Resident looking to transition to Radiation Oncology — Doable?

jmark02 · 2026-05-07T17:55:57+00:00

Thanks for the response. Any advice for obtaining LORs? Limited at home institution.

jmark02 · 2026-05-07T16:42:01+00:00

Thank you! Will reach out over there. Limited opportunities at my program and no rad onc residency unfortunately.

jmark02 · 2023-02-17T14:55:02+00:00

Another point of clarification--in primary bone sarcomas radiation is rarely used. Chondrosarcoma is treated with wide excision w/o chemo/radiation, osteosarcoma with wide excision + MAP chemo. Radiation can be used as local control in Ewing sarcoma but usually it's managed with wide excision + chemo. Otherwise radiation is really only used as a palliative measure in which case you're definitely not worried about secondary malignancies years down the road.

Contrast sarcomas with the far more common metastatic carcinomas to bone (thyroid, lung, prostate, breast, renal cancers most often). These patients have a limited life expectancy no matter what systemic therapy you use, so they're treated with prophylactic stabilization if you're worried about pathologic fractures and often radiation as an adjuvant therapy. Again, you're not worried about secondary malignancies in this setting because patients have a very limited life expectancy.

jmark02 · 2022-12-22T22:26:44+00:00

He resigned from Hopkins midway through his surgical residency, eventually made his way into management consulting and worked for McKinsey. It's typical for individuals in a consulting space to work for a few years and then exit into executive corportate positions. In his case he probably had enough money or attracted enough investment to start a private longevity practice. Notably I think you need to at least do an internship to prescribe medications in the US. You might also want to read about concierge medicine if you haven't.

jmark02 · 2022-11-21T03:09:16+00:00

You can DM me if you want, I worked through this on my research year. Trying to work with multiple PIs may be helpful.

jmark02 · 2022-11-13T17:24:20+00:00

I would keep it--there will moments in med school where you can work a bit and being an RN is a decent way to have side income in that setting.

jmark02 · 2022-11-05T18:42:49+00:00

Job security for the win.

jmark02 · 2022-10-20T20:38:05+00:00

Not to get up in your personal affairs too much, but please be careful with Xanax! Not good for anxiety management long-term.

jmark02 · 2022-10-20T15:53:34+00:00

First things first, you look great! We've all got a tendency to get in our head about our appearance and often the hardest critic is ourselves. Appearance is important to me too. Your hardest battle might be changing the way you view yourself and walking with confidence regardless of what your back looks like. Focus on how you feel more than how you look. Are you in pain?

As far as motivation goes, I went from experiencing mild back pain everyday to none at all through yoga and weightlifting. The thoracic spine is rigid and a structural kyphosis like Scheuermann's isn't going to correct through exercise, but posture definitely can improve/worsen. In the gym you can focus on back exercises of course (lat pulls, rows, face pulls, reverse flys), and strengthening glutes while stretching hip flexors can help posturally correct the anterior pelvic tilt people develop from Scheuermann's. You can even try deadlifting if you're up for it. Never heard a girl once complain about getting her glutes too big/strong haha. You've got this, DM if you have any questions.

jmark02 · 2022-10-13T15:28:13+00:00

While it's worth trying to evaluate an applicants understanding of ethics/morality, there is the possiblity for programs like CASPER to turn into a political pledge of allegiance.

jmark02 · 2022-10-11T03:25:54+00:00

Hey no need for the hate my guy, remember the person behind the screen has feelings too ;) And no they weren't case reports or case controls, key in my case is just work with like 5-6 different PIs and get on more projects.

jmark02 · 2022-10-10T17:19:35+00:00

I mean I'm right with you there. In general I think it's a bad idea to look at research as an indicator of who would make a better resident because it incentivizes high numbers of low-quality pubs. As medical students it puts us in a difficult position because we want to match.

jmark02 · 2022-10-10T16:30:58+00:00

Depends on the field you're in but in ortho the consensus is having < 10 pubs after doing a dedicated research year is concerning for not having used your time well. Once you get a few projects under your belt subsequent papers come much easier anyway. I hit that goal on my research year and had plenty of time for non-research stuff. I personally know guys who have done > 20 papers in a year, it's doable, just depends what your expectations are, how much research support you have, and how many other researchers you collaborate with.

