The City of Hope Hematology-Oncology fellowship has been active since the mid-1970's.  It was the last free standing fellowship independent of an internal medicine training program until it's affiliation with Harbor-UCLA Internal Medicine.  The strengths of this fellowship have always been the variety and viability of patient populations, the excellent accessibility of faculty teaching and opportunity for fellows to participate in clinical trials and even write clinical trials.  Graduates excel in both clinical oncology skills and academic training to be able to thrive in either private or academic practice.

The program is underoing several changes at the present time in order to reflect trends in oncology practice.  The most important feature of this transition is the incorporation of an inpatient oncology service, allowing fellows exposure to a wide variety of solid tumor patients.

The experience shifts towards mainly hematology and research time during the second year.  Six months are spent in the hematology-oncology clinics at Harbor-UCLA.  A portion of this time is also reserved for work on the general hematology consult service.  Harbor-UCLA offers excellent preparation for board certification in hematology. 

Fellows are afforded the opportunity to explore oncology related research opportunities during the dedicated research months.  City of Hope provides fellows many avenues for both for clinical and basic science research; fellows have pursued a diverse array of projects in the past and have earned numerous distinctions in the process.