Hematology and Oncology Fellowship

Our three-year fellowship is a combined program of Oishei Children’s Hospital and Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and accredited by the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).

We train the graduates of our program to become the next generation of leaders, physician-scientists, and innovators in the field of pediatric hematology and oncology and champions of clinical, research and educational excellence.

• Largest Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Program in New York State outside of the New York metropolitan region
• Blood & Marrow Transplant Program provides stem cell and marrow transplants to children of all ages for treatment of cancer, sickle cell anemia, immune disorders and other non-malignant disorders.
• Only upstate New York program to offer access to Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies, promising new FDA-approved immunotherapy treatments for relapsed leukemia and Non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
• Experimental Therapeutics Program offers NCI-sponsored, Children’s Oncology Group, pharmaceutical and investigator-initiated clinical trials of novel agents specifically for children with cancer and blood disorders.
• Comprehensive Molecular Testing with OmniSeq Comprehensive™ and Immune Report Card™ to match personalized therapy to patients.

• Oishei Children’s Hospital/Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is a member of Children’s Oncology Group and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute ALL Consortium
• State-of-the-art facilities including our inpatient unit at Oishei Children’s Hospital — specifically designed for the care of immunocompromised patients
• Specialized multidisciplinary programs for Neuro-Oncology, Sickle Cell and Thalassemia, Vascular Anomalies, Thrombosis, Thyroid Cancer, and Pediatric Cancer Susceptibility Screening
• Young Adult Cancer Program, Onco-Fertility, Integrative Medicine, and Survivorship programs all rooted within pediatric oncology
• Multidisciplinary team of specialty-trained support staff including nurse practitioners and nurses, psychologists and social workers, patient navigators and case managers, specializing in all areas of pediatric hematology and oncology
• Close affiliation with Western New York BloodCare, a federally-funded hemophilia treatment center

• Experienced, diverse and dedicated faculty
• A robust and unique clinical and research experience in a dynamic, nationally recognized cancer program
• Exposure to patients with virtually every form of childhood cancer and blood disorder in our patient population; we care for >100 new oncology diagnoses annually.
• Access to shared mentorship, core lab facilities and cutting-edge technologies within the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
• Small program size allowing for one-on-one supervision in all phases of our program

Our pediatric hematology and oncology team is conducting research that is helping to propel the field of pediatric cancer and blood disorders forward, with research funded by the National Cancer Institute, St. Baldrick’s Foundation, Hyundai Hope on Wheels Foundation, and the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation.

At Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of only 49 comprehensive cancer centers designated by the National Cancer Institute, collaborations are available with researchers working in innovative cancer research especially in genetics, cell stress and immunotherapy.

• Center for Immunotherapy (CFI) to conduct clinical trials that use immunotherapy approaches ranging from cancer vaccines and antibody therapy, to cellular therapy and immune response modifiers. The CFI is pioneering new avenues for personalized immunotherapy by reprogramming a patient’s own immune cells, and turning them into effective and long-term cancer killers.
• Center for Personalized Medicine uses next-generation genomic sequencing to develop advanced molecular diagnostic tests that allow physicians to choose targeted therapies based on the unique genetic makeup of a patient’s tumor.
• Access to more than 20 specialized laboratories with cutting-edge technology, including: Genomics, Flow & Image Cytometry, Bioinformatics, Data Bank and BioRepository, Pathology Resource Network, Bioanalytics, Metabolomics, and Pharmacokinetics.
• Monthly Pediatric Disease Specific Research Group meetings are held to foster new interdisciplinary research collaborations.

Dr. Kara Kelly – Chair of the Children’s Oncology Group Hodgkin lymphoma committee; Site principal investigator for our program’s participation in clinical trials for Acute Lymphoma Leukemia (ALL) through the Dana Farber Cancer Institute ALL Consortium; Clinical studies focusing on nutrition, symptom management, adherence to oral chemotherapy and cancer related disparities in care

Dr. Clare Twist – Site principal investigator for our program’s participation in the Children’s Oncology Group; Clinical trials for neuroblastoma as a steering committee member for the Children’s Oncology Group neuroblastoma committee; Early phase clinical trials in children 

Dr. Barbara Bambach – Lead site investigator for pediatric participation in the Bone Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMTCTN), the National Marrow Donor Program, and the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium (PBMTC)

Dr. Matthew Barth – Translational laboratory research in lymphomas, specifically investigating aberrant signaling transduction pathway activation and identification of new targeted therapies in non Hodgkin lymphoma; Clinical trials for non Hodgkin lymphoma as a steering committee member for the Children’s Oncology Group non Hodgkin lymphoma committee; Precision medicine initiative with Omniseq for high risk pediatric tumors

Dr. Denise Rokitka – Survivorship research focusing on psychosocial and cognitive issues following treatment for childhood cancer; Lead site investigator for the program’s participation in the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study

Dr. Beverly Schaefer – Clinical studies in bleeding disorders and thromboses

Dr. Clare Twist is our fellowship program director. In addition to her internationally recognized work in neuroblastoma, she has served on the Hem/Onc Sub-board of the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) and is currently Medical Editor for the ABP Pediatric Heme/Onc Sub board. She has previously served on the Pediatric Oncology Education and Scientific Program Committees for the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meetings. Within the American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology (ASPHO) she has served on the Training Committee and on the Certification and Continuing Education Committee.  

Dr. Beverly Schaefer is the associate fellowship program director, and a pediatric hematologist with a focus in bleeding and clotting disorders. She has participated in the Physician Educator Program through the Royal College of Surgeons. She was previously awarded the Resident Teaching award at A.I. DuPont Hospital for Children, and served as chief fellow during her fellowship at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

For more information on our faculty please click here.

Our curriculum is designed to address the variety of conditions a Pediatric Hematologist/Oncologist may encounter, while also exposing them to innovative perspectives and cutting-edge advances in the pathogenesis and treatment of children with oncologic and blood disorders.

Educational curriculum includes:

• Friday lecture series that includes guest speakers, research talks, morbidity and mortality rounds, journal clubs
• Pediatric Grand Rounds
• Fellow boards exam prep
• Pediatric Disease Specific Research Group (DSRG): monthly collaborative forum between basic/translational scientists and clinicians
• Clinical Disease Team Meeting: monthly forum to review current and potential new clinical trials
• Red Cell Rounds (shared with Roswell Park Adult Hematology/Oncology Program)
• Roswell Park Trainee Core Oncology Seminars: i.e. Ethics, Statistics, CV Writing
  
• “Lunch and Learn” at the Hemophilia Center

Your first year is devoted almost exclusively to clinical work, including rotations on inpatient pediatric hematology/oncology and bone marrow transplantation, and outpatient rotations in radiation oncology, palliative care, hemostasis and thrombosis, blood bank, flow cytometry, cytopathology, and cytogenetics. You also will begin a full-day continuity clinic that carries on throughout your entire fellowship.

Your second and third years of the fellowship are devoted to research, during which time you can elect to conduct basic or translational research with numerous physician-scientists and scientists at Roswell Park. Alternatively, you can choose to conduct clinical research under the mentorship of one of our faculty members. You will be expected to complete a substantive research project, usually culminating in a first-author publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Fellows have the option to pursue a Masters or certificate program in public health or epidemiology.

Fellows are also expected to implement a quality-improvement project. You will continue to manage patients in your continuity clinic and participate in clinical conferences and tumor boards.

The postdoctoral education prerequisite is three years of general pediatric residency training.

Candidates should apply through ERAS and enter the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Match through NRMP.

If you have any questions, please contact: