Diagnostic Radiology Residency Training
at UMMS / UMass Memorial Healthcare

Program Description

Overview

The University of Massachusetts offers a four-year ACGME accredited radiology residency, approved for sixteen positions. The training program's mission is to produce radiologists equipped with the skill, knowledge and approach required to practice the profession, in all the different modalities, in the most up-to-date manner and with the highest standards. The objective of the program is to provide experience in clinical, teaching and research branches of the discipline to the resident trainee so that s/he is well prepared to practice in either a clinical or academic environment.

Clinical Facilities

Although the medical center, through mergers and acquisitions, is now composed of seven hospitals with a combined bed capacity of greater than 1,000, the residency training primarily takes place at the University and Memorial campuses of UMass Memorial Medical Center. Additionally, we are affiliated with ten other hospitals. Imaging studies performed at other campuses and some affiliate institutions are interpreted via the UMass Memorial PACS. With a large base of primary care physicians and as the major tertiary care hospital in Central Massachusetts, we have an outstanding diversity of patients.

Curriculum

Our categorical residency program is broken down as follows: each year for the first three years, residents rotate through the following sub-specialties: abdominal CT, gastrointestinal/genitourinary, musculoskeletal, thoracic, pediatric, mammography, ultrasound, interventional, neuroradiology, magnetic resonance imaging and nuclear medicine. In the first year, residents have a second rotation in four of these, selected at random. In the third year, residents spend four weeks at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington. In their fourth year, they finish the required four months of nuclear medicine and receive additional training in MRI, high-risk OB ultrasound, and noninvasive cardiac radiology. During the fourth year, residents complete one rotation in each core subspecialty.

Conferences

A noon-time teaching conference is scheduled daily and attendance is required of all residents. Additional case conferences are held weekly at 7:30 a.m. Each Wednesday morning, physics classes are held for the residents. Additional physics classes take place in the afternoon prior to the board examination. Twice a month, outside speakers are invited to give Grand Rounds and provide case conference to the residents. Approximately once a month, the residents end their work at noon to attend the New England Roentgen Ray Society meeting in Boston. Journal club is also held monthly. Residents take part in several interdepartmental conferences including internal medicine, trauma, GI tumor board, breast cancer board, neurology, neurosurgery, pediatrics, pediatric surgery. Radiology residents present the weekly Medicine-Radiology conference as well as quarterly Radiology-Pathology conferences.

Call

Residents take call at the University Campus of UmassMemorial Healthcare. During their first year of training, residents gain experience in Emergency Radiology by working with faculty in the Emergency Department. Independent Night Float and weekend call begins 12 months into training and residents are included in the call pool until the last four months of their training. Primary responsibilities include providing imaging services to the University Campus Emergency Department with inpatient consultations provided as requested. On-call attendings in multiple subspecialties are available to consult with the in-house resident via teleradiology at all times. A separate resident call pool exists for Interventional Radiology.

Research

The Department of Radiology is actively engaged in research in a number of fields. An overview of this research can be found  here . All residents are strongly encouraged to work on a scientific or educational project with the guidance of a faculty mentor. Many of our residents have presented their work at professional meetings or in peer-reviewed journals. A listing of some recent resident projects can be found  here .

Benefits

Each resident receives a generous annual book allowance and a housing allowance to attend the AFIP course in Washington, DC. Residents presenting papers at national meetings are reimbursed for all travel expenses and are allowed time off to attend the entire meeting. Further details on benefits and salaries can be found  here .