Hematology Oncology Fellowship
Mission Statement
To train the next generation of hematologist/oncologists who are clinically excellent, emotionally intelligent, and intellectually curious, able to thrive and succeed in their chosen field.
2-3
2 Years Single Board in Hematology
or Medical Oncology
3 Years Combined Program
25
Clinical and Research Fellows
4
Available Training Tracks
The Hematology Oncology Fellowship Program at UT Southwestern Medical Center and the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center prepares physicians for careers in academic or clinical hematology-oncology by providing rigorous and comprehensive training in the full spectrum of adult hematologic and oncologic disorders.
- Application Process
Application Process
We accept applications via Electronic Residency Application System (ERAS).
A complete application consists of:
- ERAS Common Application form (CAF)
- Three letters of recommendation (one must be from an Internal Medicine program director)
- Medical School transcripts
- Personal statement
- ECFMG certificate (international medical graduates only)
Applicants must have completed USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 CK at time of application and must have completed an ACGME-accredited internal medicine residency by planned start of fellowship.
International Applicants
Recognizing that some of our most talented applicants are not permanent residents, we are committed to recruiting qualified international trainees. UT Southwestern accepts permanent residents or J-1 ECFMG sponsored visas. Unfortunately, the medical school does not sponsor H-1B visas.
- Salaries and Benefits
Salaries
Fellowship Year Program Year Salary Fellowship Year 1 PGY4 $72,486 Fellowship Year 2 PGY5 $75,835 Fellowship Year 3 or more PGY6 $79,086 Fellowship Year 4 PGY 7 $82,716 - Training Tracks
At UTSW, we want to train excellent hematologists-oncologists who will have an impact in clinical research, basic science, industry, education, healthcare administration, and communities across the country. To better tailor the fellowship experience to fellows’ individual career interests and needs, we have each fellow declare a track by the end of their first year of fellowship.
- PSTP program, TARDIS program, Prior advanced training (PhD, etc), or exceptional basic science/translational research potential AND accepted as mentee by basic science/translational UT Southwestern faculty member
- Single boarding preferred
- 12 clinical months
- Expected grant applications + 1st author original research article
- Accepted as mentee by clinical investigator faculty member; desire to develop skills in clinical, investigational, or health services research during fellowship
- Single or double boarding
- At least 18 clinical months (if double boarding)
- Expected grant applications + peer reviewed publication
- Desire to focus fellowship training on clinical skills development, quality improvement, or healthcare administration
- Double boarding required
- At least 24 clinical months
- Expected peer reviewed publication or abstract presentation at major conference
- Desire to focus fellowship training on educational skills development
- Double boarding required
- At least 24 clinical months
- Expected peer reviewed publication or abstract presentation at major conference
- Clinical Training
Inpatient training
Fellows are assigned inpatient rotations from 1-4 months per year of training. These may include: Parkland and CUH hematology consults, CUH oncology consults, CUH bone marrow transplant/cellular therapy, Parkland or CUH palliative care, Parkland inpatient hematology-oncology, and VA hematology-oncology consults. Fellows will interact with oncology pharmacists, APPs, internal medicine residents, and medical students during these rotations.
Outpatient training
Continuity clinics: Fellows will be a assigned a mix of weekly, half-day continuity clinics throughout their training, 1-2 per year for either a 6 or 12 month duration, based on their track and clinical interests. These include our disease-based, fellow-run clinics at Parkland where fellows are the primary hematologist-oncologist, taking care of their own patient panel and signing out to a core group of disease expert faculty. Fellows may also do continuity clinics with faculty at Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, any of the UT satellite sites, the Dallas VA, or a faculty clinic at Parkland.
Other outpatient training: Fellows will rotate in disease based clinics at the Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center for medical oncology and the UT West Campus faculty clinics for hematology. Outpatient clinic experiences are mix of assigned disease based rotations and electives with schedules built by the fellow based on their individual interests and training needs.
- Research Training
UT Southwestern has a long and storied history of biomedical research. Despite the institution’s relative youth, UT Southwestern is the home to 6 Nobel Prize winners, 26 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 20 members of the National Academy of Medicine, and 13 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators.
