UCLA Journal of Radiation Oncology January 1, 2022 - Flipbook - Page 16
UCLA RADIATION ONCOLOGY JOURNAL
DR. BETH NEILSEN:
CHOOSING A RESIDENCY PROGRAM
Our Editor caught up with Dr. Neilsen, a PGY-2, to discuss her background,
trajectory, and why she chose the UCLA Radiation Oncology Residency.
Q: Where are you from?
experiences revealed to me how many
unknowns remained and how much room
for research existed in understanding
cancer biology and how rapidly this can
translate into real prognostic information
and even novel treatment options for
cancer patients. After being exposed to
oncology subspecialities, I gravitated
towards Radiation Oncology for several
reasons including the academic collegial
environment, the close and meaningful
patient interactions, and the highly
technically driven field.
B: I grew up in a small town in Kansas
(Wameo, KS), but completed my
undergraduate training in Computer
Science at the University of NebraskaLincoln and completed my MD/PhD
training at the University of Nebraska
Medical Center.
Q: What influenced your trajectory?
B: Ever since I completed high school,
I planned on going into medicine. I did
choose to major in Computer Science due
to an early introduction to the field from
my father (a Computer Science Professor
at K-State) and my older sister who
majored in Computer Engineering.
Q: What was your road to the Radiation
Oncology Residency at UCLA?
B: After deciding to apply for Radiation
Oncology Residencies, I completed four
radiation oncology rotations during
my M4 year, including one at UNMC,
UCSF, U of Chicago, and Stanford. These
were amazing experiences and helped
me to solidify what I was looking for
in a residency program. UCLA stood
out during my interviews due to the
dedication of the faculty (and notably the
Chair of the Department, Dr. Steinberg)
engaging and teaching their residents
in a safe and motivating environment,
promoting overall wellness with a good
work-life balance, completing meaningful
and treatment-changing research, and
providing unique and diverse training
using multiple technologies and
modalities.
Q: Why medicine? From medicine, how
did you arrive at Radiation Oncology?
B: I fell in love with medicine and learning
about how the human body works and
how and why it breaks when taking a high
school anatomy and physiology class.
The mysteries in medicine drew me to
the field. It was not until my last year of
medical school that I truly committed to
pursuing a career in Radiation Oncology.
I had fallen into a cancer research
lab for my PhD research after being
enticed by a combined computational
biology project that included wet lab
research for validation. That was exactly
the training I was hoping to undergo
for my PhD research training. These
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