Dr. Jamie Custis

I grew up along the Eastern Shore of Virginia, a peninsula of land bounded by the Chesapeake Bay to the west and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. The sandy soil there allows for the successful cultivation of many field crops. Multiple generations of my father's family have sustained themselves and others working as stewards of the land, benefiting from the production, harvest, and sale of grain and vegetable crops. As the son of a farmer, my first real summer job was as a field laborer – harvesting tomatoes by hand. Fortunately, it was a part-time job, leaving me sufficient time to seek additional employment in a local veterinary hospital that was air conditioned! Both my parents are hard workers and my up-bringing ensured that I knew all about the importance of work ethic. Still, the benefits of an indoor job in the midst of the heat and humidity of a coastal Virginia summer were too great to ignore.

Throughout my youth, a number of interesting pets were considered to be integral members of our family. There were horses, dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters, turtles from the nearby pond, and an aquarium of tropical fish. When a veterinary practice opened within several miles of our home our pets quickly filled a growing file at the hospital. Their care included routine annual check-ups, vaccinations, and emergency visits. In our rural area, there were few options for a part-time summer job. The Eastern Shore Animal Hospital proved to be the perfect fit for me. I may have picked tomatoes for only one summer, but I continued to work at the animal hospital through high school, college and the first three summers of veterinary school. In fact, my career path became clear and firmly focused after a conversation with the chief veterinarian and owner of the practice, Dr. Charles Cameron. His questions regarding my plans to become a medical doctor or lawyer led to a life altering realization: veterinarians provide a service to animals and their human companions. My experiences at the Eastern Shore Animal Hospital forged the foundation for a rewarding career and launched a lifelong friendship.

Upon graduation from Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, I took a job in private practice in Houston, Texas. As a general practitioner, I frequently felt inadequate to provide all the information a client needed when I would diagnose cancer in their pet. Regardless of the case specific details, each client sought the same: information about their pet, an experienced clinical perspective about what to expect, and treatment options. Although I sometimes lacked the information or the perspective, I treasured these client interactions. I soon realized that I wanted/needed to pursue specialty training in oncology with a particular emphasis upon clinical practice whether in a private practice or an academic setting. Fortunately, I was able to shadow the oncologists at a specialty practice in Houston as schedules permitted. Their veterinary radiation oncologist was generous with his time and knowledge, and I was intrigued by learning to treat cancer with radiation as part of a comprehensive approach to cancer management.

Following completion of a one year rotating internship in general medicine and surgery in a busy private specialty practice in North Carolina, I was offered a radiation oncology residency at the Colorado State University Animal Cancer Center. With Dr. Susan LaRue as my mentor, residency training afforded me the opportunity to train on the latest technologies unavailable elsewhere in veterinary medicine. These including the Eclipse treatment planning software and the Varian Trilogy linear accelerator which are the leading systems in planning and delivering radiation therapy to cancer patients. These technologies even allow for specialized radiation therapy called intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and stereotactic radiation therapy (SRT) making more treatment options for more patients a reality. Our patients benefit from the technology with improved local tumor control and fewer normal tissue side effects. I benefited by learning from some of the greatest minds in veterinary oncology on the most advanced technology available. When surrounded by the many talented members of the Animal Cancer Center family, inspiration and motivation are omnipresent.

At the end of my residency, I was most fortunate to be offered the opportunity to remain here at the Animal Cancer Center in a tenure track faculty position. That affords me the opportunity to continue to pursue my research interests in the evaluation of naturally occurring tumors in companion animals and how these discoveries benefit pets and potentially even human cancer patients. My efforts, to date, are focused on using stereotactic radiation therapy (SRT) as a "radiation limb spare" for patients with bone cancer in the leg as an alternative to an amputation or a surgical limb spare. In addition I am evaluating SRT as an alternative to conventional radiation therapy in head and neck tumors.

Now, I have come full circle. As a veterinarian, I can provide care to animals while getting to know their caring and compassionate human companions. Specializing in veterinary radiation oncology allows me to be in a rapidly evolving and advancing field with direct translational implications; what I learn may someday help human cancer patients too. Remaining in the university setting, I can contribute to the growth of our profession by sharing the learning and discovery process with veterinary students, graduate students, and colleagues. There is much more for me to learn from these daily encounters. I am both honored and humbled to be a member of the Animal Cancer Center.

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