry for those interested in basic research, or in OCRME for those interested in medical education, to name just a few).

Fellows are actively encouraged to submit abstracts and papers based upon their research. We are committed to supporting our fellows’ research activities and funding is available to support travel costs to allow fellows to present their research at national scientific and academic meetings. In the past year our fellows have attended multiple meetings including: ASCO Annual Meeting, ASH Annual Meeting, ASCO-GU, ASCO-FDA Fellows’ day, Society of Neuro-Oncology Annual Meeting, Tandem Transplant Meeting, ASCO-SITC Clinical Immuno-Oncology Symposium, AACR Special Conference on Advances in Sarcomas and the Iowa Oncology Society Annual Meeting.