A childhood loss led to a medical and research career focused on improving cancer care for older adults
The death of a parent can leave an indelible scar. When this loss happens during childhood, it can also shape a life’s path and purpose. For Melisa Wong, MD, MAS, AGSF, this tenet held true.
Wong’s father died from lung cancer when she was 12. Before then, she was interested in science but hadn’t considered a career in medicine. But the impact the cancer care team had on her father — and their entire family — stuck with her. So, when Wong heard about an opportunity for high-achieving high school students from low-income backgrounds to take part in a summer program at Stanford University (Quest Scholars Program, now QuestBridge), she applied.
That experience put her on the path to where she is today: a research scientist at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research and a physician with The Permanente Medical Group who cares for patients with lung cancer and studies ways to improve cancer care for older adults. We spoke with Wong about her career path and the unique needs of older adults with cancer.
What led you to DOR?
I’m originally from Malaysia and grew up in Torrance in Southern California. When I was in high school, I participated in a summer program at Stanford that was co-founded by an emergency medicine physician. Neither of my parents went to college, and there are no physicians in my family so this was a completely new experience for me. I had the opportunity to shadow in an emergency room and could imagine myself as a physician for the first time. I went to college at Stanford because of that experience.
After I graduated, I worked at Genentech for 2 years as a medicinal chemistry research assistant to save money for medical school. Then, I went to the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine and stayed there for my internal medicine residency and medical oncology fellowship. I also completed advanced research training as an Aging Research T32 Fellow in the UCSF Division of Geriatrics and earned a master’s degree in clinical research from the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. I was at UCSF for 16 years before moving to DOR last May.
I joined DOR to increase the potential impact of my geriatric oncology research program. I’m excited to collaborate with incredible DOR cancer researchers and learn from DOR’s robust research data infrastructure.
I wanted to develop tools that can help oncologists provide not only better care but care that aligns with patients’ goals, values, and preferences.
Why did you decide to focus on geriatric oncology?
During medical school, I had the opportunity to work with Louise Walter, MD, chief of the UCSF Division of Geriatrics, who has done extensive research on cancer screening in older adults. She introduced me to the world of aging research and what it means to center what matters most to patients in our work. It can be very challenging to provide high-quality cancer care to older adults. We often don’t have relevant data to inform decision making for older adults with cancer because they are underrepresented in clinical trials. And the older adults who participate in trials are often the fittest of the fit, so the existing evidence base may not apply to the more frail older patients that I routinely see in clinic.
Working with Dr. Walter, I saw how caring for older adults highlighted the art in medicine. I wanted to develop tools that can help oncologists provide not only better care but care that aligns with patients’ goals, values, and preferences. These goals might be to improve their quality of life or maintain their ability to live independently. Some older patients may not be willing to undergo relatively toxic treatment if that is likely to worsen their functional status. A lot of geriatric oncology is about tailoring care to each individual patient.
How do you decide what areas to focus on in your research?
Another thing Dr. Walter taught me is to study what I find most challenging in clinic. As a result, my research program focuses on improving the delivery of care that meets the goals of older adults through 2 complementary approaches: development of risk prediction tools to improve how we identify which patients are at highest risk for poor outcomes and development of communication tools to help clinicians support shared decision making for older patients.
What advice would you give to physicians who also are interested in research?
I would recommend reflecting on what you are passionate about clinically. What challenges you and your colleagues in your clinical work? What types of patient cases or decisions keep you up at night? Where do patients and their families need more support? Look for areas in medicine that need improvement and bring your unique perspective on potential solutions. Research careers are challenging, full of rejections and setbacks. The best way I’ve found to continue to persevere and make a difference is to truly care about the patients and populations you serve.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
I discovered my love for pottery last year and joined a community studio. As a ceramic artist, I love handbuilding with clay. (Top photo shows Melisa with her handmade ceramic flutter bowl decorated with cobalt oxide and celadon glazes.) It’s a wonderful creative medium and community to meet new friends. Also, we just finished renovating our backyard, and spend a lot of time playing outside with our 4-year-old son and having friends over for barbeques.
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