Start Earlier and Find Your Community: Navigating the Fellowship-to-Faculty Transition Through Mentorship and Specialty-Focused Meetings

Welcome to OncLive On Air®! I'm your host today, Caroline Seymour.

OncLive On Air is a podcast from OncLive®, which provides oncology professionals with the resources and information they need to provide the best patient care. In both digital and print formats, OncLive covers every angle of oncology practice, from new technology to treatment advances to important regulatory decisions.

In today's episode, we spoke with Jacqueline Aredo, MD, and Benjamin Bleiberg, MD. Dr Aredo is a thoracic oncologist at Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts, and Dr Bleiberg is an adjunct assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia.

In our exclusive interview, Drs Aredo and Bleiberg reflected on the experiences and relationships that shaped their transitions from fellowship into their first faculty positions in thoracic oncology and on the role that smaller, specialty-focused meetings played in building the professional community that supported them along the way.

Both physicians spoke to the value of the ASCO Fellows Forum, a one-day event held annually before the ASCO Annual Meeting, describing it as a low-stakes, high-value environment where fellows present research abstracts in small groups alongside peers from other institutions and senior mentors. They noted that beyond the opportunity to practice presentation skills and refine research projects, the forum serves as a catalyst for organic relationships that have extended well beyond the event itself. Dr Bleiberg noted that many of the colleagues he met through programs like this, individuals with shared research interests at the same career stage, became lasting professional connections he would not have encountered otherwise. Dr Aredo added that these forums created direct pathways to mentors at institutions she was actively exploring for her job search, with several going on to advocate for her and connect her with senior investigators in her area of focus.

The discussion then broadened to the fellowship-to-faculty transition itself. Both physicians emphasized the importance of identifying priorities early and being transparent about those priorities throughout the interview process. Dr Aredo noted that the more non-negotiable parameters a fellow has, the narrower but clearer the search becomes. Dr Bleiberg highlighted the value of speaking candidly with junior faculty at prospective institutions to get an unfiltered view of institutional culture, and of presenting one's goals honestly so that the position that results is a genuine fit.

Both physicians also acknowledged that the job search timeline is far more asynchronous than prior training milestones like the match, with opportunities presenting themselves on different schedules from different institutions. They encouraged current fellows not to be discouraged by the pace or uncertainty of the process, and advised having a polished CV and cover letter ready sooner than expected. Leaning on internal mentors, external advocates, and co-fellows were cited as essential strategies for navigating what both described as a marathon rather than a sprint.

Finally, Drs Aredo and Bleiberg underscored that in a field where the world grows smaller the further along one progresses, investing early in community-building at specialty meetings pays dividends well beyond any single conference. Knowing one's research identity, following up on relationships consistently, and recognizing that today's co-fellows are tomorrow's collaborators and references were offered as the most lasting lessons from their own transitions into faculty life.

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