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Teamwork is key
For some, the benefits of being at a place like Dana-Farber include the opportunity to interact with colleagues both within and outside the Institute. As director of the Pharmacy Department, Sylvia Bartel, RPh, MHP, oversees nearly 40 full-time employees and a $40 million budget, and a workday could include helping a laboratory scientist with an infected frog to overseeing inventory of the 1,500 medications stocked by her unit.
Pediatric fellow Suneet Agarwal, MD, PhD, (left) enjoys the bonds that develop with patients such as David Perez, 3, and his mother, Maritza.
"Oncology pharmacy is a broad specialty that crosses infectious disease issues, nutrition, pain management, and other areas," says Bartel, who joined DFCI from the National Cancer Institute 15 years ago. "As a pharmacy student, my first patient [on my inpatient rotation] was a physician who had leukemia, and his case was very complicated. I thought, 'These patients go through a lot, and I admire them.'"
Bruce Spiegelman, PhD, a basic researcher exploring cell development, values the chance to collaborate with investigators throughout the Harvard medical area. For him, the advantages of being in an academic environment far outweigh those of the private sector. "If I were in industry," he ponders, "I wouldn't have the same quality of students and fellows or be able to choose my research direction. In academia, we have more freedom to follow our instincts and interests." Adds Winer, "What's incredibly rewarding about working here is building teams of people, both colleagues and patients, to tackle issues. In the field of cancer research, it will take a big team—a large village—to solve what remains a complex problem."
No matter what attracted them to oncology, many see Dana-Farber as a unique place because of its intimate size, mission, and compassionate staff.
"You consistently hear patients say, 'From the moment I walk into this building, there's something special about the way people act, no matter what their job,'" says Cynthia Medeiros, LICSW, a 27-year employee who directs the Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies. "Our patients make it easy for us in many ways. They face the challenges of their situations with incredible courage, and they engage us in their cancer journeys. Working with our patients and families is not a job, it's a labor of love."
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