Dr. Sekwon Jang, MD

Dr. Jang and the entire Inova Melanoma team are wonderful people who take melanoma as seriously as their patients. They are both very kind, gentle, patient, and compassionate individuals whose knowledge is on the very cutting edge of research. Melanoma isn't a disease with which people can dink around. The Inova melanoma team offers world-class care, and most importantly, they manage to deliver it in a timely fashion to those whose medical needs are rather urgent. When I was diagnosed with a rather nasty melanoma, the search was on for an oncologist qualified to treat me. I was shocked that melanoma oncologists and their treatment centers are few and far between. There were only two in Virginia (UVA and Inova). I ended up at Inova, not only for insurance reasons, but also because they felt as urgently about my melanoma as I did, and they scheduled me to be seen in a timely manner. I cannot say enough about Dr. Jang (and his partner Dr. Venna -- dermatologist). We had studied quite a lot about melanoma by the time we walked through their doors. Dr. Jang was the first physician we saw who knew (a lot) more about the disease than we had gleaned from our own readings. He took the time out of a very busy day to answer all of our questions and discuss everything we wanted to discuss. Our 15 or 30 min appointment must have lasted a couple of hours. He did have to see other patients, and his staff would occasionally pop in to pull him away to see another patient, but he kept popping back into my room to continue the discussion until we had discussed everything that was on our minds. We were all very tired by the end of that day! I feel comfortable saying that I am receiving the best possible care under Dr. Jang and the Inova team. I could not do better at M. D. Anderson, and in fact in many ways I would do worse. I am fortunate and grateful to be under their compassionate care. A word about Dr. Jang personally: Dr. Jang is a no-frills, up-front sort of person. He lays out all the treatment options, and he lets the patient chart his or her course. I feel his perspective is quite balanced, which is what I need. I also feel that he is among a growing number of melanoma oncologists throughout the US who will apply the standards of care he feels most appropriate, not saddled by the antiquated guidelines previously set by the FDA. His treatment approach is guided squarely by the cutting edge in melanoma research, and indeed he collaborates in some of that research. Otherwise Dr. Jang is a very personable physician who puts me very much at ease. But most of all, I trust him with my life. I think there can be no higher recommendation. PS the drop-down item for selecting the wait-time at the office was not working, so I'll mention here that with our 3-hr drives to the clinic, which can sometimes take as long as 4+ hours (depending on traffic), we're never quite sure when we will arrive there. We always come early, and they almost always whisk us into the back rooms within the time it takes us to brew a hot chocolate in the machine in their waiting room.