Interview impressions

[clintpark]

A lot of people know that I just finished training at UTSW.

Let me start off by saying that much of your observation is pretty accurate and I do appreciate your outside-looking-in insight because, well, it's hard to see a blot on your own face until someone points it out.

That being said, your impression is based on one morning's experience and interchange with a few residents, and I was there for four years. Well, here is my take.

I think you are wrong when you said having Dr. Choy would make for a potentially long four years because of his "abrasive" personality. I can tell you from my own experience and those of other residents that Dr. Choy is probably the most well loved attending (beside Dr. Pistenmaa who is just the nicest guy in the history of Western civilization) whose rotation we definitely enjoy the most. You could probably ask old residents from Vanderbilt who, I believe, will echo the same sentiment. You just have to put up with first two weeks of "breaking in" at the beginning of his rotation. He teaches a ton and teaches you skills you won't learn anywhere else --- including how to get med oncs to do what you want them to.

It is not to say that he doesn't comes across very abrupt --- unfiltered, perhaps --- on the interview day. I was taken aback myself when he said some like "well, that was stupid" or "your research is worthless" on multiple occasions. He doesn't have the usual interview decorum that you expect and he doesn't apologize for telling it like it is. Ask yourself, though. Do you really think that the 2 month project of chart biopsy you did as a medical student just so that you can have something on your CV wasn't stupid? Well, there.

It is true that he thinks greatly of the program and probably that arrogance didn't do the program any favor. As I mentioned earlier, that was the most crucial factor in us not filling last year. We interviewed way too few people for the number of spots we had and then went ahead added more spots. You won't find anyone who thinks that there was something inherently deficient in the program though.

I cannot disagree more that the education I received was not the best possible. The training I got was second-to-none in terms of being able to think critically through different clinical scenarios, substantiate my recommendation with evidence, read scans (not reports) thoroughly, and market myself for a job after the training. From where else can you say that you trained with Gammaknife, Cyberknife, Novalis, Trilogy, Synergy, 4D CT, cone beam CT, Calypso, etc. under one roof with Father of American SBRT (Dr. Timmerman) and the premier Novalis physicist (Dr. Solberg)? Where we were lacking was getting attendings to give powerpoint-style didactic presentations. I am not even sure if that's all that helpful.

The issue with the program director is totally overblown. I am not going to deny that there were some issues with her leadership last year. During the interview season, the residents were not very happy because they were going through some funding cut (even at UTSW!) where our travel reimbursement were hit pretty hard. Until then, we had been reimbursed the same amount as faculty (we all stayed at individual 5 star hotel rooms in Boston -- $300 per night) and they finally caught up with us... Oh, well. I enjoyed it while it lasted. She is interested in bettering the program, but the changes weren't implemented quickly enough for some residents' taste. However, we completely revamped the clinical conference this year, and, I'm told, everyone loves it. I don't think she's going to step down as a program director anytime soon.

There is a difference between telling it like it is and propagating heresay and wishes. I am quite upset, actually, that we residents did so much of the latter to give you the impression you got. At the end, I do think some of your observations were dead-on. I feel a bit embarrased that we were so transparent and didn't put up more of a show to sell the program like everyone else. I just wanted to balance your view with my own experience. Thank you.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Impressions]

I agree completely.

I don't completely agree. There is nothing wrong with trying to build up a program, aiming high in terms of the caliber of resident you want to attract, technology or research...money is important if you are trying to do so. Who cares if you didn't fill? Just means that they don't want to "settle" for just any resident. Also, I liked the program director and did not get a bad vibe about her or her relationship with the residents. I have to admit, I was not sure what the education was like, but based on my visit last year, but I couldn't call it good or bad.

...still think UTSW is a good program, and on the way up. (oh, and I'm not a future resident there)

 

[Tigerstang]

Does anyone have any insight on how UVa's group interview process works? Thanks.

 

[Impressions]

I wanted to ask if anyone has interviewed at or heard anything about University of Maryland's program recently.

I read on an earlier thread that it was a long interview day with ~14 interviews. Also, candidates were invited to return for a "second look" which is something apparently most of the current residents there had done. Is this common? I mean, if you have to fly across the whole country to interview, do programs really expect you to fly back again for a second look day?

Any feedback about "second look" days and University of Maryland would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Impressions]

I would be interested to know too...I called a few days ago and they said they are still in the process of "rolling admissions"...my file made it to the "final round" and more results will come. Looks like this is really a program that may cause stress to applicants?

 

[koolaidkid]

I thought UTSW was amazing and Hok Choy was very impressive. I didn't rank it as high as other institutions with more of a pedigree and history, but that's the reason---history. Hok Choy was definitely hardcore and somewhat of a difficult interviewer (I think he asked me "what do you think your contribution will be in radiation oncology" multiple times, always unsatisfied with my answer), but I think he's definitely quite a visionary. He catapaulted a more or less mediocre quasi-private group into being the second best radiation onoclogy program in Texas, and I think you'll have ample opportunities for research (if academic) and will probably get great private training. he also verged on asking what my rank list would be, excluding UTSW, which was kind of weird, but whatever. I think that came up a couple of times at other places too.

it's funny because both Hok Choy at UTSW and Alvaro Martinez from William Beaumont (both somewhat overlooked gems in radiation oncology departments) had somewhat intimidating / gruff interviewing styles. However, I'd say that they are both impressive leaders in the field who have developed very strong departments because of their leadership skills and vision.

Their interviews were definitely somewhat intimidating. But I've heard from others that they come across difficult, but will also have your back.

 

[Impressions]

I have an interview at Oregon scheduled. Does anyone know anything about the program? I have heard that the residents work hard, but overall the program is solid.

Any comments???

 

[syovino]

Hi -

This is one of the chief residents from Maryland. I would like to clear up some confusion from earlier posts.

1) Second looks are not required in any way, shape, or form. None of us are certain how this rumor got started but it has been propagating through the forums, as rumors tend to do. Among the current residents, I don't think anyone came back for a second look. So, although you are more than welcome to visit again and spend time in the clinic to see how things work, this is by no means necessary.

2) Interview days do not involve 14 separate faculty interviews! In past years we did have interviews on Saturdays which took up nearly the whole day; we have cut this back to a half day (on a Friday) with six interviews, a mix of clinical and basic science faculty. Everyone will meet the chair and vice chair.

Please don't hesitate to post here or PM me if you have more questions about the U Maryland program.

 

[arthurdent]

Hi -


2) Interview days do not involve 14 separate faculty interviews!

They do at Stanford!

 

[Gfunk6]

Here are a user's impressions I was asked to post anonymously.

Here are some of my impressions from last year's interview season. Hope this helps this year's batch of interviewees. These are great programs that are not in the top 10 but probably in the top 20.

Thomas Jefferson
A great program for translational research. Around the time I was interviewing last year they did not have a new chair. With the old chair leaving along with some of the staff the program was changing for the better. Dr. Dicker became the new chair right before rank lists were due. During the interview he really stressed that resident education would be a huge priority. He sincerely will go to bat for the residents. He takes pride in resident research. He was very sincere about helping residents succeed in academics by helping them get start up grants. He is big on translational research. He has a PhD, and is really doing a lot of phase I trials with experimental therapeutics. He also has an active lab and is actually doing bench to bedside work by bringing radiosensitizers to the clinic. Besides him there is an active radiobiology program. And since RTOG is located in Philly, there are a lot of opportunities for residents to use the RTOG databases. You get a whole year of research with many opportunities for basic science, phase I trials or larger clinical trials.
Negatives about the program include, having to spend two months away, one at St. Jude's for your peds requirements and one I think at Wash U for gyn experience. Also the staff was nice but since the program was in transition it lacked the cohesiveness I got from other departments. The facilities also seemed outdated.

William Beaumont
A great training program that in my opinion rivals many of the top ten (if only it was in a better location and connected to a research university). The chair Martinez (prostate, HDR) and Vicini (accelerated breast, partial breast irradiation) are two big names in the field, who produce a lot of research. The rest of the faculty seemed really friendly. Lots of technology, but protons are on hold due to the economy. Powerhouse for brachy. Very strong physics department, helped pioneered come beam CT.
Really stressed research during the interview. All residents spend one year doing research. They have a strong presence at ASTRO every year. Opportunities for clinical, physics and basic science/translational research are available. They have two radiation biologists in the department and have a hospital wide biobank which they say residents have access to for research. There is an included transitional year, which the residents told us was really cush with only a 3 months of call.
Negatives: Located in suburb outside of Detroit. Not many people recognize the name outside of the rad onc community. Not affiliated with a university but suppose to change with new affiliation with opening of Oakland University medical school. No strong medical oncology program and outside of the rad onc department no other researchers doing cancer research. Plans for protons are indefinitely on hold.

Cleveland Clinic
Great clinical program. Very busy clinic and the residents work really hard but they get an excellent education. This is in part from their morning conferences, which seems somewhat intimating. You get to sit through their morning conference during your interviews and watch the residents get grilled about all the studies pertaining to the topic presented. But in the end the residents know their stuff. The chairman, Dr. Suh seems to be a great guy and a hard worker. He can sometimes seem intense because he is always working to improve the department. He does a lot clinical research in CNS. The program director, Dr. Videtic seems like a really nice guy and does lot of clinical research in SBRT. Residents kept on talking how great he is with patients and teaching. The other faculty seem like they are not as involved in resident education or research. When I interviewed they had just hired a new head of physics and were reorganizing the physics department. They give you 12 months of research time which is really all clinical research because they have no radiobiologist or cancer biologist in the department. One resident did find a lab in a different department. They are active in RTOG, have many in house protocols, and have a big presence at ASTRO. Biggest downside for me was the lack of translational and radiobiology research. Also Cleveland is a negative in regards to location. And the included TY seems tough.

UTSW
A lot has already been said about this program so I will just give a few comments. Like all these programs it's a great program in terms of clinical training and research opportunities. The chair, Dr. Choy is really intense, not only during interviews but it seems to me that he is like that all the time. It's good and bad. He seems to be a hard worker and wants his residents to work hard as well. He really stresses research and does challenge your research during the interview which gets to be annoying. During the interview he grabs on to your weakest part of your research and keeps on challenging it, hoping you will crack. I thought it was a shame because I had other strong research accomplishments that I tried to bring up but he did not want to have a discussion. It wasn't a conversational interview at all but more of a thesis defense. It did really turn me away. Even though he is intense, I did get the overall impression that he is the strongest supporter of your research during residency and helping you develop an academic career. Dr. Timmerman is really great and really nice. However in contrast to Dr. Choy he seemed to not express the desire for residents to do be as involved in research. He told me that residency is the time to focus on clinical education and not research. So I got some mixed signals during the interview. They do give you a whole year of research time. There is a strong radiation biology branch and many opportunities for research. They have a lot of new technology. A negative for me included Texas sprawl of Dallas. Also I think it was the gamma knife that was either off campus or on the other side of the campus and you had to drive or take a shuttle to get there.

University of Florida
I agree with the previous posts that this program is somewhat overrated. It's still a good program and will give you a great clinical training but it lacks in some ways. However this is now going to change since they got a new chair, Dr. Okunieff from the University of Rochester. The good is that you have protons but the bad is you spend half your time split between Gainsville and the proton center in Jacksonville (~1.5 hrs away). Like the previous poster said, seems like they are putting most of their resources into the proton center.
Residents get six months of research time and are really productive but it is all clinical research with no basic/translational opportunities available. They have one cancer biologist in the department but he does not take residents in his lab. None of the faculty seemed interested in translational research. On the plus side the faculty are extremely nice. Even though it was a panel interview I felt at ease. The residents don't get work to death and all seem very happy. With all that said, I think the program is going to improve tremendously with the new chair (http://news.health.ufl.edu/news/story.aspx?ID=5422). Dr. Okunieff is a great chair and a big researcher and is bringing with him a lot of grant money (ten's of millions according to the webpage) and people from is lab. He does a lot of interesting translational work and clinical research with SBRT for metastases. He is going to be giving U of F the basic/translational research that is keeping it from being competitive with the other top programs. If I knew he was coming I might have ranked the program higher last year.

University of Rochester
I just wanted to give a shout out to this smaller program. I really liked the program last year. Some of the nicest attendings that I met. The program gives you an excellent clinical experience. They have a new cancer center and lots of new technology. Doing lots of SBRT. Located in a great university hospital setting with all the support of a well known research university. Lots of clinical and translational/basic science happening in the department. Have a huge research staff for the size of the department. A very strong radiation biology program with lots of grant money. Dr. Constantine is a big name in peds. I thought Dr. Okunieff was a great chair and that is why I think he will be great for UF. The only huge down side when I interviewed is that they only gave residents a max of 4- 5 months of research time with only 3 months being back to back, but there was talk from the residents that this may change in the future. Now the huge problem is that they need a new chair. Hopefully they will find someone to keep the department going in the right direction. It is also not known how much of the grant money, labs and other research personal will be going to UF.

 

[yeasterbunny]

Does anyone have any insight on how UVa's group interview process works? Thanks.

Are they doing a group interview now? When I interviewed there 2 years ago they did not. They did, however, do a tele-interview with someone at a satellite facility.

 

[Gfunk6]

Here is a user's interview impressions that I am posting anonymously. Please keep them coming!

University of Wisconsin
Pros:
This program is simply amazing.
1. The research opportunities are countless (they have 44 protocols for breast cancer alone, 35 for prostate cancer) and the faculty members seem to be very helpful with research projects and funding. Residents have 6 months of protected research time and almost always get one academic day/week to do research, although on the busy services that day is often spent catching up on work.
2. The didactics are among the best that I have seen and they definitely are a priority.
3. The attendings are incredibly friendly and are on a first-name basis with the residents. A couple of residents have even gone on weekend-long fishing trips with the program director, which to me speaks volumes about the resident-attending relationships.
4. 60-70% of residents in the past 8 years have gone into academics. A few residents have stayed on as attendings, which to me speaks of the family atmosphere that I sense. The residents all seemed very friendly, happy and down-to-earth.
5. For me, the opportunity to live in Madison is a major plus b/c you get all four seasons, plentiful outdoor activities, a lot of cultural activities and the benefits of having a major university in the city.
6. The department is GORGEOUS! It was just renovated last year and the lobby looks like the entrance to a 4 star hotel…very impressive.
7. The basic science research facilities are very impressive as well (if that's your kind of thing…I personally prefer clinical research).
8. All of the treatment modalities that you need to be a very well-rounded clinician (Tomotherapy, Gamma Knife, lots of HDR and LDR brachytherapy, plenty of SRS, etc.)
9. This program had, by far, the greatest sense of "family/community" that I could feel on the interview trail. Everybody is incredibly friendly and happy to be there.
Cons:
Hard to think of any.
1. I am not sure what to think of the "almost exclusively resident run clinic." Does that mean that they are working really long hours? Obviously, I didn't want to ask, "How many hours/day do you work?" However, they claim that they have enough time to read, so who knows.
2. If you don't like winter and cold weather, the location could be a problem for you. Also, if you are a big city person, Madison (population ~250,000) may not have enough for you.
Overall: I ranked this program #2/10, as it has just about everything that I could want in a program. I would feel incredibly blessed to join such a great group of people and train in that environment. However, I am sure a lot of other people are ranking this program very highly as well, so we'll have to see.

Mayo Clinic – Jacksonville
Pros:
1. The smaller program size allows for great relationships between residents and attendings; everybody seems to get along very well and have good working relationships.
2. 6 months of protected research time
3. Practice written and oral board exams in the last 6 months of residency to aid board preparation.
4. Beautiful facilities both within the department itself and the medical campus.
5. 2 of the 4 attendings have a relatively light schedule, which apparently allows you to do clinical research if you are motivated to do so.
Cons:
1. Location (I realize that some people will strongly disagree). However, I am from up north and so I would personally miss not having a significant change of seasons.
2. You have to go to WashU for brachytherapy (not a huge deal, but a month away from the family)
3. The residents did not feel as if they were given enough autonomy/responsibility with a couple of the attendings.
4. I am not certain how high the qualities of didactics are b/c they are largely resident-run (although it sounds like a lot of programs are that way).
5. No academic day/week.
6. I get the impression that they do not see a lot of advanced pathology, though I could be wrong. This impression comes from the fact that most of the patients are relatively affluent and are more likely to obviously have greater access to health care, and therefore, get issues dealt with earlier.
Overall: I ranked this program #7/10, as I think it could provide you with all of the tools necessary to be a good radiation oncologist. I am unsure if they have sufficient clinical volume or see enough advanced pathology to make you an excellent physician. However, the program does have very friendly, nice, genuine people in a nice setting.

