By Mara Klecker

AIM at Melanoma’s “Beyond the Clinic: Living with Melanoma” podcast has a new host – one who has an intimate understanding of survivorship from multiple perspectives. Starting next year, Dr. Samantha Siegel (“Dr. Sam,” as she likes to be called) will be taking the reins from her mentor, Dr. Raymond Liu, who has hosted “Beyond the Clinic” since its inception (first as a webinar series) three years ago.

In 2024, Beyond the Clinic included topics such as managing stress and anxiety through the cancer journey, fear of cancer recurrence, and the healing power of writing your ‘messy, imperfect, unruly (but gorgeously yours)’ life story.

“I think this podcast is for everyone in the cancer community,” Dr. Sam said, adding that she’s honored to use the platform to help more patients, caregivers, and physicians connect with resources and messages about survivorship. That means focusing on the health and wellbeing of a person with cancer from the time of diagnosis and throughout their life. It includes considering the physical, mental, emotional, social, and financial effects of cancer for both patients and caregivers.

“I’ve never had a conversation in survivorship that wasn’t helpful or informative in some way,” said Dr. Sam, now the Director of Cancer Survivorship for Kaiser Permanente San Francisco. Still, until her own cancer diagnosis, Dr. Sam said she didn’t fully understand what survivorship was or why it was such an important concept for physicians to embrace. She’d gotten a glimpse of it as a caregiver when her husband – also a physician – was diagnosed with testicular cancer during med school. During their residencies, Dr. Sam’s husband experienced dangerous complications from an autoimmune liver condition.

“Even before I was diagnosed with cancer myself, I had a lot of experiences shepherding a family through serious, life-altering illness,” she said. Though she didn’t know the word “survivorship” then, she spent a lot of time thinking about the financial burden of such a diagnosis, as well as what it means for a patient’s body image and identity.

“I thought I had a pretty good understanding of what it meant to be on the patient end of things,” she said. “But boy, was I mistaken.”

In 2021, Dr. Sam was struggling with fatigue and felt a rock-hard lump on her collarbone. She was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma at age 37.

“I was rocked with the experience of getting diagnosed and the whirlwind of events that happened right after,” she said. “I had this difficult experience where I was like, ‘Oh, this is what it feels like to hear something like this as a patient.’”

For six months, Dr. Sam underwent an intense treatment regimen that quickly turned her from a relatively healthy, marathon-running mom and doctor to a “shadow” of her former self, she said. She lost her hair and eyelashes, gained 40 pounds from steroids, and developed neuropathy.

But she also developed a resolve to better understand cancer advocacy and learn about how a patient’s life outside the exam room can impact their health and wellbeing.

Within a couple of months of finishing the treatment, she was diagnosed with a relapse, which itself was a frustrating process involving two inconclusive biopsies and a thoracic surgery.

She then underwent targeted chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, which required her to be away from her family for an entire month.

In the year after her transplant, Dr. Sam said she was focused on connecting with “anybody who would talk to me or take a meeting with me about survivorship.”

“She is someone really, really special,” he said, adding that she is a great communicator who is curious and a great listener. “I think one of the most powerful ways to engage with folks is to have a personal experience with cancer and also as a caregiver. She has both of those experiences.”

Liu said he’s learned a lot from his mentorship relationship with Dr. Sam and has gained insight and empathy from the topics and personal stories explored in podcast episodes over the years.

“I’m just thankful that I had this opportunity to do this,” Liu said. “Now it’s time to have fresh eyes on it. I know it’ll be different with Dr. Sam. It’ll be better. She’s exactly the right person for it.”

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Raymond Liu, MD
Oncology, San Francisco Medical Center

Dr. Raymond Liu, a board-certified oncologist, serves as the Director of Research at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco. He is also a faculty member for the Hematology-Oncology fellowship program and an Assistant Clinical Professor at UCSF. With a research focus on advancing patient care and pioneering innovative oncology treatments, Dr. Liu is dedicated to transforming the cancer treatment landscape and improving the overall patient experience.

He joined Kaiser Permanente for its comprehensive healthcare model, which allows him to provide integrated care and meaningful support to patients and their families. Dr. Liu is proud of Kaiser Permanente’s Commission on Cancer accreditation and its leadership as a National Cancer Institute Community Oncology Research Program. With a patient-centered approach, he values understanding each individual’s needs and providing care that extends beyond medical treatment. Dr. Liu is committed to expanding research and improving cancer care within the integrated network of over 20 cancer centers across Northern California.

Samantha Siegel, MD
Internal Medicine, San Francisco Medical Center

Dr. Sam joined Kaiser Permanente in 2018, bringing extensive experience in hospital medicine and a profound understanding of advanced disease management. She has a particular focus on the critical care patients require during transitions from hospital to home. Her perspective on medicine deepened after her own diagnosis with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which led to over two years of intensive treatment, including an autologous bone marrow transplant. This personal journey inspired her commitment to cancer survivorship and sparked a deep interest in integrative medicine.

Driven by the belief that personal narratives are essential to effective cancer care, Dr. Sam emphasizes a holistic approach that integrates conventional treatments with complementary modalities and compassionate, supportive providers. She sees this comprehensive model as a way to reduce suffering, minimize treatment-related toxicity, and improve long-term outcomes for patients.

A passionate advocate for cancer survivorship, Dr. Sam dedicates herself to advancing care policies, educating healthcare professionals, and raising public awareness through speaking engagements. She is pioneering a groundbreaking primary care model for survivorship that begins at diagnosis and supports the well-being of the whole person throughout the cancer journey. Dr. Sam takes pride in practicing within a healthcare system that aligns with her vision and remains deeply committed to empowering patients and their families to thrive throughout their cancer experience.