Dr. Tatiana I. Lingos has joined Roger Williams Medical Center as Chief of Radiation Oncology. She was formerly medical director of South Suburban Oncology Center in Quincy, Mass., from 1995-2004. Dr. Lingos is a clinical assistant at Massachusetts General Hospital and a clinical instructor in radiation oncology at Harvard Medical School. She lives in Milton, Mass.
PBN: What is the best part of your day?
LINGOS: Seeing follow-up patients from 10 years ago who show pictures of their grandchildren.
PBN: What drives you, personally?
LINGOS: My father was a doctor and my mother was a nurse and they were a great influence. Community was a very important concept to them.
PBN: What is the key to success at your job?
LINGOS: The technical skills, familiarity with treatment plans, anatomy and pathophysiology of disease. You have to know how the body will react to radiation. More importantly, you need to be sensitive to how treatment affects not just the patient, but their loved ones as well.
PBN: What advice would you give to someone looking to break into your field?
LINGOS: You need a surgeon’s mindset in that you have to focus on one anatomical portion of the patient sometimes, then an oncologist’s focus on the patient’s well being at other times. There are a lot of scientific advances that make patient care better every day.
PBN: What do you like to do when you aren’t at work?
LINGOS: My husband and I love the ocean and we love to go dancing. Both our children are out of the house, but when they come home, there is nothing better than a family gathering.