SUNY – Brooklyn
Pros:
1. There appears to be a lot of resident autonomy and the residents seem to be pretty happy.
2. A wide diversity of clinical training sites
3. I think New York City would be a great place to live for four years as a young married guy, though I personally would not want to raise a family there.
4. The workload appears to be relatively light which would enable you to have plentiful time to read or do clinical research if you are very ambitious (needed b/c the research infra-structure is poor).
Cons:
1. Lack of technology. No GammaKnife, CyberKnife, Tomotherapy, etc. It seems to me that you could be at a disadvantage when looking for jobs at the end of your residency if the only machines that you have experience on are the standard linear accelerators, but maybe I am wrong.
2. The SUNY-Downstate facility is pretty run down. I don't need to be in a palace, but working in a relatively nice place brightens the mood of staff and patients alike.
3. There is a lot of time wasted traveling b/c even when you are at a different site than the main two (SUNY Downstate or Kings County) you still have to go down to SUNY for didactics.
4. You only get 2 months of protected research time, which is an incredibly short amount of time to get anything of significance accomplished. If you are going into private practice, it's not a big deal. But, for those that are considering academics, it would be very difficult to get any major research done as it is not a point of emphasis and none of the attendings are likely to serve as great research mentors.
5. None of the sites that you rotate at are specific to any organ system. In that regard, it is like private practice b/c you see a mixture of pathology to different sites in any given day. It seems as if this would make learning the literature and relevant material more difficult if you are constantly moving between various disease sites on a daily basis.
6. I seriously question the programs commitment to the application process. It was clear that only 1 of my 5 interviewers took the time to read my application. I don't expect them to know my life story, but is it asking too much to spend ten minutes going through the ERAS CAF or CV and jotting down a few notes?
Overall: I ranked this program #9/10 primarily because I felt a sense of complacency and that people weren't really happy to be there. The aesthetics of the department may mirror the overall "vibe" of the place in that it is out-dated and may not provide you with the greatest training. Furthermore, I wasn't very excited about having to rotate through four different facilities because of all the time lost in transit.

Detroit Medical Center
Pros:
1. The new chairman and program director (Dr. Konski, arrived from Fox Chase ~1 year ago) has a tremendous vision for the program and I have no doubt that he will elevate the status of the program. He has increased the protected research time from 3 to 6 months and has placed an increased emphasis on research even prior to that allotted PGY-4 research time. The chief residents have 4-5 manuscripts in progress or already published. Graduates ~40% academic.
2. Plenty of technology including Rapid Arc, GammaKnife and a Cyber Knife.
3. The department was just remodeled in April, 2009 and looks very nice (not awe-inspiring, but definitely comfortable).
4. Tremendous range of patient clientele ranging from the wealthy to the indigent/uninsured. Seeing the later type of patients enables you to become comfortable with treating the type of advanced pathology usually only seen in the inner city.
5. The faculty appears to be genuinely friendly and interested in teaching. The faculty even commented that a couple of the previous attendings that were malignant are no longer on staff because of their negative attitudes.
6. The physics and radiation biology didactics seem to be particularly strong and the board pass rates for the pass 5 years is 100%.
7. The attendings are very friendly/approachable and I am certain that you would leave here after 4 years as an excellent radiation oncologist.
Cons:
1. No academic day during the week, but all attendings have a "lighter" day on which you can generally catch up on dictations, contouring, etc.
2. Per previous reviews on this forum, I thought that the workload would be incredibly high. However, after talking with one of the chief residents, he was on pace to sim approximately 580 patients in his 42 months (they get 6 months of research). Talking to people in other departments, that seems about par for the course. Furthermore, he noted that his workload has decreased since the arrival of Dr. Konski has placed an increased emphasis on research and education.
3. Location. The area surrounding the Detroit Medical Center is somewhat shady. However, there are numerous nice suburbs within 20 minutes (Royal Oak, Grosse Pointe, etc.)
Overall: I ranked this program #4/10 because I know that I would receive excellent clinical training, very education/didactics and plentiful research opportunities. Do not let the "Detroit" name scare you because I truly believe that this program is definitely on the rise and will shape you into an excellent physician.

University of Miami
Pros:
1. The chairman (Dr. Pollack from Fox Chase) has tremendous vision for the program and in only 1.5 years has increased the number of residents from 6 to 8 and has generated more funding for the department. His goal is to have the program in the "top 10" in 10 years. He has placed a strong emphasis on research and has ensured that all residents will have 6 months of protected time in the PGY-4 year.
2. Very nice facilities at the Sylvester Cancer Center (private, insured patients) and more average facilities at the county hospital (Jackson Memorial) on the same campus.
3. One academic day per week to read, catch up on dictations or do research.
4. Tremendous range of patient clientele ranging from the wealthy to the indigent/uninsured. Seeing the later type of patients enables you to become comfortable with treating the type of advanced pathology usually only seen in the inner city. See many patients with advanced pathology that come up from the Caribbean or Latin America.
5. The residents seemed really happy with the training and were a fun group.
Cons:
1. Location. I realize some people are going to think that I am crazy for saying that location is a negative, but I am a northerner that loves the changing of seasons. Personally, having summer year-round is a huge turn-off.
2. On the interview day, it was stated that the 6 months of protected research time must be in either Physics or Radiation Biology. I much prefer to do clinical research, so not having the freedom to do whatever type of research that you like is disappointing.
3. Heavy workload, but should decrease with the increased number of residents.
Overall: I ranked this program #6/10 primarily because of the weather and city as I am a "northerner" who loves the change of seasons as well as smaller cities. If you want to live in Miami, I have no doubt that this program would provide you with an excellent education and a good quality of life.

University of Minnesota
Pros:
1. The most friendly and laid-back group of residents and attendings that I have met on the trail. For those who do not need to be spoon-fed and are self-motivated enough to read on their own, this is a great place to be. There is no "pimping" or expectations that you memorize the minutiae of various studies, but only to know the main points.
2. The Twin Cities are a great place to raise a family with many nice suburbs and plentiful outdoor activities. Great ice hockey, cross-country skiing, camping, hiking, mountain biking, fishing, etc. A tremendous place to be for those who love the outdoors.
3. The residents seem incredibly happy and have nothing but great things to say about the program.
4. Especially strong in areas where some programs are weak such as pediatrics and GynOnc.
5. Relatively lighter case load and one academic day/week allows for plenty of time to read and/or do research.
Cons:
1. Other than physics, the research opportunities are limited as there is not a strong research infrastructure in place and there is no organized database that would allow you to construct any retrospective studies. Not a great place if you are certain that you want to go into academics. For those of us who are undecided, the 3 months of protected research and the academic day/week would be enough time to churn out a few publications.
2. The residents did admit that their didactics were pretty limited in quantity, though the quality was good and well attended by attending physicians.
3. The facilities were not run-down, but less than impressive from an aesthetics standpoint.
4. I didn't get the feeling that education was a huge priority. Didactics are only one day/week (other than Physics/RadBio) and I didn't get a real good "vibe" from many of the attendings in terms of a willingness/desire to teach residents.
Overall: I ranked this program #5/10 and that was disappointing as I REALLY wanted to rank this program higher b/c I love the Twin Cities. I will hopefully be moving there as an attending, but I just do not think that there is enough emphasis on education/training and the program seems very complacent.

University of Washington
Pros:
1. Location. Seattle is a great city for all types of people, from the "outdoorsy" (yours truly) to the music lovers to the art lovers and all walks of life in between. While the winters can get gloomy and overcast, the summers are amazing.
2. Due to its location as the major referral center in the Pacific Northwest, the residents receive excellent clinical training and see a lot of advanced pathology and "zebras" that you probably would not see at other places.
3. The residents were very friendly, highly intelligent and appeared to be pretty happy. They claim that they have enough time to read, even though they do admit to working pretty hard (see below). The academic day/week is spent catching up on dictations, etc.
Cons:
1. This appears to be the hardest-working bunch of residents that I have seen on the trail, with average days from 7 a.m. to ~6 p.m. on breast/prostate services and 7 a.m. to ~8 p.m. on CNS and head/neck services (per the residents). While I don't mind working hard, I do like to have enough time to make sure that I can read and learn.
2. The cost of living is high (surprise…big city in a desirable location)
3. For a program with a relatively big name, the research opportunities are limited. There are no databases set up (other than for neutrons, which obviously is not used very much b/c primary use is salivary gland tumors) that would allow a resident to churn out retrospective studies. There are 6 months of research allotted (3 in each of the PGY-4/5 years), but none of the faculty appear to be publishing much so don't expect much as far as research mentorship.
4. Didactics every morning at 7 a.m. (which is OK for me b/c I am a morning person, but I just thought I would throw that out there).
5. Rotate at four locations (UWMC, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, VA, Harborview) = a lot of time lost in communicating b/c even if you are at another facility, you still have to report every morning to UWMC for didactics (no satellite feeds like I have seen at other programs).
Overall: I ranked this program #8/10 primarily because of the really long work hours in addition to all of the commuting. I enjoy working hard, but if you are working that many hours AND you have to study, I don't really see any time to do anything outside of medicine.

Case Western Medical Center
Pros:
1. A great group of residents and attendings that seem both friendly/chill as well as very passionate about being great radiation oncologists.
2. All of the technology that you could want: GammaKnife, CyberKnife, TomoTherapy, new Linacs, 4-D simulations and a brand new cancer center that is going to open in late 2010 or early 2011.
3. Tremendous amount of research activities as their new chair, Dr. Machtay, is the Vice Chairman of RTOG. He has a tremendous vision for the program and it includes a significantly enhanced emphasis on research.
4. All of the attendings have an academic day/week and so do the residents (i.e. they do not have to cover another attendings service like at some programs). Also, 6 months of dedicated time during the PGY-4 year.
5. The didactics seem to be strong with great clinical conferences (we saw one on the interview day) and the basic physics and RadBio courses.
6. 4 weeks vacation (hey, that extra week off is nice, right?)
7. Low cost of living, so residents can afford to buy if they choose to do so.
8. Dr. Lyons, the program director, is highly thought of by the residents and appears to be a tremendous asset to the program.
Cons:
1. Location. I actually really enjoy Cleveland and have a family and friends in the area, so the location is actually a "pro" for me. However, if you have no ties to the area and do not like cold weather/snow, this is not the place for you.
2. Little things…you have to pay for parking, health insurance (though you do at some other programs as well).
Overall: I ranked this program #1 after hearing nothing but great things from the residents and the feel that I got on the interview day. I am fortunate enough to be friends with one of the residents (so I have inside knowledge of the program) and all of the residents are incredibly happy with their training. With the addition of Dr. Machtay, an increased emphasis on research and a brand new cancer center, this is definitely a program on the rise.

Allegheny General Hospital
Pros:
1. Very friendly residents/attendings allows for a collegial, friendly environment in which to train.
2. Location. Pittsburgh is actually a great place to live with plentiful outdoor activities within a short drive, a lot of cultural activities and a low cost of living.
Cons:
1. It appears that they are constantly in the shadow of UPMC.
2. I am only an MS-IV (so take this with a grain of salt), but I am concerned that the lack of name recognition nation-wide may limit job opportunities.
3. No dedicated research time during the PGY-4/5 year. They do give you one academic day/month (not a typo…that is per month) to do research; you get every other Thursday afternoon off.
4. Research opportunities are definitely limited.
5. Technology is somewhat lacking. No GammaKnife, CyberKnife or TomoTherapy.
6. No academic day/week.
7. Heavy workload, as witnessed by the chief resident saying, "I almost have double the numbers of my required cases." I am all for hard work, but not if it comes at the expense of your education.
Overall: I ranked this program #10/10 (sorry…somebody has to be last) primarily because of the limited research opportunities, lack of name recognition nationwide (probably wouldn't matter if you want to stay in the area) and the overall feeling that I got on the interview day. I think that everything is in place to be well trained, it just wasn't for me.

University of Louisville
Disclaimer: After reading a couple of horrendous reviews of this program from 3 years ago, I told myself that I would go into the interview day with an open mind and ask many of the "difficult questions".
Pros:
1. One academic day/week to read, do dictations, research, etc.
2. The dean of the medical school (Dr. Halperin) is a huge name in radiation oncology (literally wrote THE book for pediatric radiation oncology and is one of the co-editors on Perez and Brady) and so you can be assured that the department will have whatever they need to be successful. He also sees patients one morning/week, so you get to work with/know him as well.
3. Plenty of technology with Tomotherapy, Rapid Arc, 4DCT simulations, plenty of SRS.
4. 4 weeks of vacation + 1 week at either Christmas or New Year's (it's the little things, right?)
5. Louisville is a nice mid-sized city that is great for those who are starting a family b/c there are a lot of nice suburbs and the cost of living is low (almost all of the residents have bought a house).
6. 6 months of electives or research (your choice) with 2 months in each of the PGY 3-5 years.
7. Due to the fact that Louisville is the referral center for a huge geographic area, they see a lot of advanced pathology (especially head and neck and cervical).
8. A great group of residents that are easy-going, yet hard-working and get along very well (the previous negative threads on this forum were due to 2 negative/disruptive/bad residents.
9. 100% of their graduates in the past 5 years have passed written boards.
10. New PD from MDACC (Dr. Wu) seems very receptive to resident concerns.
Cons:
1. For those who are gung-ho academics and want to do basic science research, this is not the place for you. The faculty made it sound like it could be done, but there would be major hurdles.
2. They start pretty early with most days going from 7 a.m. until ~4:30 p.m. (reasonable).
3. The residents admit to working pretty hard, but that it is manageable and the attendings grant them a lot of autonomy and are happy with their training. The workload should decrease as Dr. Wu was promised (as part of his contract) that he would be able to hire two more attending physicians. Theoretically, this should decrease the number of patients/attending and decrease resident workload.
Overall: I ranked this program #3/10 because of the excellent clinical training, the high emphasis on training/education and the great group of residents in place. The negative reviews on this forum were secondary to a couple of "bad apple" residents who have since left the program. Essentially, these two guys made life miserable for everybody else and now all is well within the department. I know one of the residents personally and he assured me that the training is excellent and that the workload is reasonable (he was on pace to sim about 550 patients in four years).

 

[Gfunk6]

Here is another user's impressions. Thanks very much!

University of Maryland:
A great program that's committed to growth and excellence in resident education. Strong research and high clinical volume. Good equipment. Most of the peds cases go to Hopkins, so that might be a little lacking. You could say something about the area not being that great, but you don't have to live in the inner city. The residents were a great bunch. I thought the chief and program director were surprisingly normal and I really liked the other attendings. The residents were great and who can beat bowling the night before? This program was a big surprise for me and I know that I would be very, very happy there.

Jefferson:
This place seemed a lot like UMaryland to me (see above). Strong teaching and research. Dr. Dicker just signed as chair and I really liked him and the rest of the faculty. They lost several faculty, including Mitch Machtay who became the chair at Case Western. The residents were great.

University of Washington:
Waa whaaat? People actually liked this place? Now, before you say it: yes, I know it's in Seattle. Got anything else? I didn't think so.

First off, this was my first time in Seattle and I was surprised at how run-down the UW medical center was. Well, whatever. The interview day was a nightmare. None of the faculty were in their rooms at the appropriate times and there was no time scheduled between rooms, leading to us being 3-4 interviews behind. My interview with the PD was classic: he had no idea who I was.

Case load was adequate. Good equipment through their affiliations. Just like everyone else, they're getting protons. I didn't like the fact that attendings always have to be covered, so the residents have to trade vacation days amongst themselves. Research doesn't seem to be much of a priority. I got the feeling that this is what happens when you can attract top candidates solely based on your location...you stop trying. Several attendings and a couple of the residents struck me as arrogant. I thought they'd be high on my list until the interview, but they fell way down. And seriously guys, Seattle's not THAT great.

 

[Gfunk6]

More impressions!

University of Kentucky:
One of my first interviews. They see a lot of gyn there, including advanced cases, and some programs actually send residents to them for this experience. They also have a gamma knife and other great equipment. They sent one guy to Roswell Park recently, but most end up in private practice as research doesn't seem to be a huge priority. The PD really went for the jugular during the interview and seemed overly concerned with my step 2 score. I wrapped up my interviews feeling like I wasn't welcome there and I wasn't alone in this respect. I think this place would be ranked a lot higher on everyone's list if they would change their interview style a bit.

University of Rochester:
Rochester is a nice city and I could definitely see living there. The program was strong in nearly all aspects and there are amazing research opportunities (millions in funding from the DOD). Their chair left to take a great job at UF. Can't go wrong with this place. Really great bunch of residents here.

University of Cincinnati:
I loved this place. Very low stress interview day. Peds is incredibly strong because of their affiliation with Cincinnati Children's. They have strong physics teaching, but are a little lacking on the radbio teaching side. It doesn't seem to be making much of a difference because everyone is passing the radbio boards. Residents were busy and had no dedicated research time. The faculty were incredible and education is a huge priority. The faculty voluntarily split the cost of hiring a new resident out of their own salaries which really shows their commitment to teaching and training. This is a hidden gem and I would be very happy to match here!

 

[radanon]

The radiation oncology residency programs in Southern California have historically been somewhat, um, less than ideal. However, it seems like there are some positive changes happening- UCLA has undergone a major resurgence, UCSD is trying to re-open their residency program, City of Hope just opened their own program, Cedars Sinai has a new chair and may try to start a residency program down the road, etc.

For those of us who grew up in Southern California and were forced to go to medical school on the East Coast or in the midwest, coming back to Southern California is often a big priority. Therefore, many of the SoCal programs get strong applicants in spite of their struggles.

Here are my impressions of the SoCal programs. In the interest of full disclosure, I ended up not matching at any of them (I was couples matching, and I only ranked a few of them highly), so my opinion isn't biased by where I matched.

