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Shadow Me Next!
Shadow Me Next! is a podcast where we take you behind the scenes of the medical world. I'm Ashley Love, a Physician Assistant, and I will be sharing my journey in medicine and exploring the lives of various healthcare professionals. Each episode, I'll interview doctors, NPs, PAs, nurses, and allied health workers, uncovering their unique stories, the joys and challenges they face, and what drives them in their careers. Whether you're a pre-med student or simply curious about the healthcare field, we invite you to join us as we take a conversational and personal look into the lives and minds of leaders in Medicine. Access you want, stories you need. You're always invited to Shadow Me Next!
Shadow Me Next!
21 - Being Light in Medicine's Darkest Hours: A Journey to Oncology | Dr. Anu Oyetoran
Check our Dr. Oyetoran's youtube channel Journey to MD!
What happens when a determined young girl from Nigeria declares she wants to be a doctor? Dr. Anu Oyetoran's extraordinary journey takes us across continents—from West Africa to Canada, the Caribbean, New York, and finally Florida—where she now serves as chief medical resident at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine.
Beyond her impressive credentials lies a story of remarkable adaptability. Moving to Canada at age 12, Dr. Oyetoran recalls how her accent immediately set her apart, forcing her to develop self-confidence and resilience—qualities that would serve her well throughout medical training. Rather than viewing her numerous relocations as hardships, she embraces them as opportunities for growth and connection, a perspective that has carried her through the demanding years of residency.
Dr. Oyetoran speaks candidly about the challenges of intern year—those grueling 14-hour days in the ICU that test even the most dedicated physicians—and how faith and family support sustained her through the toughest moments. Now, on the cusp of completing her internal medicine residency, she's preparing for a highly competitive fellowship in hematology-oncology, a specialty she chose precisely because it's difficult. Her eyes light up when discussing emerging cancer treatments like CAR T-cell therapy and her hope to someday contribute to finding a cure.
Her dedication extends beyond clinical practice through "Journey to MD," her YouTube channel created to guide aspiring medical professionals through challenges she had to navigate alone. Dr. Oyetoran promises new videos soon, hoping to demystify residency and fellowship experiences for the next generation.
Throughout our conversation, one theme remains constant: Dr. Oyetoran views medicine as a calling—an opportunity to be a light for patients facing their darkest moments. Her story reminds us that behind every white coat is a human being whose unique experiences shape their approach to healing.
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Hello and welcome to Shadow Me Next, a podcast where I take you into and behind the scenes of the medical world to provide you with a deeper understanding of the human side of medicine. I'm Ashley, a physician assistant, medical editor, clinical preceptor and the creator of Shadow Me Next. It is my pleasure to introduce you to incredible members of the healthcare field and uncover their unique stories. The healthcare field and uncover their unique stories, the joys and challenges they face and what drives them in their careers. It's access you want and stories you need, whether you're a pre-health student or simply curious about the healthcare field. I invite you to join me as we take a conversational and personal look into the lives and minds of leaders in medicine. I don't want you to miss a single one of these conversations, so make sure that you subscribe to this podcast, which will automatically notify you when new episodes are dropped, and follow us on Instagram and Facebook at Shadow Me Next, where we will review highlights from this conversation and where I'll give you sneak previews of our upcoming guests. And where I'll give you sneak previews of our upcoming guests.
Ashley:Today, I'm joined by a physician leader and passionate lifelong learner, dr Anu Oyetoran. She's currently serving as chief medical resident at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine, where she's also completing her internal medicine residency. But what truly stands out about Dr Oyetoran isn't just her title or her clinical expertise. It's her deep-rooted drive to grow, inspire and uplift those around her. In this episode she takes us on a journey that spans continents from Nigeria to Canada, the Caribbean, new York and now Florida, sharing how each move shaped her resilience and her adaptability. She opens up about the challenges of medical training, the transformational experience of intern year and her unmatched excitement about what's next a fellowship in hematology and oncology. We also dive into her creative side as the voice behind Journey to MD, her YouTube channel, which offers transparent and encouraging guidance to aspiring medical professionals, and she shares how her family faith and calling to be a light during some of life's darkest moments have fueled her passion to serve, lead and one day contribute to the cure for cancer.
Ashley:Please keep in mind that the content of this podcast is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be considered as professional medical advice. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer or company. This is Shadow Me Next with Dr Anu Oyetoran. Hi, dr Oyetoran. Thank you so much for joining us on this podcast. Before we even get started, full disclosure. I met her when she rotated through our office, so I know you personally and what a presence you are. I remember the first time I even saw you and watched you interact with my colleagues. I thought to myself oh my gosh, I have got to have her on the podcast. So this is like a dream come true. Thank you so much for joining us today. Oh wow.
