Alex Botello
BCC Intern 2021 - 2023
With Covid-19 spreading all over the world over the last several years, I was assigned to be the very first I-SPY Covid intern in the UCSF Breast Care Center. Being the very first intern in I-SPY Covid is both rewarding, challenging, and exciting. This fellowship has granted me the privilege to work side by side with phenomenal people I can learn from while working collaboratively on project research and publications. With this being a new project and role, I was allowed to create the framework within my job scope, while being allowed to provide feedback and engage with different teams. I appreciate the deeper understanding of the scientific process this role has granted me and the expertise of those I am mentored by. I cannot speak more highly of this project and the internship role. All in all, it continues to be an absolute privilege and a great experience working under the UCSF Breast Cancer Center.
Cat Lu Dugan
BCC Intern 2022 - 2023
I decided to join the Breast Care Center internship after a conversation with Dr. Laura Esserman, the director of the Breast Care Center and founder of the internship, inspired me to think bigger about what is possible in medicine. As a career changer, I had spent 6 years in software development and community organizing. Hearing my background, Dr. Esserman wondered whether I was worried about “narrowing” my focus, and therefore my impact. This was the exact worry that I was hoping to explore in my gap year between my post-bac premedical program and medical school, but I never expected that I’d have so much support to do so.
As interns, each of us hold important roles on trials and with patient care at the Breast Care Center. Beyond that, though, we have the chance to learn how to lead towards a broader vision of a learning healthcare environment – one in which research and clinical care are integrated, and where all patients have access to the best treatments that our current science can offer.
On my first day, I was assigned to work with three different attendings – a plastic surgeon, a breast surgeon, and a radiation oncologist – in support of their research projects. In addition, I work as a patient scribe with the patient support corps, and a coordinator for a national surgical working group for the I-SPY trial. Beyond my assigned roles, I have had ample opportunity to pursue budding interests and to “try on” the kind of physician I aspire to become. I have helped patients with new, early stage breast cancer diagnoses begin to wrap their heads around a scary situation thru the patient support corps; I have observed palliative medicine physicians support patients and their families to grieve the loss of a future that is no longer possible; I have reviewed hundreds of charts in support of a manuscript that hopes to enhance our understandings of locoregional recurrence. From a career perspective, I have had conversations with residents and attendings about how they chose their specialties, what they wish they had considered, and how they live whole lives with work, family and friends.
Leaving this year, I take with me an expanded and more concrete understanding of the possibilities that lie ahead for me as I continue my medical training. I also leave with a stronger sense of my own values and the experience I hope to cultivate with patients. This year has exceeded my expectations, and I recommend it for anyone who feels ready to chart their own path in a rich and dynamic environment.
Kaylee Blevins
BCC Intern 2021 – 2022
My role as an intern at the Breast Care Center has been incredibly dynamic, involving patient care coordination, patient advocacy, and clinical research. As the cold caps coordinator, my primary includes providing patients with scalp cooling services to help keep their hair during chemotherapy treatment. As a coordinator, I help patients with the cold caps process from the beginning, with ordering and choosing their caps, to attending their first infusion day appointment. I’ve learned a tremendous amount about how different patients approach treatment for cancer differently, with some electing the most aggressive therapy, and others choosing to maintain the highest quality of life. I’ve witnessed the challenges of insurance, healthcare costs, and the logistics that go into treatment for breast cancer, finding that it truly takes a village to ensure quality patient care.
As a clinical research coordinator, my role involves assisting with the Young Women’s Registry and Support Group, as well as performing data analysis for quality of life data from the I-SPY2 TRIAL. This work has given me a chance to delve into research, and even contribute to a manuscript within the first six months of being in this position. I learned much about data analysis, organization, recruitment challenges, and the importance of institutional procedures when it comes to compliance and consent. I’ve found this work to be a nice balance to the patient facing responsibilities I’ve had as the cold caps coordinator.
Lastly, while working at UCSF, I’ve been able to take advantage of opportunities to learn more about medicine and the patient experience outside of the Breast Care Center. I’ve shadowed a physician in the Gynecology Oncology program and a nurse practitioner from the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine. I’ve also had the chance to shadow Patient Family Advisory Council meetings and learn how important patient feedback is to UCSF as an institution and medical center. The dynamic nature of the UCSF BCC internship allows individuals to better understand how the pieces of patient care, research, advocacy, and innovation fit together in medicine – lessons that will truly be helpful for anyone pursuing a career in healthcare.
Teddy Hill
BCC Intern 2021-2022
The BCC Internship Program immersed me in both research and clinical environments, providing opportunities to explore exciting new approaches to patient care and learn from the incredible role models who make the BCC such a dynamic and innovative force in the field of breast oncology.
Rashna Soonavala
BCC Intern 2020-2022
The internship program was my first experience working on a clinical trial. Seeing the collaborative, interdisciplinary approach required to run a successful trial was inspiring. I worked with a diverse team of clinicians, bioethicists, advocates, and software developers. Each of these parties taught me new approaches to patient care, and it was an honor to learn from their perspectives!
Halle Thannickal
BCC Intern 2020 - 2021
I am finishing up my first year of medical school! It’s been an incredible and packed year of learning. In fact, I’m taking my OSCE exam tomorrow (standardized patient skills exam), and I feel like all my experiences, especially in PSC, helped me immensely in terms of comfort and skill with my first patient encounters as a med student.
I’m excited that I recently received a local research funding award which will allow me to continue exploring my interest in breast oncology this summer, working with a breast oncologist and researcher. I know that my UCSF experiences helped allow me to get to this point, so I’m so full of gratitude for all that each of you do and have done!