UCLA: In my opinion, this is clearly the best program in southern California, without much competition. This was not necessarily the case a few years ago. The program has undergone a major make-over with the recruitment of the new chair Dr. Steinberg (from private practice). The program was down to only 2 faculty as recently as 2 years ago, but since Dr. Steinberg has come on board they have hired Chris King from Stanford, Dr. Demanes (brachytherapist from Northern California), Pat Kupelian (coming on as clinical vice chair), and several young faculty. In addition, the residents rotate at the VA for 6 months with Dr. Julliard, who is well known in gyn and head and neck cancer. A peds rotation at CHLA will become part of the residency as well. They now also offer several "tracks" to choose from- a clinical track for people not interested in research, a research track with two 6 month research blocks, and they support the Holman pathway. From talking to the residents, it seemed like the two issues remaining to be resolved were: a resident has to be on site as while TBI's are underway and stay until treatments are finished, sometimes leading to early mornings and long hours, and formal didactics are still somewhat weak. Apparently, the administration is aware of the TBI issue/work hours issue, and things have reportedly gotten much better in the last several months . In addition, although it sounds like the formal didactics/conferences were still a work in progress, the residents thought Dr. King's contributions were drastically improving the lectures and conferences. Hopefully the program will continue its resurgence over the next several years, including increasing the amount of clinical research coming out of the department. Dr. Steinberg is a great leader and seemed like a very nice guy as well. I think he will continue to transform the program. I got the impression they were interested in people with a basic science background this year for whatever reason, which surprised me since Dr. Steinberg is a clinical and economics guy. They talked a lot about their radiobiology group, which apparently is quite active (which surprised me). Westwood is an awesome part of L.A.

Kaiser Sunset: This program has gotten some really poor reviews on this board in the past, so I thought that I would balance those out a little bit. I think that Kaiser is a actually decent training program as long as you are sure that you want to go into private practice. Their alumni get good private practice jobs in Southern California, which is supposedly one of the most competitive markets, and elsewhere on the West Coast. A decent amount stay in the Kaiser system, which is the biggest employer of doctors in California (if I'm not mistaken). Getting Kaiser rad onc jobs for outsiders is quite difficult and competitive in desirable locations. It may be harder to get a job outside of the West Coast, though, because I think that the program is not well known anywhere else. If you want to go into academics, or if you even want to have that option open to you at some point in the future, then this is not the program for you. Although they have a great electronic medical record system that contains all of the data of the several million Kaiser patients, no one seems to use it for retrospective chart review types of projects. There is very little academic activity here and not the greatest mentorship for people who are interested in research. Kaiser has a very large clinical volume (the Kaiser Sunset facility is the rad onc referral center for all of the other Southern California Kaisers), so you can get good clinical training in bread and butter radiation oncology if you are motivated. Because of their complicated schedule where you hop around to a different attending every half day, it does seem like you could also get away with not working that hard or learning that much if you have no motivation. This system also renders any semblance of continuity of care non-existent. Radiobiology is also non-existent- they don't even have one on staff right now, so they get their lectures from a UC-Irvine professor. The residents as a group were extremely nice, friendly, and happy with their training. They seemed like a fun group to hang out with. Many of them seemed to have chosen Kaiser specifically because they wanted to be in L.A. Kaiser is not in the nicest part of L.A. (Hollywood across from the Church of Scientology complex), but residents seemed not to mind. People lived all over (Silver Lake, North Hollywood, even Culver City).

UCSD: They tried to apply for a residency program last year, but apparently things didn't work out. They may have been successful in opening a residency program this year- I have no inside information, but they weren't accepting residents in the match. In any case, I think that they will soon have a functioning residency program, and I hear good things about the department in general. I think it will be a solid place once it is up and running, although there will inevitably be some growing pains. They seem to have a strong connection to the University of Chicago, which is where their chair is from. May vie for the second best program in SoCal in the coming years.

City of Hope: It is a little hard to know what to make of this program. They currently only have one resident, although they will be up to a full complement of 4 by the time future applicants would be starting their residency. This was supposedly the best teaching site for the UC Irvine residents when they rotated through here. However, it seems like they are still adjusting to having residents around full time, and structure is somewhat lacking. I really liked the chair, who is very interested in translational research and RIT, and the program director was an extremely nice guy as well. They have some cool technology, including tomotherapy. It will be interesting to see what happens with this program. Duarte is a quiet mountain town- if I was going to end up here, I would probably live in Pasadena.

USC: This program seemed pretty disorganized, honestly. There is some uncertainty regarding who will be the new chair. Hopefully they can bring in someone to quickly turn around this program like UCLA did with Dr. Steinberg. Also, making the applicants walk for 10 minutes outside in the rain in our suits to get to lunch because a resident didn't want to pay for parking at a restaurant- not such a great idea. Of all of the SoCal rad onc programs, I probably know this one the least, so I will let others who have better information give their opinions. They do have a gamma knife.

Loma Linda: Protons are cool, don't get me wrong, but I don't think an entire department should be based on ONLY protons. OK, they do have a few other techniques, but protons are pretty much the central modality of this department. Any department whose website is www.protons.com and phone number is 1-800-PROTONS has pretty clearly stated what their focus is on. Call me old fashioned, but I'd want to have a much broader spectrum of radiation techniques extending beyond the realm of protons when I'm training to become a radiation oncologist. How do the residents learn other techniques? There are only a few proton facilities in the United States (not sure the exact number), so it's unclear to me how useful all of this proton experience is for almost anyone in academics or in the community. It would be nice to rotate for a few months to get some exposure to protons, but I don't know about a whole residency. The interview day was very strange- you set up a specific time (e.g. 2:30pm) to interview, then just wait for everyone else to get done so you can go on a tour. You only meet two faculty members the entire day (one was the chair, at least). The chair spent a large percentage of our interview defending proton therapy, which was strange because I didn't even bring up protons, much less criticize Loma Linda's use of them at any point during our interview. The residents were not my favorite group that I met on the trail. Also, for people not from Southern California, Loma Linda is nowhere near L.A. or the ocean- it's way out at the edge of San Bernadino Valley (also known as the Inland Empire).

UC Irvine: I hear that they will likely not have a residency program in the foreseeable future unless something major changes. From my understanding, one problem (amongst several) is that they have only 2 faculty on staff at their main site, and the ACGME requires four. Because of politico-economic reasons related to insurance reimbursement and turf wars with the Orange County private practice docs, it sounds like they will not be able to remedy this situation any time soon simply because they are unable to generate enough revenue to hire more faculty. No one that I have talked to has been overly optimistic of things improving. It's too bad. I hope that they can turn things around. Orange County is a really nice place to live if you like surburbia.

.I hope some of the programs that are struggling improve, because there is no place like Southern California. In addition to having the best weather in the United States, it is one of the only places where you could go to the beach and surf one day and go to the mountains to ski and snowboard the next day. It has some of the best neighborhoods to live in anywhere (Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Brentwood, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Holmby Hills, Manhattan Beach, Palos Verdes Estates, Pasadena, most everything in San Diego and Orange County along the coasts, etc. etc.), although obviously all of these places are fairly pricey. Downsides of course are sprawl and HORRENDOUS traffic, but I prefer driving in my own car to sitting on a subway with 200 strangers, so it works for me. Maybe after residency I'll be back..

 

[radanon]

I wanted to echo a few of the sentiments in the above post and add some of my own comments.

I agree that southern California doesn't really have a true "superpower" program. However, southern California does have some of the best weather on Earth, easy access to mountains and ocean, and lots of great cultural events and fab lifestyles. It is definitely one of the most competitive markets in the US. As a result I agree that southern California will attract strong candidates regardless. It also doesn't help that there are only a small handful of positions each application cycle.

UCLA is definitely making strides forward. They only had 2 faculty on both the clinical and physics division for many years. It took them nearly 4 years to get a new chairman. They recruited heavily from the east, south, and midwest but were unable to find someone willing to leave to take over the department. Radiobiology at UCLA is very strong with a faculty consisting of several big names in the field. However, the amount of actual rad onc research was definitely not up to par with the reputation of the institution. The new faculty will breathe some life into the program and they may be starting up a brachytherapy program finally. I think they're on the way up, but still have a long way to go to get near a Michigan, WashU, or Stanford.

Kaiser Permanente is a great program if you know you want to go into private practice. There is virtually no real research in the program despite an enormous electronic patient database. They don't do any basic science research. The location is awesome if you like clubbing or going to places in Hollywood. The private practice placement is pretty impressive, but many of their graduates stay on staff there. My understanding is that the attending pay is a bit lower than average but the lifestyle and environment are great. I enjoyed talking to all of the staff there and the residents were a lot of fun. The curriculum is a bit odd in that you don't follow a single attending for 2-3 months. Instead, you rotate at a different body site service every half day. This is great for keeping everyone fresh on each body site, but continuity of care is virtually nonexistent. The work hours and overall environment is pretty pleasant though.

Loma Linda is a small program which, as everyone knows, is all about protons. I've spoken to the chairman there before and he makes a convincing argument about why protons are such a great modality. I totally agree with him about protons, but I can also see why it may be a detriment to base an entire residency around a single modality. There is actually a surprising amount of good translational research going on at this institution. The radiobiology and physics faculty are very involved and there is a lot of active collaboration. There is also a lot of support for resident research, whether or not the residents wish to take advantage of it. From an academic standpoint this program has more research output than many of the other southern California programs. The major point of criticism for this program is the lack of emphasis on other modalities. Otherwise, it seems to be an adequate training program and the residents all seem very happy and get along well. I spent a large part of my childhood in nearby Riverside so the location is not a major con for me. Especially since Loma Linda is so close to the mountains and tons of skiing and hiking areas.

City of Hope had the infamous match fiasco last year. I heard rumors that the program director was "demoted" after the incident. Essentially, they planned to take only 1 new resident but for some reason entered 4 available spots in the match. They matched 4 people and told 3 of them to "scram." Fortunately the other 3 managed to scramble somewhere. I have met and talked to one of these scramblers, and they were NOT happy about the situation. Aside from the incident I'm not sure what else to make of the program. They were the best rotating site for UCI's program before they decided to break away and form their own program. There seems to be a lot of foundation for research in the future, but the case diversity seems questionable. I know they get a lot of TBI cases. It may just take time for this program to grow. Personally, I feel like the split between UCI and City of Hope has hurt both programs. Kinda reminds me of Baylor and Methodist.

I'm not as familiar with UCI or USC but I kept hearing on the trail that "UCI is never going to get off of probation!" The funding to hire new faculty seems to be lacking. It also doesn't help to lose COH as a rotating site. I'm also aware that USC is missing a chairman and even the residents and faculty there don't really know what direction they're going. It sounds almost like UCLA about 6 years ago. The OC does need a good program but it isn't looking too pretty for them right now. UCSD faces some fierce private practice competition in San Diego. La Jolla has got to be one of the most desirable places to live on Earth. If and when they get this program running again I think it will become one of the most competitive programs in California. It's sad, but location draws strong candidates. Not everyone wants to become a high ranking academic superstar. Some people just want to enter an awesome field and live in an awesome place.

 

[Sameer2010]

I'm a fourth-year UCSD medical student who spent the last year rotating and doing research in the rad onc department at UCSD. I just want to clarify a few things regarding the future residency program here.

The chairman, Dr. Mundt, submitted the residency application this year (for the first time), and the ACGME site review took place in February. I'm told that the program will be reviewed and voted on at the next ACGME meeting which takes place in September.

As someone who just interviewed around the country and matched this year, I can say that I have an outstanding opinion of this department overall. Dr. Mundt, is a great mentor who loves working with students. Over the past several years, he has recruited over 20 faculty members and greatly expanded the department to include two satellite facilities in the community. I have also worked closely with several of the new attendings, all of whom were energetic and loved teaching.

There are TONS of research opportunities here, including clinical, physics, and basic science projects. They have lots of the newest technologies, including plans for a proton center. In addition, they have a great brachytherapy service and have a large pediatrics volume, so much so that several residents from other programs have come here to do visiting rotations.

Having seen several departments on the interview trail, I must admit that this is also one of the nicest and newest facilities that I have seen.

Unfortunately, there was no program available this year, otherwise I would have ranked it highly. But hopefully for future applicants, the program will be ready in the near future, and I think it will be a great option.

 

[Gfunk6]

Thanks very much for this anonymous review.

NCI

This program is in the midst of a huge transition. Residents rotate at the NCI, Walter Reed, the Naval Hospital, Suburban Hospital (private practice), UPenn (protons), and UKentucky (Gyn). Walter Reed is being moved from it's current location and is being combined with the Naval Hospital in Bethesda, so the 4 major sites will all be within a few blocks of each other. Construction is ongoing, but should be completed by July 2011. New equipment is being picked up for this new site, although I'm not exactly sure of the details. For now, HDR and LDR brachy, tomotherapy, and all of the basic modalities are there. Volume is no longer low, as was once a concern of this program. They are apparently in the middle 5th as far as volume and that will likely increase with the new Walter Reed setup and other changes that are occurring with military referrals in northern Virginia. Interestingly, besides UKentucky gyn, the rotations are not cancer-site specific. You might see Prostate, H&N, and Peds on the same day.

Faculty are supposedly amazing and several are considered among the top in their field. They publish regularly in the red journal and have book chapters to their name. They seem to all have trained at the NCI or other amazing residency programs (Harvard, MSKCC).

Bethesda is a wonderful town for single and married people alike. It is akin to a giant college campus because of the large number of premeds that do a year or two of research at the NIH. It's a suburb of DC so it's no problem getting downtown on the metro to check out the Smithsonians or other sites. Housing is relatively expensive in Bethesda (1-1.5k/1br) and the median home price is $750k, so you can't really buy, but they pay you a little more (starting ~$57k). There is also a loan repayment program at NIH that repays up to $35k/yr in qualified student debt on top of your salary.

Civilian graduates almost exclusively go into academics at big name institutions (St. Jude's, Dana-Farber) or set up a lab at the NIH. Military grads may go to a military base or private practice. Grads don't seem to have any trouble attaining positions wherever they choose to go.

Summary: a hidden gem with great faculty, a great location, and great perks that is in the midst of a transition that will likely strengthen it even further. A wonderful place for anyone seriously considering academics.

 

[Gfunk6]

These two reviews are being reposted from another thread so that future applicants may have easy access to them.

Kansas

I'm definitely not the ultimate source for info on Kansas, but seeing as no one else is helping you out I'll try. I interviewed there this season, and that is the extent of my experience with the program. Here is the reality: Kansas was my LAST rank, and I'm not entirely shocked the program went unfilled. So all I can offer is why I personally ranked it last.

The biggest issue is the fact that the future of this program is anybody's guess! There are LOTS of changes going on right now-- a near excavation of the entire faculty-- new PD coming from USC, who is supposedly bringing/recruiting another 3-4 Attendings to come with him (right now they're only 3 attendings). As of now they have no true researching faculty, weak physics with one real physicist, and one radbio phD. The entire dept is OLD--facilities, faculty, staff. So the big thing is the fact that the future of this program is very much up in the air. As far as in the past, it doesn't get much better. The current/former chair openly said that residents "didn't pass their boards" in the past. He did say, however, that they've improved over the past few years, and from talking with the current residents I'd suspect that most of them will pass.

Otherwise, I was not a fan of KC. Some might be?? The facility/equipment was the weakest of any program I visited (there are plans for upgrading both... "plans"). And there is essentially NO research for the residents.

So aside from the negative, the reality was that I DID rank it! Dead last, but I ranked it. I personally would've rather gone there than not matching/having to do a research year/etc. That was my thinking. Despite all the negative, I am confident that on my own I could've learned the basics and done enough to pass the boards. That's why I ranked it.

So it's up to you... if you'd rather do a yr of research, reapply, and risk not matching again next year, that's your perogative. But the reality is, NO ONE, not even the residents, knows what the program will be like next yr, or in 5 yrs once you're done. Could be just fine!!!??? Good luck.

I interviewed there this year and had no idea what direction the program was headed. They spoke of high hopes and lofty goals, such as huge faculty growth and becoming an NCI-CCC, but I just didn't know how likely these things would be to occur. For this reason alone, I was leery to rank them higher and I heard 2 people on the trail claim that they wouldn't rank them at all.

I really liked the location so I ranked it higher than some other places. Kansas City was inexpensive and downtown had a fun atmosphere. I also thought the faculty, staff, and residents were a good bunch.

 

[Gfunk6]

More reviews!

Wisconsin

Pros:
1. Great technology. Huge Tomo center.
2. Probably the strongest radiation physics department in the country. Plenty of opportunities for research there.
3. Location: Madison is a fun college town with a low cost of living and plenty of opportunities for outdoorsy pursuits.
4. Faculty: Very friendly and down to earth. Residents report that faculty are very understanding of personal and family issues.
5. Residents: A great bunch. Incredibly friendly and supportive of each other.
6. Senior residents are competitive for both academics and private practice. Most seem to opt for private practice.

Cons:
1. The impression that I got is that radiobiology is in the rebuilding stage and wasn't really ready for big projects
2. Weather: probably the coldest place on earth.

Overall:
I ranked this place very high because I knew that I'd get excellent clinical and research training while working with friendly people in a fun environment and a great location.

UTSW

Pros:
1. Gammaknife and basically all the technology you could want outside of protons
2. Beautiful facilities that are expanding.
3. Location: Dallas is a fun town with plenty to do. Low cost of living and no state income tax in Texas!
4. Faculty: did someone really say they didn't like Choy? He was one of my favorite people on the trail. He's an assertive guy that tells it like it is – I appreciated that. The other faculty were equally impressive and I know I would have enjoyed working with them.
5. Residents: Friendly and very hard working. Not having a dinner the night before made it difficult to get a feel for how I would fit in amongst them.
6. Great clinical volume in all areas.
7. 3 residents per year is ideal in my mind.