Dr. Oyetoran:That's so sweet. Thank you for saying that. Hi, ashley, I'm glad to be here. Thank you for inviting me.
Ashley:You have such an amazing journey from the very beginning, and where you're going after this is just going to be incredible. We have so many fun things to talk about. When that happens, I usually think it's great to just start at the beginning. So take us way back and tell us a little bit about what inspired you initially to consider a career in medicine.
Dr. Oyetoran:Yeah, I've always known that I wanted to go into medicine. For me it really was when I was maybe seven or eight, and what happened was my best friend at the time said she wanted to become a pediatrician. And so therefore, because she's my best friend, I also decided I wanted to become a pediatrician as well. But that was that was childish, and as I grew older I started leaning more into the sciences, the biology. I enjoyed anatomy, all of these aspects of it, and so that just became clearer for me. It wasn't just because my childhood best friend had said it. So I was very clear on medicine becoming it. I'm also full disclosure. I'm Nigerian, which is in West Africa, and so once you say to your parents that you want to become a physician, they hold you to it. They don't force you. They don't push you. At least my parents didn't. There are some people who that's their story, but that's not mine. But they definitely encouraged me and they were a huge part of why I was able to achieve this dream of mine.
Dr. Oyetoran:And through high school, I moved actually from Nigeria to Canada in high school and basically still realized that the passion was still there, even though I had changed environments and whatnot, and I even throughout high school.
Dr. Oyetoran:Towards the end of high school I, my mom, found this school called St George's University, and it was a Caribbean school that offered a pre-med to med program.
Dr. Oyetoran:And because I was so sure and usually the process is you do four years of undergrad, then you stop and work we were in Canada at that point in time you finish your undergrad, then you take the MCAT and then you apply to med school, and that process can take anywhere from eight years to however many years it takes for things to work out. And so we decided to go ahead and take that pre-med to med path and it took me about six and a half years with that. So I caught up about a year and a half and so I went to med school in the Caribbean St George's University and from med school in the Caribbean I was there for about four years of my life, and Grenada is such a beautiful country I definitely I've not had the opportunity to visit again, but I definitely do and so from there I did my clinicals in New York and New Jersey, and then the pandemic happened, so I went back home for a couple of months and now I'm here in Gainesville doing my resident.
Ashley:That's an incredible journey, not just a metaphorical journey through all of the schooling that you had to do and the decisions, really, that you and your parents together were blessed and were able to make, but just geographically, from Nigeria to Canada, to Grenada, to New York, new Jersey, and now you're in Florida and you're taking another step. After this, you've matched at a program that is not any of those locations. Were those moves hard for you? Is this something that you just count as part of your story and you've used it to your advantage, or were those really difficult transitions?
Dr. Oyetoran:That's a very good question. I would say yes and no. The initial one, from Nigeria to Canada, was definitely tough. I was 12 at that time and I don't think I fully understood what was happening, but I knew something had changed and having an accent, all of these things played a huge role into how I realized I was different from everyone else around me, and really just that whole journey taught me to be confident in myself, build self-reliance, adaptability as well, which I think are skills that you need in any aspect of healthcare that you go into, and so that probably was the toughest one. Going from Canada to Grenada was tough, but it wasn't too bad because I already had the skills that I built before, and so the other moves weren't too bad. I actually see them as new opportunities for growth, to meet more people, to expand my network, and I always tell myself every time I've moved it has been for something better. It's always just exciting for me to see what's coming next.
Ashley:I love so much what you just said when you mentioned that with your accent, and when you move to these new places and realizing that you are different and you are growing in that confidence and self-reliance and adaptability, and I think that is what has made you so relatable and I applaud you. And I think this is something that we don't talk a lot about specifically in becoming a medical doctor is how many moves there are. You might be able to tell me how many of your colleagues perhaps went to pre-med and then medical school and then residency and then their fellowship, all in the same location. I can't imagine that's very common.
Dr. Oyetoran:It's not. It's very dynamic and, yeah, I don't think I know of anyone who was able to somehow accomplish all four of those stages that you outlined in one place Very rare. So you have to be very willing and to move and very adaptable as well.
