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Program Overview

The Residency Program currently consists of six residents distributed among the PG-2 through PG-5 years.  Training at the first postgraduate year level is not offered, but must be completed prior to entering the residency.  The training program is organized according to the structure of the Department of Radiation Oncology.  Patients are divided among seven primary clinical services denoted Green, Red, Yellow, Purple, Orange, White, and Blue.  It is noteworthy that each service has a clinical secretary, an assigned nursing team and dedicated physics/ dosimetry support.  The distribution of patients is as follows:

Organization of the Radiation Oncology Residency Program


Red
Dr. Marilyn Ling

  • Breast cancers

Yellow
Dr. Alan Katz

  • Gastrointestinal cancers
  • Breast cancers

Green
Dr. Ralph Brasacchio

  • Genitourinary cancers

White
Dr. Yuhchyau Chen
Dr. Deepinder Singh
Dr. Hong Zhang

  • Head and neckcancers
  • Thoracic cancers

Purple
Dr. Michael Milano

  • Shaped beam radiosurgery and new modalities
  • Central nervous system cancers
  • Thoracic cancers

Orange
Dr. Paul Okunieff, Department Chair
Dr. Kenneth Usuki

  • Shaped beam radiosurgery and new modalities
  • Central Nervous System cancers

Blue
Dr. Louis Constine, Vice-chair

  • Hematological, pediatric CNS, pediatric and sarcomatous cancers
  • Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas
  • Total body irradiation for bone marrow transplantation and pituitary tumors

HH
Dr. Joy Anderson

  • Gynecologic oncology, including brachytherapy
  • Gastrointestinal cancers
  • Thyroid cancers
  • Miscellaneous malignancies and prostate brachytherapy

Rotation Overview

The great majority of rotations are at Strong Memorial Hospital. Residents in PGY2-5 complete two rotations on each of the seven primary clinical services.  Thus, they will gain broad exposure to the entire spectrum of oncology patients and their treatment.  This organization has the strength of providing the resident with a limited number of cancer types toward which to devote his/her learning energies at any one time, and ensures individual attention from an attending physician who can provide a consistent, methodical educational experience.  Depending on the PGY level and demonstrated level of competence, the resident is given progressively greater responsibility for patient management.

In the 3rd and 4th years of residency, additional experience is gained at our affiliated hospital, Highland Hospital(within a short drive of the University of Rochester), including experience in gynecologic-oncology and involvement in the internationally renowned clinic for treating rectal cancers with endocavitary therapy.

PGY4&5 residents are additionally each designated and serve as ‘chief resident’. The chief resident performs academic and administrative responsibilities including organization of the educational conference schedule.

PGY4&5 residents also oversee the educational experience of the more junior residents, assume an increased level of clinical responsibility under the guidance of the attending physicians, and oversee the operation of an individual service (under the guidance of a covering attending physician) when the primary attending physician is absent, under the guidance of a covering attending.