This tradition of research excellence extends to the Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center and Division of Hematology and Oncology at UT Southwestern, efforts which are highlighted by the Kidney Cancer SPORE, among others. Fellows at UTSW can have up to 18 months in their fellowship to dedicate to research. As a fellow at UTSW, you will have access to research and training resources that are available on campus. Fellows also have access to a dedicated faculty biostatistician who hosts weekly office hours to assist fellows with study design and identification of resources for research.
Basic and Translational Research
Faculty who maintain laboratory research efforts have joint appointments in the Graduate School of Biomedical Science. Fellows are encouraged to work with faculty within the division or may work in cross-disciplinary labs provided the work is applicable to the fields of hematology and/or oncology.
Clinical Research
Fellows with an interest in clinical research are encouraged to work with Faculty in the Cancer Center and Division of Hematology & Oncology to develop retrospective projects or protocols for clinical trials. Fellows are also invited to participate in the monthly Clinical Research Series hosted by Dr. Tian Zhang which covers many of the logistics and behind-the-scenes considerations for a career in academic medicine. All fellows participate in a yearly grant-writing seminar to build skills needed to apply for grants such as the ASCO/ASH YIA awards.
UTSW also maintains a relationship with the cooperative groups: ECOG, NRG, Alliance, and others, which fellows can participate in. Fellows may also work under faculty mentorship to develop databases for retrospective research or may work with Flatiron Health or the Caris POA databases that are available.
Health Services Research and Quality Improvement
UTSW Division of Hematology-Oncology maintains a relationship with the newly opened UTSW School of Public Health (link). Fellows are able to collaborate with researchers across the institution and Parkland Health to investigate health disparities, outcomes, and quality initiatives. Our fellows routinely participate in the ASCO Quality Training Program as well as the ASH Quality Improvement Training Institute.
UTSW SCCC Core Facilities
UTSW Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center is supported by a Cancer Center Support Grant from the NCI and hosts five specific research programs that fellows can participate in: Cellular Networks in Cancer, Chemistry and Cancer, Development and Cancer, Experimental Therapeutics, and Population Science and Cancer Control. SCCC also hosts shared resources that are available for fellows.
Fellows are encouraged to present and publish their research, and funding is available to help support these efforts.
- Training Sites
Our program is one of very few hematology-oncology programs across the country that can provide high volume clinical training at three distinct training sites. Parkland Health and the UT sites (Clements University Hospital and the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Center) are co-located just west of downtown Dallas in the Medical District. The Dallas VA Medical Center is located about 20 minutes southeast of the medical district.
Parkland Health is the safety-net healthcare institution for Dallas County and once of the oldest public hospitals in the country. Hematologic and cancer care is provided for over 10,000 individual patients a year. Patients come from diverse backgrounds, and over half are uninsured.
UT Southwestern fellows take care of Parkland patients in five disease-specific fellow-run clinics in the Moody Outpatient Clinic, as well as an inpatient hematology consult service and primary traditional inpatient teaching service taking care of hematology-oncology patients in the new Parkland Hospital.
Parkland provides a rich clinical training environment but also an excellent opportunity for research in quality improvement, health disparities, and outcomes.
UT Southwestern Southwestern is the only major academic center in the DFW metroplex, the 4th largest metro area in the country. Patients come from our community in Dallas, but also from the greater North Texas area and surrounding states.
The Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center is an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center, the only such center in North Texas. SCCC is a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Center Network, ECOG-ACRIN, ETCTN, NRG, and SWOG. Fellows will see newly diagnosed patients, second-opinion referred patients, and clinical trial patients.
UT SCCC also has satellite sites in several communities outside of the main medical district, including Richardson, Fort Worth, and Red Bird (southern Dallas). At these sites, fellows can see patients with hematology-oncology faculty members in a more community-oriented practice, with a breadth of diagnoses seen during each session.
Fellows will rotate at the Clements University Hospital, routinely ranked among the best hospitals in the state of Texas, on hematology consults, solid tumor consults, and the bone marrow transplant/cellular therapy unit.
The Dallas VA is the flagship intuition of VA North Texas, the second-largest VA healthcare system in the United States. It provides comprehensive inpatient and outpatient hematologic and cancer care for the veteran population including hematology, medical oncology, radiation oncology, surgical oncology, interventional radiology, palliative care, etc.
