Hey, I'm a soon-to-be MS4 very interested in NYC for radonc residency. I applied for an away rotation at MSKCC and also considering a rotation either at NYU, Albert Einstein, or Mt Sinai. The comments in Interview Impressions and Rad onc Rankings are very helpful. However, there is much discussion about MSKCC but far less about the other NYC programs. Can any recent interviewees or rotators or current residents share some pros and cons about these programs?
NYU, Einstein, and Mt Sinai
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I can only speak to Einstein and NYU's programs, as Mt. Sinai was not accepting applications this year, but here are my thoughts on those programs as someone who is graduating from an NYC med school and rotated or interviewed at most of the programs in the city:
Einstein, despite its location in the Bronx and lack of prominent national reputation, is definitely a strong program. There's currently 7 residents and ~8 attendings, with strong clinical volume in every disease site, and especially have an abundance of brachytherapy, including H&N brachy, to which access is limited at many other programs. The residents cover 2 hospital sites in the Bronx: Montefiore hospital and the stand-alone RT facility near Weiler Hospital and Einstein Med School. Additionally, they have a 3 month rotation at Beth Israel in Manhattan, which typically involves working with Lou Harrison, who was Chairman of ASTRO last year. The most prominent faculty member at Einstein is Dr. Guha, the Vice Chair, who splits his time ~30/70 between clinic and lab and is head of RTOG Translational's GI subdivision. He has probably the most connections in the field of anyone on the faculty and will definitely go to bat for his residents. Residents spend 6-9 months on his lab/clinic service, and 3 months at a time on each of the other services. While in the past the department has had a "private" feel to it, it is definitely moving in a stronger academic direction, with regular visiting professor grand rounds from prominent faculty and all of the residents presenting abstracts at ASTRO the past 2 years. However, with the exception of the lab research, most of those projects remain resident driven. All in all, I'd say Einstein is a strong program with lots of opportunities for movitated residents, although you won't be spoon fed.
As for NYU, it is a relatively strong program, a little smaller than Einstein with 6 residents and ~5 attendings. They recently lost 3 faculty in the past year, one of who,m left for private practice and two of whom moved to other NYC departments. Peter Schiff, the former Chair at Columbia, recently joined NYU's faculty, which does balance some of the attrition, although I wasn't quite sure what to make of all of the faculty turnover. The residents there primarily cover 2 sites, Tisch Hospital and the NYU Cancer Center (2 avenues apart of 34th st), and also see consults at Bellevue, about 8 blocks south of Tisch. The Chair, Dr. Formenti, is well known in breast cancer, is supposedly is demanding of her faculty, but does not actually interact with the residents all that much. Dr. Narayana, the PD, who used to be at MSKCC and came to NYU ~3 years ago, is very actively involved in both Peds and CNS clinical research. There do seem to be some basic science/translational research opportunties through Dr. Formenti's connections at NYU, although I'm not sure whether she has her own lab. NYU's program seemed to be strong in most disease sites, and they get their fair share of brachy as well. Their program also seems to be fairly "private" as far as the attendings' commitment to academics go, with the exception of the previously mentioned attendings. The residents work hard, and definititely complain about this aspect of the program, but you'd be hard pressed to find a program where residents don't complain about something. All in all, a solid program, although I'm not sure I would say anything about it is particularly exciting or unique, other than the location of course (which is phenomenal).
As for Mt. Sinai, the PD at MSKCC told me she had a high degree of respect for their graduating residents, but a friend of mine had a very negative experience rotating there, so take that for what you will. They also have a reputation for poaching residents from other programs (not cool). That's all I know as far as that program goes...
Einstein, despite its location in the Bronx and lack of prominent national reputation, is definitely a strong program. There's currently 7 residents and ~8 attendings, with strong clinical volume in every disease site, and especially have an abundance of brachytherapy, including H&N brachy, to which access is limited at many other programs. The residents cover 2 hospital sites in the Bronx: Montefiore hospital and the stand-alone RT facility near Weiler Hospital and Einstein Med School. Additionally, they have a 3 month rotation at Beth Israel in Manhattan, which typically involves working with Lou Harrison, who was Chairman of ASTRO last year. The most prominent faculty member at Einstein is Dr. Guha, the Vice Chair, who splits his time ~30/70 between clinic and lab and is head of RTOG Translational's GI subdivision. He has probably the most connections in the field of anyone on the faculty and will definitely go to bat for his residents. Residents spend 6-9 months on his lab/clinic service, and 3 months at a time on each of the other services. While in the past the department has had a "private" feel to it, it is definitely moving in a stronger academic direction, with regular visiting professor grand rounds from prominent faculty and all of the residents presenting abstracts at ASTRO the past 2 years. However, with the exception of the lab research, most of those projects remain resident driven. All in all, I'd say Einstein is a strong program with lots of opportunities for movitated residents, although you won't be spoon fed.
