Gerardo Quezada, M.D. Transcript

Return to Trainee Profile Videos

Interview question for Dr. Quezada:
Why M. D. Anderson?

Dr. Quezada answers:
By far away it was the faculty—the chance to work with world renowned faculty. The faculty is very approachable. Never during my fellowship have I felt that I was treated as a trainee. I’ve always been treated as a colleague, and I think that's just a tribute to the type of people that I get a chance to work with every day.

Interview question for Dr. Quezada:
Tell us about your work.

Dr. Quezada answers:
My research project deals mainly with the use of aerosolized therapy for fungal infections. Currently, anybody who develops a fungal infection as a result of their immunosupressed from their cancer therapy has a very high mortality, perhaps as high as 80%. So current therapeutic agents that we have right now—even though they’re good, new alternatives are needed and that’s one thing that my research project is focusing on. The collaborative effort between pediatrics and infectious diseases is also important : because this is something that can not only affect pediatric patients but adults as well, especially anyone who has a hematologic malignancy or undergoes a bone marrow transplant.

Interview question for Dr. Quezada:
Tell us about your postdoc experience.

Dr. Quezada answers:
Again, just the opportunities that I’ve had access to have been great and the key is also, I think, is also taking advantage of those opportunities. I’ve already been able to have some works published including a book chapter. So the opportunities are there, again because this is just such a large cancer center—it’s just whether or not you take advantage of them. I think the fellowship program does everything possible to first of all make those resources available to you, and also to make it easy for you to take advantage of them and be successful. And I think I don’t speak only for myself but also for my colleagues. I think just the publications we’ve had during out fellowship training will speak for that.

Interview question for Dr. Quezada:
Your career plans?

Dr. Quezada answers:
I think my focus will be primarily clinical. I have enjoyed a great deal the research aspect of it. If I do research it will be clinical research. I think in pediatric oncology, because of the nature of the field, most of us do some type of clinical research, especially with the large cooperative group, the children’s oncology group. But I think for most of us, the joy we got out of this field was working with patients and their families.
Another thing that I want to continue to be involved with is the teaching aspect of it, which is another great thing I’ve been able to evolve here during my training is teaching residents and medical students.

Interview question for Dr. Quezada:
Advantages at M. D. Anderson?

Dr. Quezada answers:
The many resources are available to you; you’re talking about one of the largest cancer centers not only in the United States but in the world. So just the fact that we have access not only to work with great pediatric faculty but also with world renowned faculty in the adult oncology field, I think, was justa great drawing point for me when applying for a fellowship here.

Interview question for Dr. Quezada:
Anything else?

Dr. Quezada answers:
Houston I think is a good drawing point. Fourth largest city—you have a lot of things you can do outside the hospital, because I think in our field there is some stress associated with it, and you want access to things to be able to unwind and do things with your spouse or your children, and in a large city like Houston you have those things available. It’s a very diverse city which I think is great.

Interview question for Dr. Quezada:
Final thoughts?

Dr. Quezada answers:
One of the things I looked for is how the fellows interacted with each other and how did the faculty interact with the fellows. A lot of what drew me to this place was what I saw in those interactions when it wasn’t just a one-on-one interview with a faculty or fellow on their own, because anybody can tell you one thing, or what you want to hear during an interview. But another thing is to be able to watch the interaction between the fellows, the faculty and even the nursing staff. I was surprised when I would go to some fellowship programs, and I would hear faculty say one thing and fellows say something else, or they talk about the great relationships with their pediatric staff or pediatric nursing, and then when you’re walking around on the tour, you would see it wasn’t correlating with what they were saying. So I think that’s one of the most important things. I think at the end of the day you need to find a place that’s going to fit you. And M. D. Anderson’s Childrens Cancer Hospital was the place that fit me.