Why Apply?
Patients with active cancer comprise a growing percentage of patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) worldwide. At the same time, cancer care is rapidly evolving, with novel therapies changing the treatment landscape and prognosis across hematologic malignancies and solid tumours. Considering this, caring for severely ill patients with cancer is increasingly complex. While all intensivists must be aware of core principles in oncologic critical care, we believe that having intensivists with clinical expertise in this area is essential in specialized, high-volume practice settings. Similarly, there is a need for more high-quality research at the intersection of oncology and critical care medicine.
Our fellowship in oncologic critical care is designed to provide intensivists with exposure to various specialties within oncology at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (PM) and complex critically ill patients with cancer in the Mount Sinai Hospital (MSH) ICU. PM is the largest cancer centre in Canada and consistently ranks among the best in the world. The breadth of care offered includes stem cell transplant, acute leukemia, CAR T-cell therapy, other novel immunotherapy, and many clinical trials. The 27-bed MSH ICU serves as the ICU for PM, and the critical care team provides outreach services there. MSH also has its own subspecialized surgical oncology program, including complex sarcoma resections, extensive reconstructive surgeries for head and neck malignancies and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) surgery. Many of these patients are cared for in the ICU post-operatively.
Our overarching goal is to prepare our fellows to become future leaders in the field of oncologic critical care.