Resident Reflections

Cole Robert Steber, MD I would match here again. I'm getting the training that I need in order to be the resident that I want to be currently, as well as, in the future will be as an attending. The faculty is very nurturing, very supportive, trying to help you use evidence-based medicine in order to help take care of patients. We have a large catchment area. This is a place where a lot of smaller hospitals will send complicated situations. This program definitely helped prepare me for my future in many ways and given me a place to grow during these years of residency.  - Cole Steber, MD
Adam Gregory Johnson, MD

I've had excellent career mentorship from the department from a number of different mentors here. I was drawn to the residency here at wake forest because I feel like this program really has all the benefits of a small program without any of the drawbacks. We’ve got a great team here and excellent training. Very friendly, approachable, talented and experienced attending physicians who work well with each other and work well with the residents and staff in our department. A very welcoming and friendly group of residents that are very close-knit team.

I would describe the research opportunities we have here as a varied and exciting. We have a number of different projects available, whether it's clinical research or translational research. We've had a number of residents develop their own protocols and trials, and some of them are currently ongoing, which is very exciting. We’re always discussing different projects, sharing ideas, and coming up with new clinical research projects, new translational research projects amongst us residents, and also with faculty in the mostly multidisciplinary setting (brachy therapy projects with physics, gynecology, oncology, urology, ENT colleagues and medical oncology on a number of different projects). So it's a very collaborative research experience. We have a very active brachy therapy program and are treating a number of patients each week.

Our residency program has done an excellent training us to do and know how to do every single part of the process of treating patients with radiation safely and accurately, learning the ins and outs of dosimetry, patient setup in our simulation suite, the physics and QA process, how to set the patient up on the machine during daily treatments, how to assess daily cone beams, port films and how to manage the side effects of treatment and successfully follow up our patients long term in survivorship. - Adam Johnson, MD

Karina Nieto, MD
I've been intellectually challenged. I have been supported in my academic goals. This is a place where you can really accomplish whatever it is that you were interested in doing. The radiation oncology program is unique in that we have a lot of opportunities for research with a lot of faculty members that are leaders in their field, but you always feel comfortable approaching them with questions. This residency program not only has prepared me to do the actual volume plans and the radiation plans in a way that is the most up to date with the current publications in the current literature, but also, being able to collaborate with other specialties, dosimetry and physics and how to ask the right questions to ensure that the plan you're delivering your patients is the best plan that you can deliver.  - Karina Nieto, MD
Joshua C Farris, MD, PhD
We have a really great diverse faculty that have trained all over, so we get a really nice variety in how we are taught to think about cancer and how we're encouraged to approach each patient. The research environment here is it's very collegial. It's everyone wanting to help each other. We have great clinical support staff here, from our nurses to our radiation therapists and our SIM technicians. We all really work as a team to create the best experience for the patient - Josh Farris, MD
Niema Brandon Razavian, MD
If I had to tell a prospective applicant one thing that would really highlight the Wake Forest experience, I would say that as a program you really get everything that you need all under one roof. Getting started as a new resident, one of the things that I really enjoyed was the focused orientation, getting me acclimated to the physical layout of the department and the people in the department. My senior residents also did a really good job to lay the foundation of radiation oncology. As a first year resident, I've been lucky enough to work with an attending that really is taking the time to make sure I get acclimated both to this department, but then also to radiation oncology in general. Going from internal medicine during my intern year to radiation oncology was a big transition and there are a lot of ins and outs that are specific to radiation oncology that you have to learn. I was fortunate enough to have a faculty member that really sat me down in a structured way and kind of went over the basics of radiation oncology and every day and every week is helping me improve my skills as a new radiation oncologist. - Niema Razavian, MD