Fellowship Details & Requirements

The application process begins on June 1 and ends on September 15. The fellowship program begins on July 1 and ends on June 30. Our GME Office has preliminary eligibility requirements that all prospective trainees must meet before applying for a training program
at our institution. In addition to these criteria, our program requires:
 

• A 500–1,000 word essay of a research proposal with one hypothesis about aerodigestive tumors

First-Year Goals and Objectives

• Learn and understand the appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to thoracic and/or head and neck cancers.
• Manage patients they see along with the attending physician in the Thoracic and/or Head and Neck centers.
• Review patients’ radiology and pathology reports and interact with radiologists and pathologists.
• Interface with other specialists and health care professionals to optimize their patients’ cancer care.
• Present patients’ cases at the weekly multidisciplinary thoracic and/or head and neck conferences.
• Assist writing prescriptions, ordering diagnostic tests and treatment plan orders, which are cross-checked and approved by an attending physician and a PharmD.
• Involve in a variety of thoracic and head and neck research programs but focus on projects of their interest.
• Prepare manuscripts evolving from their research and submit them to peer-reviewed journals.
• Attend departmental and institutional meetings, conferences, seminars and Grand Rounds.
• Become innovative physician-scientists or clinical investigators who can effectively translate laboratory discoveries into improvements in patient care.
• Be inspired teachers to instruct others in the principles of multidisciplinary patient care and research at all levels – basic, translational, and clinical.

Second-Year Goals and Objectives

Fellows who are offered a second year are expected to:

• Demonstrate outstanding ability as a medical oncologist.
• Have increased focus on research project and reduced patient care responsibilities. The exact distribution of effort will be decided on a case-by-case basis.
• Demonstrate substantial effort in and progress toward completion of an independent research project.
• Demonstrate evidence of scholarship through abstract submissions, meeting presentations, publications, grant applications and participation in seminars.
• Demonstrate collegiality with faculty and ability to work seamlessly with other research and health care professionals.
  

Scope of Thoracic Head and Neck Medical Oncology

• Outpatient cancer care in Thoracic Center
• Outpatient cancer care in Head and Neck Center
• Multidisciplinary clinics and tumor boards
• Education: Didactic lectures, tumor boards, Grand Rounds, seminars

Outpatient Responsibilities:

• Trainee sees and examine patients in both the Thoracic and Head and Neck clinics under the supervision of the program director and/or the primary faculty mentor.
• Following up on radiology and pathology reports, fielding their patients’ questions and interfacing with other specialists and health care professionals to optimize their patients’ cancer care.
• Presenting their patients’ histories at the weekly Thoracic Multidisciplinary Conference and weekly Head and Neck Multidisciplinary Conference, when appropriate.
• Assisting in the writing of prescriptions and chemotherapy orders for the patients, which are then checked and signed by an attending physician and a pharmacist.
  

Our fellows have received significant grants and awards in the past year, including the ASCO Young Investigator Award and Endowed Fellowship Research Award.

Endowed Fellowship Research Award – Jeffrey Lee Cousins Fellowship in Lung Cancer Research

Recipient: Haniel Araujo, M.D. (now Assistant Professor, Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology, MD Anderson Cancer Center)
Amount: $2,000 | 2022-2023

Conquer Cancer Young Investigator Award

Principal Investigator: Luana Guimaraes De Sousa, M.D.
Organization: American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)
Amount: $50,000 | 7/2022-9/2024

Recent Faculty & Fellow Publications

Mechanisms of response and tolerance to active RAS inhibition in KRAS-mutant NSCLC - PubMed (nih.gov)
Publication: Cancer Discovery, 2024
Authors: Araujo HA, Pechuan-Jorge X, Zhou T, Do MT, Hu X, Rojas Alvarez FR, Salvatierra ME, Ibarguen HP, Lee R, Raghulan R, Shah H, Moreno Ayala MA, Chen K, Tovbis Shifrin N, Wu S, Solis Soto LM, Negrao MV, Gibbons DL, Hong DS, Roth JA, Heymach JV, Zhang J, Jiang J, Singh M, Smith JAM, Quintana E, Skoulidis F.

