Dr. Pamela Kunz

Transcript

• 00:00My name is Pamela Kunze an I'm an
• 00:03associate professor of medicine
• 00:05in the division of Oncology,
• 00:06and I'm the leader of the GI cancers program.
• 00:10I'm a GI medical oncologist.
• 00:12My specialized focus is in the care of
• 00:14patients with neuroendocrine tumors and
• 00:16I also conduct research in that area.
• 00:19The balance of patient care and
• 00:21research clinical research in
• 00:23my case is is really important.
• 00:24I think that they motivate each other.
• 00:27I'm a clinical trialist.
• 00:28I also do some health services research and.
• 00:31Also evaluate biomarkers for GI cancers.
• 00:33I became interested in medicine
• 00:35at a very early age.
• 00:37In fact, I recently found a picture
• 00:39that I had drawn when I was ten.
• 00:42I wanted to be a doctor.
• 00:44My father was a biologist,
• 00:46so I was exposed to science at
• 00:48a very early age and knew that
• 00:50I wanted to pursue science.
• 00:52What I didn't know is whether I
• 00:54wanted to pursue a PhD in the
• 00:57Sciences or go to medical school,
• 00:59and that took a little while.
• 01:01I was eventually inspired.
• 01:02By a physician with whom I
• 01:04worked right after college,
• 01:06she both did research and she was
• 01:09a pediatric metabolic specialist
• 01:10and I was able to see patients with
• 01:13her and I was really inspired by
• 01:16this combination of seeing patients
• 01:17and conducting research that could
• 01:19improve patient care.
• 01:20I really like it when a patient
• 01:23is asks great questions.
• 01:24Has if they like to do some research
• 01:27or have read about what they have.
• 01:30That's fine, but that's not required.
• 01:32And I'm open to having a dialogue with
• 01:35patients about what they're worried
• 01:36about and what questions they have.
• 01:38So I think really the best
• 01:40advice is just bring questions,
• 01:41write them down.
• 01:42I think that it's often easy to
• 01:44forget what you ask when you're
• 01:46in the moment with the doctor.
• 01:48So right those questions down
• 01:50bring family members with you as
• 01:52long as it's covid allowed.
• 01:53I'd also welcome if a family member
• 01:55cannot physically be with you.
• 01:57I'm happy to have them on the phone
• 01:59and we can conference them in.
• 02:01I think that can provide a great support.
• 02:03I know,
• 02:04especially with a new cancer
• 02:06diagnosis or even meeting a new
• 02:08Doctor that that can be scary.
• 02:10So we want patients to feel as
• 02:12comfortable as they can seeing us.
• 02:14I'd like patients to know that
• 02:17I really value teamwork,
• 02:18and I value the other members of my team.
• 02:21I think that they are critical to
• 02:23providing great patient care that
• 02:25includes our nurses are advanced
• 02:27practice providers like nurse
• 02:28practitioners or social workers
• 02:30and nutritionists,
• 02:31and I really plan on bringing all
• 02:33those folks in as part of our team.
• 02:36I think that that gives patients
• 02:38the best care.
• 02:39I want them to feel that they
• 02:41can get and take advantage of all
• 02:43of the expertise at Yale.