Meet Chief Resident, Dr. Sandra Fiset!

Earlier this month, Medical Imaging and the broader healthcare system celebrated Resident Doctor Appreciation Week, a time to recognize and celebrate the amazing accomplishments and dedicated work of residents. In MI, our Diagnostic Radiology Residents provide integral support to Toronto’s hospitals while advancing their own experience in radiology and leadership positions, like Chief Resident Dr. Sandra Fiset.

Dr. Fiset is a post-graduate year 4 resident in MI’s Diagnostic Radiology Residency program, currently completing the end of her term as Chief Resident. Having originally started her career with a Bachelor of Engineering, Biomedical and Mechanical (BEng) and a Masters of Health Science in Clinical Engineering (MHSc), Dr. Fiset was interested in the intersection of medicine and engineering, particularly the more direct patient impact that could be achieved through working in medicine.

While completing a summer placement at an Ottawa hospital where she worked with cardiologists and got firsthand experience with new technology, Dr. Fiset was able to see the impact engineers had on patient care, but mostly taking place behind the scenes.

“The work biomedical engineers do will likely impact more patients, broadly, than working with individual patients, but I was really drawn to the patient interaction of medicine that you don’t get in engineering,” she explains. “I really wanted to have that face-to-face rapport with patients and see the direct impact I was having, and so I pivoted to medicine.”

Dr. Fiset completed her Doctor of Medicine (MD) at the University of Toronto in 2020 before beginning her residency in Diagnostic Radiology. Part of her motivation to pursue radiology was the vast patient impact through treatment and diagnostics.

“Despite the impression that radiologists work mostly behind the scenes, we actually play an integral part in treatment, as all treatment stems from diagnosis, which radiologists play a big role in,” Dr. Fiset says. “This huge impact on patient care is why I loved radiology in the first place. We are the ones who set the direction or course of each patient’s treatment.”

Dr. Fiset enjoys any amount of patient interaction she gets, including performing biopsies and getting to see a patient through their diagnostic journey and treatment. Her passion for her patients will translate well into her fellowship, as Dr. Fiset will be starting a fellowship in women’s imaging once her residency is complete, which includes breast imaging and biopsy for breast cancer as well as direct patient interaction through diagnosis counselling.

Thinking back to her first three years in residency, the biggest takeaway for Dr. Fiset has been how integral the role a radiologist plays on multidisciplinary teams, specifically when it comes to providing insight and opinions on imaging, diagnostics and treatment, which she says can be both scary and incredibly rewarding at the same time.

“When we participate in multidisciplinary rounds, I noticed physicians really look to radiologists to answer questions and interpret scans, which is both challenging and quite thrilling,” she says. “It’s something that has really stuck with me throughout my residency.”

Something else that has impacted Dr. Fiset from residency is the close bonds formed with her coresidents, who she’s acutely aware will be her colleagues in the future. “We’re all going through a pretty steep learning curve together, and having a really tight bond with coresidents who you can kind of commiserate with when things are tough or going well has been really amazing.”

As Chief Resident, Dr. Fiset has taken on a bigger workload on top of completing all residency requirements and putting in clinical hours. The role includes acting as the main communication between faculty and residents, troubleshooting resident issues as well as administrative duties like scheduling. It also means being involved in residency and curriculum changes and advocate for changes residents want, which is something Dr. Fiset has really enjoyed.

Speaking to her coresidents for Resident Doctor Appreciation Week, Dr. Fiset has one main sentiment: thank you.

“I just want to give kudos to all my coresidents because they all work so extremely hard, and I’m just blown away by all of them because they do so much and wear so many hats,” she remarks. “I just want to say, ‘thank you’ to everyone for their dedication and hard work.”