The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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UNC School of Medicine

About Us
Breast Imaging

Fellowships

UNC’s Breast Imaging division trains up to four fellows per year selected for our three one-year dedicated fellowship positions. As a fellow you will actively participate in the 18,000 screening mammograms and 12,000 diagnostic exams we perform each year. You will gain hands-on experience with diagnostic ultrasound scanning. There is graded autonomy with the nearly 2000 procedures performed throughout the year, including stereotactic/tomosynthesis-guided biopsies, ultrasound-guided biopsies, MRI-guided biopsies, preoperative localizations, and sentinel injections. Approximately 550 screening and staging breast MRI studies, in addition to 15000 outside breast imaging examination interpretations are reviewed yearly. This multidisciplinary high-volume practice allows all our breast imaging fellows dedicated learning opportunities on our academic team, leading to experienced independent breast radiologists. These responsibilities are split between UNC Main Hospital and UNC Hillsborough Hospital. These hospital-based settings allow our fellows to gain valuable experience serving a diverse patient population with complex presentations in both inpatient and outpatient settings.

The standard curriculum is composed of 9 months of dedicated breast imaging training and 3 months of elective time. Electives include breast surgical oncology, breast medical oncology, breast radiation oncology, breast pathology, thoracic imaging, abdominal imaging, neuroradiology, musculoskeletal imaging, pediatric imaging, interventional radiology, cardiovascular imaging, and additional months of breast imaging.
Breast imaging fellows receive advanced training and mentorship from in-house breast imaging radiologists.

The fellowship also provides fellows with several formal educational opportunities and clinical experiences. These include:

  • Bi-monthly Radiology-Pathology Concordance Conference
  • Weekly Multidisciplinary Tumor Conference
  • Monthly Journal Club

The UNC Breast Imaging Fellowship is also a member of the Breast Imaging Fellowship Consortium, which provides a collaborative weekly multi-disciplinary didactic lecture series involving all participating fellowship institutions.

Breast imaging fellows with research interests have ample opportunities to lead and participate in research projects with the support of our renowned faculty. Faculty research interests include patient-centered care, medical education, evidence-based practices, educational reviews of breast symptoms and challenging biopsies to support radiologists, implementing tools in clinical radiology to improve healthcare quality, and optimizing breast cancer screening.

In addition to clinical facilities, there are ongoing research projects and opportunities at UNC’s Biomedical Research Imaging Center (BRIC). BRIC was formed in 2005 to support image-based biomedical research across the UNC System and is a statewide resource serving researchers across the state of North Carolina in a central facility that handles the acquisition, processing, analysis, storage, and retrieval of images. The center is located on the UNC campus and houses both human and animal imaging equipment, including a 7T whole-body MRI, multinuclear capable 3T MRI, PET/MRI, cyclotron, and a full complement of small animal imaging modalities. The BRIC supports multiple clinical trials, and research studies are performed on these systems.

Fellows participate in the breast imaging call pool. This weeklong call is taken from home approximately every seven weeks. Responsibilities include image interpretation and management support for the in house on-call residents for breast specific sonographic emergencies after hours and weekends.
Fellows earn 15 days of vacation for the year with an additional week of vacation over the Christmas/New Years’ holidays. They are also provided 12 sick days.
We have several internal moonlighting opportunities available including contrast coverage as well as general radiology preliminary imaging reporting.

Our fellowship program now participates in FellowshipsCAS, a centralized application service for fellowship programs. Applications for the upcoming cycle will be submitted through FellowshipsCAS. The application will open on October 1. The application deadline for this program is December 1.

To start your application or return to an existing application, please visit: FellowshipsCAS | Applicant Login Page

If you have questions about how to complete the application or need technical support, please visit the FellowshipsCAS Applicant Help Center: FellowshipsCAS Applicant Help Center. This site includes FAQs, guides, and contact information for applicant support.

Visit the Living in Chapel Hill page.
Please direct any questions regarding our Breast Imaging Fellowship to our Program Director Dr. Andi Senter (andi_senter@med.unc.edu).

For questions on our application process, please contact our Breast Imaging Departmental Fellowship Coordinator: Virginia Carver (vbcarver@med.unc.edu).

Faculty