Hematology Oncology Fellowship Program Director's Message

Members of the Hematology-Oncology Division diagnose and manage patients with cancers or blood disorders. Our group includes 12 faculty and 6 fellows and provides patient care at multiple sites in western Massachusetts including, Baystate Medical Center, Baystate Mary Lane Hospital, Baystate Franklin Medical Center, Baystate Wing Hospital, the Baystate Breast Center, and our main outpatient setting, the D’Amour Center for Cancer Care in Springfield.

We participate in a broad range of clinical trials including studies of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group as well as industry sponsored trials and locally generated studies. We strongly believe that continuous improvement in our treatments is an essential goal of the program.

The Hematology-Oncology Fellowship is an important part of our program with all of our faculty being highly committed to teaching and mentoring of the fellows. Three of the current faculty have a total of over 40 years of experience as fellowship program directors. The patient population is broad and provides a rich opportunity for learning Hematology-Oncology. The fellows’ continuity clinic offers a superb experience in learning disease management principles with appropriate supervision.

The Division participates actively in the Baystate multidisciplinary team approach directed at optimal care of patients with cancer. Current teams that work closely together in disease oriented strategies with regular tumor boards for case discussion include: breast cancer, liver cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, hematologic malignancy, central nervous system cancers, urologic cancers, and thoracic cancer.

We work closely with the Baystate Hospital Medicine Service who provides in-patient attending care for our patients needing hospitalization. This relatively new relationship is an excellent collaboration that allows each team (Hospitalists and Heme-Onc consultants) to provide optimal co-management input for each patient. It allows for the fellows have optimal education in how to be a consultant.

We are excited by the initiatives in Massachusetts that put our health care programs at the forefront of national change and we look forward to continued development of stronger collaborations with primary care and other specialties to optimize care of patients with blood and cancer illnesses.

Chandravathi Loke, MD 
Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program Director