Hematology/Oncology Fellowship

The training program at Lahey follows the traditional 3-year model with intensive clinic and inpatient exposure in the first two years and a focus on electives and research opportunities in the third year. The program is designed to include a continuity clinic where fellows will have repeated exposure to individual patients over all three years of training to follow them longitudinally through their treatment course. We believe this helps fellows develop strong clinical skills which helps prepare them to manage patients independently.

PGY-4

• Outpatient clinic 8 half days per week in specialty clinics including continuity clinic

PGY-5

• 16 weeks of inpatient wards/consult (mix of hematology, autotransplant, and oncology)
• 4-week mandatory rotations through Rad/Onc, palliative care, blood bank, lab medicine, orthopedic oncology, and neuro-oncology
• 4-week mandatory allogeneic bone marrow transplant and CAR-T cell rotation at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

PGY-6

• Fellows are able to divide their time between research and elective rotations to focus on a subspecialty of interest
• Four weeks of vacation during each year of training

Outpatient Clinic

The principal mechanism by which these educational objectives will be achieved is the fellows' participation in outpatient clinics for 12 months of sub-specialty rotations under the direct supervision of attending faculty. First-year fellows are assigned to participate in approximately 8 such clinics, each of which meets one-half day per week. On average, fellows are expected to see one new patient and 4-8 follow-up patients per session, but the number of patients assigned to each fellow is not limited. Fellows will carry a continuity panel of patients in each clinic. On each visit, including the initial one, the patient is evaluated initially by the fellow, who then presents the case to the attending. The patient is then evaluated jointly by the fellow and attending, with emphasis on pertinent history and elements of physical examination. Diagnostic materials such as pathology specimens and radiographic studies will be reviewed jointly by the fellow and attending. Fellows will be encouraged to formulate differential diagnoses and management plans and to present these to the attending. Attending’s will use these clinics as a format for case-based teaching and will provide guidance for fellows in their independent reading of the medical literature.

Inpatient Rotations

Disorders of hematopoiesis and coagulation, and malignancy can complicate the management of any inpatient admission. This rotation is designed to give the fellow an in-depth experience in the consultative evaluation and management of medical and surgical patients with new or ongoing hematologic or oncologic problems. During this rotation, the fellow will have the opportunity to evaluate and manage patients with a wide array of malignant and non-malignant conditions under the supervision of the attending hematologist/oncologist.

Under most circumstances, patients requiring inpatient chemotherapy will be transferred to one of two services: Oncology or Hematology (co-managed with Hospital Medicine) as appropriate. It is expected that by the completion of the training program, fellows will have broad exposure to the consultative aspects of the specialties and will be prepared for independent practice in these areas.

Fellows will have exposure to autologous stem cell transplant patients while rotating through the inpatient hematology service.

Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplant, CAR T-Cell Rotation

Fellows will do a four-week rotation at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in downtown Boston on the inpatient BMT service. They will have exposure to autologous and allogeneic stem cell transplant patients during their transplant admission and in the post-transplant setting. They will also have exposure to cellular therapy patients receiving CAR T-cell treatment, bispecific antibody treatment and others.

• Dean’s Letter or MSPE from medical school
• Medical School Transcript
• Three (3) letters of recommendation, one of which must be from a residency
• USMLE 1, II, and III board scores
• Personal Statement
• CV as submitted through ERAS
• Lahey Hospital & Medical Center does not sponsor residents or fellows for H1 visas. Lahey Hospital & Medical Center will work with ECFMG to assist you in obtaining a J1 exchange visitor visa for the duration of your training in an ACGME-accredited residency or fellowship training program at Lahey.

Program Director

Russell Baur, MD is a board-certified medical oncologist and hematologist at Lahey Hospital and Medical Center. He completed his medical school at Tufts University School of Medicine. He completed residency and hematology/oncology fellowship at the San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium at Brooke Army Medical Center. He completed a certification in stem cell transplant during his third year of fellowship. He served as director of the stem cell transplant program at Brooke Army Medical Center from 2017-2019. He came to Lahey in 2019 with a focus in benign and malignant hematology as well as autologous stem cell transplant. He became the first director of the Lahey Hematology/Oncology fellowship program in 2023. He enjoys card games, baseball games at Fenway Park and quality time with his family.

Assistant Program Director

Brendan Connell, MD is a board-certified internist and medical oncology physician at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center. He attended the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, graduating in 2011, and went on to residency and chief residency at the Lahey Clinic, before pursuing fellowship training at Tufts Medical Center. Following completion of training, he took an attending position in Medical Oncology at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center and has worked in the department since 2018. Dr. Connell's primary clinical focus is genitourinary oncology and he has worked to revamp the GU Clinical Trials Program since 2018, opening many cooperative group, industry, and investigator initiated trials. He maintains a seat on the Lahey Institutional Review Board (IRB) and he has served as the division's academic liaison to the Lahey Internal Medicine, Tufts Medical School and Tufts Hem/Onc Fellowship programs; and now serving as Associate Program Director for Hematology/Oncology Fellowship. Outside of the hospital, Dr. Connell enjoys trail running, golfing, Boston sports teams, and spending time with family.

Core Key Clinical Faculty

Karl D’Silva MD is a Hematologist and Oncologist at Lahey Clinic Hospital and Medical Center, where he has been serving since July 2009. He is currently the Medical Director of the Cancer Center. He has a special interest in gastrointestinal cancers, head and neck cancers, lung cancers, genitourinary cancers, melanoma, aerodigestive tract disease, and sarcoma. He completed his medical school at Goa Medical College, India. He thereafter pursued his residency at Caritas Carney Hospital (Internal Medicine), Boston, MA, 2003-2006, and Fellowship at Michigan State University, Breslin Cancer Center (Oncology and Hematology), Lansing, 2006-2009. Outside of the hospital, Dr. D’Silva enjoys travelling, watching Celtics and Patriots games, gardening and fishing. 

Lata Thatai, MD is a board-certified medical oncologist and hematologist at Lahey Hospital and Medical Center. She completed her medical school at Christian Medical College and Brown Memorial Hospital in India, and then pursued her residency and fellowship at Wayne State University and Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit. Dr. Thatai joined Lahey Hospital and Medical Center as an attending in 2009. Her primary clinical focus is in the area of breast, gynecologic, and head and neck malignancies. Dr. Thatai also started the Lahey Hereditary Cancer Clinic in 2018 and serves as the Director of the program at LHMC and leads the Cancer Survivorship Program. Also, she has a funded clinical trial in cancer genetics. Outside of the hospital, Dr. Thatai enjoys fitness, reading the New York Times and nature.

Corrine Zarwan, MD is a board-certified medical oncologist with a major focus in the areas of breast and gynecologic malignancies. She completed her undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of Florida. She joined LHMC in 2008 after completing her residency, fellowship training at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center where she also spent the early part of her career on staff.  She is currently the Chair of the Division of Hematology/Oncology and Assistant Director of the Lahey Cancer Institute.. She is an active clinical researcher having participated in over 100 clinical trials over the course of her career. She is the Director of Clinical Cancer Research for LHMC and now co-leads the Clinical Oncology Research Integration Committee for Beth Israel Lahey Health. 

Class of 2027

Dr. Zeina Kayali
Residency: Florida State University/Sarasota Memorial Hospital

Dr. Vivek Kumar
Residency: Maimonides Medical Center