No patient faces cancer treatment alone – a whole team of medical specialists and health care givers with specific skills and experience will be caring for you or your loved one.

Here are some of the members of any cancer care team:

Physicians( doctors) with special training in oncology( the study, diagnosis and treatment of cancer) will be deeply involved in a cancer patient’ s care. Those may include: Dermatologist or dermatologic oncologist: diagnoses and treats skin cancers.

Endocrinologist: treats diseases related to the glands of the endocrine system, such as the thyroid, pituitary, pancreas, pineal, and adrenal glands.

Gastroenterologist: specializes in diseases of the digestive tract.

Gynecologic oncologist: specializes in cancers of the female( reproductive) organs.

Hematologist or hematology oncologist: specializes in blood disorders including cancers of the blood and blood-forming tissues.

Hepatologist: A medical doctor who specializes in diseases of the liver and bile ducts.

Interventional Radiologist: specializes in radiology and uses imaging( x-rays, scans, and other types) to help guide procedures to treat certain conditions, including some cancers. IR procedures are minimally invasive, meaning they use small incisions or none to do the procedure.

Medical oncologist: A medical doctor who specializes in diagnosing and treating cancer with chemotherapy and other drugs.

Nephrologist: specializes in kidney( renal) diseases.

Neurosurgeon: specializes in operations involving the nervous system, including the brain, spinal cord, or nerves.

Pathologist: specializes in diagnosing and classifying diseases by lab tests and by microscopically examining cells and tissues. The pathologist determines whether a tumor is cancer, and, if it is cancer, the exact cell type( where it started) and grade( how fast it likely will grow).

Radiation oncologist: A medical doctor who specializes in using radiation to treat cancer.

WHO IS ON MY CANCER CARE TEAM?

Don’ t be afraid to ask the people on your team what their role is, what kind of training they’ ve had, and what part of your care or treatment they’ ll be providing. Knowing how your care team works and how they communicate with each other will help you and your loved ones understand who can help with certain problems that may come up.

MEDICAL DOCTORS

Medical doctors are also called physicians. The medical doctors involved in cancer care have special training to care for certain types of cancer, perform specific procedures, prescribe certain types of treatments, or treat side effects and other problems. They might be a MD( medical doctor) or DO( doctor of osteopathic medicine) depending on which degree they have. Both MDs and DOs need to pass a licensing exam to be able to care for patients.

TYPES OF MEDICAL DOCTORS INVOLVED IN CANCER CARE Anesthesiologist: A doctor who specializes in giving drugs or other agents( like gasses) that can cause a total loss of feeling, put a patient into a deep sleep, or relieve pain, most often during surgery.

Cardiologist: A medical doctor who is a heart and blood vessel specialist. People with cancer might see a heart doctor if they also have heart disease or if they develop heart problems while going through cancer treatment.

Dermatologist or dermatologic oncologist: A medical doctor who has specialized training in diagnosing and treating skin cancers.

Doctor of osteopathic medicine( DO): A medical doctor with a licensing and educational background much like that of a medical doctor( MD) who is specially trained to use a“ whole person” approach to medicine rather than just treating specific symptoms. See also primary care physician.

OURHEALTHNWA. COM 8 SEPTEMBER 2025 | CANCER CARE TAKES A TEAM ISSUE