UTSW fellows provide care during twice weekly combined hematology-oncology clinics as well as a combined hematology-oncology inpatient consult service.
- Conferences
Academic Half Day
UTSW has a dedicated half day for fellows to engage in didactics geared towards foundational topics in hematology and medical oncology, multidisciplinary care in oncology, board review, palliative care and communication skills, pharmacology, resiliency/wellness, and research skills. This time is a combination of lectures, interactive case based learning, small group learning sessions, journal clubs, and fellows presentations.
Parkland Pre-Clinic Learning Sessions
Many of the Parkland continuity clinics have short in person learning sessions each week before the start of clinic, focusing on their specific disease type for more in-depth foundational literature review, new case presentations, and board review.
Multidisciplinary Tumor Boards
SCCC and Parkland hold combined disease specific tumor boards which fellows are encouraged to attend and present their patients. Approximate 20 different tumor boards happen weekly or bi-weekly, typically in virtual format.
- Current Fellows and Alumni
First Year Fellows
Lindsay Hill, M.D., Ph.D.
PSTP Program
- Undergrad School: New York University
- Medical School: SUNY-Downstate Medical Center
- Residency: UT Southwestern Medical Center
- Clinical Interests: Lymphoma, HIV-associated malignancies, and biomedical engineering for therapeutic development including targeted-, gene-, and immunotherapies
Madeleine Hopson, M.D.
- Undergrad School: McGill University
- Medical School: Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
- Residency: Columbia University
- Clinical Interests: Malignant hematology, breast oncology, cancer epidemiology
Jonathan Hyak, M.D.
- Undergrad School: University of Texas at Austin
- Medical School: Baylor College of Medicine
- Residency: The Ohio State University
- Clinical Interests: Cancer care access, malignant hematology, solid tumor oncology
Raamis Khwaja, M.D.
- Undergrad School: Southern Methodist University
- Medical School: UT Southwestern Medical School
- Residency: UT Health Houston McGovern Medical Center
- Clinical Interests: General oncology, cellular therapies, leukemia/lymphoma
Nicholas Lambert, M.D.
- Undergrad School: University of Minnesota
- Medical School: University of Nebraska College of Medicine
- Residency: Baylor College of Medicine
- Clinical Interests: Benign Hematology and Oncology
Nikhil Madhusudhan, M.D., Ph.D.
PSTP Program
- Undergrad School: Boston University
- Medical School: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
- Residency: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
- Clinical Interests: Hereditary cancer syndromes, Immunotherapy, Small molecule targeted therapies
Ali Mohamedi, M.D.
- Undergrad School: University of Texas at Arlington
- Medical School: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
- Residency: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
- Clinical Interests: General oncology and medical education
Puja Panwar, M.D.
- Undergrad School: University of Texas at Dallas
- Medical School: Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine
- Residency: Johns Hopkins Hospital / Osler Medical Residency Program
- Clinical Interests: Non-malignant hematology
Second Year Fellows
Nicholas Levonyak, M.D.
- Undergrad School: Gonzaga University
- Medical School: UT Southwestern Medical Center
- Residency: UT Southwestern Medical Center
- Clinical Interests: GI Oncology, Clinical Trials
Amanda Mennie, M.D., Ph.D.
PSTP Program
- Undergrad School: University of Iowa
- Medical School: University of Illinois
- Residency: UT Southwestern Medical Center
- Clinical Interests: Academic Medicine
Anna Moscowitz, M.D.
- Undergrad School: Tulane University
- Medical School: University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
- Residency: UT Southwestern Medical Center
- Clinical Interests: Breast, QI, open-minded!
Viral Patel, M.D.
- Undergrad School: Rice University
- Medical School: University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
- Residency: UT Southwestern Medical Center
- Clinical Interests: Hematology and Oncology
William Schwartzman, M.D.
- Undergrad School: University of California, Los Angeles
- Medical School: Keck School of Medicine at University of Southwern California
- Residency: UT Southwestern Medical Center
- Clinical Interests: Genetic Mutations
Hollie Sheffield, M.D.
- Undergrad School: Baylor University
- Medical School: Texas A&M College of Medicine
- Residency: UT Southwestern Medical Center
- Clinical Interests: Breast Oncology, GI Oncology, Palliative Medicine, Quality Improvement
Sean Taasan, M.D.