Comutations and KRASG12C Inhibitor Efficacy in Advanced NSCLC
Publication: Cancer Discovery, 2023
Authors: Negrao MV, Araujo HA, Lamberti G, Cooper AJ, Akhave NS, Zhou T, Delasos L, Hicks JK, Aldea M, Minuti G, Hines J, Aredo JV, Dennis MJ, Chakrabarti T, Scott SC, Bironzo P, Scheffler M, Christopoulos P, Stenzinger A, Riess JW, Kim SY, Goldberg SB, Li M, Wang Q, Qing Y, Ni Y, Do MT, Lee R, Ricciuti B, Alessi JV, Wang J, Resuli B, Landi L, Tseng SC, Nishino M, Digumarthy SR, Rinsurongkawong W, Rinsurongkawong V, Vaporciyan AA, Blumenschein GR, Zhang J, Owen DH, Blakely CM, Mountzios G, Shu CA, Bestvina CM, Garassino MC, Marrone KA, Gray JE, Patel SP, Cummings AL, Wakelee HA, Wolf J, Scagliotti GV, Cappuzzo F, Barlesi F, Patil PD, Drusbosky L, Gibbons DL, Meric-Bernstam F, Lee JJ, Heymach JV, Hong DS, Heist RS, Awad MM, Skoulidis F.

Spatial Immunoprofiling of Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma Reveals B7-H4 Is a Therapeutic Target for Aggressive Tumors - PubMed (nih.gov)
Publication: Clinical Cancer Research, 2023
Authors: Sousa LG, McGrail DJ, Lazar Neto F, Li K, Marques-Piubelli ML, Ferri-Borgogno S, Dai H, Mitani Y, Spardy Burr N, Cooper ZA, Kinneer K, Cortez MA, Lin SY, Bell D, El Naggar A, Burks J, Ferrarotto R.

Phase II Clinical Trial of Axitinib and Avelumab in Patients With Recurrent/Metastatic Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma - PubMed (nih.gov)
Publication: Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2023
Authors: Ferrarotto R, Sousa LG, Feng L, Mott F, Blumenschein G, Altan M, Bell D, Bonini F, Li K, Marques-Piubelli ML, Dal Lago EA, Johnson JJ, Mitani Y, Godoy M, Lee A, Kupferman M, Hanna E, Glisson BS, Elamin Y, El-Naggar A.

Intracranial Efficacy of Adagrasib in Patients From the KRYSTAL-1 Trial With KRASG12C-Mutated Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Who Have Untreated CNS Metastases - PubMed (nih.gov)
Publication: Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2023
Authors: Negrao MV, Spira AI, Heist RS, Jänne PA, Pacheco JM, Weiss J, Gadgeel SM, Velastegui K, Yang W, Der-Torossian H, Christensen JG, Sabari JK.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy plus nivolumab with or without ipilimumab in operable non-small cell lung cancer: the phase 2 platform NEOSTAR trial - PubMed (nih.gov)
Publication: Nature Medicine, 2023
Authors: Cascone T, Leung CH, Weissferdt A, Pataer A, Carter BW, Godoy MCB, Feldman H, William WN Jr, Xi Y, Basu S, Sun JJ, Yadav SS, Rojas Alvarez FR, Lee Y, Mishra AK, Chen L, Pradhan M, Guo H, Sinjab A, Zhou N, Negrao MV, Le X, Gay CM, Tsao AS, Byers LA, Altan M, Glisson BS, Fossella FV, Elamin YY, Blumenschein G Jr, Zhang J, Skoulidis F, Wu J, Mehran RJ, Rice DC, Walsh GL, Hofstetter WL, Rajaram R, Antonoff MB, Fujimoto J, Solis LM, Parra ER, Haymaker C, Wistuba II, Swisher SG, Vaporciyan AA, Lin HY, Wang J, Gibbons DL, Jack Lee J, Ajami NJ, Wargo JA, Allison JP, Sharma P, Kadara H, Heymach JV, Sepesi B. 

Oncogene-specific differences in tumor mutational burden, PD-L1 expression, and outcomes from immunotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer - PubMed (nih.gov)
Publication: Journal of Immunotherapy of Cancer, 2021
Authors: Negrao MV, Skoulidis F, Montesion M, Schulze K, Bara I, Shen V, Xu H, Hu S, Sui D, Elamin YY, Le X, Goldberg ME, Murugesan K, Wu CJ, Zhang J, Barreto DS, Robichaux JP, Reuben A, Cascone T, Gay CM, Mitchell KG, Hong L, Rinsurongkawong W, Roth JA, Swisher SG, Lee J, Tsao A, Papadimitrakopoulou V, Gibbons DL, Glisson BS, Singal G, Miller VA, Alexander B, Frampton G, Albacker LA, Shames D, Zhang J, Heymach JV.

