Farewell Q&A: Peter Ch’en Reflects on Clinical Research Fellowship
The Merkel Cell Carcinoma Collaborative (MC3) Institute's Clinical Research Fellowship provides medical students and early-career physicians with experience in dermatology and oncology, with a particular emphasis on translational research related to Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC).
They are valuable members of our
staff team, directly assisting Dr. Paul Nghiem and other MCC specialists in guiding patients through the complex process of diagnosis and treatment.
As our very first cohort of MC3 Institute clinical research fellows concludes their training, we invited our fellows to reflect on their training and share their future goals.
Please help us extend a warm farewell to Peter Ch'en, MPH, who began his Clinical Research Fellowship in June 2024.
Farewell Q&A
What are your post-fellowship plans?
I will be returning to [Albert Einstein College of Medicine] to finish out my last year of medical school and applying for dermatology residency! We’ll see where the world takes me from there, but what I do know is that the experiences from this past year have cemented my continued interest and curiosity in skin oncology and clinical research.
What have you valued most about your training experience at the MC3 Institute/UW Dermatology?
The kindness and generosity from every person I’ve interacted with at UW Dermatology has allowed me to develop and explore my interests within the field. It has also been such a privilege to work with our fantastic clinical support staff at Fred Hutch.
Finally, I am so grateful to have been able to spend the year with my co-fellow Dr. Ariel Finberg and our research coordinators Kate Biese, Becca Langstraat, Ankita Menon, and Alex Fu, who I’ve learned so much from and shared many laughs with.
What accomplishments are you most proud of?
I am so proud to have worked with such a powerhouse team (our biostatisticians Yuzheng Zhang and Dan Hippe in particular) to wrangle our complicated data of patients with PD-1 resistant Merkel cell carcinoma. It is so gratifying to watch research influence treatment decision-making and inform future clinical trial design.
Who were your mentors and how did they support you?
Dr. Paul Nghiem – who taught me the art of always keeping the big picture in view, tying what we do back to why it matters, and how to have fun while doing all of it. Not to mention the many hours spent pushing forth the salvage project among other things, with a lot of jokes along the way.
Dr. Tomoko Akaike, Candice Church, Krista Lachance, and Dan Hippe – who have been essential in guiding me through the complexities of MCC research. Thank you for being some of the most wonderful people that I could lean on throughout the year.
What’s your favorite story or memory from your fellowship that you still think about?
I’d be remiss to not mention riding the Slingshot at AAD 2025 in Orlando with Dr. Nghiem (if you know you know) – what a treasured memory from a place of spontaneity and a little bit of mischief. Besides that, I will miss our entire MC3 team and the lab banter, especially on Mondays and Fridays when most of the team is together in person.
What advice would you share with incoming fellows?
Listen and learn from our patients and their families – they will teach and push you to be a better clinician and are a guiding compass for what gaps remain that need to be addressed with future research. Time moves quick and there’s a lot to do – make sure to enjoy the ride along the way!