- Undergrad School: University of Florida
- Medical School: University of Florida College of Medicine
- Residency: Duke University
- Clinical Interests: Lymphoma, GI oncology, medical education
Mitchell von Itzstein, M.D.
- Medical School: Griffith University, Australia
- Residency: UT Southwestern Medical Center
- Clinical Interests: Lung cancer, immunotherapy
Third Year Fellows
Hannah Lu Chang, M.D.
- Undergrad School: Northwestern University
- Medical School: Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University
- Residency: UT Southwestern
- Clinical Interests: Breast cancer, solid tumor oncology, immunotherapy
Shifa Kanjwal, M.D.
Chief Fellow
- Undergrad School: Georgetown University
- Medical School: University of Toledo College of Medicine
- Residency: Yale University School of Medicine
- Clinical Interests: Breast cancer, cancer disparities, global health
Sarah Kashanian, M.D.
- Undergrad School: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universit
- Medical School: Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine
- Residency: University of Maryland Medical Center
- Clinical Interests: Malignant hematology, solid tumor oncology, patient safety and quality improvement
Kavi Patel, M.D.
- Undergrad School: University of Florida
- Medical School: University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine
- Residency: UT Southwestern
- Clinical Interests: Solid tumor oncology, malignant hematology, medical education
Panayotis Theodoropoulos, M.D., Ph.D.
PSTP Program
- Undergrad School: University of Chicago
- Medical School: UT Southwestern
- Residency: Washington University in St. Louis / Barnes-Jewish Hospital
- Clinical Interests: inherited cancer syndromes, rare malignancies, chemical screening and discovery of targeted therapies
Ethan Tobias, M.D.
Chief Fellow
- Undergrad School: Brown University
- Medical School: Washington University at St. Louis
- Residency: UT Southwestern
- Clinical Interests: Solid tumor oncology, malignant hematology, quality and process improvement
Fourth Year Fellows
Jake Lichterman, D.O.
PSTP Program
- Undergrad School: University of California Los Angeles
- Medical School: Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine, New York, NY
- Residency: UT Southwestern
- Clinical Interests: Tumor immunology, Gut microbiome and cancer, GI/GU
Christine Shiang, M.D., Ph.D.
PSTP Program
- Undergrad School: University of Houston
- Medical School: UT Southwestern Medical Center
- Residency: UT Southwestern Medical Center
- Clinical Interests: AI in CA, TNBC, so many things
Class of 2023
Abir Khan, M.D.
UNC Cancer Care at Nash, Rocky Mount, NC
Naveen Premnath, M.D.
Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Mohammed Faizan Zahid, M.D.
Assistant Professor, UT Southwestern Dallas, TX
Class of 2022
Omer Ali, M.D.
General Hematologist/Oncologist at Virginia Oncology Associates
Bradley Christensen, M.D.
General Hematologist at Baylor UMC
Jude Khatib, M.D.
GI Oncologist at University of New Mexico
Gaurav Shah, M.D.
Benign Hematology Faculty at Atrium Health at Charlotte
Justin Sovich, M.D.
Northwest Permanente
Class of 2021
Natalie Bavli, M.D.
Assistant Professor, UT Southwestern, Dallas, TX
Michael Burke, M.D.
Sarah Cannon Cancer Center, Asheville, NC
Tri Le, M.D.
Texas Oncology HEB, Bedford, TX
Elizabeth McGehee, M.D.
Swedish Cancer Institute, Seattle, WA
Sanah Parvez, M.D.
Holy Name Medical Center - Patricia Lynch Cancer Center, Teaneck, NJ
Mohsin Soleja, M.D.
Texas Oncology, Keller, TX
Rebecca Yarborough, M.D.
Texas Oncology Dallas Methodist, Dallas, TX
Contact Us
Division of Hematology Oncology
UT Southwestern Medical Center
5323 Harry Hines Blvd.
Dallas, TX 75390-8852
Phone: 214-645-5970
Fax: 214-648-1955
HemeOncFellowship@UTSouthwestern.edu
Director, Hematology and Oncology Fellowship Program
Associate Director, Hematology and Oncology Fellowship Program
Associate Director, Hematology and Oncology Fellowship Program
Education Assistant