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Residency
Training Program |
Residency Training Program
The Residency Program
Residency Director: About the Department of Radiation
Oncology The types of therapy offered within the department are state of the art and extensive. There is an active Bone Marrow Transplant program and total body irradiation is often utilized. CT based three dimensional planning is available and used extensively. Low dose rate brachytherapy for gynecologic applications, head and neck cancers and sarcomas are commonly performed. The prostate seed implant program is expanding. In addition, I-125 eye plaques are performed. We also treat a large number of patients, status-post resection for pterygium, with a Sr-90 surface applicator. High dose rate brachytherapy is offered and commonly used for gynecologic applications. About the Residency Program The residency program in radiation oncology consists of four years, three years of which must be spent in the clinical core curriculum of Radiation Oncology. One month rotations are required by the ACGME, and provided, in both medical oncology and pediatric oncology. In addition, multi-specialty tumor boards in general oncology, neuro-oncology and pediatric oncology are conducted on a regular basis. During these tumor boards, both surgical pathology and critical radiologic studies are reviewed. Residents will be required to rotate through dosimetry for one month to obtain first hand experience in dose calculations and treatment planning. A six month block of research time is provided and the research opportunities in the department encompass clinical, biological, and physics/engineering investigation. The residency training is an
"apprenticeship" based training. Each resident is assigned to an attending.
During each rotation, the resident works closely with the
attending. This affords the unique opportunity to evaluate a patient during a consultation
visit, generate a plan, simulate the appropriate fields, write a treatment prescription
and then follow the patient through treatment. In this manner, each resident learns to
treat a variety of malignancies and to manage the potential side effects of treatment. In
addition, the faculty support a one hour morning conference three days a week. During this
conference a resident is assigned to present a case. The remaining residents are
questioned concerning the differential diagnoses, the appropriate work-up, treatment and
natural history of the disease (based on current literature). Time is also spent on the
interpretation of various radiologic studies (Bone films, CXR, CT and MRI). A comprehensive departmental chart review is performed
each week. Didactic lectures in both Physics and Radiobiology are offered on alternate years. In
addition, there are weekly Cancer Center conferences in translational research and medical
oncology. Also
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