Career

Alexandra Bailey’s journey to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/LinkedIn

Jan 5, 2025, 17:42

Alexandra Bailey’s journey to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute shared a post on LinkedIn:

“Four years ago, Alexandra Bailey, MD, received a call from George Demetri, MD, a renowned physician-scientist she’d worked with over 20 years earlier as a clinical research coordinator (CRC) at Dana-Farber.

‘Of course, I answered,’ she says. Demetri asked if she wanted to work as a sarcoma specialist at Dana-Farber’s Longwood campus. That call set her on a path as a community oncologist at Dana-Farber’s Milford regional campus and a sarcoma specialist at Longwood, with a focus on research.

‘It feels like a series of events that happened by chance to get to this point in my career,” says Bailey. “But I love it and it’s been really rewarding.’

After college in 2002, Bailey delayed medical school applications and took a job at Dana-Farber as a CRC in the Sarcoma and Bone Cancer Center. She worked with sarcoma specialists like Demetri, Suzanne George, MD, and Jeffrey Morgan, MD. ‘I got to work with amazing oncologists who were – and still are – role models for me,’ says Bailey.

As a CRC, Bailey documented study protocols, tracked patient progress, and shadowed oncologists, getting to know trial patients. The experience convinced her to pursue medicine. ‘Those two years were very influential,’ she says.

Bailey attended medical school at the University of Massachusetts and completed a residency in internal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Inspired by her CRC experience, she pursued a hematology/oncology fellowship. Bailey’s goal was to focus on clinical medicine, practicing general hematology/oncology in a community setting. ‘I really wanted to see patients and had less of an interest on the research aspect of oncology,’ she says.

She joined a Dana-Farber satellite clinic on the South Shore before relocating to Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center at Milford Regional Medical Center. As a community oncologist, she treats a range of cancers and refers patients to specialized care at Longwood when needed.

‘We develop a rapport with the sub-specialists in Boston to help patients get the right care either in Longwood or in their own community,’ says Bailey.

Bailey recently celebrated ten years as a Dana-Farber oncologist, with four years as a sarcoma specialist – a role she added after Demetri’s unexpected call. In 2002, Bailey worked on a clinical trial that led to the approval of sunitinib, a medicine for gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST). Today, four more drugs have been approved for GIST.

Bailey now prescribes these therapies to her patients and knows the value of clinical research. To blend research and patient care, she works one day a week in the Sarcoma Division at Longwood, enrolling patients in clinical trials, mentoring trainees, and supporting novel studies.

The rest of her time is spent seeing patients with both hematologic and oncologic conditions in Milford.

‘It’s fantastic,’ she says. ‘I get the best of both worlds.’ ”

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