Cons:
1. The gammaknife is a shuttle ride away and I could see the back and forth being a pain.
2. The program is fairly new and is beginning to push a highly academic agenda. I don't know if this falls under "cons" exactly, but I prefer programs that offer you both opportunities and don't make you feel like you're betraying them if you take a private practice spot when you finish.

Overall:
I felt that this place had everything. A good reputation, ample volume and technology, great faculty, and a great location. I ranked this place very highly.

 

[Gfunk6]

Moffitt

Pros:
1. Very high volume (3rd highest in the nation!) with great technology
2. Huge clinical research database because every patient signs a consent to have their record accessed for research prior to being treated
3. Location: beautiful Tampa and the center itself is gorgeous!
4. Moffitt South (I believe that was the name of it) sees some advanced cases so you get to see the full spectrum. The guy who runs it is really cool, very friendly, and a wicked smart physicist.
5. Huge growth recently and plans for a whole lot more.
6. Residents and faculty were great.

Cons:
1. New program so no one has graduated yet.
2. No peds. Moffitt is strictly an adult cancer center. Residents will apparently rotate at some Children's Hospital in Tampa.

Overall:
This is one of the strongest clinical programs out there IMO. I didn't rank it #1 only because there weren't many opportunities for my wife in Tampa. Part of me will always be sad that I didn't end up there, but such is life.

 

[Gfunk6]

City of Hope

Pros
-Name recognition, an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center known for major breakthroughs in cancer therapy.
-Contrary to popular rumor, this place sees the full spectrum of disease. During the morning report that applicants sat in on, we saw early stage prostate all the way up to tertiary referrals (very, very unique cases).
-Friendly faculty with the exception of one guy, who has been named on this thread before.
-Duarte seems nice, but the current resident suggested living in Pasadena. I would've probably lived in Duarte to avoid any commute in that area
-Any kind of research you could ever want to do is at your fingertips.
-Beautiful facility.
-Felt like it was a little slower paced than other places that I visited. I didn't get a good feel for the volume that they see.

Cons:
-The LA commute and cost of living is not very enticing.
-New program. No one has graduated yet. There would be 3 by the time 2011 rolls around.

Overall:
If you're okay with a new, small program and/or want to stay around LA, this might be the place for you. I personally do not like big cities, so I ranked the NYC/LA programs at the bottom of my list.

 

[Adawaal]

As one of the Moffitt attendings, it's always nice to hear good things about the program. The only correction I would make is regarding the pediatric experience. One of our newest faculty is a full professor with 25+ years of pediatric experience. He is actively building the program, and the residents who have rotated with him got far more than the peds cases they need for residency. Not enough if peds is what you want to do for a living, but far more than one needs to sit for boards without spending a month elsewhere.

Like any program, there are good and less favorable aspects of our program and no place is right for everyone. Just wanted to correct the misconception about peds exposure.

Moffitt
Quote:
Pros:
1. Very high volume (3rd highest in the nation!) with great technology
2. Huge clinical research database because every patient signs a consent to have their record accessed for research prior to being treated
3. Location: beautiful Tampa and the center itself is gorgeous!
4. Moffitt South (I believe that was the name of it) sees some advanced cases so you get to see the full spectrum. The guy who runs it is really cool, very friendly, and a wicked smart physicist.
5. Huge growth recently and plans for a whole lot more.
6. Residents and faculty were great.

Cons:
1. New program so no one has graduated yet.
2. No peds. Moffitt is strictly an adult cancer center. Residents will apparently rotate at some Children’s Hospital in Tampa.

Overall:
This is one of the strongest clinical programs out there IMO. I didn’t rank it #1 only because there weren’t many opportunities for my wife in Tampa. Part of me will always be sad that I didn’t end up there, but such is life.

 

[SRK Jerk]

Hey,

My family is relocating to SoCal, and I'm now leaning highly toward UCLA as my top choice. I would still be open to going to a place like SF or Stanford if I was accepted there, at which point it would become a "ranking" vs "family" thing...

So any thoughts on LA would appreciated!

Thanks,
SRK

 

[Gfunk6]

So any thoughts on LA would appreciated!

See posts #366, 367 above for a detailed review of SoCal programs.

 

[radanon]

Pros:
There was no ounce of a malignant environment here (as had been written about 3-4 years ago)! Residents seemed genuinely happy. First years had great things to say about the program and said they had no complaints with the program. One of the residents even connected guitar-hero to a projector...definitely making the day go by faster!The introduction by the PD and current chair gave me the impression that this program has a bright future, with even more positive changes happening in near future ("mystery" machine). They still seem to have a large CNS volume because of the strong neuro-onc department. The program continues to play a big role in the RTOG, giving residents access to a lot of unique research opportunities that I had not heard of in other programs. Residents now have 12-months of protected research time, which can be clinical, translational, or basic science. The chair is the head of the RTOG translational oncology section. Residents said they had attendings were good research mentors and all are able to publish papers. One of the senior residents said that she is already getting involved with protocol design in the RTOG. Seems like recent graduates had gone into academics at big name institutions. Residents said that the work-load was reasonable, but not ovewhelming (as residents at Penn said)...giving them good clinical exposure, but time to read and do research. No one seemed to be concerned about Penn opening up a proton center and said that brachytherapy volume had gone up since Penn/VA have had problems with that (NYT article).

Cons:
Center city is a great location, but the facility itself seemed to be a little bit outdated. The chair said the department is getting new space, but that could be a few years (construction had not begun when I was there). Also, residents go to WashU for one month to do their gyn (apparently they have enough volume, but go there to get a dedicated Gyn month). Also, St. Judes for 6 weeks.

Overall: Awesome program with great residents. Residents seemed happy, laid back, and prolific in terms of their research and secure desirable jobs. Either this program has completely changed in 2-3 years (in terms of malignancy), or previous posts on SDN were grossly exaggerated!

 

[Gfunk6]

Here's an anonymous user's impressions I was asked to post:

.LOYOLA (1 spot) .
.RESIDENTS.: Small group but very nice, most are interested in private practice. One chief is going into informatics. The R4 is the current president of ARRO.
.DIDACTICS.: Strong, residents do very well on boards (top ranked). We were given an example of a morning didactic the day of the interview, which was well done.
.FACILITIES.: The facilities are very nice and new, the Loyola campus is small and the hospital is a private/Jesuit facility. There is an in-house gym for staff that is very reasonably priced. They have a stable patient volume, mostly from the NW/West suburbs. Seems like financial issues have somewhat plagued the facilities and this has put the Chair’s plans for a Rad Bio program on hold, which the Chair was very upfront about.
.LOCATION.: awesome location (for those into big cities)!

.UTSW (2-3 spots) .
.OVERALL.: This program has undergone drastic changes under their fantastic chair (Choy) in the past five years. Choy has a reputation for being intimidating during the interview, but treats the residents very well! They aim to be as large as MD Anderson, with 12-16 residents and plan more faculty hires to cover the large patient volume.
.FACILITIES.: New and nice, 4 linacs and cyber/gamma knife. Deficient in LDR prostate. Expanding to a second campus nearby with more treatment machines.
.RESEARCH.: Strong in both physics and rad bio. Research in dsDNA damage, hypoxia, small animal radiation, image guidance, etc. Timmerman (father of SBRT) is one of the staff. Choy is seeking academicians to help build the program reputation.
.DIDACTICS.: Have improved with resident feedback.
.RESIDENTS.: Residents seemed happy overall. They had some gripes in the past that were slow to change but that have now been addressed.
.LOCATION.: Dallas is a poorly organized city with some bad parts and some good. Most of the focus is on shopping and dining in this town.

MUSC (2 spots)
.OVERALL.: This is a stable program which recently added an extra 2 spots to their residency. Residents seemed happy and many had roots in the South. The program seemed well balanced, providing both a good clinical education and sufficient research opportunities.
.FACILITIES.: Brand new and nice.
.TECHNOLOGY.: No deficiencies, tomo, linacs, they were installing gamma knife the day of the interview, sufficient exposure to HDR, LDR.
.EDUCATION.: Residents do not have to do any away rotations to cover numbers. The residents were happy with the didactics.
.RESEARCH.: Residents are very well published and given 9 months of electives, many do clinical/translational work and not really any benchwork. Residents feel like they have to take a lot of initiative with their research and do not feel like the research opportunities are falling into their laps.
.LOCATION.: Beautiful city filled with southern historical charm and hospitality. A great travel destination! Though can get hot and muggy in the summers.

UTAH (1 spot)
.OVERALL.: Some of the residents spoke of conflicts with some of the faculty, but overall they seemed content with the program and training.
.FACILITIES.: the most beautiful I have seen hands down! Located on a mountain with great valley views, the center looks like a fancy Western-themed hotel. It is currently expanding to almost double its current size. Patient volume is not deficient by any means.
.RESEARCH.: No official radiobiology department, the chair (Shrieve) is a radiobiologist in addition to RadOnc and does the radbio teaching. Residents are very active in clinical and translational research. There is a basic science research building within the cancer center providing opportunities for benchwork if desired, though none of the residents do.
.EDUCATION.: Residents seemed happy with the didactics.
TECHNOLOGY: linacs and novalis, HDR and LDR
.LOCATION.: Great for those interested in skiing and other outdoorsy things, many national parks nearby.

CPMC (1 spot)
.STABILITY.: Small program with only four residents, they have been around for a while and have made improvements over the past couple of years. These include increased exposure to SBRT and brachytherapy (the PD was hired to start the brachy program.) The residents get their numbers in everything except pediatrics, but the program will pay for you to do an away at a place of your choice.
.EDUCATION.: The program focuses on getting students who are independent learners and self motivated. Residents rotate between facilities (often one per hospital) and are allowed to pick and choose their admits each day (at least 2) and then follow them for their entire treatment course. Because they are small and more on the private side of things, there is a lot of financial support for each resident. Some residents are planning to do electives in other countries (one is considering a rotation in Sweden with a focus on SBRT) You get great clinical teaching, yet would probably need to do a fellowship to get into an academic career. A graduate 2 yrs back was accepted into the Harvard fellowship.
.TECHNOLOGY.: everything seems to be accounted for, though generally they are one or two steps behind the larger academic centers.
.RESEARCH.: good research output for a community hospital, heard there were good benchwork opportunities with the rad bio department, though I did not meet or talk with anybody in the department on the day of my interview.
.RESIDENTS.: only met one of the residents on the day of my interview who seemed to be adjusting well, she comes from a strong academic program and ranked CPMC high for location. She enjoys the relaxing atmosphere compared to stanford/ucsf but admits to getting lonely.
.LOCATION.: awesome city, needs no justification.
.OVERALL.: interesting contrast to the more academic focused programs

 

[radanon]

Disclaimer: I was informed that Baylor got off probation, so the following review might not be 100% accurate. But take from it what you will. Let's get posting again!

Baylor
Location: Houston seems like a dump with Amazon-like humidity. The cost of living is pretty low, though. It’s a very affordable place (with an average BMI of like 36). Traffic can get pretty bad since it’s the 4th largest city in the US. But, it’s still not quite as bad as LA traffic.
Faculty: The faculty seemed pretty friendly. There isn’t much in the way of faculty-given didactics, however, the program director seems very affable and in tune with resident education.
Residents: The residents seem like a fun bunch. They don’t seem concerned about the probationary status issue. One of the residents scrambled from UCLA. Methodist hospital used to be the residents’ homebase. Now, they are split between 3 sites (VA, Ben Taub hospital, St. Luke’s). The program is up for reaccreditation this spring. The infractions seemed rather minor and easily correctable. Otherwise, it’ll be a baaaad scenario current residents and anyone who matches here.
Department/Program: So the big issue at this program is the loss of Methodist hospital last year. They took with them a few faculty members and I believe the chair as well. Baylor does retain affiliation with Texas Children’s hospital, which is a good thing. Residents also get to do a brachy rotation at MDACC right across the street. Dr. Lu is the interim chair. I felt a rather disjointed environment considering the residents are shuffled between 3 centers on a regular basis. The patient load is good and they are busy, but it seems a bit haphazard the way the residents have to constantly move between centers. The Houston mediplex is no small facility. You gotta drive, and there’s this awkward light rail train built into the left turn lanes at half of the intersections. It’s a motor vehicle accident waiting to happen.
My Two Cents: The residents and faculty seemed pretty affable. However, the big elephant in the room at this program is the uncertainty of reaccreditation. Everything seemed to be fixed, but it’s still a big question mark. Also, the technology at the Ben Taub hospital is stoneaged. There’s no CT sim. It’s a fluoro sim! Ridiculous. The clinical training is probably excellent. There are a vast variety of cases for residents to see. The infrastructure for research isn’t quite there yet. Baylor plans to merge with Rice soon, which would help. Unfortunately, Baylor lives in the large, large shadow of MDACC the neighborhood bully right across the street. The training seems adequate but there are a number of big question marks right now.

 

[radanon]

Henry Ford Hospital
Location: Detroit is like a bombed out crater. It really is. I’m allowed to say this because I’ve lived there before. Couple that with a crappy NFL team and evil NBA team and you’ve got yourself downtown Grozny, minus the Russians. Traffic isn’t bad and cost of living is cheap. I’ll just leave it at that.
Faculty: I felt this was a definite strength of the program. The program director Dr. Elshaikh seems to be a strong leader and educator. He was recruited from Michigan a few years ago. He is highly involved in resident teaching and leads morning conferences (which we observed). Resident training and didactics seem to be a very strong focus in this program. Dr. Walker is appeared nice but she seemed a bit stand-offish initially during the interview. There are also other faculty at several satellite facilities which we did not meet during interview day. The faculty seemed pretty stable. No massive influx or exodus. Dr. Elshaikh also mentioned plans to merge Wayne State with Henry Ford in the next year or so.
Residents: The residents seemed like a fun bunch. They’re mostly married (as is the case in most other rad onc programs, it seems). The residents seemed very happy to be there. They hang out once in a while and get drinks after work. They seemed pretty affable at the pre-interview dinner and were pretty open with their thoughts on the program. Most live outside the city in Grosse Pointe or even as far as Ann Arbor. Commuting does not appear to be an issue with them. The residents also compiled this enormous spiral-bound compendium with constantly updated info and literature for all body sites. It’s like their own version of the “blue book.” It looks to be a valuable tool. Residents do not seem to be overworked. They occasionally have to cover 2 services but kept emphasizing that it is not a problem. Typically one of the services is extremely light.
Department/Program: The department is very radiosurgery heavy. Close to 1/3 of their treatments are SRS of some sort. They were one of the earlier pioneers of SBRT. There are 3 machines at the Henry Ford main hospital. They do only a little bit of LDR prostate brachy. It’s a surgery-themed culture at the hospital, apparently. There is also a large gene therapy trial for prostate cancer going on which is being led by radiobiologist Dr. Brown. This guy is super nice and super enthusiastic. It was a real pleasure talking to him. He was very supportive of resident participation in ongoing rad bio projects. Unfortunately, peds cases are a problem at the program. Current residents rotate at Wayne State to get some peds cases. Henry Ford used to be associated with St. Jude’s hospital which had more peds cases but they recently lost affiliation with them. The department is currently working out a deal with Children’s hospital of Philly (CHOP) to rotate for more peds cases. I’m also very impressed with the physics support. They have an enormous physics staff which is closely involved with resident training. Furthermore, there are plenty of physics research opportunities. There’s no real basic science work going on, but there are plenty of clinical and translational research opportunities.
My Two Cents: They have 1 position available this year and are interviewing approximately 22-24 candidates. My feeling is that this program is on an upward trend. The leadership seems strong at the top. They have a definite focus on resident training and seem very enthusiastic about it. Garnering a med school affiliation with Wayne State should only strengthen academic ties with the program. If you’re looking to go into peds rad onc then this may not be a good program for you. I’m not too fond of the idea of having to travel to CHOP to get extra peds cases. I honestly feel the program’s largest downfall is location. If you can tolerate downtown Grozny, then I think you will get excellent clinical training in this program.

 

[radanon]

University of Maryland
Location: Like most other large metropolitan areas, Baltimore has both upscale and shady areas. The inner harbor is pretty cool with lots of seafood restaurants and stores. There is also the national aquarium. There are also some VERY bad parts of Baltimore. At one time Baltimore had the highest murder rate per capita. The cost of living is pretty cheap so it may be a good place for residents to live. There is a large student union building across the street with a 3-story gym.
Faculty: I think the faculty is one of the strengths of the program. They are all very young and very dedicated to resident education. There is enormous research support in both physics and radiobiology. Dr. Suntha was one of the finalists for the chairmanship at Jefferson a few years back. He will probably depart sooner or later. It’s too bad because he seems to be an asset to the program.
Residents: The residents seemed happy there. I didn’t get a chance to meet many of them, unfortunately. They are all very productive in abstracts and publications. They have a big “wall of publications” hanging in the conference room.
Department/Program: There is no shortage of technology here. There are plenty of toys to play with. UMD is even developing the “Gamma Pod” which is essentially a dedicated breast GammaKnife. There is a shortage of GYN cases so residents go to WashU for a month for GYN. There are enough peds cases in the medical center that residents don’t need to travel elsewhere. This program really emphasizes the in-service exam for some reason. They have their residents prepare for months beforehand prior to taking it so they all score in the high percentiles nationally. The facilities are nice and the hospital is very impressive looking from the inside.
My Two Cents: This program seems very solid academically. They have a ton of NIH funding (#6 in the country for rad onc). The residents are very active with publications and the faculty seem very dedicated to teaching.

