Dr. Pamela Kunz
November 18, 2020Information
Dr. Pamela Kunz discusses what inspired her to become a doctor and her approach when caring for patients.
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- 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.