Ashley:Thank you so much for sharing that story and highlighting that that's not something we've talked about before, and I think it's one of the things that makes matching out of medical school and then matching again once you're in residency, if you have the opportunity to do that it's. What makes it so exciting is that it is a new adventure, but at the same time, I can't imagine being in that position and realizing that you are about to uproot the life that you've developed right there for the last however many years and start anew, which is holy moly. That must be overwhelming, and it's just an element of what you face as a physician and as a resident. Speaking of which, tell us a little bit about what you face as a resident. You are currently an internal medicine resident here in town, and then you have some pretty exciting next steps, but tell us about your residency right now and the fact that you're a chief resident.
Dr. Oyetoran:Yes, residency so far has been great. The first year is always the toughest, no matter what residency you do, because going from med school to the real world is just night and day. Of course, med school tries its best to prepare you for what you meet out there. What you read on the books is never what you read in real life, and so the first year was tough. But most people and this is my experience as well if you get through that, then you're set for the rest of residence. Intern year was hard.
Dr. Oyetoran:We do a lot of ICU, which is long hours 12 to 13, 14 hours a day A lot of wards as well, which is the bread and butter of internal medicine. But past that, I'm currently in my 30 and I'm at the point where I feel very comfortable and confident in anything. I'm supposed to be an independent practitioner in about three months and I feel like my residency has really prepared me for that. I feel very ready, very confident about that. In my case, I'm going into fellowship and I believe I don't know if we've mentioned it before but I'm going into hematology oncology, which is blood and cancer medicine, and for that you need a good background in internal medicine. It's a backbone of hematology, oncology, so I feel very prepared going into it very excited. It's been a dream of mine for a while to go into hemong.
Ashley:Oh I bet, how did you feel when you matched into hematology oncology?
Dr. Oyetoran:So hematology, or hematology oncology, is one of the hardest specialties in internal medicine to match into. There are a couple that are a little bit tougher, like GI and cardiology, but I was shocked. I was incredibly shocked. I actually had my sister read the email to me because I couldn't open it myself and she recorded my reaction. And it's just my jaw dropped because, although you know I had worked hard for this and I'm a Christian so I've prayed hard for it as well Just the reality of it and seeing all of it just come to pass and really just happen was very incredible and just exciting. I can't. I wish I could capture that feeling in a bottle and just have it at my bedside and open it every morning.
Ashley:Oh, wouldn't that be amazing. Dr Oyetoran, you have mentioned family so many times already and, of course, now you've brought up faith and tell me a little bit about what family and faith mean to you and how they get you through.
Dr. Oyetoran:I think that family is everything. I take credit for how far I've come. I've worked hard for everything that I've achieved, but a huge part of that is my family as well. I have very supportive parents and my siblings. They've been very supportive throughout this journey, and this journey is hard to do alone. Going through medicine alone is just a very tough thing to do and some people have to do it by themselves and I salute them. But I'm grateful that I had my family to lean on for support.
Dr. Oyetoran:For those nights where I needed to just vent or cry or something was tough or bothering me, I could just pick up the phone, call my dad, my mom or I have three sisters, so I could call any one of them and just talk to them. And for me, faith is the same way. I believe in God and the fact that we're here for a reason, and I think, in that perspective, just going along that line, that medicine in many ways is a calling, because see the intimate aspect of humanity, you see a lot of people at their lowest point and to be able to be a light in that way is just something that I hold so dear. And also my faith has definitely supported me through this, knowing that I have a God that I can depend on as well, and that everything is working together for my good, whether it be the way I want it to or the way I don't want it to. Just having that and knowing that is very helpful.
Ashley:That's so true, and even if it's not the way you want it to work out, god is still good and he has a good plan, and I think you probably end up saying that a lot more when you're in medical training. Medicine is a calling. You mentioned the intimate aspects of humanity and being a light for some of these patients in many of their lowest points in their lives. Do you think all of this has contributed to your interest in hematology? Oncology, you mentioned it is one of the most difficult fellowships to pursue after internal medicine. So you know you're not choosing it because it's easy. I'd venture to say you're probably choosing it because it's hard.
Dr. Oyetoran:Yes, that's definitely one of the big things for me. It's a tough specialty, because the people who will be ending up in my office are people who have heard the word cancer and it not just being applied in some generic term, but really it being applied to them and that word is heavy and being somebody that can be a light and not just a light in terms of being a support emotionally, but also knowing the medicine and knowing how we can hopefully in some cases treat and potentially cure some of these cancers to me is just everything. That's one of the big reasons I went into this specialty and the fact that there's a lot of research that's going into it, and I would love to contribute in some way to that to finding some sort of cure or answer for this question of cancer.
