Get to Know a Caregiver Johanna LaSala, MD

June 15, 2020

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Dr. LaSala discusses her early career as a doctor, and why she went into medicine.

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00:08Hi everybody, yeah welcome to
00:10the get to know caregiver series
00:12and today we have doctor Joe
00:14Lasala from our orange office Joe,
00:16could you introduce yourself and your
00:19role? Yes hi, I'm jealous Allah
00:21and I'm a medical Oncologist.
00:23I've been in Connecticut for over 20 years.
00:26I'm in. This was my first job here in
00:29Connecticut as a medical oncologist
00:31at medical oncology and Hematology,
00:33which was a private practice and
00:36joined yell about odd nine years ago,
00:38almost nine years ago, wow.
00:42Where are you from originally?
00:43Where did you grow up?
00:45Stone Queens very close
00:47to the white stone bridge.
00:49I my parents were both first generation
00:53American and schoolteachers and so I went
00:56to public school through Elementary School.
00:58Junior High High School in
01:00New York City and in Queens.
01:03And then I went to St John's University,
01:07also in Queens and it was a
01:10commuter college so I was home,
01:12then two, and then I went on to.
01:17Johns Hopkins University for medical school.
01:19And so I was in Maryland for four years,
01:23which I really enjoyed and then
01:25did my internship and residency
01:27at Cornell in Manhattan,
01:29which is on the Upper East Side.
01:32It was New York Hospital,
01:34Cornell Medical Center.
01:37And so I lived in Manhattan,
01:39which was really a different
01:41experience and very exciting and
01:43really great when you're young person.
01:46When I was an intern,
01:48I met my husband and got married
01:51at the end of my residency.
01:54And during that time, um,
01:57had conversations with the
01:59chairman of Hematology Oncology,
02:00and at my program, that chief of Medison,
02:04the Chief Medical resident,
02:06were all hematologist oncologist.
02:08And so there was a lot of flavor of
02:11that throughout our entire residency,
02:14and it always seemed really
02:17great and wonderful.
02:18And so I found myself one day talking
02:22about it with the chief of oncology.
02:25And the next minute,
02:27accepting a job as a fellow.
02:28Wow, that time there wasn't a match.
02:31It was really just kind of applying
02:33and they really encouraged me to stay.
02:35And so I stayed on to do my fellowship there.
02:39I realize you know,
02:41thinking about it.
02:42My interest in Hematology Oncology
02:45went back really along time
02:49ago when I was in 8th grade.
02:51I did a science fair project that had
02:54to do with blood clotting and then,
02:57um, it Fast forward to medical school.
03:00You know that first summer after your
03:03first year of Medical School is really
03:06the only year summer you have off,
03:08but nobody was really off.
03:10Everybody looked for, really,
03:12you know, kind of resume building
03:14things to do connections.
03:16And my parents didn't have any connections,
03:19but I ended up working as a volunteer.
03:22At a local hospital and they
03:24just happen to put me with.
03:26A hematologist Oncologist,
03:27Wow, which was really amazing,
03:30and it was actually.
03:33Alright,
03:33from rice staging from CLL and Mark Citron,
03:36who is very interested guys,
03:38those
03:39are really big names. They are and
03:41so it was just and he had a physician
03:45assistant who I spent the whole summer
03:47with as well and she, you know,
03:50took me in every room with her.
03:53And really, you know,
03:54helped me understand hematology
03:56and oncology and get to really see
03:59you know cancer patients up close.
04:01And it wasn't scary and
04:03she was very talented so.
04:05You know it was just a really
04:08very positive experience,
04:09so then you know throughout that
04:12internship and residency with the,
04:14you know, really all the leadership
04:16being focused on that being the most
04:19important discipline medison which it is.
04:21It was no surprise then,
04:24so that I then stayed.
04:27At Cornell,
04:28to do my fellowship there and
04:30stayed for three years and my
04:32husband was from Connecticut and
04:34one of my very good friends is a
04:38gastroenterologist and she was here first.
04:40Their fellowship end sooner.
04:42So she was here a year ahead of
04:44me in Connecticut and new that
04:47Groupon new the other doctors and
04:50sort of encouraged me to apply for
04:52that job and so that was my first
04:55job and real job right after your.
04:58You've been a student in a trainee
05:01for so long. Yeah, just real job.
05:04And it was really a great,
05:06really the best kind of position
05:09for somebody coming out of training
