Mazie Tsang, M.D.

What moment or experience in your life influenced your decision to be a clinician?

I wanted to be a doctor since I was a child watching my family, who spoke English as their fourth or fifth language, navigate the healthcare system. These early childhood memories taught me about the importance of the patient perspective and quality of life. Whenever I care for my patients, I remember my family and the physicians who made a difference in our lives.

What motivated you to become a Kern Health Care Delivery Scholar?

I am honored to be a part of the Kern Health Care Delivery Scholars Program and hope to enhance healthcare delivery and patient-centered care. I care deeply about the patient experience. My research aims to incorporate patients' voices and advocate for better care for them. As a lymphoma doctor who is triple-trained in hematology-oncology, palliative medicine and aging research, I am passionate about improving the holistic care of older adults with incurable, indolent lymphomas — that is, certain slow-growing types of non-Hodgkin lymphomas.

What is your focus and goal as a scholar within the Mayo Clinic Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery?

My focus is on incorporating geriatrics and supportive care principles to improve the decision-making process for older adults with indolent lymphomas. My goal is to use quantitative and qualitative methods to identify the longitudinal quality of life of older adults with indolent lymphomas and its impact on patient decision-making about clinical management.

Tell us about your mentoring team.

I have an exceptional mentoring team, who are National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded researchers and international experts in lymphoma, aging, patient-reported outcomes, decision-making research, epidemiology and health policy. They have a proven track record of success in mentoring and advancing the careers of early-stage investigators. The team includes:

  • Amylou C. Dueck, Ph.D., a biostatistician specializing in hematologic malignancies, located at Mayo Clinic in Arizona. She is an NIH-funded researcher within the Department of Quantitative Health Sciences. Dr. Dueck is an international expert in designing and analyzing symptom management and patient-reported outcomes in cancer clinical trials.
  • Jon Tilburt, M.D., M.P.H., a biomedical ethics expert located at Mayo Clinic in Arizona. Dr. Tilburt is an NIH-funded clinical researcher in the Division of General Internal Medicine and the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is a leader in communication, decision-making, aging and health policy research. Dr. Tilburt's research includes assessing the patient experience through a longitudinal communication study and creating decision aids to address cancer disparities in people with prostate cancer, which is in line with my work. He has successfully mentored junior faculty in obtaining career development awards and served as director of the Kern Health Care Delivery Scholars Program from 2010 to 2015.
  • James R. Cerhan, M.D., Ph.D., a field-leading epidemiologist at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. He is an NIH-funded researcher and the principal investigator of the Lymphoma Epidemiology of Outcomes cohort study, which I use to conduct my research. He is internationally recognized for his research in lymphoma etiology and outcomes and has successfully led multiple international collaborations.
  • Javier L. Munoz, M.D., M.B.A., a hematologist and the director of the Lymphoma Group at Mayo Clinic in Arizona. He is a national leader in cellular therapies for lymphoma and has been involved in many practice-changing clinical trials. Dr. Munoz has provided instrumental insights and clinical expertise to conduct lymphoma research.
  • Maggie M. Paul, Ph.D., a collaborative scientist in the Mayo Clinic Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery. She has experience using both qualitative and quantitative approaches in her research and has a background in implementation science. Dr. Paul is focused on new approaches, including artificial intelligence, to design or enhance interventions that improve healthcare delivery models.

How will your research transform or improve patient care, or affect public health?

I seek to enhance patient connections to improve the care of patients with complex care needs. Older adults are underrepresented in cancer clinical trials, which makes it difficult to determine how to best counsel or manage older adults with cancer. Care for these patients needs to include tailored approaches to achieve the best management plans that are in line with their goals, health and abilities.

Why did you choose Mayo Clinic to pursue your career?

I have admired the Mayo Clinic Model of Care since I first learned about it in college. It was a dream come true when I was blessed to train at Mayo Clinic during my internal medicine residency. Although I completed my fellowship training at other institutions for family reasons, I returned to Mayo Clinic because of its values — specifically, that "the needs of the patient come first" — and the three shields of clinical practice, education and research. I wanted to work in an environment that was supportive, collegial, collaborative and innovative. I am so thankful to be at Mayo Clinic working with such fantastic colleagues.

What are three words that describe you?

Compassionate, persistent and grateful.

Outside of work, what is one thing you like to do?

Spending time with my family, especially my children who grow up too quickly!