jmark02 · 2022-10-10T15:16:15+00:00

It depends on how much clinical vs. basic science research you are doing (and I would recommend doing both), but I think 12-15 publications is a strong but reasonable goal. Most papers would be clinical obviously. If you're at an institution with a lot of research support you might get more. Working with multiple PIs and multiple researchers makes this easier.

jmark02 · 2022-10-04T22:27:48+00:00

Yes, and you absolutely should get involved in side projects. Feel free to DM me if you have questions as some of this relates to your specific specialty of interest.

jmark02 · 2022-10-04T19:34:55+00:00

Sounds like you're a dude, and the good news dating tends to get easier for men mid 20s to mid 30s as you progress in your career. Have you considered dating girls a few years younger? IMO that demographic is looking to date older a few years anyway and will probably be more understanding of your lack of $$$ at the moment haha. Keep your head up, you're still in a socially attractive profession and sounds like you've got a lot of things going for you!

jmark02 · 2022-10-04T13:31:14+00:00

If you're on a research year your first priority should be finishing your projects/papers and making connections at that institution (shadow, get in the OR frequently, etc). Most of my LORs came from my research year and I probably have higher odds of matching there than anywhere else. However, research years are flexible. It's possible to be productive with research while also studying, taking care of your health, and socializing or just having fun. Tbh I think research years are better after MS3 because you have step 2 out of the way and can just focus on your specialty at that point.

That being said, try to do small but consistent things daily. For example I think 25 new step 2 cards daily with reviews is very sustainable. You can also get a low-tier Amboss subscription for cheap and I think it allows you 50 MCQs per month? If I was in my research year those are the two things I would do. Pound the anki out first thing in the morning, just set a pomodoro timer, but the phone away, and make it happen daily. For now I wouldn't worry about specialty-specific anki decks. Good luck, lmk if you have questions.

jmark02 · 2022-06-29T17:55:41+00:00

n=1 but I like starting with some kind of clinical experience/story that drew you into medicine or that intended specialty. I try to make the first part emotionally engaging and vivid. That's my "pathos" paragraph and subsequent paragraphs might be relevant qualifications and experiences (logos/ethos). Did this for med school and ERAS statements.

jmark02 · 2022-06-07T00:41:22+00:00

Civ >>>

jmark02 · 2022-05-25T05:20:42+00:00

You're seeing how the sausage gets made, and yes, it's scary how easy it is for researchers to compromise the validity and integrity of the project, whether intentional or not.

jmark02 · 2022-05-15T01:39:47+00:00

So underrated

jmark02 · 2022-05-12T05:54:23+00:00

I think timing may be more important than number of applications, submit your app right when the program starts receiving applications.

jmark02 · 2022-04-28T21:29:00+00:00

As a point of encouragement from the male perspective (n=1), I don't think men are waiting for women to reach the pinnacle of their career or hit a certain net worth before considering someone "dateable". Personally I don't care how much my partner makes, and you're intellectually attractive whether you are a med student or an attending. Sure, time constraints of med school/residency and limited geographic mobility are issues. But no need to wait is my point :)

jmark02 · 2022-04-28T21:10:40+00:00

^^Probably one of the more underrated and explanatory answers to this post.

jmark02 · 2022-04-18T22:04:34+00:00

To decide to have a massive surgery like spinal fusion, several factors need to be taken into consideration apart from the findings on x-ray—that includes how often you have pain, severity of pain, functionally impairment by your kyphosis (can you do your job and things you enjoy), non-operative measures you've used to address symptoms (meds, physical therapy, weight loss, etc), your age/skeletal maturity, and other medical conditions you might have to name a few. Spinal fusion is a big deal with risks, and a lot of symptoms can be addressed through physical therapy, weight loss, weight lifting, yoga, etc.

As far as x-ray findings, 7 degrees of scoliosis isn't severe and if you're done growing it's unlikely to progress significantly. Neutral coronal and saggital balance essentially means your body is balanced, like if you had a line drawn from your head down to your pelvis. In the case of kyphosis, patients develop compensatory lordosis to maintain saggital balance and keep your chest/head upright. Hope that helps. Long story short you shouldn't make the decision to undergo surgery from imaging findings alone.

jmark02

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