Poziotinib for EGFR exon 20-mutant NSCLC: Clinical efficacy, resistance mechanisms, and impact of insertion location on drug sensitivity - PubMed (nih.gov)
Publication: Cancer Cell, 2022 Authors: Elamin YY, Robichaux JP, Carter BW, Altan M, Tran H, Gibbons DL, Heeke S, Fossella FV, Lam VK, Le X, Negrao MV, Nilsson MB, Patel A, Vijayan RSK, Cross JB, Zhang J, Byers LA, Lu C, Cascone T, Feng L, Luthra R, San Lucas FA, Mantha G, Routbort M, Blumenschein G Jr, Tsao AS, Heymach JV.

Structure-based classification predicts drug response in EGFR-mutant NSCLC - PubMed (nih.gov)
Publication: Nature, 2021
Authors: Robichaux JP, Le X, Vijayan RSK, Hicks JK, Heeke S, Elamin YY, Lin HY, Udagawa H, Skoulidis F, Tran H, Varghese S, He J, Zhang F, Nilsson MB, Hu L, Poteete A, Rinsurongkawong W, Zhang X, Ren C, Liu X, Hong L, Zhang J, Diao L, Madison R, Schrock AB, Saam J, Raymond V, Fang B, Wang J, Ha MJ, Cross JB, Gray JE, Heymach JV.

A STING operation to expose KRAS and STK11 co-mutated lung cancers - PubMed (nih.gov)
Publication: Cancer Cell, 2022
Authors: Skoulidis F, Heymach JV, Cascone T.

Sotorasib for Lung Cancers with KRAS p.G12C Mutation - PubMed (nih.gov)
Publication: New England Journal of Medicine, 2021
Authors: Skoulidis F, Li BT, Dy GK, Price TJ, Falchook GS, Wolf J, Italiano A, Schuler M, Borghaei H, Barlesi F, Kato T, Curioni-Fontecedro A, Sacher A, Spira A, Ramalingam SS, Takahashi T, Besse B, Anderson A, Ang A, Tran Q, Mather O, Henary H, Ngarmchamnanrith G, Friberg G, Velcheti V, Govindan R.

Proteogenomic Analysis of Salivary Adenoid Cystic Carcinomas Defines Molecular Subtypes and Identifies Therapeutic Targets - PubMed (nih.gov)
Publication: Clinical Cancer Research, 2021
Authors: Ferrarotto R, Mitani Y, McGrail DJ, Li K, Karpinets TV, Bell D, Frank SJ, Song X, Kupferman ME, Liu B, Lee JJ, Glisson BS, Zhang J, Aster JC, Lin SY, Futreal PA, Heymach JV, El-Naggar AK. 

Pilot Phase II Trial of Neoadjuvant Immunotherapy in Locoregionally Advanced, Resectable Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck - PubMed (nih.gov)
Publication: Clinical Cancer Research, 2021
Authors: Ferrarotto R, Amit M, Nagarajan P, Rubin ML, Yuan Y, Bell D, El-Naggar AK, Johnson JM, Morrison WH, Rosenthal DI, Glisson BS, Johnson FM, Lu C, Mott FE, Esmaeli B, Diaz EM Jr, Gidley PW, Goepfert RP, Lewis CM, Weber RS, Wargo JA, Basu S, Duan F, Yadav SS, Sharma P, Allison JP, Myers JN, Gross ND.

Added value of whole-exome and RNA sequencing in advanced and refractory cancer patients with no molecular-based treatment recommendation based on a 90-gene panel - PubMed (nih.gov)
Publication: Cancer Medicine, 2024
Authors: Dufresne A, Attignon V, Ferrari A, Tonon L, Boyault S, Tabone-Eglinger S, Cassier P, Trédan O, Corradini N, Vinceneux A, Swalduz A, Viari A, Chabaud S, Pérol D, Blay JY, Saintigny P.

Immunologically active phenotype by gene expression profiling is associated with clinical benefit from PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors in real-world head and neck and lung cancer patients - PubMed (nih.gov)
Publication: European Journal of Cancer, 2022
Authors: Foy JP, Karabajakian A, Ortiz-Cuaran S, Boussageon  M, Michon L, Bouaoud J, Fekiri D, Robert M, Baffert KA, Hervé G, Quilhot P, Attignon V, Girod A, Chaine A, Benassarou M, Zrounba P, Caux C, Ghiringhelli F, Lantuejoul S, Crozes C, Brochériou I, Pérol M, Fayette J, Bertolus C, Saintigny P.

