Program Curriculum

The core curriculum is comprised of the clinical curriculum as well as the didactic curriculum. The clinical curriculum is comprised of approximately 41 months of clinical rotations with the remaining devoted to research, dosimetry and medical physics. The didactic curriculum is comprised of mandatory conferences, lectures, and tumor boards.

The majority of the curriculum will be dedicated to treatment of cancer patients with external beam radiation therapy and brachytherapy, but will also include topics such as intraoperative radiation therapy, radioimmunotherapy, unsealed sources, hyperthermia, kilovoltage irradiation, plaque therapy, particle therapy, benign disease and others topics that may be developed.

Clinical

The clinical curriculum includes clinical experience with lymphomas and leukemias; gastrointestinal, gynecologic, genitourinary, breast, soft tissue and bone, skin, head and neck, lung, pediatric, central nervous system tumors, and treatment of benign diseases for which radiation is utilized.

The residents will learn indications for irradiation and special therapeutic considerations unique to each site and stage of disease including the use of combined modality therapy, altered fractionation, including stereotactic radiotherapy, brachytherapy, pain management and palliative care.

The faculty will ensure that the resident personally performs technical procedures, including treatment setups as well as intracavitary and interstitial placement of radiation sources.

Follow-up of the irradiated patients by the resident, including pediatric patients, on an inpatient or outpatient basis is a required part of resident training to ensure that residents have the opportunity to learn about the problems of recurrent and disseminated tumors and of late aftereffects and complications of radiation therapy.

Clinical Rotations

Clinical rotations are performed within the two primary and integrated institutions (Loyola University Medical Center and Edward Hines VA Hospital). Rotations at these two hospitals are mandatory and are typically in three month blocks.

Rotations will be scheduled in such a way to provide adequate educational experience in different disease sites and radiation therapy techniques.

The resident will maintain a one-to-one teaching relationship with his/her attending on that service. There is one additional required external rotation (see "External" below).

Additionally there are two electives: Dosimetry/Medical Physics and Research. Participation in these electives is not mandatory and at the discretion of the program director can be withheld if there is failure to be promoted to next level of training or multiple unsatisfactory evaluations.

The ACGME required electives including medical oncology, oncologic pathology, and diagnostic imaging are fulfilled by documented participation in multidisciplinary conferences where medical oncology management, imaging, and pathology are shown and discussed.*

Dosimetry/Medical Physics Elective

During the PGY-3 year, the resident will spend one month on the clinical dosimetry and medical physics service. The resident will be supervised by the Chief of Physics.

The intent of this rotation will be for the resident to become intimately familiar with standard planning techniques: 2-D, 3-D, IMRT, brachytherapy, stereotactic radiation therapy.

The resident will be introduced to dosimetry and the RTP workstations (Xio) and will be required to participate in the planning of a variety of “standard” cases.

Additionally, the resident will also participate in the QA of radiation therapy equipment as it applies to clinical practice. This will also serve as an opportunity for the resident to identify a potential research project and mentor.

Sample Schedule

A typical four year schedule is shown below. In general, the residents rotate through the clinical services twice through their residency.

The one month spent in dosimetry/physics will be in lieu of one month spent on one of the clinical service rotations.

Research

Residents will have a 6-12 month elective dedicated to research. The specific length of research time afforded each resident will be based on the clinical strength of the resident and the nature and quality of the proposed research, as determined in advance by the residency program director, associate program director, director of clinical research and chairman.

This will generally be scheduled in the PGY-4 year and completion of the statistics course is a prerequisite. A component of the research routinely includes an impact on our veteran population at Hines VA.

Prior to starting the PGY-4 year, residents will submit a proposal for their desired research or laboratory project, with identified mentor(s), timeline, proposed methods i.e. retrospective review versus prospective data collection, statistical methods which will be used to analyze data, and any other applicable information.

Residents will be expected to have monthly progress meetings with their mentors to discuss the status of their research and/or any obstacles they are encountering. Ideally the resident will present his/her research at a regional/national meeting and will write a corresponding manuscript.

External

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

To complement the resident's experience, a one-month pediatric oncology rotation at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee is mandatory for residents. This rotation usually takes place during the PGY-4 or PGY-5 years, but must be at least a PGY-3.

This institution has a status of an affiliated institution for the purpose of residency training. Residents are expected to follow standard policies and procedures already in existence in that institution.