 

[Raygun77]

Thankyou all contributors.

Any thoughts on NYUs rad onc program? Thinking of applying for an elective there with Dr. Ashwatha Narayana. Any thoughts on the facilities and staff would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers,
Ray

 

[radanon]

Moffitt
Location: Tampa is great in the winter. It’s humid as hell in the summer, though. Cost of living is pretty low. There’s a nice new residential area to the north of Moffitt. The more fun parts of Tampa are about 15 minutes to the south, though. The sweet beaches are in St. Petersburg and Clearwater which are about half an hour to the south. The Moffitt Cancer Center itself is located on USF’s campus. There is no state income tax in Florida.
Faculty: There are about 16 faculty with plans to hire several more in the next year. Dr. Harris, the program director, seems to be a strong leader and is building the program in the mold of Penn. The plan is to expand to 30 faculty in the next 4-5 years.
Residents: The residents are all pretty nice. The chief is a former surgical oncologist who decided to go into rad onc. I think he won like the highest award at ASTRO this year. The residents are all married, and all but one of them has kids. In that sense it did seem kinda boring. There are currently 6 residents and no Holman pathway yet. The rad onc residents are the only residents at the cancer center. Everyone else is fellows. The residents all get fellow treatment and support including invitations to all the fellow lectures and seminars. There are plans to expand the number of residents to 8 in the next year or so, and ultimately to 12 in the next few years.
Department/Program: This is a young program, only about 2.5 years old. It has seen enormous growth in the past few years, especially with the aggressive hiring of several key faculty including the chair and program director. It is an NCI designated cancer center. There are 7 treatment machines, including a tomo. There is very little LDR gyn but there is a busy LDR prostate program. The rad onc department does administers their own radiopharmaceuticals. This cancer center is the 3rd largest in volume in the US (behind MDACC and MSKCC). The main cancer center sees very little palliative cases but the Moffitt south hospital sees a large number of both indigent and palliative cases. They are currently building an enormous database of patient tumor samples. I think there is something like over 10,000 current samples. They are working on building one of the largest tumor databases in the country. Like many comprehensive cancer centers, there is no “medicine” or “surgery” service. The services are all divided by body site. So, for example, the “Thoracic service” will have its own rad oncs, med oncs, surg oncs, pathogists, staff, etc. Peds cases are seen at a USF hospital somewhere.
My Two Cents: This program is definitely on its way up. It seems to be growing at a very rapid pace. Most of the faculty seemed very dedicated to both resident education and research support. The faculty size and number of patients seem are increasing very rapidly. The youth of the program is both a pro and a con. The con obviously would be that there is a lack of track record. The pro is that the curriculum and program is still flexible for you to make what you want of it. I could picture this program as an MD Anderson type program in like 15-20 years.

 

[radanon]

Medical University of South Carolina
Location: Charleston is a peninsula and the MUSC campus is located near the southwestern part of it. I must admit, the winter weather is beautiful. However, I’m told the summers are humid as hell. The campus is about half a mile away from Charleston College and the bustling downtown promenade with tons of restaurants and shopping. I was told by several residents that the female to male ratio in Charleston is 3:1 or something ridiculous like that. The city has a seriously southern feel. The pace of life is slow. It’s like a college town of sorts. But, once you step out of the greater Charleston metropolitan area get ready, because I think the surrounding area is still fighting the Civil War…
Faculty: There are 5-6 main faculty. The chairman and program director are pretty friendly. There is a lot of resident to resident teaching going on, so not much in faculty didactics. There is pretty good rad bio and physics support for research. They are just now setting up a medical physics residency. Unfortunately, there is no single large database that contains all patient info for research purposes. You will need to contact the tumor registry yourself at the hospital to get patient names. The program director Dr. Marshall seems to be a good advocate for residents. He does tend to ask interviewees quite a bit about their volunteer experience. The theme of many of the interviews revolved around “tell me more about your interest in the program.” It seems that if you’re not from the area they want to make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into when you move there.
Residents: The residents seemed pretty friendly for the most part. They have a pretty casual demeanor, however, their clinical duties seem pretty heavy. Several of the more senior residents are very involved in their own clinical research and have published many papers. They are mostly married except for one resident. She happened to be a transfer from another institution, though I’m not quite sure what the story actually is. Most residents live in a surrounding area such as Mt. Pleasant. Commuting is not a major issue since the whole area seems pretty dead.
Department/Program: There are adequate peds cases so there is no need to go elsewhere for that. You will spend 3 months during residency up at a MUSC facility in Georgetown, SC (Not DC). They provide housing for you. The isn’t too much brachy going on at the hospital but you will get an adequate amount. There are 2 linacs, a tomo, and an iX. They are currently in the process of installing and commissioning a brand new gamma knife. MUSC is the largest tertiary referral center in SC so you will definitely see your fair share of interesting and bizarre cases.
.My Two Cents:.. The new cancer center is beautiful. The residents seem to be very happy with the program (with the exception of maybe one of them). It’s largely a clinically based program but the support is available for research. The faculty are interested in teaching and physics/rad bio are both supportive of research. The program seems a good fit for someone who can tolerate the southern culture. Unfortunately, I am in no way a southerner and southern culture kinda makes my skin crawl. Nonetheless, the new cancer center is beautiful and the clinical training seems excellent in this progr.

 

[radanon]

Oregon
Location: Portland is awesome. It’s clean, scenic, and the public transportation is great. OHSU is situated on a hill and the buildings are brand new. You have a view of the entire city and valley in front of the hospital. On a clear day you can see Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens in the background. There’s this cool little skytram that takes people from the riverfront to the medical center. It’s overcast many days of the year but the actual rainfall total doesn’t exceed places like Houston. It doesn’t get to cold in the winter nor too hot in the summer either.
Faculty: The chairman, Dr. Thomas, came here from UT San Antonio. He has a strong vision to build the “best pound-for-pound academic program” in the country. He trained at UCSF and I must admit he seemed a little obsessed with candidates and residents applying for grants and doing tons of research. The other faculty were recruited either from UCSF, UT San Antonio, or MD Anderson. It seems to be a pretty close-knit group. Residents are strongly encouraged to submit posters or presentations to ASTRO each year. Chart rounds and morning conference are not malignant. Faculty outnumber residents 2 to 1 but residents are very busy and often cover two attendings.
Residents: This is a strength of the program. It’s a fun and close-knit group. Each one is pretty productive academically. They have posters and are always working on projects. There are currently no Holman pathway residents, but the chairman seems to want to have one soon. Honestly, I don’t see how a program with 5-6 residents could have Holman candidates. You need enough residents to help see patients and hold down the fort. It seems odd to have such a small program push for Holman candidates. Also, it seemed like just about every applicant they interviewed had a Ph.D. There are a number of internal candidates with Ph.D’s as well.
Department/Program: There are currently no radiobiologists on faculty in the department. The chairman is working on rectifying this. It seemed that he was focusing most of his attention on developing the rad bio division of the department rather than the medical physics division. There are already 7 physicists and things seem to be in place for a strong academic physics division. However, they are not yet actively working on physics projects.
My Two Cents: This is a small but academically strong program. The clinic is busy and the residents frequently work 12 hour days. The residents seem to have fun working and being together, which is a great environment. The chairman has a clear vision to mold this department into a “small big name” program. I get almost this “publish or perish” mentality, and it’s only residency! Sometimes it kinda feels like a prize fighter getting overly amped to hop into the ring with the heavyweights. Pound for pound this is a great, small academically-oriented program. But, let’s take it easy and let progress take its course. There’s no need to try to turn this into UCSF-Jr. overnight.

 

[mikedc813]

Moffitt
Location: Tampa is great in the winter. It’s humid as hell in the summer, though. Cost of living is pretty low. There’s a nice new residential area to the north of Moffitt. The more fun parts of Tampa are about 15 minutes to the south, though. The sweet beaches are in St. Petersburg and Clearwater which are about half an hour to the south. The Moffitt Cancer Center itself is located on USF’s campus. There is no state income tax in Florida.
Faculty: There are about 16 faculty with plans to hire several more in the next year. Dr. Harris, the program director, seems to be a strong leader and is building the program in the mold of Penn. The plan is to expand to 30 faculty in the next 4-5 years.
Residents: The residents are all pretty nice. The chief is a former surgical oncologist who decided to go into rad onc. I think he won like the highest award at ASTRO this year. The residents are all married, and all but one of them has kids. In that sense it did seem kinda boring. There are currently 6 residents and no Holman pathway yet. The rad onc residents are the only residents at the cancer center. Everyone else is fellows. The residents all get fellow treatment and support including invitations to all the fellow lectures and seminars. There are plans to expand the number of residents to 8 in the next year or so, and ultimately to 12 in the next few years.
Department/Program: This is a young program, only about 2.5 years old. It has seen enormous growth in the past few years, especially with the aggressive hiring of several key faculty including the chair and program director. It is an NCI designated cancer center. There are 7 treatment machines, including a tomo. There is very little LDR gyn but there is a busy LDR prostate program. The rad onc department does administers their own radiopharmaceuticals. This cancer center is the 3rd largest in volume in the US (behind MDACC and MSKCC). The main cancer center sees very little palliative cases but the Moffitt south hospital sees a large number of both indigent and palliative cases. They are currently building an enormous database of patient tumor samples. I think there is something like over 10,000 current samples. They are working on building one of the largest tumor databases in the country. Like many comprehensive cancer centers, there is no “medicine” or “surgery” service. The services are all divided by body site. So, for example, the “Thoracic service” will have its own rad oncs, med oncs, surg oncs, pathogists, staff, etc. Peds cases are seen at a USF hospital somewhere.
My Two Cents: This program is definitely on its way up. It seems to be growing at a very rapid pace. Most of the faculty seemed very dedicated to both resident education and research support. The faculty size and number of patients seem are increasing very rapidly. The youth of the program is both a pro and a con. The con obviously would be that there is a lack of track record. The pro is that the curriculum and program is still flexible for you to make what you want of it. I could picture this program as an MD Anderson type program in like 15-20 years.

A few comments:

We do have a lot of faculty - up to about 19 now with plans to hire more in the upcoming years.

The program just had a site review and we are now approved up to 9 residents from 6. The ultimate goal is to have 12, which will happen as we build our peds numbers.

The ACGME also granted us a full 5 yr approval status with NO citations.

I disagree that we don't see many palliative cases at the main campus - there's just a higher percent of them at Moffitt South (one of the satellites). This will likely be changing as Moffitt South is moving out of Tampa General Hospital to a standalone site near the airport next year. We are also planning on opening 3 new satellites in the near future.

Peds cases are seen both at Moffitt South and at the main campus. I saw 9 peds cases with Dr. Lavey over 3 months.

Hope this helps clarify some things.

 

[metacurious]

.

 

[locaperonoloca]

I can comment on UPenn, MD Anderson, and Hopkins. These are all one person's opinions, not fact. The following information is highly subjective and please do not expect complete sentences or beautiful prose. You can PM me to discuss or inquire further (but not to debate)

UPenn:
-Faculty: Wonderful chair. He's even nicer than his reputation would have you believe. The importance of this cannot be overstated. His awesomeness hematogenously seeds the entire department. The department is stage IV terminally awesome. The program director is a real sweetheart as well. They're good researchers and all around good doctors. They still have Dr. Glatstein around for good measure. He's hilarious.
-Residents: Very nice, diverse bunch. Seems like a good mix of MDs and MD/PhDs, male and female. Different regions of the US seemed to be well represented...by that I mean I met one southerner there.
-Facilities: They've just built a capital "B" beautiful new cancer center.
-Training: all the sites, every modality! Steve Hahn's philosophy is that their department is a clinical department first and everything else should feed into that. They are supportive of graduates who seek to go into private practice or academia. The new proton center is expected to nearly double patient volume at UPenn both directly and via the halo effect; protons tend to attract patients who wouldn't need them anyway.
-Location: Philly has the nice stuff that Boston has and the gritty stuff that Baltimore has, which, IMHO makes Philly better than those two cities. You can also get to NY in an hour by train. You'll see a more diverse patient population in Philly than you will in many other so-called "top tier" programs except maybe Hopkins and UCSF. Philly is also cheaper than most other cities on the East coast. Your friends in Boston, NY, and Baltimore are a mere train ride away. This is also a great place for those of you who are couples matching since most graduate medical education at UPenn is terrific across the board.
-Overall impression: As fantastic as this program may be, I think its underrated. If you interview here and you don't rank it highly, you're a freak....but I really hope you don't rank it highly so I can have better chances.

Hopkins:
-Faculty: Ted Deweese is a gentleman. He is one of the most loved department chairs out there. He has the sincerity of Winston Churchill and the mustache of Wyatt Earp. There seemed to be a good mix of more experienced and younger faculty here. The program director is a recent graduate of MSKCC. I thought the faculty were a very approachable, egalitarian group. They were very interested in discussing the details of my application.
-Residents: Very fun group to talk to. They seemed to really enjoy each other's company. This is a diverse bunch but they seemed to mostly be from Maryland/mid-Atlantic, hence the crab-cakes at the pre-interview dinner. Actually, the pre interview dinner had the best food on the trail and the most entertaining conversation.
-Facilities: Johns Hopkins has everything a hospital could ever need, including a giant statue of Jesus Christ.
-Training: Dr. DeWeese says "our goal is to strive for excellence in research. Excellence in patient care will be a necessary corollary since we will provide the most contemporary care..." The faculty stressed the importance of research at all levels. Basic science and translational would probably be easy here since you could draw on the resources of an excellent university. As far as training schedule, It seemed like the residents here were on the busier side.
-Location: Baltimore is great for families because its dirt cheap to live here. One of the residents had an insane apartment. A similar apartment would have been inconceivable on a resident's salary in any other East Coast city. Give Baltimore a chance if you are invited to interview here. If you're single, go to D.C. for weekend trips (which you will certainly be able to afford). If you stick around Baltimore, there's good food and a lot of socializing amongst other Hopkins housestaff. I think people tend to exaggerate the wackness of Baltimore. They need to focus on the dopeness.
-Overall Impression: Strong residency programs in every area make this one obligatory for those of you who are couples matching. As an added bonus, Rad Onc training tends to benefit from collaborating with the best medical oncologists, surgical oncologists, urologists, etc. Warning: The program will excommunicate you or send their ninja assassins after you if you try to go into private practice.

MD Anderson:
-Faculty: There are so many faculty it would be impossible to summarize them here. There's a good mix of older faculty and
-Residents: Heavily MD/PhD, more mature crowd. This is such a big bunch that you'll probably find some people you like, and some you don't really hit it off with. The resident who is originally from Maryland was really funny but I forgot his name. He's tied with Rajit (sp?) at Hopkins for most hilarious Rad Onc resident. Gfunk is pretty funny too.
-Facilities: Everything is bigger in Texas. This includes patient volume, residency programs, and Chris Crane (his hands are like giant bear paws).
-Training: Geared towards careers in academic radiation oncology. Even though the volume here is staggering, the schedule here is considered more benign than Penn and Hopkins. The philosophy is that residents are around to learn, not provide cheap labor. I'm not even sure this needs to be said, but every treatment modality and every site is represented here. This place is lousy with research opportunities. I think this may be the best place for research, bar none.
-Location: "No matter how much they try to sell it, Houston just isn't a better city than SF or NY. It just isn't."...That's a direct quote from one of the residents. For those of you from the East coast or West coast, Texas may be a bit frightening. But it is possible to live in Houston and avoid feeling like you're in Texas. In fact, a large portion of Houston's population is not from Texas. You'll see some mullets, rebel flags, and Glen Beck supporters, but you can take that as a character building exercise. Houston is a diverse city but, the patient population you'll see here doesn't necessarily reflect that.
-Overall Impression: This is also a good place for a family since its cheap. The panel interview is uncomfortable because they keep the follow up questions to a minimum to move the interview along. When you speak to the faculty individually, they're all teddy bears. This should be at the top of your list if you're sure about academic radiation oncology, although there are some residents who go into private practice.


My overall conclusion is that there are a bunch of fantastic Radiation Oncology programs to choose from. Don't pay attention to anyone else's rankings. My final rank order list has almost zero correlation with what programs are supposedly "the best."

Cheers

 

[Gfunk6]

Gfunk is pretty funny too.

You mean, let me understand this cause, ya know maybe it's me, I'm a little ****ed up maybe, but I'm funny how, I mean funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I'm here to ****in' amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny?



Seriously though, very amusing and informative post.

 

[deleted4401]

That was premium! Perhaps one of the top reviews ever.
S

 

[radanon]

The rank list deadline has passed and the next generation of of radiation oncologists eagerly awaits the most current input from the interview trail.

These threads have been very helpful and informative in the past, though the participation has dropped off somewhat recently. Hopefully we can get a good turnout this year.

To remind everyone, the radanon account has been specifically created for this purpose. The password for the account is, cleverly enough, "password".

Good luck to all of those entering the match. Fire away.

 

[stankem]

A little angst involved in making the list but for the most part it wasn't too bad. Some of the ranking was influenced on the presence of strong programs for my spouse. Interviews as a whole were very benign. Maybe that's because I didn't go to the upper tier or to more research oriented programs but I was grilled way less than promised. Sad I missed some places due to scheduling. Stream of consciousness to follow:

Case - The new cancer center wasn't open to tour but is enormous and cost over $200 million. The dept has strong institutional support right now. It's in the process of making a turnaround, Dr Machtay is an outstanding person to chair the dept. There's no reason a place with the resources of Case shouldn't house a strong rad onc dept but it's not quite there yet. Seems like the prior chair had priorities outside resident education. Dr Lyons is the prototypical caring PD. Cleveland is an obvious drag, and having no Lebron James has made it tangibly draggier. Strong brachy experience. Unsure of how having the Cleveland Clinic next door detracts from patient volume or diversity.

