Radiation Oncology Residency Program

The City of Hope Radiation Oncology Residency Program is a four-year Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accredited program which begins in the PGY-2 year. The overall goal of the program is to train physicians to be outstanding radiation oncologists and to provide graduates with a solid foundation in translational and clinical research. The program emphasizes preparation for careers in academic radiation oncology. The selection process gives preference to those applicants who show an aptitude for academic medicine and with an interest in teaching, research and the application of cutting-edge translational technologies to cancer care.

 

Training is provided in clinical radiation oncology, treatment planning, radiation physics, and radiobiology, equipping graduates to provide comprehensive patient care as practicing radiation oncologists either in academia or the private practice setting. Residents actively participate in the management of a diverse variety of patients, with progressively increasing responsibilities during later phases of the Program. The attending physicians and the resident physicians work as a team, with the resident assuming primary care responsibilities for patients under the attending’s supervision. The resident-attending teams evaluate and counsel new patients and provide treatment which includes radiotherapy simulation, treatment planning, and administration of radiation treatment. The resident physician follows the patient throughout treatment with attending supervision and subsequently in post-radiotherapy follow-up clinics.

 

Please refer to the Resident Handbook for a complete outline of Program Year Objectives.

 

The total complement of residents is six, with one to two residents currently being accepted per year into the program. The program participates in the National and Resident Matching Program, with applications processed through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) common application program. (Refer to Application Process for more information).

 

City of Hope continues to be on the forefront of the latest treatment technology and clinical research, providing residents with a rich and comprehensive training environment. As an NCI designated comprehensive cancer center and charter member of the NCCN, City of Hope provides an excellent environment for residency education. The Duarte main campus radiation oncology department has a total of 29,000 square feet with 4-6 treatment vaults and 3 imaging suites. In addition to the currently installed RadiXact, Hi-Art tomotherapy, TrueBeam and TrueBeam STX, a PET/CT guided Reflexion and Varian Ethos are in the planning. Multimodality functional tumor imaging is a key part of our center which houses MRI, PET/CT and CT units dedicated to treatment planning and treatment response assessment. In addition to these resources, radiation biology labs occupying a total of 4-5000 square feet currently house the labs of 4 NCI funded basic lab scientists. Finally, an additional 8000 square feet is dedicated to an established radioimmunotherapy program with basic science laboratories and a radiopharmacy for the labeling of preclinical and clinical radiopharmaceuticals for tumor imaging and targeted tumor therapy.

 

Formal didactic lectures cover radiation biology, physics, and clinical radiation oncology. Clinical trial design, biostatistics, imaging (PET, SPECT, MRI, etc.), medical oncology and pediatric oncology are included in the lecture series. We emphasize multidisciplinary training. City of Hope has established fellowship programs in medical oncology, hematologic oncology, pathology, surgery, and urology. Ample interaction occurs through clinical conferences and tumor boards. Electives will be available with the other oncologic specialties.

 

Each resident will be required to do an 6-11 month research rotation. He or she will be provided opportunities to pursue lab, translational or clinical research projects with the goal of publishing at least 2 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals.

 

In accordance with the American Board of Radiology (ABR) for board eligibility, City of Hope requires successful completion of a clinical PGY1 year in the United States prior to commencing its four-year Radiation Oncology Residency Program.

Department of Radiation Oncology

 

Using leading edge technology, the Department of Radiation Oncology offers specialized services in external beam radiation therapy, HDR brachytherapy, radioactive seed implantation for prostate cancer, intraoperative radiation therapy, surface guided treatment delivery, stereotactic radiosurgery and image guided intensity modulated radiation therapy. We also offer novel approaches to cancer therapy, such as radioimmunotherapy and stereotactic body radiation therapy. Through innovative laboratory and clinical research programs, we continue to investigate ways to further advance the efficacy and safety of radiation therapy.