Onboarding and Meeting the Pathologists from MSKCC - CQR 06102022

It's been a busy first week getting settled in NYC, but it's already been an incredible experience. The beginning of my week was dedicated to getting access through Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM) and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC). The folks from radiology at WCM are all eager to ensure that we receive the best experience that we can while here.

At MSKCC, I was introduced to the clinical mentors that I will be working closely with! I will be working with Dr. Lora Ellenson and Dr. Amir Momeni-Boroujeni during these next two months. With them, I will learn about both histopathology and molecular pathology to better understand gynecological cancers and other diseases.

So far, I was able to sit in on "sign-outs", which is where a pathologist will investigate patient samples to make a diagnosis. These diagnoses span across different types of gynecological cancers affecting primarily the cervix, uterus, and ovaries. Aside from identifying cancer, pathologists will also define a grade of the tumor, which is determined by the histology and characteristics of the histology. A stage is also determined based on how far the cancer has spread. 

With many different tumor types with varying characteristics, stages, and grades, unfamiliar cases will indefinitely fall onto a pathologist's desk during sign-outs. If a case needs further examination, the pathologists hold a conference known as "Special Cases Conference" where the gynecological pathologists discuss their cases to form conclusions on slides and data that are less routine. 

Finally, I have been learning tools that molecular pathologists use to analyze cancer data across patients known as cBioPortal. I can use this database to make observations across cancer types and with the proper filters from almost 90,000 patient samples obtained from MSKCC. I plan on using the database and further data visualization in R to investigate factors and relationships specifically relating to serous-type cancers of the ovary and endometrium. 


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