OncoDaily Walk & Talk with Yelena Janjigian, Hosted by Tatev Margaryan

Welcome to Walk & Talk on OncoDaily.
Our today’s guests is Yelena Janjigian.

Yelena Janjigian is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and the Chief of Gastrointestinal Oncology at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. She serves on the Steering Committee of the Giants of Cancer Care and is a member of the International Gastric Cancer Association Council. Dr. Janjigian is a recipient of the ASCO Conquer Cancer Foundation Career Development Award, Debbie’s Dream Foundation Medical Award, and Cycle for Survival Grant Award. She is on the Editorial Board of OncoDaily.

Watch our interview to find out where does Dr Janjigian dreams of traveling to, what’s her fondest memory, what her favorite food, and much more!

Our host is Tatev Margaryan, psychologist and public health specialist at the Yeolyan Hematology and Oncology Center, Armenia and assistant managing editor at OncoDaily.

Follow the transcript below

Tatev Margaryan: Hello and welcome to Walk and Talk on Onco Daily. Today we are here with Jelena Janjigian. Hello. It’s nice to meet you. Would you be able to, uh, introduce yourself?

Yelena Janjigian: Sure. Hello. Good afternoon. My name is Doctor Janjigian. I’m a medical oncologist and chief of GI oncology service gastrointestinal oncology service at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York City. I’m here in beautiful Yerevan today, uh, attending an Asco organized event for the Armenian oncologists, uh, speaking on treatment of gastrointestinal malignancies. How we approach it at our center. Thank you for having me.

Tatev Margaryan: Thank you. It’s on. It’s our honor to have you here. We’re going to take a stroll and chat a little bit, if you don’t mind.

Yelena Janjigian: Sounds good. I love it.

Tatev Margaryan: Okay. So first question is what’s the most adventurous or daring thing you’ve done and what motivated you to do it?

Yelena Janjigian: That’s a good question. And there are several things we could talk about. I would bring up something professionally. Um, as a relatively early career physician at Memorial Sloan Kettering, uh, five years ago, an opportunity came up to apply for a leadership position, uh, to become service chief, uh, at our hospital, which is a very big, important leadership position, uh, overseeing, uh, over 40 doctors, medical oncologists, treating different cancers everywhere from esophagus cancer to the rectal canal. Um, and it’s a big position.

There weren’t that many women, uh, doing this for the hospital. And certainly no one, uh, my age. Most of the doctors that I would be overseeing, uh, were at least ten, 15, 20 years older than me. Um, so it was a relatively daring uh, move to apply for the position. Uh, and I did. And, uh, against all odds, I was selected after, you know, uh, almost six months to a year of selection process, 15 different positions applied. So it was very competitive.

It’s very, important job at the hospital, the big achievements. Yeah. So for me to have to be able to do that, uh, it was, uh, it was important. And it was relatively the whole time, entire time I was thinking, what am I doing? Why am I doing this? Uh, but it was one of the most daring things I did.

Tatev Margaryan: Okay. Thank you. So can you share a favorite childhood memory that still brings a smile to your face?

Yelena Janjigian: Yes. So I was born in Baku, Azerbaijan. Uh, and, uh, in the summer for my birthday, we would always celebrate it on the Caspian Sea. And so my favorite childhood memory is for my birthday. I always, as a present, uh, got the entire watermelon to myself so I would bring a smile to your face. And, uh, it’s, uh, to this day, I always tell my kids about it, uh, that I always said that was my present, for my birthday is an entire watermelon. Yes. So, uh, and it’s something that always, uh, warms my heart to think about.

Tatev Margaryan: That would sound exciting for a child.

Yelena Janjigian: Yes, yes, yes.

Tatev Margaryan: If you had the opportunity to travel to any place in the world, where would you go and why?

Yelena Janjigian: Well, before this week, if you asked me this question, I would have said Armenia as, uh, now we are here, now we’re here. So, uh, now that I’m here, I want to come back and we’ll be coming back very soon. Uh, but one of the few continents I have not been on, and I travel a lot in academic medicine. We have to do a lot of travel. I have not been to Africa, so I really want to go to Africa.

Tatev Margaryan: Okay, then we’ll be waiting for your stories from us.

Yelena Janjigian: Yes. Of course.

Tatev Margaryan: What’s the most valuable life lesson you’ve learned from a difficult or challenging experience?

Yelena Janjigian: Yeah, being a refugee and an immigrant to a foreign country at a relatively not so young age. I was 14 and now having two teenage daughters. Yeah, but having two teenage daughters, you learn that, you know, being a teenager is a very awkward time in your life, very, uh, transition point, uh, and transitioning to a completely different way of life to Western way of life was, uh, uh, very, uh, interesting. Um, and, but I never saw it that way. To me, when people say, oh, how traumatic it must have been.

I never felt traumatized. And I think part of it is and the most important, uh, part I’ve learned from that experience is if you create a safe, a circle with your family and have a nuclear family that you can always, uh, rely on and count on, um, I think that’s that was an experience. And, uh, for me, uh, still to this day, if anything happens, the first person I call is my mom, my dad or my brother. So having that safe space, uh, is what I try to create for my children, my all of my even trainees and early career investigators who may not have a stable of as an Armenian family.

