Episode 24: A Day in the Life of a Medical Oncologist

In this episode Kate Thomas talks to her husband David, a medical oncologist with more than 20 years of clinical experience, about:

• What a medical oncologist actually does beyond prescribing chemotherapy
• Multidisciplinary team meetings and why cancer care is never the work of a single doctor
• How treatment decisions are made in the context of uncertainty
• Palliative care and its role within oncology
• The emotional weight of the work and how oncologists carry it
• What good colleagues and good teamwork look like in modern medicine
• The privilege and the difficulty of caring for people at their most vulnerable

The public understanding of oncology tends to begin and end with chemotherapy, but the reality of the work is far more complex, collaborative and human than that framing suggests. In Episode 24, David shares what a typical day actually looks like as a medical oncologist with more than two decades of experience, covering the clinical decisions, the team dynamics, the administrative weight and the deeply personal moments that punctuate every working week. For anyone who has had a family member navigating cancer care, or who has wondered what happens in the conversations and meetings that shape treatment decisions, this episode offers a rare and genuinely illuminating window. 

One of the most important insights in Episode 24 is the emphasis on multidisciplinary teamwork as the foundation of good cancer care. Treatment decisions are not made by a single doctor in isolation. They are made in team meetings that bring together oncologists, surgeons, radiation oncologists, pathologists, radiologists, palliative care specialists, nurses and allied health professionals, each contributing a different perspective on the same patient. David explains how these meetings work, why they matter, and what happens when the team disagrees. For patients and families navigating cancer care, understanding this collaborative structure can make the system feel less opaque and more navigable. 

Cancer care involves an extraordinary amount of uncertainty, and Episode 24 does not shy away from that reality. David speaks honestly about how treatment decisions are made when the evidence is incomplete, when patients have competing priorities, and when the right answer is genuinely unclear. Kate, with her pharmacist's perspective on medications and clinical evidence, brings her own lens to these conversations, and the result is a discussion about the limits of medicine that is honest without being bleak. Understanding uncertainty as an inherent feature of good clinical practice rather than a sign of failure is one of the most valuable things a patient or carer can take from this episode. 

Palliative care is frequently misunderstood as giving up on treatment, when in reality it is one of the most active and skilled areas of cancer care. David explains how palliative care fits within oncology, when it becomes part of a patient's plan, and what it actually involves in terms of symptom management, quality of life and the support of patients and families through the most difficult stages of illness. Kate brings her own palliative care pharmacy experience to this conversation, and together they offer one of the most clear-eyed and compassionate discussions of end of life care you will find in a podcast format. 

Episode 24 addresses something that medical professionals rarely discuss publicly: the emotional weight of spending a career caring for people navigating cancer. David speaks with characteristic honesty about how that weight is carried, what good colleagues mean in that context, and how the privilege of being trusted with people's most difficult moments coexists with the personal cost of holding that responsibility year after year. It is a deeply human conversation that will resonate with anyone who has ever wondered what it takes to show up fully for patients when the stakes are highest. 

Medication Clarity Clinic offers telehealth pharmacist consultations for people navigating complex medications, cancer treatment side effects, palliative care questions and general medication reviews across Australia. If you have questions about your medications or your health, Kate is here to help. 

Book a consultation with Kate Thomas.

You can view the transcript for this episode below