Altered Regulation of HIF-1α in Naive- and Drug-Resistant EGFR-Mutant NSCLC: Implications for a Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-Dependent Phenotype - PubMed (nih.gov)
Publication: Journal of Thoracic Oncology, 2021
Authors: Nilsson MB, Robichaux J, Herynk MH, Cascone T, Le X, Elamin Y, Patel S, Zhang F, Xu L, Hu L, Diao L, Shen L, He J, Yu X, Nikolinakos P, Saintigny P, Fang B, Girard L, Wang J, Minna JD, Wistuba II, Heymach JV.

Spatial PD-L1, immune-cell microenvironment, and genomic copy-number alteration patterns and drivers of invasive-disease transition in prospective oral precancer cohort - PubMed (nih.gov)
Publication: Cancer, 2023
Authors: William WN Jr, Zhang J, Zhao X, Parra ER, Uraoka N, Lin HY, Peng SA, El-Naggar AK, Rodriguez-Canales J, Song J, Gillenwater AM, Wistuba II, Myers JN, Gold KA, Ferrarotto R, Hwu P, Davoli T, Lee JJ, Heymach JV, Papadimitrakopoulou VA, Lippman SM.

Neoadjuvant nivolumab or nivolumab plus ipilimumab in operable non-small cell lung cancer: the phase 2 randomized NEOSTAR trial - PubMed (nih.gov)
Publication: Nature Medicine, 2021
Authors: Cascone T, William WN Jr, Weissferdt A, Leung CH, Lin HY, Pataer A, Godoy MCB, Carter BW, Federico L, Reuben A, Khan MAW, Dejima H, Francisco-Cruz A, Parra ER, Solis LM, Fujimoto J, Tran HT, Kalhor N, Fossella FV, Mott FE, Tsao AS, Blumenschein G Jr, Le X, Zhang J, Skoulidis F, Kurie JM, Altan M, Lu C, Glisson BS, Byers LA, Elamin YY, Mehran RJ, Rice DC, Walsh GL, Hofstetter WL, Roth JA, Antonoff MB, Kadara H, Haymaker C, Bernatchez C, Ajami NJ, Jenq RR, Sharma P, Allison JP, Futreal A, Wargo JA, Wistuba II, Swisher SG, Lee JJ, Gibbons DL, Vaporciyan AA, Heymach JV, Sepesi B.

Visit our Faculty page and get to know our Faculty. 

In addition to gaining unparalleled education and training experience, MD Anderson trainees have access to exceptional resources and benefits to help them build meaningful careers and lead fulfilling lives.

Institutional benefits and support

GME trainees’ salary stipends are updated every year based on the ACGME’s recommendations, and because our trainees are considered workforce members, they also enjoy MD Anderson’s employee benefits, including health insurance, retirement planning, disability insurance and six weeks of parental leave.

Our GME House Staff Senate offers trainees the opportunity to experience a leadership role in a medical field career, and the institution’s Academic Mentoring Council provides avenues to secure tailored academic mentoring from faculty. Our GME trainees benefit from the extensive support offered to our research trainees, too; they are invited to participate in grant application workshops, apply for pilot grants to support their research ideas and receive monetary awards for securing extramural grant funding.

Trainee wellness is also of utmost importance at MD Anderson.

Our trainees have access to MD Anderson’s employee networks, fitness center and other wellness resources provided by the institution. Additionally, our Graduate Medical Education Committee (GMEC), which provides oversight of our accredited programs, regularly assess our trainees’ needs and implements various initiatives, such as providing free call meals and discounted parking to GME House Staff, to address those gaps. The committee even has a subcommittee entirely dedicated to supporting the wellness of our trainees.

Our efforts to ensure a welcoming and supportive education and training experience have been commended nationally. In 2023, the Office of Graduate Medical Education received the DeWitt C. Baldwin, Jr. Award, a prestigious national award that recognizes our institution for its respectful and supportive environment for delivering medical education and patient care.

Beyond MD Anderson

MD Anderson’s location has many benefits, too. Our main campus is nestled inside the Texas Medical Center, the world’s largest medical center which boasts about 10 million patient encounters each year. Many of our faculty are involved in interorganizational research collaborations, both within the TMC and across the nation, exposing trainees to groundbreaking advancements in medical care in real time.

Most importantly, the city of Houston is a great place to call home and raise a family. We are one of the most culturally diverse cities in the nation. More than 145 different languages are spoken across the city, placing us behind only New York and Los Angeles. In fact, about 30% of the city’s population speaks a language other than English at home. And, paychecks here stretch farther than most U.S. metro areas, thanks to our low cost of living.

Visit our Why Houston page to learn more about our city’s affordable housing, fine dining, entertainment scene, nationally renowned museums and other great attributes.