Emory - Another program I would be extremely happy to be at. Seemed like volume was an issue, as in too much. However, by the time our class is in, the residents should be increased from 12-->16. Should take care of much of the problems and the volume should be a huge strength. 4 sites w/ 4 diverse experiences. Emory main- every modality (protons in pipeline) every site well represented. VA - is the VA. Emory Midtown - the bread and butter private practice modeled setting. Grady - famed county hospital, lot of locally advanced. Large group of faculty from diverse backgrounds should add a lot of different perspectives on treatment. Dr Curran is a huge huge name in the field and his position as chair of RTOG does add to their residency program. 6 months protected research though some residents take more if theyre productive with their time. Very fun group of residents. It would be nice to come into a program with three co - residents your year. Best interview dinner, residents seem to be well taken care of in general. Full Friday morning dedicated to didactics with no interruption.

Indiana - Really loved this program, very surprised there's not much talk about it. Diverse path, very large catchment area, VA population. Proton center in Bloomington. Great culture. Happy productive residents. Opportunity for international experience. Department as a whole seemed very focused on resident education. One of the few interviews I felt I really clicked with the rad bio faculty. Indy is extremely blah as a city, only plus is a bad ass childrens museum.

Louisville - one of the few places all the SDN impressions were dead wrong. Dr Woo, recently recruited to chair the dept from MD Anderson - well respected well known and a very interesting person has shaken things up here. He brings a unique perspective as well to the program with his background (triple boarded including peds onc.) Dr Halperin another huge name in pediatric radiation oncology and radiation oncology in general is the dean of the medical school and actually has clinic one day of week. I feel having these two attendings on board alone catapult the program way above what's been described on this board. The ex chair has stayed on as PD. There might be some sticky relations between faculty as things change in the dept, but hard to get a sense for that in an interview. Residents were a very happy, hard working and productive group. They get one academic day/week. Huge catchment area for the center, volume outstanding in all sites. All the tech and more (4dct, SRS, tomo, rapid arc.) Maybe I'm easily impressed but I might have ranked it higher but for spousal issues.

Minnesota - Clinically oriented dept. One of my first interviews so details are hazy. Strong in some areas others aren't. Lot of brachy, large peds volume and in the process of putting a dedicated linac in their children's hospital. Though well known in the heme/onc world (pioneered BMT etc). Rad onc research not a priority but opps exist outside the dept. Really enjoyed my interviews with the chair and PD here. Happy group of residents here. I loved Minneapolis, but for the balls coldness. Surprised by the diversity/hipsterness of the city. Was able to fill up on plenty of Somalian food and Pho during my short time there.

Mississippi - 10 years from now will be a solid program. Large diverse clinical volume and surprisingly a ton of tech and cash money - including interesting things not seen at other places MRI sim, xoft brachy etc. Nebulous plans for protons. Dr Vijay- the chair has a track record, starting the program at UC Davis and as PD at U Chicago. Several faculty members came with Dr Vijay from UC Davis. He has lofty goals for where he wants the program eventually. BUT not fully accredited as of yet, only two residents currently there both were stretched very thin. Lot of question marks. And Jackson Ms, not my cup of tea to put it lightly. Small town values big city crack smoking.

Mt Sinai - New chair and PD Dr Rosenzweig (was PD at sloan kettering) seems to have a strong vision for the program. Moving partially into a new impressive facility soon, Mt Sinai in general seems to be having a large push in improving their cancer care foothold in New York. Dr Stock of course brings outstanding brachy training to the program, as well as lot of prostate related research opps residents get involved in. Part of the New York proton corsortium w/ MSKCC NYU and I believe AE. Bringing protons to the island by 2013ish? Low volume didn't seem to be the issue I was worried it would be. The current facilities were pretty dingy. Up there with NW location wise.

Northwestern - exceptionally strong clinical training. every site every modality seemed well represented, including protons in the not too distant future and not just a nebulous plan. nebulous proton plans were a definite theme of many interviews. (not a necessity but nice to have the experience/potential research application) Drs Small and Mehta seem like outstanding mentors. Really enjoyed talking with the younger faculty. Added bonus - possibly the best location of any medical center in the country.

OHSU - absolutely wowed by the program. again outstanding clinical training. slight weakness in prostate brachy, though residents rotate with a private doc in Portland and have the option to go to Seattle. think it's more than made up with their strengths in image guidance and sbrt. research is definitely encouraged but not to the degree intimated in previous sdn posts. Dr Thomas - the chair, was pretty cognizant of the impression of a publish or perish atmosphere at OHSU and went out of his way to refute that. still, an impressive amount of residents had successfully obtained amount of competitive research grants. Apparently 5 years ago this was a completely clinically focused department in dingy old facilities. Cannot picture that with how the dept is now after Dr Thomas's 5-6 years. Fun group of residents, I really liked the culture there. Residents work very hard, clinic setup seemed a little hectic currently but doubtful to be like that in 1.5 years. They get lots of cash money for conferences, books, personal tech etc. Nifty countouring tablets, the name of which escapes me. Added bonus - I can't imagine a rad onc department having better views than OHSU. The department is built into a hill so it doesn't have to be in a basement. Mt Hood is just staring at you out the windows. I would ride the OHSU gondola twice a day just for funsies.

Roswell Park - getting tired so I'll be briefer. Happy group of residents, historic name in cancer care. Interesting research going on in the dept. Might be a little too cush as PAs dedicated to each disease site were heavily incorporated into the clinic. New PD actually placed requirements for how many OTVs consults etc needed to be seen per week because of the cushness. Still residents got their cases. Kind of nice being in a comprehensive cancer center. Buffalo is exactly what you'd expect. Was told the lake effect snow wouldn't be too bad within the city limits, but then received 30 inches as I was trying to catch a plane to my next interview.

Tufts - I didn't realize it was as much Brown rad onc as it was Tufts. 50% of the time and more than 50% of the cases are seen in Providence. The depts bigger names were situated at Brown as well. Fun group of residents. Very strong physics dept, prides themselves on pioneering new tech. Moving back and forth between the two sites seems like a pain though residents claim its not a huge issue. Entire Friday is blocked off for didactics. Two on one interview here which really wasn't that bad. Tufts dept was pretty dingy, didn't get to see RIH but told it's nice.

UVa - Again a very resident oriented program. Prided themselves on diverse tech, pioneering improvements in EMR, all residents get an ipad. Smaller program, volume and diversity might be an issue. Low on peds though don't need to go out to make numbers. The new cancer center wasn't open to tour, but from the described components sounds unique and spectacular. Some of the residents have done a proton month in Switzerland to get that exposure and see some more pediatric cases. Unique interview with the chair.. Charlottesville seems like a classic college town with a slight air of sophistication/yuppieness. Surrounding areas are gorgeous and chock full of vinyards.

 

[radanon]

Massive amounts of mountains of angst making my list. I'm currently hacking my way out of the glass cage of emotion I was trapped in yesterday. Posting impressions on ~half of the places I went; wrote them in an attempt at catharsis/self reflection (sorry if I ramble...) in order to help me rank. Going to try to get the rest done at some point.
Used the following format:
workload:
education:
research:
attendings:
residents:
facilities/technology:
overall:
About me: clinical>basic science=physics, east coast=midwest>west coast, city>not city, pirates>>>ninjas.

In no particular order...

Program:WashU
Workload: I want to start by saying that this was the best run interview day on the trail. It was grueling, with 11 (11!) interviews, but very impressive. There were formal presentation by the chair, PD, physics AND radbio. In addition we were given a nice handout about the residency program and a hard copy of the slideshow. This can be considered a shout out to the coordinator as well as Dr. Hallahan or Dr. Zoberi. IMHO, this kind of stuff DOES matter - I’m deciding where to go for the next 5 years of my life and going on as many as 5 interviews a week. It’s tough to remember everything and I appreciated the literature from the programs that provided it. (hint to Northwestern, MCW)
Back on track... schedule is an 8-5 or 5:30, less frequent call due to larger program size. This place has huge volume (way higher than I thought...) treating 3k patients/year. Residents only rotate at 2 sites, with the majority of time spent at BJH (the main hospital campus). Peds and gyne volume are stellar.
Education: Solid. 1 hour of formal attending didactic every week and one resident-lead case conference. Hallahan has shaken things up a bit to make things run in a “Chicago-style” fashion. The residents seemed to feel there were both pluses and minuses to these changes. The residents said the hands-on, practical education was great on an individual level. The physics faculty is superb and extremely committed to resident teaching. I think programs that have a physics residency are typically on the ball, and WashU was no exception. The residents say that the radiobio course was strong as well.
Research: IMHO, some of the best opportunities out there. Full year, with option to break it up into blocks if that suits the project. The entire WashU campus is your oyster. Basic science is incredible, and Dr. Hallahan is a force of nature, I’m not Holman bound, but those of you who are may be impressed by the fact that there are FIVE residents currently in the pathway. What Dr. Hallahan isn’t, however, is an mdphd-only machine, the way prior reviews on this site suggested. He made it very clear that he was looking for both lab-scientists AND clinicians (with a masters in clinical investigation encouraged for the latter group). With clinical/physics/imaging research opportunities just as strong, if not stronger, than the corresponding basic science. They threw up a fairly mind-boggling slide (~Mayo) of resident publications, and pointed out that the a “clinical” resident was just as prolific as a lab rat. They have a database structure that is exceeded only by MSK (of the places I went to) and absolutely vast resources.
Perhaps most important it seemed like attendings are incredibly excited about getting residents involved in research; people were practically offering me projects on the interviews. Dr. Hallahan (unlike a certain other famous basic-science chair) was very approachable. He made a point of reassuring me about the relative paucity of lab work in my resume, because after all there aren’t exactly a sea of physician-scientist positions out there, and somebody’s got to run the clinic...
Attendings: Great group, and a great mix of experience and new blood. I’ve already spoken a bit about Dr. Hallahan, who I thought was extremely nice. The PD was super sweet and the residents said he’s a great teacher. The three youngest attendings I spoke to (Jaboin, Robinson, Schwarz) were all rockstars and people I’d really like to work with. Michalski was another example of a super-famous attending who is nonetheless super-nice and super easy to talk to.
Residents: They were a nice, but a serious group with the exception of one of the PGY-2s, who was hilarious. Perhaps a little too serious for me, or it might be more fair to say that I might be a little too goofy for them. That said, dinner was a good time and I think they would be wonderful to work with.
Facilities/Technology: Im to the pressive. The department was extremely nice, and the technology arsenal was very impressive. 8 linacs with all the toys, gamma knife, MR sim, calypso and the Still River which was extremely cool, and enthusiastically presented/explained by Dr. Klien. If I don’t end up training at WashU or anywhere with protons, it’s definitely where I would choose to do a proton month.
Location: I got a handful of interviews there, but I’m not sure how I really feel about the midwest. I was dead-set against St. Louis going in, but I was pleasantly surprised by forest park and the area surrounding the medical center, which was gorgeous with a logic-defying low cost of living. If I could take the ten most important people in my life and bring them with me, I’d probably rank this place 1st.
Overall: Vies with Uchicago for best in the midwest...incredible technology and informatics. Great balance of opportunities and workload. Hallahan is the coolest.

Program: Stanford
Workload: They residents called it a 7-6 or 7, and said they did end up in the department on the weekends fairly regularly. The majority of them made it to the dinner and the interview day, which I always take as a good sign.
Education: Solid, attending driven. Regular lectures, residents give talks rarely. Neat visiting professor seminars with bigwigs from other places.
Research: They get a full year, and seem to do a wide range of different stuff, from epidemiology to basic science, etc. Allegedly there’s a review process that each residents goes through to get his/her project approved. At least one resident was doing a mish-mash of clinical stuff instead of one grand venture, and seemed almost disappointed in himself (fought urge to pat him on back and tell him that’s what most people end up doing at most places) I got the sense that you had to be more of a self-starter to get research done at this place. That’s not a bad thing, but it was a sharp contrast to MSK/Uchicago/Washu/Hopkins where attendings throw projects in resident’s laps.
Attendings: The search for a new chair is underway, and it could get interesting. Donaldson is as feisty and awesome and fun as everyone says. The program director - if nothing else - created common ground for applicants to bond over her ridiculous question (pretend you are ten years in the future and describe yourself in past tense - kill me now) Seriousness actually seemed to be the theme of the day. With a few exceptions, I found this group less approachable than most.
Residents: The PD must’ve said 19.6 times that the residents are “close.” (and another 17.4 that they are “talented”) They were nice and friendly, sure, but I honestly got more of a sense of closeness at other places (Utah, Cleveland Clinic, Chicago, Hopkins). Maybe just a serious group, or I totally missed something.
Facilities/Technology: We didn’t go to the main hospital, but the department is really nice. 8 linacs, 2 cyberknifes. Not necessarily the best place to train if you’ve caught the brachy bug, though.
Location: Beautiful, yes. Palm trees, check. But the residents copped to horrendous cost of living (a few seemed really stressed about it) and I don’t see the draw of living in a gorgeous suburb. Married with kids? Have fun living in a shoebox. Single? Nowhere to go out. The least this (extremely wealthy) department could do is subsidize housing the way the New York programs do. Apparently attendings get low interest loans, but residents are left out in the cold (ok it’s not cold, but I’d argue that camping is not a desirable housing option). I almost wonder if everyone if this is why everyone is so outdoorsy....
OVERALL: Great technology (esp for cyberknife fans) and research opportunities. Heavy on buzzwords on the interview day.

Program: Case Western
Workload: Case is very busy, and the attendings seem swamped (leaving interviews to run to clinic but most are capable of functioning independently without resident assistance. The residents seem to decide their own schedule, and told us it was an 8-5. Only one resident said he studied on the weekends.
Education: It was impossible to get a sense of what the didactics are like at this place because both the residents and the PD were vague about the schedule. For instance I asked, “how often do residents give talks?” and was told, alternatively, “every once in awhile,” “oh, every other week or so,” and “It really depends...” One resident did give a talk at a morning conference when we were there, which was attended by one attending (the PD) with two others showing up late. It featured a bizarre amount of cartoons. We all laughed awkwardly. Fun times.
Research: Opportunities abound, though it doesn’t seem as though the residents necessarily take advantage. Case has incredible basic sciences with a few faculty within the department (Welford is a new addition who seems to be doing some exciting work) and there are retrospective databases waiting to be built by an ambitious resident.
Attendings: Machtay (new Chair, big at RTOG) seems like a nice person with very solid vision. He also seemed pretty busy with the high volume, and perhaps a little removed from the residency program. Lyons (PD) seemed nice, but was hard to get a read on. She slipped into the conference without introducing herself or being introduced by the residents, and never gave any formal sort of talk about the program. Ellis (prostate) was impressive and seemed like he would be a good teacher. Almost everyone I interviewed with referred to, “the way things used to be,” in a negative way, and two attendings directly insulted the former chair. That was a little weird.
Residents: Seemed fairly indifferent towards the program. Examples: “Yea, you can do research. I did this abstract for ASTRO. It’s kind of bull****.” “Yea, lots of advanced head and neck cases from hillbilly territory if you like that kind of stuff,” “the new cancer center looks cool. We haven’t gone over there yet, but apparently you can take tours or something.”
Facilities/Technology: All the toys (gammaknife, cyberknife, tomo) and the new cancer center did look cool (at least from the outside). This place has money pouring out of its butt. Huge plus.
Location: Cleveland was better than I thought, which doesn’t say much. The suburbs behind case seem like they’d be a nice place for families, and the cost of living is good. For unmarried me...not so much.

Overall:Someone with the fortitude to deal with both the city (IE someone with kids and a spouse) and a program that seems like it’s in a state of mild disarray could probably do big things.


Program: Mayo-Rochester
Workload: Completely reasonable. 7:30 or8-5:30 tops. Weekends are rare. (per residents)
Education:Absolutely outstanding. Comparable to UChicago with regimented case conferences, but residents actually pimp each other (the presenters pimp audience members) and attendings jump in. This sounds like it has the potential to turn malignant, but (at least on our interview day) was absolutely both funny and pleasant, with the pimper hilariously lauding the pimpee on his correct answers and a few attendings contributing excellent teaching points. Residents give grand rounds style talks yearly. They also attend formal lectures with the medical oncology fellows which they say are good.
Research: Unbelievable, probably unparalelled with WashU as the only place I visited that comes close. Residents churn out at least 5-6 first authors, get their names on 20+ papers by graduation! They couldn’t fit resident publications on a single slide. Amazing attending support for resident research, including emphasis on resident protocol authorship with execution in the Mayo network. Reasonable database structure (not on the level of memorial, but better than most places).
Attendings: IMHO Laack is the best PD on the trail. She was nice, obviously cared about her residents, clearly a great teacher (throwing out great teaching points during conference). Every attending I met seemed pretty cool.
Residents: Were hilarious. Shout out to Jason who gave the tour and Brad who came along to provide additional comic relief. Really great people. But...9/10 married, which seems to be almost necessary in Rochester due to the a. cold and b. small population.
Facilities/Technology: It’s the Mayo Clinic. Gigantic nice hospital, gigantic department. Heaven for fans of tunnels. Gamma Knife. High Brachy volume. New proton facility (built on a non-prostate model ) on the way... ?2014. It’s Mayo, so this seems like it will actually happen.
Location: And herein lies the rub. Supposedly Rochester is beautiful in the summer, but I’d be a human icicle by then. Perhaps if I had a spouse to keep me warm at night, and entertained during the day, I’d find it more tolerable. Perhaps.
OVERALL: If I had a family, I’d rank this at the top or close. Great education, great volume, best PD out there, awesome clinical opportunities, great co-residents. Amazing focus on patient care. But unfortunately, I’m at least 2.4 billion years away from having a family and kids. Unless of course I match at Mayo (which I do fully intend to rank). If that happens I’ll be on a mail-order-husband website, stat. I’ll start with Russia, so I can find someone who tolerates the cold.