Ashley:That brings me to a burning question that I've been wanting to ask you. But before I say that, I just want to highlight the fact that everybody in medicine and probably even many people not in medicine everyone wants to find a cure for cancer, right? But what is so difficult is being in the room with those patients when they find out the diagnosis of cancer, and that is as a Hemonc physician. That's where you're going to be most of the time. Finding a cure is amazing and we're always going to be fighting for those cures and trying to get those patients to that point. But so much of that time is going to be spent in the trenches with them and I'm just I'm so comforted, I have so much hope, knowing that your strength will be their strength in that time. And it takes a special person to work in Hemonc, and I'm so grateful that you've chosen that career, because we need you in it.
Dr. Oyetoran:I appreciate that.
Ashley:Thank you for saying that. No, it's true. So let's go back to the burning question. So you mentioned research and wanting to really impact that cure and finding that cure. Have you done research? I'm sure you have, so tell us a little bit about research you've done in the past. Has it been something that you've enjoyed? And what's next in the future of oncology or hematology oncology, what are we expecting to see?
Dr. Oyetoran:I have done research in the capacity of case reports where we see something that is new or different from the norm. Let's say a certain cancer presents a certain way or we treated it a little bit out of the norm and got a good result. Those type of cases we publish as case reports. Also been involved in retrospective studies where we look at we have the outcome. Let's say somebody was on a certain medication and we look back and see what the exposure was that gave that outcome, and so those are retrospective studies and we do a lot of them as residents. It's hard to do prospective ones or clinical trials. Just given the way my program is set up and just the time that we have in residency, it's not enough time to really be able to set up for clinical trials to see if this certain intervention gives a certain results with certain types of cancer.
Dr. Oyetoran:I do enjoy doing research. I think when you can contribute something to the body of knowledge that's out there, then I'm doing something positive to affect the flow positively towards potentially finding a cure for cancer. In terms of what do I think is next in oncology I've seen CAR T cell therapy Right now we have, I mean there are a lot of immune checkpoint inhibitors that we're using for different types of cancers and getting good results with them. Car-t cell therapies extract somebody's white cells out of their system through their blood and then you basically give those cells in the lab the ability to fight against cancer cells. So that's basically what is happening. It's currently very expensive, very experimental, and that's something that there are big universities that are doing trials to see if that could potentially be something that we can apply to different types of cancers or cancers that in the past have been considered uncurable. I'm very excited about that aspect of oncology.
Ashley:Thankfully, dermatology we often don't have to send many patients for chemotherapy or radiation or any of these newer therapies. But we end up talking about cancer a lot in our office because we number one we diagnose a lot of people with cancer, albeit skin cancer, but then of course, we talk to them about other types of cancers and perhaps how they differ and how the treatments differ, because when we tell somebody they have a skin cancer, they immediately their brain jumps to I'm going to lose all my hair, I'm going to be extremely sick, I'm going to lose weight, I'm going to lose my appetite, all of these things, and that likely is not going to be their story in our office. It's far less severe. But also to tell them about all of these advances in medicine and gosh, one day I hope that we're going to look back on some of these treatments that we're performing right now and go, wow, how barbaric, how barbaric. So I'm just, I am so hopeful and I'm so grateful to all of the researchers, all of the PhDs, all of the MDs, all of the PAs I just spoke with a PA who does clinical research and she's incredible but all of those clinicians doing the hard work so that we can present such hopeful options to our patients.
Ashley:I want to pivot real quick because I'm so excited about talking about this. Once upon a time a couple of years ago probably feels like a lifetime ago to you. Now you started a YouTube channel called Journey to MD and I have watched so many of these episodes and they are just absolute gold, and I will link them below in the show notes. But tell us a little bit about why you started that channel and what your goal was. And is there more to?
Dr. Oyetoran:come. Thank you for watching the videos and for enjoying them. I actually I thought about it journey to MDM there right now, but really I don't know if you're really ever there, because you are all learning. There's so much new information and there's just so much to learn, and no patient presents the same way, even with the same disease. I'm still debating on if I want to keep that name or not, but yes, I started this YouTube channel back in 2020, I believe, or 2021, and basically the inspiration behind it was there was so much information I did not know about being in med school or being a med student or just being in medicine in general, and because I had to learn it by experience, doing it myself or asking people who are currently in it or right ahead of me, I thought to myself that this is not information that I should just keep.
