Program Details
The Radiation Oncology Residency Program at the University of Rochester Medical Center is dedicated to the education and training of residents in the clinical care of patients with cancer and the use of radiation therapy in their management. The Program is oriented toward providing residents with a solid foundation for understanding the scientific advances that are constant in this field.
Emphasis is placed on the development and assessment of residents’ skills in each of the following competencies, as is also required by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME):
- Patient Care – Residents must be able to provide patient care that is compassionate, appropriate, and effective for the treatment of health problems and the promotion of health.
- Medical Knowledge – Residents must demonstrate knowledge about established and evolving biomedical, clinical, and cognate sciences and the application of that knowledge to patient care.
- Practice-Based Learning and Improvement – Residents must be able to investigate and evaluate their patient care practices, appraise and assimilate scientific evidence, and improve their patient care practices.
- Interpersonal and Communication Skills – Residents must demonstrate interpersonal and communication skills that result in effective information exchange and teaming with patients, their patients' families, and professional associates.
- Professionalism – Resident must clearly show a commitment to carrying out professional responsibilities, adherence to ethical principles, and sensitivity to a diverse patient population.
- System-Based Practice – Residents must demonstrate an awareness of an responsiveness to the larger context and system of health care and the ability to effectively call on system resources to provide care that is of optimal value.
Clinical Training
The clinical training in radiation oncology is appropriately broad in scope and directed toward providing the resident with a firm understanding of the following:
- The etiology, epidemiology, and natural history of malignant disease
- Special considerations unique to each cancer type
- Indications for and outcomes of radiation therapy
- Thoughtful treatment planning to optimize the delivery and distribution of radiation
- Standard radiation therapy techniques for dose delivery
- The use of innovative and investigational therapeutic modes, including conformal, stereotactic and intensity modulated radiation techniques
- Normal tissue radiosensitivity and tumor radioresponsiveness
- Integration of the other standard therapeutic modalities (surgery and systemic therapy) in disease eradication within a multidisciplinary framework
- Creative laboratory modeling to simulate clinical problems
More specifically, residents are trained in the understanding and use of:
- Various external radiation techniques (megavoltage photon and electron therapy)
- Computerized treatment planning and simulation
- Intracavitary and interstitial brachytherapy techniques
- Brain and body stereotactic radiosurgery techniques
- Altered fractionation schemes
- Total body irradiation in the setting of bone marrow transplantation
- Radiosensitizers and protectors
- Radiolabelled antibody therapy
During the course of training, residents are expected to become familiar with clinical investigation, biostatistics, epidemiology, computer data management and analysis, ethical considerations in investigation, and biomedical writing. This is accomplished through the development of a research project, with the guidance of a faculty mentor, leading to presentation and publication.