Program: Memorial Sloan Kettering
Workload: By Rad Onc standards, rough, but it’s a small price to pay for training at THE MSKCC. Residents are in house about 8-8, and often on a Saturday, but it varies by service and some aren’t that bad.
Education: Aside from the inherent advantage that comes from high volume and crazy cases, education is a little sparse where the basics are concerned. Didactics seem less formal than at other places, presumably because there just isn’t time. Each month focuses on a given malignancy. There are regular biweeklyish lectures, often provided by medical oncologists, urologists, providing their perspective. Amazing lectures (everyone who talks is a demigod in the field), but perhaps less practical for the PGY-2. Of course when the Rad Onc attendings do speak, it’s absolutely unparalelled (a contouring workshop from Michael Zelefsky, peds from Wolden, lyphoma from Yahalom, etc.) Residents give few formal talks themselves.
Radiobio is at Sinai with all the other New York programs. Physics is solid.
Research: Thanks to Powell, now a full year. Amazing clinical research opportunities if you can find the time to pursue them (big if). Also MSKCC has an absolutely incredible database structure that makes retrospective research as easy as snapping your fingers at the nearest RSA. New emphasis on basic science, and I found this out the hard way when Powell skewered me squirming into my seat, impaled on my own inexperience in the lab. It seems as though the first two classes of residents are split 50-50 between lab and clinical research, probably to his chargrin.
Attendings: Scions of the field. Too many who are too famous to list, but not an ego among them. Some of the biggest names were some of the nicest and most approachable physicians I have met, and find time to teach enthusiastically despite the insane volume.
Residents: Overall, a very nice group of people; geographically and personally diverse. I’d say they are a little less tight-knit then at some places, but that’s an understandable product of having 20 residents.
Facilities/Technology: It’s MSKCC… 12 machines, a VIP floor in the hospital, everything is above ground, Calypso, unbelievable support staff. And if you like brachy, it’s the place to be. Unbelievable tumor boards because medical and surgical oncology are insanely awesome as well.
Location: It’s the upper east side. You either hate it or you love it. Most people love it, and they are correct. The people who hate it are uncultured and hermetic gnomes. Residents get subsidized housing, and (thanks again!) one of the residents was nice enough to invite us in. It’s actually extremely nice, and the cost comes out pre-tax.
Overall: It’s MSKCC. Quoting Wolden, “we give our residents everything but rest.” Believe it.

Program: The University of Chicago
Workload: clinical volume is actually completely reasonable; but seemes like studying can end up filling in a great deal of time. Most residents called it a 7-5. Seems like you will definitely be there once over the weekend studying as a PGY-2. Only one double service. Residents spend ⅓ of time at another (smaller) site.
Education: Absolutely amazing, likely unparalleled through sheer brute force. Formal lectures on every main region + peds by the attendings for the PGY2s in the summer, presentations by the residents on the same every Tuesday. Also, formal case-based presentations by the residents every Monday. Radiobio and Physics daily during the summer, teaching is good. Formal stats class as well. Yes, the rumors are true, it is a pimp session run by the formidable tag team of Weichsclebaum/Hellman (we witnessed on the interview day). But the pimpees (two of the 4th years) were frickin awesomely on their ****, so apparently 3 years of hard core pimpage pays dividends. Also, I would definitely never call the place malignant. Hardcore, yes. The tone was stern but definitely not nasty, and the residents were quick to help each other out.
No formal dosimetry, which I think is a big minus. The residents say you just have to figure out that stuff yourself, almost implying that offering a formal dosimetry rotation is coddling residents.
Icing on the cake? Residents get three months of away electives (yes, on top of the year of research!) and they can go anywhere, funded. Per the PD “Australia is popular because they have skin and sun, so it’s a pretty valuable addition to their education I guess...”
Research: A full year of research, very strong. Used to be only basic science (often in the chair’s lab), but now is more flexible, apparently. They just added a new physician scientist on faculty, so more basic science opportunities are opening up as well. Resident research is a priority, and they regularly churn out papers. Only minus is informatics (which I expected to be good) is not nearly on the level of WashU/MSK/Mayo. Individual attendings have databases, but that seems to be about it.
Attendings: Range from solid-incredible. The residents were effusive about Liauw’s teaching, and he has one helluva CV on the website. They just got a few new ones, and it’s a very young group overall. New MD/PHD from Stanford is starting a lab. The chair is a formidable research machine. The PD seems very approachable and smart. He gave a very good overview of the program.
Residents: Extremely well versed in the literature. The didactics pay off. They were also very, very nice and honestly seemed pretty laid back. I was interviewed by two (a product of an overbooked interview day? By FAR the biggest one of the season, maybe 20 people!) a 4th year and a 5th year, the 5th year was extremely nice. The PGY-2 we met (only one was there, others at a second site?) seemed very stressed but previous posts on SDN indicate that this was true last year...and the 3s seem ok. So maybe a super steep learning curve?
Facilities/Technology: New hospital building being built (allegedly done 2013, and is mostly constructed and looking amazing) but the hospital is nothing special right now. Department is nice. 4 linacs, 2 at other site. Planning on some exciting stuff in the new hospital. Strong tumor boards. Bonus that IM program is awesome and hospital has a good reputation overall.
Location: It’s a small distance from the main downtown, but the areas seems nice and most of the residents live downtown. It’s also still Chicago, which beats the hell out of most places. The commute from downtown is only 15 minutes and its along the lake.
Overall: Academic pressure, but it pays serious dividends. Probably best Rad Onc didactic education in the country. Residents are studs. Australia? really? Awesome.

 

[radanon]

Program: Northwestern
Workload: pretty rough, according to the residents. The volume at NU is very heavy (heavier than the U of C, according to one of the attendings. Apparently machines run 6am-7pm, and there are a lot of them (see below). Seems like the residents are spread pretty thin on multiple double services and a fairly tough call with a lot of in house consults.
Education: I wish I had more information here. This was one of three places I went where no one bothered to give a (formal or informal) introduction to the program. I’m not suggesting every single place needs to show applicants a full hour of detailed powerpoints (shout out to WashU) but a brief run-down of the structure is very helpful. Didactics seemed a little scant. Attendings rarely deliver lectures. Morning conferences 1-2 times/week I think? But the attendings are pretty strong individually, so the teaching is there if you can force them to stand still long enough to deliver it. Also, strong new arrivals (see attendings) which may impact education.
Research: 6 months of electives, which includes research and aways (and maybe even dosimetry?) Again, the opportunities are doubtless there, but we didn’t hear about them in detail. Still NU obviously has a lot of money and the Woloschack lab provides very exciting opportunities. It seems like a lot of the patients are on protocols and the medical center structure is very conducive to research, but perhaps rad onc residents get left behind.
Attendings: Good mix of the young and the older school. The new young attendings seem great (Strauss, Sejpal, Koneru) The chair seemed pretty removed by the program and disinterested during the interview. The PD seemed like a very nice guy, but is realatively new and maybe I still figuring out the program structure. Also Mehta, mehta, mehta!!!! Make your own decisions about the controversy with Tomo (mine is that it’s incredibly overblown). Anyway, I don’t care if he converted a tomo machine into an atom bomb and attempted to blow up the university of wisconsin, he’s amazing. He’s incredibly eloquent and likes teaching, and he’s also kind, and everyone who has worked with him is effusive about his mentorship. Of course there’s a lot of speculation about how long he’ll stick around. I heard from other applicants (didn’t go myself) that the PD at OHSU blatantly claimed that Mehta is heading their way within a year or two. There’s a couple of big chair positions opening up soon as well, so who knows.
Residents: Great group, but only ⅜ made it to the dinner...concerning? The three who were there were really nice.
Facilities/Technology: The hospital is beautiful. I’m pretty sure there are secret piles of gold dubloons hidden in cabinets around that place. I had a difficult time focussing during interviews because I was staring out the window. Technology is good: 1 linac in the women’s hospital, another 4 in the main hospital with a gamma knife unit.
Location: Best city location out there, IMHO. Right on Michigan avenue, right on the lake. It’s probably the most expensive neighborhood in Chicago, but still cheaper than anywhere in New York. Most of the residents live close.
Overall: Gorgeous facilities, great opportunities, but don’t expect to be drowned with didactics. Potential to be absolutely amazing if the program firms up structurally.

Program:University of Utah
Workload: 7:30-5:30 or 6, rare weekends. Workload seemed reasonable. Attendings /PD are clearly committed to keeping the workload manageable. One resident was overwhelmed on a double service, it was immediately eliminated. That sort of responsiveness was a stand-out here! Residents rotate at the Huntsman cancer center (main campus) and also spend ~6 months at Intermoutain Health Care, a private practice facility. Residents seemed to really like the IMC rotation, where apparently attendings love to teach, cherry pick the coolest cases only for the residents to cover, and put patients on trials/ encourage research on the level of an academic center. One of the IMC attendings interviewed. 3 months per service.
Education: Regular conferences and tumor boards. The chiefts run the didactic schedule, which includes resident talks (3-4/year), attending lectures, ASTRO refresher courses. Physics and Radio bio are taught 1. In a T/Th bootcamp PGY2 summer as well as on a diannual cycle for PGY2-4. One month of formal dosimetry. One month of radiology, one month of medical oncology. However you can get “credit” for both radiology and medical oncology if you do those rotations during your intern year and subsequently expand your research time or do additional electives. 3 months of electives (in addition to research time). Formal teaching by attendings appeared to be second only to Wisconsin.
Research: 6 months formally. But, with 3 months of electives or more if you do a radiology rotation first year, you can easily do ten months of research if it’s a priority for you. Some of the attendings dabble in basic science, but you do have to be a bit of a self-starter if this is your priotity. Awesome clinical opportunities, and the residents are one of the most prolific groups out there. The physics opportunities are stand-out good.
Attendings: Hands-down my favorite group on the trail. I had heard rumors that Hitchcock was cold and not approachable, but if so she put on one heck of a friendly facade. I thought she was very nice. She did ask me a few personal questions (Apparently they’ve lost two female residents who moved for relationships, so I understand why she would try to gauge my situation) Tward was hilarious. Hoppe, Gaffney, and Lee (the IMC attending) seemed absolutely fantastic. Anker, a recent graduate, was very nice and published an absurd amount so his decision to stay on as faculty speaks for itself.
Residents: Again, absolutely awesome. . They were a diverse bunch, from both coasts and midwest. and seemed to get along really well. No pretense and no bs in this group. They all definitely had lives outside the hospital, but as mentioned above, very prolific smart group here.
Facilities/Technology: Ah, drumroll please: Can I wax rhapsodic about the Huntsman Cancer Center? This place was like the magic kingdom of hospitals. The entire (3 story gigantic glass windows) lobby was panelled in some variant of rich mahogany. The rooms were exquisite and full of leather-bound books. The cafeteria (aside from having better food than most of the restaurants I’d been taken to on the trail and for dirt cheap) was breathtaking. Yes. The cafeteria was breathtaking. This would have been the nicest hospital I’ve been inside regardless of location (Northwestern a close second) and it just happens to be halfway up a mountain with 270 mountain views.
The department itself was very nice. 3 linacs with truebeam and brain lab. Also a siemens artiste, which the residents were pretty pumped about. There’s gammaknife and IMC and strong brachy volume.
And did I mention the view? It’s kind of like Machu Picchu. People tell you it’s awesome, but when you actually go you think ohmifinggod words can’t describe. Rich Mahogany, I kid you not.
Location: I went into this place thinking about Mormons and sobriety, but Salt Lake City seemed like a decent place. The residents were definitely people I’d like to hang out with (not true everywhere and definitely icing on the cake) which helps to compensate for a less-than-ideal bar scene. Nightlife aside, If you are active, this is Mecca. The residents ski every weekend, bike, hike, etc. The attendings, espeically the East Coast transplants, were effusive. Cost of living is unbelievable.
Overall: Awe to the some. This place soared towards the top of my rank list. Aside from the less-than-fantastic (though-way-better-than-Rochester, MN) nightlife in SLC I literally can’t find a single thing wrong with this program and location. Best working environment for residents and attendings out there!

Program: U of Wisconsin
Workload: Completely reasonable. Specific hours are eluding me (interview 11/17, woof) but I think it was about an 8-5:30, and studying on the weekends was restricted to PGY2. Call was what you would expect with an 8-resident program. Good peds volume. Slight disappointment that despite proximity to main hospital, the VA patients are shipped to MKE for treatment.
Education: I think it’s fair to say that the attendings here have a stronger commitment to resident education than anywhere else. Didactics are attending-driven with regular, socratic-style teaching sessions, which the residents endorse enthusiastically.
Research: Everything you could ask for. 6 months offered, with extension if a strong project is in the works. Great basic science opportunities in the laboratory building located next door, great clinical opportunities in the department. Good attending support for ambitious clinical projects (caveat: a resident recently wrote a protocol...with Mehta).
Attendings: A moment of silence, please, to revel in the paragon of awesome that is Paul Harari. He gave a very informative and clear presentation of the program (yes, this is good and helpful, please everyone do it!) At dinner (attendings came to dinner, which only made things more enjoyable) he expressed his confusion that all Rad Onc departments DON’T pay for the hotel. He asked several of us how many interviews we had, and where they were. To gauge our competitiveness or get a sense of where we’d rank Wisconsin? Perish the thought. In sharp contrast to uncomfortable fishing expeditions we all suffered through on occasion, Dr. Harari was clearly full sincere concern about our burnout levels and trying to find ways he could make the Wisconsin interview experience more enjoyable and convenient.
Case in point: Wisconsin uses panel interviews - 2 interviews, 8ish attendings each to evaluate their candidates. The idea is that candidates only have to spend half an hour under the spotlight, and the rest of the (short 12-5ish) day is spent hanging out with the very friendly residents. At many programs, this might have been a harrowing experience, but the attendings in both rooms put me at ease right away. Only downside is I didn’t get to learn much about the attendings as individuals (website lacks profiles...that would be helpful!) but the few that I spoke with at dinner all seemed wonderful. Esp. Harari. PD I’d most like to marry, for sure, by a mile. (Specifically Harari >>>Hahn, and I’d debate that one on many levels with whoever gave Dr. Hahn that title a few years back).
Residents: Really nice group, very forthcoming. We went out with a few of them after the dinner. Tim is funny and said a ton of interesting things, including sharing his fascinating views on the oeuvre of Kanye West (at least 4 people should understand this comment...) I did note, however, that it seemed like all the residents are either from Wisconsin originally, went to med school there or rotated. It’s been noted before on this forum that people seem to inside-track their way into the program. I don’t think that’s a bad thing (if I had a program full of great people, I’d want to vet future residents fully to keep it that way) but if you think you may want to end up there, you should strongly consider rotating.
Facilities/Technology: Gorgeous new facility, including both the department itself and the adjacent basic science facilities. Murals of nature on the walls and ceilings of the department were a nice touch. Tomo (obviously) but also a PET/CT? (Again...11/15 and the beginning of a roadtrip...apologies).
Location: Madison was bigger and nicer than I expected, great for outdoorsy people and with a very nice downtown. It seemed like a place that would be great for both kids/families and singles, and the residents were a mixed group. Cost of living was higher then I expected (especially downtown), with rent more expensive than St. Louis but a little less than Chicago.
Overall: Unless you are a die-hard city person, this program is the whole package. Great people, great research, great facilities.

...and that's all she wrote, for now. G'LUCK EVERYONE!

 

[radanon]

This is a small program that recently was approved to essentially revamp their entire residency. They will be increasing their class size significantly - I think they are taking two in the match this year and one out of the match.
Location:
Columbus is actually a cool place. Nice midwest town with a small town feel, but some of the amenities of a bigger place. They have you watch a video at the beginning of interview that kinda tells about all things that are available. There is outdoorsy stuff, art stuff, etc. A pretty good mix. The campus is also adjacent to the undergrad campus and you are able to benefit from some of their amenities as well (nicest gym in the country).
Residents:
They current batch of residents were a little bit older and I'm pretty sure all of them have kids. So if you are single that might not be the best situation for you. However, with the larger class sizes coming in the whole complexion might change. Residents seemed to be pretty cool, seemed to give serious answers during the whole interview day though.
Faculty:
I think the faculty here is underrated. The chairman, Arnab Chakravarti, is a brilliant guy and somebody they were able to steal from Harvard. Very easy to interview with. Minesh Mehta is supposed to come after his one year stint at Northwestern. The program director is Chris Pelloski, who recent came from MD Anderson. He seemed to be really invested in the residency program. He is a young guy that is going to a huge part of the change that their residency is going to see in the next couple years. He had everybody over to his house for the pre-interview dinner, which was nice. Very funny guy also.
Facilities:
Their whole department is going to change in the next couple years so I don't if its useful to describe in its current state. I'll just say the current stuff is adequate, nobody is going to be deficient in anything. They are currently constructing a 1 billion dollar hospital that is going to have the latest technology. They mentioned stillriver protons at the interview, but we'll see about that.
Impression:
I think this is going to be an outstanding program in like 3 years. Top 15 probably. Despite being affiliated with OSU, they really have underachieved in the past and it seems the new leadership has really convinced the administration to invest in the program. I really liked the faculty, there was a nice family feel to everybody. Columbus was more than I expected too. If I was a family guy I would have this place near my top. However, the transition of the program not something I would want to deal with during my residency. Watch out for this place in the next years though.

