Lacey Pitre
Lacey Pitre always knew she was going to be a doctor.
"I remember being four years old and doing archeological digs with my sister in the backyard. I had a little fanny pack with all of my medical equipment and I was the field archeologist-doctor. I never considered another career - ever!"
Born and raised in Val Caron, now part of Sudbury, Pitre completed an undergraduate degree in biochemistry at Laurentian University and decided to study medicine close to home to lend support to her mother, who was being treated for breast cancer.
Her decision to become a medical oncologist, she says, is only partly related to her mother's battle, having made up her mind about what she wanted to specialize in before she started medical school.
In addition to being adept at career planning, Pitre is also a natural leader. An active member of NOSM's Student Society right from the start, she rose through the ranks, serving as first year rep, vice-president and president, successively.
She spent one month on the Whitefish River First Nation in her first year and completed four-week placements in Elliot Lake and Iroquois Falls in her second year. Her eight-month Comprehensive Community Clerkship placement in Sault Ste. Marie confirmed her interest in practicing in a smaller city.
"As a medical oncologist in a small community, you can do blood-based malignancies and solid-based tumours in the breast, colon and lung," said Pitre.
"You can be a jack-of-all-trades and use more of your skills, whereas if I practice in a big city like Ottawa, I would have to specialize."
Spending time with medical oncologist Dr. Silvana Spadafore during her eight-month Comprehensive Community Clerkship convinced her to split her time between Sudbury and the Sault when she finishes her residency in Internal Medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton.
"Medical oncology is a very challenging field," said Pitre. "Your patients are very sick and your treatments are very complex and dangerous. Every medication you use to combat cancer has effects on your organs. You have to be very smart, very quick and very dependable. You also have to be very empathetic. It's not a field for the faint-hearted."
During her clerkship in the Sault, she worked primarily with Dr. Christine Ross, "the most amazing woman on the planet," said Pitre. "She's very meticulous, very professional, very smart and she's a great teacher."
Working with patients was the highlight of medical school, she said.
"The patients were very open, very friendly and happy to meet young medical students who are also from Northern Ontario. They always want to know your story and always end by asking if you're coming back to Northern Ontario. That was an easy one for me because I am planning to come back."
