MDR 964: AISS: Oncology and Cancer Biology

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States. Each year over 1.3 million Americans are diagnosed with cancer and over 660, 000 die. By the time a male is 65 they will have a 1 in 2 chance of getting cancer and a female 1 in 3 chances. Cure rates are improving with earlier detection and improved treatments. There have also been major advances in treatments that can significantly prolong life in those patients that are incurable. It is of the upmost importance for medical students to learn as much as possible about cancer. Suboptimal clinical outcomes for cancer patients are frequently caused by physicians not recognizing cancer in earlier stages or not treating the cancer patient properly due to lack of knowledge which stems from their lack of exposure to cancer patients in medical school. Medical students will be given the opportunity to directly observe the various specialties involved with diagnosing and managing cancer patients including specialized pathologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologist and surgical oncologist (including gynecology/oncologist, orthopedic oncologist, head and neck oncologist and urological oncologist).