 

[radanon]

Great reviews so far. Now's the chance for some of the MS4s who benefited from this resource to give something back to the future MS4s*cough* seldon1985 *cough* *hack*

 

[radanon]

Yale:
An extremely happy and laid-back department. Residents are on a first name basis with the attendings, all of whom seemed like very happy, down-to-earth people. This program is the opposite of malignant. Dr. Wilson, the program director, truly goes to bat for the residents and education is a top priority. All of Thursday is spent in educational conferences and this time is totally protected with no clinical responsibilities. Morning conferences are typically given by the senior residents and these are very low stress. Perhaps as a consequence, much of the learning has to be self-directed. Nonetheless, residents do very well on the boards, and several faculty members are board examiners. Resident cover two attendings at a time, but the workload seems to be on the light side, with most days from 9-5. It seemed like no one was really staying late in the department. This great schedule is partially due to the low amount of scut work that residents are expected to do. For instance, there are two full time administrators whose job it is to gather all the clinical information for consult patients, so that residents never need to chase down outside records, call to other hospitals, etc. Additionally, residents do not dictate treatment summaries; this is left to the attendings.

The department is trying to beef up its clinical training to catch up with its amazing strength in radiobiology.... however, some deficiencies remain, namely a lack of adequate pediatric cases (enough to barely cover required numbers) and a lack of any prostate brachytherapy (or very much of other brachy for that matter). That being said, elective time can be spent at other institutions to make up for these deficits. For instance, it seemed common that residents do an away elective to gain brachytherapy experience.

Regarding research, residents get a full 12 months. Obviously the strength of the department is radiobiology, but all research paths are supported and there does not seem to be pressure to do one type of research over the other. Additionally, Holman pathway is available to those who desire it. Finally, for clinical investigators, there is a great clinical investigator track through Robert Wood Johnson that provides 6 months of coursework in statistics and study design (a few hours per day), followed by 6 months of dedicated research time. This is open to one resident per class.

Facilities: New cancer center, which is beautiful. Department is likewise gorgeous. Gamma-knife equipped. The reputation of surgical and medical oncology are lacking, but supposedly improving with the influx of some heavy-hitting new recruits. Of note, the hospital attracts a very large amount of ethnic food carts (Indian, Thai, etc), so there is always great food available for lunch... so nobody needs to use the cafeteria.

Other notes: Many residents who buy or rent houses, and also have children. They seem to have plenty of time for family and are happy with New Haven. Some residents make a significant amount of money moonlighting on weekends in a local hospice facility. $2100 is given as an annual educational stipend, which can even be put towards a computer or other device. You have to use this money to attend conferences, but, if you get an oral presentation, you will be funded to go over and above this amount. An area of concern is how long Dr. Wilson will stay around... it is unclear, bu there always seem to be rumors that he is leaving... if he goes (for a chair position elsewhere), the residents will lose a charismatic and effective advocate.

Overall, an up and coming program that will no doubt continue to improve in the future. Finally, I can’t imagine that any other department has happier residents.

 

[radanon]

I. Formal curriculum: Regularly scheduled morning conferences illustrate the emphasis on formal teaching at UofC, and is a definite strength of this program. Residents are well versed in the literature. If my memory (and notes) serve me correctly, Monday is the resident led case-based conference, Tuesday Q&A with heavy resident involvement, Wednesday physics, Thursday rotates (journal club, Hellman seminar, field drawing, M&M, board review). Residents are always excused to attend. The motto here could be "no pain no gain". Residents work hard are responsible for frequent formal presentations requiring a significant amount of weekend time. There is a reputation of a malignant atmosphere here, which did not necessarily come through in our interview day. I have heard the influence of several new, young faculty have made the environment more collegial.
II. Rotations:q3 months typically 1:1 with faculty. Approximately 20-30 pts on treatment. I don't recall there being deficiencies for any disease sites or modalities. 2-3/12 residents are rotating at the University of Illinois. This actually sounds like a strength for the residents particularly in terms clinical training. I gathered that it is a nice break from the intense atmosphere that can exist at UofC. Residents typically do 2-3 months of "away" rotations with many spending a month internationally-all expenses paid.
III. Research: 12 months of protected time during PGY-4, a recent change from PGY-5. This is great on two fronts. First, it allows residents to bolster their CVs prior to job searching, and allows for a year to polish clinical skills prior to becoming an attending. You name it, they got it; translational (streamlined through Dr. Weichselbaum lab), clinical, physics, gene therapy, etc. There was even one resident who was using her year to complete a clinical-translational fellowship with grant support.
IV. Residents: A very nice group, if a little subdued. I will be honest, this is the one department where a few residents did not strike me as particularly happy or excited about their program. In my experience, rad-onc departments are generally full of happy people...did not exactly get that sense here. This year, two of the seniors I talked to were going into private practice. If memory serves correctly, most tend to go into academics. Either way, you will be well prepared to pursue whatever career path you desire.
V. Attendings: The department is dominated by the presence of Weichselbaum and Hellman. Dr. Weishchelbaum spoke briefly but I did not meet him personally. There are always rumors that he is interviewing for other positions. He's been chair since '84 and has tremendous pull institutionally, and I do not see him going anywhere at this point. Dr. Hellman's presence has dwindled--was not present during my interview day. Dr. Chmura is the program director. He struck me as incredibly intelligent with a dry sense of humor. He is difficult to read, at times seeming distracted, others bored. There is a crop of new attendings with strong credential who guarantee the continued strength of the program in the future.
VI. Department: All of the basics-nothing fancy in terms of technology. They are building a new hospital to be completed in 2012 that will house a new HDR suite, a dedicated IGRT linac, and a cyberknife?? As I mentioned, a split department between UofC and UofI. A nice addition for training, but can complicate commuting.
VIII: My impression: Historically a very strong program in all areas and this promises to continue to be the case. Chicago is a phenomenal city if you can tolerate the weather. I knocked it down a few spots on my ROL...why? Repeatedly, I was told to trust my gut instinct. It is a phenomenal program on paper, but I was honestly unsure how happy I would be there. I asked residents at each program if they regretted their choice in residency. This is one of two where there was even the slightest hint of reservation. Future applicants please take this with many grains of salt. This was my experience and should hold very little if any weight with you future considerations.

 

[radanon]

Woohoo! Congrats to everyone else who matched! I’m going to post my impressions before I find out where I matched so I can remove any bias of love towards where I’m going and share my raw post-interview thoughts.

About me…
Physics research background with strong interest in continuing (maybe Holman, maybe not)
Priorities:
1) Location (West coast == Mountain areas > East coast >>> Midwest)
2) Work hours/teaching. I was definitely swayed much more by newer programs or programs like MD Anderson that did not expect residents to be scut monkeys. After doing 3 rad onc rotations, I really got the feel that more work/independence does not necessarily mean more learning. It does definitely mean seeing tons of normal follow ups and writing repetitive notes on them, and seeing the same common cases over and over and over again without a lot of time to read and think.
3) Research opportunities. The programs that didn’t have a lot of research didn’t interview me anyway. I’ve been undecided between 1 year of research and Holman, and biased against programs that didn’t offer one of those.
I saw a lot of applicants who took big time notes on the types of equipment programs had, the lecture schedules, the rotation setups, etc... I figure any of these programs I interviewed at will make me a solid radiation oncologist, and I went a lot more with those priorities.
There’s also gut feel, and a lot of my gut feel came from two things. First, the interview days themselves said a lot for programs to me. The organization of the day, the friendliness and flexibility of the coordinator and faculty, how decent the food was… I mean, does this mean a lot for four years? Of course not. But when it’s obvious a program isn’t even trying to recruit or is completely scattered, that means something to me about how I’d probably be valued and supported within the program. Second, the residents. And I’m not going to scrutinize people on personality, as the vast majority of rad onc residents seem really cool. But, how much time did we get with the residents, how open did they seem with both good and bad things about the program, how happy did they seem overall…

So In no particular order…

Program: WashU
Strengths: Now has Hallahan as chair (the notoriously MD/PhD friendly chair from Vandy), and is styling the program as physician-scientist HQ. One year research standard, Holman encouraged. WashU strong in just about everything else you`d want to do. Protons coming soon if that mini-proton unit (Stillriver) ever works. A lot of equipment.
Weaknesses: Workload on the heavier side, didactics mixed. Widely rumored to have malignant feel, though residents denied this. I really liked this program, but St. Louis was a big negative for me.

Program: Stanford
Strengths: Beautiful center and location. Research-oriented program with big reputation. Will support Holman or 1 year research.
Weaknesses: Resident work load/scut is widely cited as an issue, though residents were careful to avoid this topic and not go into any detail. While it is a cool area, cost of living means NYC/SF prices to live in a suburb. Some prickly faculty and the department seemed at times to be more interested in their history than in their future directions.

Program: Thomas Jefferson
Strengths: Reasonable workload, nice location in the best part of Philly. One year research standard, "open to Holman", but I don’t think has had a Holman.
Weaknesses: Very lopsided clinical volume with tons of neuro and certain GI sites. For peds and gyn you spend months away at St. Jude`s and WashU. A lot of departmental equipment seemed old and the department is in an ugly basement. Not a research powerhouse.

Program: UCSD
Strengths: San Diego area is awesome. Beautiful center. Research-oriented program, 1 year standard, no Holman. Strong research opportunities.
Weaknesses: Brand new program this year, so this is a wildcard. Chair and current PD is former PD at UChicago. I was under the impression Dr. Einck will take over as PD and he is former PD at UWash. So I have high hopes, but still no department history or reputation. Not as much technology as the top rad onc programs, though proton center in the works. Interviewed 28 applicants for 1 spot.

Program: Chicago
Strengths: Strong research-oriented program with many big name researchers in the department. One year research standard NO Holman, which I found odd considering they’re such a research powerhouse.
Weaknesses: High clinical volume and resident hours. Split program with UIC that requires car commuting in Chicago traffic between the two sites several days a week. Area around UChicago is terrible and the ghetto/commuting basically requires you to live in a different part of town. I didn’t get much face time with residents at all, outside of interviews, and even at the pre-interview dinner there was a lot of faculty around. The program just felt malignant to me for a few reasons. First, we sat through resident conference and they grilled the heck out of the residents. They really did a poor job of selling the program, and all our interviewers were either residents or very new faculty. I had issues with the coordination of the interview as well, and the coordinator was just completely unhelpful compared to other programs.

Program: Michigan
Strengths: Strong research-oriented program. Will support Holman. Large clinical volume/variety. The chair (Dr. Lawrence) is a huge name in the field and seems like a really nice guy. No longer requires the Michigan internship year!
Weaknesses: High resident work hours with little time for studying. We couldn`t even get a resident to give us a tour... Seriously, one of the applicants who was from Michigan gave us a tour instead. Per one resident, the didactics are student driven, and faculty don`t seem interested in teaching. I can’t get behind Ann Arbor. It’s kind of expensive, frigid, and in the middle of nowhere.

Program: Moffitt
Strengths: Rapidly growing center. I think they claimed the third highest clinical volume in the nation. Flush with cash and research oriented program, so rapidly recruiting faculty, buying equipment, and interested in supporting research. Wants to be MD Anderson and structures their residency like MD Anderson with minimal scut, minimal obligations, and learning/research emphasis. This will be a top program very soon. The top faculty and chair are former UPenn faculty.
Weaknesses: They say they`re weak in peds, and a lot of programs are. Though you don`t have to travel for it. No history in the program, and most people haven`t heard of it. I was obviously impressed. The location within Florida is kind of blah, about 20 minutes north of Tampa in a border area (one side bad, other side nice), and 45 minutes from the beach.

Program: MD Anderson
Strengths: One of the top rad onc programs in the country. Incredible volume and variety, every technology you would want, amazing clinical research. Residents seem very happy with program as they have an educational not service oriented philosophy where there is a lot of teaching and scut is eliminated. Research emphasized (1 year or Holman). Best interview day on the trail (hotel paid for, only one panel interview, a lot of food and drink, had written welcome card with welcome gifts, awesome coordinator, etc…).
Weaknesses: Not great basic science research. Houston.

Program: UTSW
Strengths: Beautiful center with a good volume. Pushing research and invited a ton of MD/PhDs, though only 9 months of research time and no Holman. Program is flush with cash and is expanding rapidly. Made a point of telling us about all the latest equipment they`re buying. Interviews on Saturdays as chair doesn`t want to interrupt clinic flow.
Weaknesses: The chairman was my oddest interview and a lot of people`s oddest, most confrontational interviews. I`m worried about the rapid growth of the department (to include among multiple sites) stretching the residents thin. Interviewed 28 applicants for 1 spot also! Dallas.

Program: Washington
Strengths: Seattle. New PD. Proton center in the future??? Maybe??? Has been in the works for at least 5 years and still no ground broken. Neutrons. You won`t find that anywhere else. Why you`d want to, I don`t know. Large clinical volume and variety.
Weaknesses: This program gets a black eye from student doctor every year and for good reason. High work hours, poor didactics, only 6 months of research time despite fantastic opportunities that nobody takes advantage of, and the program is spread out over 6 sites with a lot of car and/or bus commuting through nasty Seattle traffic. Some of this is supposed to change with new PD (former PD of Princess Margaret), but no promises were made to me on interview day.

Program: UPenn
Strengths: Beautiful new cancer center with big proton facility. A number of big name faculty, including the wonderful chair Dr. Hahn. Strong research with Holman supported. I loved the residents, and I think I got a lot of great information from them.
Weaknesses: The required UPenn internship is brutal. The program has been expanding rapidly, and the residents feel overworked and like they have a lot of scut compared to just a few years ago when the internship was not required and the program was a lot smaller. The 100% attending coverage has been a real stretch, with multi- attending services that were too busy for just one resident.

Program: Vandy
Strengths: Very basic science oriented program historically, now officially trying to recruit any type of researcher. 1 year of research or Holman. Workload on the lighter side (to encourage research) and residents claim strong teaching. Good volume at one central location.
Weaknesses: New chair in the department is from private practice to enhance the clinical side of things, so physician-scientist influence there waning? Huge emphasis on cost of everything in my interviews as apparently Vandy has been in financial trouble. So no plans for expanding equipment, faculty, etc... I left very concerned about the department`s future. Residents told me they love it when you do research outside the department as they don’t have to fund you. Wow?! One interview date only that was poorly coordinated (the coordinator is a sweetheart, but I think she’s just overwhelmed).

 

[cyberknife]

Woohoo! Congrats to everyone else who matched! I’m going to post my impressions before I find out where I matched so I can remove any bias of love towards where I’m going and share my raw post-interview thoughts.

About me…
Physics research background with strong interest in continuing (maybe Holman, maybe not)
Priorities:
1) Location (West coast == Mountain areas > East coast >>> Midwest)
2) Work hours/teaching. I was definitely swayed much more by newer programs or programs like MD Anderson that did not expect residents to be scut monkeys. After doing 3 rad onc rotations, I really got the feel that more work/independence does not necessarily mean more learning. It does definitely mean seeing tons of normal follow ups and writing repetitive notes on them, and seeing the same common cases over and over and over again without a lot of time to read and think.
3) Research opportunities. The programs that didn’t have a lot of research didn’t interview me anyway. I’ve been undecided between 1 year of research and Holman, and biased against programs that didn’t offer one of those.
I saw a lot of applicants who took big time notes on the types of equipment programs had, the lecture schedules, the rotation setups, etc... I figure any of these programs I interviewed at will make me a solid radiation oncologist, and I went a lot more with those priorities.
There’s also gut feel, and a lot of my gut feel came from two things. First, the interview days themselves said a lot for programs to me. The organization of the day, the friendliness and flexibility of the coordinator and faculty, how decent the food was… I mean, does this mean a lot for four years? Of course not. But when it’s obvious a program isn’t even trying to recruit or is completely scattered, that means something to me about how I’d probably be valued and supported within the program. Second, the residents. And I’m not going to scrutinize people on personality, as the vast majority of rad onc residents seem really cool. But, how much time did we get with the residents, how open did they seem with both good and bad things about the program, how happy did they seem overall…

amazing reviews!!! thanks! promise i'll do mine soon.

 

[radanon]

If I had a family, I’d rank this at the top or close. Great education, great volume, best PD out there, awesome clinical opportunities, great co-residents. Amazing focus on patient care. But unfortunately, I’m at least 2.4 billion years away from having a family and kids. Unless of course I match at Mayo (which I do fully intend to rank). If that happens I’ll be on a mail-order-husband website, stat. I’ll start with Russia, so I can find someone who tolerates the cold.

Hahahahaha! Great review, keep them coming!