05:11because I had all these great partners
05:14with a lot of expertise and it was
05:17not just learning the medical part
05:19of it because you learn all of that,
05:22you know school and in training.
05:24But really just how to take care
05:27of patients in a practical way.
05:29And in a way that that is caring
05:32and compassionate.
05:33And so I was just very fortunate.
05:35And they were all very hard working.
05:37And so it just was, you know,
05:40just reinforced invalidated that work ethic.
05:41And everybody was really like minded and
05:44it was really really a great experience.
05:46And then Interestingly,
05:47because it was a private practice
05:49and I became a partner.
05:51I you know it was a little bit
05:53of business learning as well,
05:55which is just a different part of your
05:57brain in a different understanding how to be.
06:00A business owner and and
06:02kind of what that means,
06:04you know?
06:06Most of us never get because if because
06:09we haven't owned our own business.
06:11Right, right? So it's just
06:13something just really different.
06:14So like oh, I'm a small business owner too,
06:17you know, and so you kind of understand
06:19a lot of different pieces of it.
06:21And also how much goes into
06:23that and how hard that is.
06:25And that you know it gives you the
06:28opportunity to work all the time.
06:30Yeah, off when you're a business owner,
06:33so which is fine, 'cause which
06:35probably helps you relate to your patients
06:37who also own their own businesses,
06:40an understanding their need for your
06:42flexibility and their work life. And then
06:45if you're not working,
06:46you know that's a problem.
06:48Yeah, out sick Kerry not working and
06:51that's really hard to do, you know.
06:53And so so that was really great experience.
06:56And then you know,
06:58during that time I had both my children.
07:01And how old are they now?
07:03So there are 20 and 16 going
07:06to be 21 and 17 this fall,
07:09which is just sort of strange,
07:11because then they're not little kids
07:14anymore and they're all grown up.
07:16So um, but I did have both
07:19of them while I was working.
07:21And so, um, it.
07:23It was really the best job for that as well,
07:27because my partners were all supportive and I
07:30really was able to control my dayan control.
07:33My schedule enough that I
07:35really was able to do it all.
07:38You know, not.
07:39You know,
07:39maybe I wasn't there for 100% of every event,
07:43but I really, really was there for.
07:45I really don't feel like I missed anything
07:48and so I was really able to be there
07:52for my kids and and I do remember my,
07:55you know it was my son was in
07:57kindergarten and they had their
07:59Thanksgiving parade or whatever,
08:01right?
08:01It like a 10 AM,
08:03which is probably like the
08:05worst time possible because
08:06you can write really before.
08:08Right in a busy time of year in a busy
08:11week warning, you know, out of the office,
08:14but I was able to get there in the teacher
08:16talk to the parents beforehand and said,
08:18you know, I made sure that the kids knew
08:21that it was difficult for parents to get here
08:24and that you know, if they weren't here,
08:26it's not 'cause they didn't want to be,
08:28but that all of them tried in that
08:31they wouldn't want to disappoint you,
08:32but that they really, you know,
08:34did their best and one of the kids
08:37that my mom never let's me down.
08:39It turns out it was my kitten.
08:42An and it always makes me well
08:43up when he said that because I,
08:46you know you, you always feel as a mom.
08:48Didn't you know?
08:49am I there enough?
08:51am I doing enough when you're a working mom?
08:53And so I was grateful for the
08:55teacher for telling this story and
08:57then letting me know it was my kid.
09:00I couldn't
09:00believe it. Yeah, speaks to your
09:02ability to be a super woman,
09:04you know, and to juggle all
09:06of that at the same time.
09:07It's really inspiring. As a young Mama,
09:10Mama of young children now.
09:12Uhm, I learn from you that
09:14you have to make time to
09:15be present, right?
09:16and I sometimes I like go in
09:19the office and say OK guys,
09:21it's a Cape and tights day meaning.
09:24Superhero with a Cape
09:26and tights to get through it,
09:27because otherwise it's not going
09:29to work today. Yeah, I have some
09:31days I say are protists, days
09:33like president, the United
09:34States, where you're
09:35scheduled every second
09:36or like a Cape in tight
09:38state that I don't know
09:39how we're going to do it.
09:41But we're gonna do it today.
09:43Yeah, never do you have a
09:44bonbon day where you sit around
09:46and just you know, chat and eat?
09:48Yeah no fun but days yet but I think
09:51one of those we should build those in.