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What I Do

I'm a medical oncologist, which means I take care of patients who have cancer. I focus primarily on treating lung cancer, sarcomas, and breast cancers, but also other solid tumors as well as head and neck cancers and melanoma.

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Why I Do It

I love caring for patients. Patients need hope, and hope comes in different sizes for different moments. I tell my patients I wish with all my heart that I could cure this cancer, but what we can do is treat it.

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My Big Career Moment

Graduating from medical school, in my 30s, with four kids – that was a big moment! Another milestone is when I realized exactly what I want to do: help people who have cancer.

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Cancer Doctor Overcomes Obstacles One Day at a Time

31/08/2023 06:00am | 2293 views

Someone else may look at your life and focus on the obstacles: 

  • Maybe they see you as too young or too old.
  • Maybe they see you as too inexperienced or lacking the right education.
  • Maybe they hear your accented English and make assumptions about your potential. 

Maybe they use those as reasons to tell you no.

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About the mentor

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Patricia Rich

Medical Oncologist
City Of Hope

As a medical oncologist at City of Hope Atlanta, Dr. Patricia Rich focuses primarily on treating lung cancer, sarcomas, and breast cancers, but also treats other solid tumors as well as head and neck cancers and melanoma. 

Board-certified in internal medicine, with a sub-specialty in medical oncology, she earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Florida, where she graduated cum laude. She then earned her medical degree from the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine in Miami, Florida, where she received several awards, including Outstanding Medical Student of the Year 2000 for Excellence in Internal Medicine. Dr. Rich also completed a fellowship in hematology-oncology at the University of South Florida, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute in Tampa, Florida, and a residency in internal medicine at University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital. In 2005, she received the Foundation Merit Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

When she originally joined City of Hope in 2006, Dr. Rich served as director of the City of Hope Lung Cancer Center at City of Hope Chicago until 2013, when she moved and held the same position at City of Hope Atlanta. In 2020, she briefly left City of Hope when an opportunity arose at an Atlanta-area thoracic oncology program—an experience that Dr. Rich says made her more well-rounded. But after two years, she was ready to return to City of Hope Atlanta as medical oncologist.