Blackberry Lemon Cheesecake Bars
I was so excited that my research was accepted at the big ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology) conference this year! The conference is always held in Chicago in June, and this was my first time going. I presented research on end of life care/medical aid in dying in lung and head and neck cancer patients.

I was very pregnant when I attended – people were very nice to me, helping me with luggage on the flight, offering me seating at the conference (which I very gladly accepted) and security letting me drop off my poster when we were waiting to set up, so I didn’t have to carry it around. My mentor stopped by my poster while I was explaining my research to people walking by and took photos of me in action (as well as some selfies of us).

I was hoping to stay with a good friend from residency, but she got very sick with a virus (even though she tested negative, we thought it might be COVID19). Since it was close to my due date, we both agreed it was best for me to stay elsewhere since I didn’t want to get sick, nor did I want to bring COVID19 to a conference with 40,000 oncology providers and expose cancer patients.
I stayed with my co-fellows who were also attending ASCO, which was a lot of fun. I also got to meet up with my cousin for dinner and some hematology-oncology friends from residency for lunch.

There was a dinner social for the Fred Hutch Cancer Center, and it was the first time many attendings had seen me in person since I got pregnant. The dinner was held at Quartino Ristorante, which is where B and I had date night so many years ago!
I listened to a lot of lectures as well as attending career development workshops/lectures for trainees. I’m a bit nervous since this coming year I need to figure out what I’m doing and find a real job as an oncologist!

Blackberry Lemon Cheesecake Bar recipe adapted from Baker by Nature
Blackberry Lemon Cheesecake Bars