The Gynecology Team - Coulter Ralston / Dr. Ellenson / 06172022

My name is Coulter Ralston, and I am continuing to shadow under Dr. Ellenson and the gynecological pathology team at MSKCC. In my second week at MSKCC, I was able to meet with medical and radiation oncologists to understand the bigger picture of patient care. I was still able to meet with the team of pathologists and understand more about my project moving forward, which will focus on endometrial and ovarian serous carcinomas. 

Early in the week, I visited the MSKCC site on 53rd to observe patient interactions with medical oncologists, and I plan on visiting again next Friday! Although it was an unusual day with very few appointments, I was still able to discuss High Grade Serous Ovarian Carcinoma (HGSOC) with Dr. Cohen. This experience was especially insightful to my research, since I focus on the early drivers and cell types that initiate HGSOC. I was able to connect the words I've read from literature to actual patient cases after seeing how nearly all patients with HGSOC present when their cancer has progressed to stage 3 or 4. 

The following day, I was able to see radiation oncology treatment. While this treatment is reserved mostly for uterine, cervical, and vaginal cancers, it was still important to see how different types of gynecological cancers are treated. I had never seen a procedure before, but I was happy to see that this procedure took no longer than 30 minutes for a transvaginal radiation treatment. Patients typically receive three treatments that all are specific to the patient's case based on their results of a simulation. I learned a lot and am fascinated by of radiation oncology with it being a minimally invasive treatment method between surgery and chemotherapy. The procedures take place in room like this one:

Finally, I was able to attend more conferences, sign-outs, treatment planning conferences, and a meeting about molecular pathology. In the next few weeks, I will be learning more about cBioPortal to investigate endometrial and ovarian cancer mutations. I will also continue to shadow oncologists and familiarize myself with gynecological pathology with a textbook that Dr. Ellenson let us borrow!

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