Song Y. Park, MD

How has cancer affected you personally?

My grandfather was diagnosed with a rare type of metastatic cancer during my residency. He received treatment at the hospital where I was training, which allowed me to help coordinate his care. I realized how difficult it can be to navigate treatment if you don’t have a medical background. I also learned how effective multidisciplinary care — a team approach to medicine — can improve a patient’s experience. One of the things that drew me to Fred Hutch is its strong culture of collaboration across specialties. I am excited to be a part of this extraordinary care team.

What do you want patients to know about working with you?

Conversations about medical problems like cancer can be complicated and hard to follow, particularly if you are feeling the stress of a new diagnosis and pressing treatment decisions must be made. I also realize that people differ in how much information they want to know and how they want to interact with the care team. My goal is to customize our discussions according to your preferences, holding space for your concerns. I also welcome your questions. They prompt discussion and motivate me to carry out research and to find necessary answers. It is a great joy to bring the right information to the right patient.

Provider Background

Area of Clinical Practice

Graft-versus-host disease, skin cancers, skin conditions related to cancer treatment

Merkel cell carcinoma, melanoma, skin cancer, skin conditions related to cancer treatment

I am a board-certified dermatologist from South Korea. Before I joined Fred Hutch as a physician, I worked as a clinical research fellow with Dr. Paul Nghiem. In this role, I coordinated patient care and participated in research on Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC), a rare type of skin cancer.

Now, I specialize in treating patients with various skin cancers, including MCC and melanoma. I also work with people who are experiencing skin problems associated with cancer treatment. One primary area of interest is treating patients with intralesional therapy, where concentrated doses of a medication are injected directly into a skin lesion. The benefit of this type of therapy is that it allows us to treat a problem locally, minimizing side effects to the rest of the body.

Diseases Treated