Insight

Jennifer Bires: How Do We Train Oncologists to Care for Others — Without Losing Themselves in the Process?

Jennifer Bires/LinkedIn

Jul 31, 2025, 10:49

Jennifer Bires: How Do We Train Oncologists to Care for Others — Without Losing Themselves in the Process?

Jennifer Bires, Executive Director of Life with Cancer and Patient Experience for the Inova Schar Cancer Institute, shared a post on LinkedIn about a recent article by Jafar Al-Mondhiry et al. published in JCO Oncology Practice:

“‘How do we train oncologists to care for others — without losing themselves in the process?’

That question stayed with us. Especially knowing that burnout among oncologists is among the highest in medicine, and that nearly half of all patients with cancer experience significant psychosocial distress.

So we built something new.

Artful Oncology is a curriculum born from the belief that technical excellence isn’t enough. To care for others, physicians must also learn how to care for the whole patient and themselves.

Over three years, hematology/oncology fellows participate in:

Monthly psychosocial oncology didactics
Narrative medicine seminars that bring reflection and meaning into clinical work (Jafar Al-Mondhiry, MD, MA)
Communication skills training — not just scripts, but deep practice (Denise Mohess)
And my favorite — they co-lead a support group for cancer survivors every month.

To witness a fellow sit in circle with a patient is powerful (for both patients and fellows). It offers a window into the lived experience of survivorship that few physicians ever get during training.

And the impact is real:

Fellows’ self-assessed communication skills improved
Attitudes toward psychosocial care strengthened
And didactics were rated as meaningful, actionable, and worth sharing

This wouldn’t be possible without the compassionate, brilliant team at Inova Health Peterson Life with Cancer (Kim Lowery Walker, MBA, LCSW-C, Cheryl Hughes, Leigh Ann Caulkins) , who helped shape and teach every part of this work. And the ever-inspiring Ray Wadlow, who champions an education model that creates not just better doctors — but more empathetic humans.

If you’re designing curriculum for fellows, or thinking about how to support trainees through the emotional weight of oncology, we’re happy to share more.

We’re still learning, but we believe this model has something powerful to offer.

Please share this with anyone working to reimagine medical education. We owe it to the next generation of oncologists — and to the patients they’ll care for.”

Title: Artful Oncology: A Comprehensive Psychosocial Oncology Curriculum for Hematology/Oncology Fellows

Authors: Jafar Al-Mondhiry, Kimberly Lowery Walker, Jennifer Bires, Leigh Ann Caulkins, Cheryl Hughes, Denise Mohess, Raymond Wadlow

Read the Full Article on JCO Oncology Practice

Jennifer Bires: How Do We Train Oncologists to Care for Others — Without Losing Themselves in the Process?

More posts featuring Jennifer Bires.

cancer Cheryl Hughes Denise Mohess Inova Health Peterson Life with Cancer Jafar Al-Mondhiry Jennifer Bires Kim Lowery Walker. Kimberly Lowery Walker LCSW-C Leigh Ann Caulkins MBA OncoDaily Oncology Raymond Wadlow

World’s Nicest Judge Frank Caprio Dies at 88 After Brave Battle with Pancreatic Cancer

IMvigor011 Trial Reports ctDNA as Predictor of Response to Adjuvant Atezolizumab in Bladder Cancer

Ruben Mesa is Starting a New Position as President of Cancer National Service Line at Advocate Health

Patrick Soon-Shiong: 30 Years and $3B Toward a Universal Cancer Fighter

Dana Dornsife: After 19 Years, Lazarex Cancer Foundation Is Shuttering Because of Lack of Funding