The Democratization of Hematology-Oncology Medical Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Like many other aspects of hematology-oncology training, medical education experienced rapid changes throughout the COVID-19 pandemic that continue until today. We discuss some of the most transformative areas within medical education, including, but not limited to, educational philosophy; use of virtual resources; inter-institutional connections, shifts in clinical training; changes in recruitment practice; and attention to equity and diversity. Moreover, we add our own experiences to complement the limited literature addressing these topics. We conclude by highlighting some of the benefits of this unprecedented transformation in democratizing medical education that we hope endure beyond the pandemic.

Keywords:

• COVID-19
• medical education
• hematology-oncology
• virtual learning
• social media
• burnout

Declaration of Interest

Samuel A. Kareff reports: research funding from NCI-funded GMaP Region 3.

Ana I. Velazquez reports the following relationships outside of the current work: consulting fees from AstraZeneca; travel/accommodations: DAVA Oncology, Bio Ascend; stock ownership of Corbus Pharmaceuticals; research funding from National Institute on Aging under award P30AG015272, National Cancer Institute under award U54 CA242646-04S2, Conquer Cancer, LUNGevity Foundation, and AACR.

Additional information

Funding

There was no funding utilized in the production of this article.