Dr Eric Singhi Navigates Advocacy, Mentorship, and More in NSCLC Management

Eric K. Singhi, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the journey of non–smell cell lung cancer treatment through mentorship, advocacy, and more.

Singhi discussed how personal experiences have impacted his career and how he approaches treatment of patients with cancer in clinical practice.

"What I learned from having a diagnosis of cancer in my family was the impact that it has not only on the person that has cancer, but on their family members, on their caregivers, on their loved ones," Singhi said. "[There is] the emotional toll, the physical toll, understanding the diagnosis, and patients and families are thrown immediately into a whole new world of language they don't understand—new tests, new labs, new scans, new treatments. How do they process that? How do they understand it?"

Singhi also touched how social media can be a double-edged sword, especially for health care professionals.

"A lot of us post about all the accomplishments that we have—all the accomplishments and successes and success stories. Very rarely do you see that raw side of rejections of, you know, times where there were failures," Singhi said. "How do you turn those experiences into a more positive experience and how do you turn them into learning experiences?"

Singhi stressed that sometimes it's not just about the destination, highlighting it context with research and grant efforts in one's career, but it's about the journey being taken with them.

"It's about the people that you meet, the connections that you make, and the skillset that you learn by just going through different opportunities," he explained. "We need to all be more open about not only the success stories that we have, but some of the failures and the challenges that we have and what we learn from them."