As for NYU, it is a relatively strong program, a little smaller than Einstein with 6 residents and ~5 attendings. They recently lost 3 faculty in the past year, one of who,m left for private practice and two of whom moved to other NYC departments. Peter Schiff, the former Chair at Columbia, recently joined NYU's faculty, which does balance some of the attrition, although I wasn't quite sure what to make of all of the faculty turnover. The residents there primarily cover 2 sites, Tisch Hospital and the NYU Cancer Center (2 avenues apart of 34th st), and also see consults at Bellevue, about 8 blocks south of Tisch. The Chair, Dr. Formenti, is well known in breast cancer, is supposedly is demanding of her faculty, but does not actually interact with the residents all that much. Dr. Narayana, the PD, who used to be at MSKCC and came to NYU ~3 years ago, is very actively involved in both Peds and CNS clinical research. There do seem to be some basic science/translational research opportunties through Dr. Formenti's connections at NYU, although I'm not sure whether she has her own lab. NYU's program seemed to be strong in most disease sites, and they get their fair share of brachy as well. Their program also seems to be fairly "private" as far as the attendings' commitment to academics go, with the exception of the previously mentioned attendings. The residents work hard, and definititely complain about this aspect of the program, but you'd be hard pressed to find a program where residents don't complain about something. All in all, a solid program, although I'm not sure I would say anything about it is particularly exciting or unique, other than the location of course (which is phenomenal).
As for Mt. Sinai, the PD at MSKCC told me she had a high degree of respect for their graduating residents, but a friend of mine had a very negative experience rotating there, so take that for what you will. They also have a reputation for poaching residents from other programs (not cool). That's all I know as far as that program goes...
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I've heard good things about all of those programs. The fact is, MSKCC is a monster program that overshadows all of them. But after that, NYU, AE, and Mt. Sinai are pretty much the best.
Beyond those programs, the quality drops dramatically if you are looking at the rest of the NYC programs.
Beyond those programs, the quality drops dramatically if you are looking at the rest of the NYC programs.
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I would agree with the dominance of MSK in NYC. However, I would strongly disagree that you can separate the rest of the programs in NYC. Every other NYC program has their own strengths, but glaring weaknesses..and i mean all the NYC programs (NYU, AE, sinai, columbia, cornell, downstate, methodist, etc). And strengths/weaknesses in my mind can be such things as how happy the residents are, how happy the graduates are with their jobs, etc. In regards to a private practice track, if you want to end up in NYC and end up at any NYC program, you should be happy about it. Obviously, MSK would be nice, but all the NYC programs can produce excellent rad oncs. However, if you are looking to do academics, that is a different story, since NYC programs (except msk) are all relatively weak in that regards and don't set you up well for an academic job outside of NYC.
Thanks guys, for those very helpful insights. Can anyone share any specifics about Mt Sinai regarding resident happiness, basic research opportunities, faculty expertise, and the disposition of graduating residents (PP vs academic)?
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Well the general setup of Sinai is the 4 attendings, Stock who only does prostate, Green does breast, brain, and the tiny bit of GYN that comes through (never saw GYN brachy done here, ever), Kao is the head and neck guy, and they just brought in a new recruit from Columbia to do lung after Cesaretti went to private practice in Miami. The residents are usually assigned 1:1, with the chiefs being on service less or in research time. The residents are generally happy, but this might just be baseline personality. They seem to be straddled with a high level of scut work during the day and the days are very busy. (i.e. fighting with dictation systems and tech issues). I will say that it is a VERY different program than other places, it definitely has its own flavor and it's not for everyone. Each of the non-MSKCC places in NY has its own major weaknesses, but ultimately comes down to whether you are a personality fit. The right person would thrive here and get a great education.
The only basic research opportunity in the department is with Barry Rosenstein, who is a PhD, and actually is the PD as well. He runs a radiation biology lab and teaches the rad bio course for the majority of programs in the city. He's great and very well known nationally. You could do basic research in another lab, but there would be less connection to the department.
After graduation residents are pretty split down the middle in terms of academic and private practice being guided usually only by their inclinations and where they want to live. Several go to MSKCC to be junior attendings or get good PP jobs in competitive locales.
Lastly, I'm not quite sure what someone above meant about Sinai "poaching" residents, but that's just ridiculous. There's no history of anything even close to that so just stop making things up.
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Just something i had heard on the interview trail, I believe from somebody in an NYC program. I didn't mean to fire off any accusations, and was simply relaying what sounds like was indeed an ill-founded rumor, so I'm glad to hear it's not true, particularly from someone with first-hand knowledge of the program (from the sounds of it). No slander intended!
D
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Someone writing something negative under an anonymous account?!? No way ... that would never happen on SDN 
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