Tumor Board 2

Alysia Bang
The second tumor board I attended with both of the physicians I train under, Dr. Sloan
and Dr. Lucas. I attended this tumor board on December 9, 2015. This tumor board was at the
Phoenix Indian Medical Center. It was very different from the first tumor board that I attended
with Dr. Lucas. I road with Dr. Lucas again and we met Dr. Sloan at the tumor board. There were
a lot more patients discussed at this tumor board than the last. The last tumor board also had a
focus of a particular type of patient, this tumor board did not have a focus.
The people that attend the PIMC tumor boards are all of the physicians that the PIMC
physicians refer their patients to. The PIMC deals primarily with Native Americans. They deal
with more than just cancer unlike the last tumor board I was at. Physicians and surgeons from
all the different clinics come to this tumor board and they discuss all of the cancer patients that
have come to the PIMC in the last month or two.
There are only two of these tumor boards a month and they are very frequently
cancelled. That is why there is such a long list of patients to go through when these tumor
boards do happen. Instead of going over a list of just breast cancer patients, the doctor went
over an entire list of patients that are currently being treated with surgery, chemotherapy, or
radiation therapy. It also included patients that have recently completed their rounds of
chemotherapy or radiation therapy. This tumor board hadnt happened for over a month so there
were a lot of new cases and old cases to discuss.

I found this particular tumor board extremely interesting because most of the patients
that were being discussed were under treatment where Dr. Lucas and I had come from that
morning. I knew almost all of the patients and it was very interesting to hear from their medical
oncologists and their surgeons about their cases and how things went. It was great because so
many of them were asking Dr. Lucas questions because he was treating so many of the patients
being discussed. His answers to them were just as interesting as the questions they had.
Overall this second tumor board was a very exciting experience. They have cancelled
the rest of their tumor boards for the year so Ill be attending a couple more with Dr. Lucas or Dr.
Sloan in January towards the end of my clinical. I enjoy riding with Dr. Lucas to the tumor boards
because he explains what I should be expecting. Hes very good at teaching. He always
introduces me to the other physicians and surgeons even though Im just a student.