Dr. Oyetoran:This is information that there are people out there who may not have the opportunity but need the information, and so I wanted to make a platform where I could share with people what I was learning, different how to navigate certain things. I have videos up there about different rotations I did how I figured out that I wanted to do internal medicine how to study for step one, step two, the big exams that we have to do, because these were things I had to experience myself in order to fully be able to understand. But the idea of being able to help somebody that I may not even know personally just through my videos was, to me, giving back. So that's why I started a channel and it's been a couple of years since I posted about two years now but I'm currently working on scripts and I will be back posting before June.
Ashley:She'll be back. Guys, like you said, giving back it's pride of profession, it's giving someone a look into your life that they wouldn't otherwise see. It's the same thing with this podcast. There's so much to medicine, it's overwhelming and we hear unfortunately, like most things, we hear so many negatives, but there are so many positives to medicine and yes, it's hard, but yes, it's so worth it. So do you think it's going to focus on how residency has been or do you think you're going to turn more towards what your next steps are in Hemonc?
Dr. Oyetoran:I think the initial videos will focus more on what residency was like and the things I've learned through residency and what I would tell myself in intern year know what I know now. And then, of course, looking towards the future as well. Now it will be real time where I can take them with me on this new journey of fellowship in hematology oncology. This new journey of fellowship in hematology oncology and I'm thinking of a medical Monday where I discuss some sort of medical topic that may have certain myths or untruths around them, or just rumors, and address those in short form content that is easily digestible, not using a lot of medical jargon, and go from there. But but I also still want it to be personalized as well. So I will definitely still be doing vlogs and just like fun videos too.
Ashley:It's so geared towards education. It's geared towards sharing information with others, which is so incredible, and at the same time, speaking personally, it's a great lesson in communication for us, for you and I. You mentioned using plain language to describe some of these things. Oh, there's something that I usually say when I have in-person shadows or when I'm chatting with some of our medical assistants regardless of the education level of the patient that comes in the door, whether they have a seventh grade education or they have a PhD, it is my job to make sure that they have the same understanding of their medical condition when they leave. That's on me, and so being able to communicate is just. It's such an important thing, and I think that producing content like this especially medical content for the masses, so to speak, is a really great lesson in communication.
Dr. Oyetoran:I agree, what you're doing is incredible as well with this podcast. I've had the opportunity to listen to a couple of them and I think again, like you just said, you're communicating things in ways that other people can digest and also for that person who's looking to go into healthcare to be able to find your podcast and listen to it and really understand what it is that they're wanting to do or figure out what path they want to take. I think that's very incredible and very helpful.
Ashley:Yeah, Thank you. Thank you so much for saying that. So we have a segment on the show. It's called Quality Questions. It's where you give us an example of a question that you have been asked in an interview yourself or a question that you like to ask during an interview. This is a great way to help us prepare for our own interviews and break down some of these questions that perhaps we might not have heard ever. Do you have one of these quality questions for us Before we hear what Dr Oya Toran's quality question is? Keep in mind that there's more interview prep, such as mock interviews and personal statement review over on shadowmenextcom. There you'll find amazing resources to help you as you prepare to answer your own quality questions.
Dr. Oyetoran:I do. I have an interesting question that I heard when I was interviewing for fellowship and the question was if you were a kitchen utensil, what would you be? I thought that was such a ridiculous question, but then I thought about it and I realized that I guess they were trying to figure out how well I played in a team. I thought it was a very interesting question that I was asked and it just made me pause to think as to why that would be a question.
Ashley:That's a great question and you're absolutely right. I think thinking about perhaps why they were asking the question is so helpful in crafting an answer to that question. Right, it's obviously it's out of left field, but is there a purpose behind it? Those left field questions always get me.
Dr. Oyetoran:Right and you have to do like a oh, thank you for asking me that question. You need time to think.
Ashley:So true. Oh, that's so great. Dr Oriatoran, thank you so much for joining us on this podcast today. Thank you for your dedication not only to education and helping others, but to medicine and to hematology, oncology, and I wish you all the best.
Dr. Oyetoran:Thank you so much, ashley. I've really had a great time speaking with you as well, and I look forward to seeing you around.
Ashley:Thank you so very much for listening to this episode of Shadow Me Next. If you liked this episode or if you think it could be useful for a friend, please subscribe and invite them to join us next Monday, as always. If you have this episode or if you think it could be useful for a friend, please subscribe and invite them to join us next Monday, as always. If you have any questions, let me know on Facebook or Instagram Access. You want stories you need? You're always invited to shadow me next.
