Curriculum
Our program is fully approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and the American Board of Radiology. All residents must complete an ACGME-approved clinical internship prior to beginning this program. Four years of diagnostic radiology training are then required.
In any given year, a variable number of fellows in different subspecialties are training in the department. Care is taken to be certain that fellows do not supplant residents for procedural experience or case material.
Rotation Schedule
All rotations occur at University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) or the Baltimore VA Medical Center, which is attached by a walking bridge to UMMC.
The first year of radiology residency (R1) is targeted towards providing a solid exposure in the fundamentals of radiology and preparing residents for call, which begins in the second year.
The second year of residency (R2) continues to build on the fundamentals with significant responsibilities in the emergency and trauma radiology sections. The bulk of call occurs during the R2 year. All of our residents are provided two weeks of dedicated scholarly activity time in their second and third years in order to pursue education projects, research projects or Practice Quality Improvement projects.
During the third year (R3), residents consolidate their knowledge by rotating again through most of the services. In addition, the R3 year promotes preparation for the American Board of Radiology Core Exam. The department sponsors all residents to attend the four-week ACR Institute for Radiologic Pathology (AIRP) course. Our program has the wonderful distinction that six of our University of Maryland faculty serve as AIRP course lecturers.
The fourth year of residency (R4) allows for exploration in the resident's areas of passion. Residents build an elective schedule that conforms with their needs and wants.
The standard curriculum allows approximately 40 weeks of elective time, mostly in the fourth year.
Special Tracks
Early Specialization in Interventional Radiology
Our Diagnostic Radiology Residency program is approved by the ACGME to be designated as Early Specialization in Interventional Radiology (ESIR). Interested residents in their second year may choose to follow a slightly different curriculum in their third year and devote most of their fourth year to the pursuit of interventional radiology related rotations.
Dual Certification
First-year residents interested in pursuing dual certification by the American Board of Radiology and the American Board of Nuclear Medicine may choose to follow a slightly different curriculum in their second and third years and devote most of their fourth year to the pursuit of nuclear medicine related rotations.
Educator Track
Our Educator Track involves gaining formal training in medical education. Two or three residents are selected to participate in the Educator Track each year.
This longitudinal curriculum consists of four parts:
- Bimonthly seminars on timely topics in education
- Practicums or real-life teaching experiences
- Mentorship with a seasoned educator
- A capstone project on a major topic in medical education
Research Track
Our Research Track allows selected residents to work on clinical and/or bench research projects with one or more of our faculty for up to twelve months during the four-year residency. The time devoted to this track may be concentrated in the fourth year or may be a longitudinal experience through all four years of residency.
Informatics
We offer two different types of informatics fellowships. The first is a longitudinal experience with lectures, activities and projects throughout residency. The other is a more traditional fellowship after the completion of residency.
The informatics component lasts six months to allow the fellow to be immersed in informatics projects. The other six months is devoted to working in a subspecialty of the fellow's choice, such as musculoskeletal imaging, cardiothoracic imaging, breast imaging or trauma imaging.
Coverage
Radiology residents have night call duty and remain in the hospital overnight, with 24-hour in-house attending oversight.
Independent resident in-house call begins in July of the second year, with an average of five to six two-week blocks. Weekends are covered on a rotating basis. A second resident covering angiography and special procedures also remains in the hospital overnight. Call residents are relieved of duty the following workday.
Faculty and fellows also maintain call schedules in subspecialty areas and are always available to the residents on call for guidance or assistance.
The total working hours for residency, resident call and authorized moonlighting are not allowed to exceed 80 working hours per week. There are several moonlighting opportunities for residents as desired.
Conferences
Two daily resident conferences are held at 7:30 am and 12:30 pm.
The morning conference is dedicated to didactic lectures given by subspecialty faculty. During the first month of the academic year, faculty members give introductory lectures targeted to the first-year residents. Later on, the lectures are organized around a core resident learning curriculum.
The format of the daily 12:30 pm conferences is varied, but generally focus on case-based conferences with presentations by faculty and residents. Discussion of unknown cases by residents is emphasized.
For a period before the administration of the American Board of Radiology Core Exam, conferences are focused on board preparation. At the end of the academic year, conferences are focused on pre-call preparation for the rising second year residents before they start taking in-house call.
There is a robust departmental Grand Rounds program, featuring presentations by nationally prominent clinicians and scientists.
Weekly interdepartmental conferences are held in each of the imaging subspecialties, allowing resident attendance when rotating through the corresponding subspecialty.
Special Conferences
Special conferences in the Department of Radiology include:
- Journal Academy – Also known as Journal Club, this academy is moderated by Dr. William Olmsted, who served for 22 years as the editor of RadioGraphics, the journal of the Radiological Society of North America dedicated to publishing peer-reviewed educational material.
- Quality Academy – Quality Academy is dedicated to presentation and discussion of quality methodologies and quality initiatives within the department and throughout the medical center.
- Economics Academy – Timely information is presented on economic issues as it relates to Radiology.
- Education Academy – Our staff and administrative resources present on education-based issues, including faculty development.
- Research Academy – Research Academy is one part of our Enhanced Research Experience Program designed to facilitate resident research.
- Informatics Academy – This academy takes advantage of multiple world-renowned informatics experts on our faculty.
- Wellness Academy – Coordinated by resident wellness champions with faculty oversight, this Academy addresses timely wellness issues and includes fun activities for the residents.
- Diversity Academy – This conference is dedicated to presenting and discussing topics related to diversity, inclusion and health equity.
International Opportunities
RAD-AID International
RAD-AID International is a non-profit organization whose mission is to increase radiology's contribution to global public health initiatives by optimizing access to medical imaging in developing regions of the world.
In 2013, our radiology residents and faculty founded a RAD-AID chapter at University of Maryland Medical Center. Since then, we have created a dedicated longitudinal global health curriculum for interested trainees to gain competence in global health education.
The curriculum offers a tailored experience to learn about and opportunity to travel to a country of the trainee's choice to positively impact global health care education and quality specifically through radiology services. Countries to which our residents have traveled include Nigeria, South Africa, and Pakistan.
Additionally, there is a yearly RAD-AID conference attended by several of our residents as well as individuals from multiple medical specialties and government sectors. Conference topics range from global community service to international economic development strategies.
Health4TheWorld
Our program also has a Health4TheWorld chapter. Through this initiative, our faculty give lectures across the globe on various radiology topics, and residents have the opportunity to record lectures to be posted on their website. This allows us to promote global health and make a positive educational impact abroad.
Community Outreach
Since 2020, the Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine has worked with the UMB Cure Scholars Program, a STEM pipeline program for middle and high school students in West Baltimore. We introduce the scholars to the field of radiology and use imaging to complement what they have learned in their year-long anatomy curriculum. Several residents have created and presented content for these sessions.
Residents can also take part in community outreach activities related to breast cancer education. Faculty and residents have volunteered at events sponsored by the Baltimore City Cancer Program and have given talks at community sites in the area.
Evaluation
Residents are evaluated by the faculty at the end of each rotation. A compilation of these evaluations is supplied to the residents during personal semiannual meetings with one of the program directors.
Residents are required to take the American College of Radiology In-Training Exam yearly along with RadExam assessments related to each subspecialty rotation.
Anonymous written evaluation of the program and of the faculty is solicited from the residents semiannually.