You know, we’re all always reliant on our parents, you know, and we have that in our culture, but others may not. And so I try to do that for my colleagues and trainees to create that safe space. And and it’s been shown that in studies show that that creates, uh, less risk for burnout, less risk for, you know, issues in the world is so complicated that having that is important.

Tatev Margaryan: And I might even think that it was so confidence. Yeah. All right. Okay. Do you have any unique or unusual habits or talents that people might be surprised to learn?

Yelena Janjigian: Yes, I think uh, you know, we always, you know, in your people ask you if you had to develop what’s your superpower, right. Uh, if your superpower, I don’t think a lot of people at work would know that or realize it. But my superpower is to be able to, on a very short notice, half an hour or less, uh, prepare a big meal for a large group of people. 

Tatev Margaryan: I think the Armenian women is right.

Yelena Janjigian: Yes, yes. So I, you know, I don’t think people see me like that at work. Uh, but that’s I would say that’s, uh, something that people would. And again, it goes back to family and having that space where everyone is sitting at the same table talking about what happened that day, uh, in a safe space where uh, things come out and, uh, it’s important. And it’s not just for me and my entire immediate family. Uh, that’s easy. That’s no problem. I mean, large groups. I can put together something pretty quickly.

Tatev Margaryan: Okay. Thanks. What’s your go to comfort food or guilty pleasure? Just something that you go to when you need a pick me up.

Yelena Janjigian: Yeah. Food is my comfort, I would say. And for those of you who speak Russian, I understand that, and I’ll translate it. Zdenek Antosca, uh, fried food is my favorite. Yes, absolutely. My mom knows if I text her. I had a rough day in clinic. She knows immediately what she’s going to make for me when I come home And then everything is better fried. Uh, home. Fried potatoes. That’s not really French fry. French fries. It’s very different. Fried potatoes with butter? Yes. Salt and pepper. Yes, I got hungry. Yeah. And having it with a little salad like tomato and cucumber salad and then. Perfect. I’m okay. Nothing bothers me

Tatev Margaryan: Um, what’s a book? Movie, maybe? Or a TV show that has left a profound impact on your outlook on life.

Yelena Janjigian: I loved, uh, growing up. Um, and, you know, before I came to America and was able to become a physician, I thought I was going to be a writer. Uh, and because a career change. Yeah. Well, in Baku, you know, Armenian was not going to be able to become a physician. So I was not a dreamer. I was a realist. So I was going to be a professor, maybe, uh, you know, in linguistics or so when I moved to America, I still had that profound love for literature, and I fell in love with Gabriel Garcia marquez. So he’s my favorite author. And imagine reading that, uh, through in the ESL English as a Second language, uh, class and writing essays about it.

But I, you know, I think, uh, writing uh, was always important to me. And so learning it from the best writers and his, uh, the Colombian mysticism in general captivated my, um, my imagination as a, as a teenager. And even now in academic medicine, if you’re a good writer and a good, uh, you can translate your ideas clearly. You’re more likely to get grants, you’re more likely to have your papers published and higher impact journal and that obviously is very important for your career. Also, that would make it easier for people to understand exactly sharing your thoughts correctly.

Tatev Margaryan: Okay. Thank you. So can you share a favorite quote, maybe, or a mantra that resonates with you in your personality, something that you live by?

Yelena Janjigian: Yeah, I think, um, in general I live by kindness and acceptance. But, uh, again, when I first got the big position five years ago, uh, you as a woman especially, there’s a bit of an imposter syndrome, and you’re always wonder if you make the right decision. So my husband is probably one of my biggest, uh, supporters. And that’s very important as a woman in academic medicine. And so when I got the job, he bought me a watch. And on the back of the watch he inscribed, you know what to do. Uh, so, uh, I think that’s very important. You know, people, uh, try to, you know, get advice and learn, etc. but I think if you look deep in your heart and you’re could be your best, um, guide, because if you really follow what you’re excited about and what you realize is important to you, uh, you know, and follow sort of promises, fulfill your own promises to yourself. I think you’ll be okay.

Tatev Margaryan: Yeah. That sounds very personal but I think I got it.

Yelena Janjigian: Yeah. So on a personal level as well.

Tatev Margaryan: Um, what’s something on your bucket list that you’re determined to accomplish by next year?

Yelena Janjigian: Next year is a big, uh, big, big, uh, I think next year is probably not doable and maybe 2 or 3 years, because that’s how long it takes to learn a language. I want to learn Armenian.

Tatev Margaryan: Oh, yeah. I think you will be able to.

Yelena Janjigian: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think there would be no problem.

Tatev Margaryan: And probably the last question for today is what’s a dream or an ambition of yours that you had since childhood and you still want to fulfill it

Yelena Janjigian: That’s, you know, I think I, um, it’s this is a hard one. I don’t really, um, I have short term and long term goals. I think the, the long term goal. And that’s what I want to, uh, fulfill, is to have my entire family live together. Uh, and be happy and healthy. And I think, you know, that’s a very, uh, sort of simple goal, but it’s a hard one. Yeah. Hard to fulfill. Yeah. But, uh, I have no doubt I knew that she will achieve that.

Tatev Margaryan: Thank you for today.

Yelena Janjigian: Thank you so much.

Tatev Margaryan: Thank you. And thank you for being part of OncoDaily.

Thank you everyone for watching and come again for next time.

Yelena Janjigian: Thanks. Oh, yeah.