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abdominal x-ray

For more information on applying for one of five fellowship positions
available
for the 2025 – 2026 academic year, click here.

Josephine "Pina" Finazzo

“Thank you for considering UNC Chapel Hill as you prepare to make the transition from trainee to colleague! After dedicating 15 years as an entrepreneur in private practice and successfully completing a Body MR fellowship, I made the deliberate choice to transition back to an academic setting. When contemplating this career shift, I prioritized several factors: Among these was the opportunity of reviewing large volumes of varied pathology, as a consistent driver of ongoing professional advancement. Surrounded by renowned faculty physicians across multiple specialties pertinent to abdominal imaging, presented an opportunity to facilitate enriching interdisciplinary experiences related to patient care. The diverse interests of the Abdominal Radiologists at UNC fosters an environment that cultivates proficiency across a range of niches in abdominal imaging. Now as the program director, I delight in the opportunity to continue the longstanding tradition of excellent training in abdominal radiology for our current and future fellows. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions!”

-Pina Finazzo, DO: Abdominal Imaging Fellowship Director | Email


 

ABOUT OUR PROGRAM

Our fellowship is designed to produce knowledgeable, well-rounded abdominal radiologists who will excel in meeting the demands of a busy clinical practice and can read high-level cross-sectional examinations with ease. We accept only five Fellows a year for this competitive fellowship. Fellows rotate monthly through clinical services at the main hospital campus and Hillsborough hospital.  This one-year fellowship provides 20 weeks in body MRI, 12 weeks in body CT, 8 weeks in ultrasound, 4 weeks (float) in GI/GU, and 8 weeks of elective time within the UNC Department of Radiology. The fellows actively participate in image interpretation and images guided procedures. Fellows attend and are actively mentored in the participation in multidisciplinary conferences. There is a dedicated fellows lecture series and ample research opportunities (and global health opportunities) for interested candidates.

This fellowship is based at UNC Hospitals and offers extensive experience in the areas of abdominopelvic MRI and CT, ultrasound, and fluoroscopy. The fellowship is housed in the Department of Radiology at UNC Women’s and Children’s Hospital, with an additional teleradiology caseload, creating a diverse caseload of trauma, oncologic imaging, transplant, gastrointestinal and genitourinary disorders.

The standard curriculum is composed of 13 four week blocks in the following components:

  • Body MRI (5 blocks)
  • Body CT (3 blocks)
  • Ultrasound (2 blocks)
  • Float/Elective (3 blocks)

Electives include thoracic imaging, neuroradiology, musculoskeletal imaging, nuclear medicine, PET/CT, pediatrics, interventional radiology, cardiovascular imaging, breast imaging, GI/GU, and research elective.

The UNC body fellowship now offers an optional Cardiovascular imaging module. As an alternative to the elective period, the fellow will spend two days per month in cardiovascular MR/CT. At the end of the fellowship year, it is expected that the fellow will have completed the case requirements for Cardiovascular Computed tomography as outlined in the ACR practice guidelines.

There is also an option for Women’s Imaging (combined abdominal and breast) and Cardiopulmonary-Abdominal (combined chest and abdominal) fellowships. Note that these are available depending on the availability of the respective section and would include time equally split between the two divisions (6 months/6 months).

Alternative curriculums are available to suit the needs and interests of individual fellows.

MR

We have 11 clinical MR systems: There are three 1.5 T Avanto magnets equipped with cardiac software, a 1.5T Sonata, a 1.5T Symphony, a 3.0T Trio system and a 3.0T Skyra. Our 3T and 7T MR/PET units are housed in our research building. We have a high volume abdominal and pelvic MR service, bolstered by a large liver and renal transplant service and a robust MR/TRUS fusion biopsy program.

CT

We have two 16 slice, one dual source, three 64 slice and two 128 slice spiral CT units and 3 combination PET/CT scanners (one a 40 slice). This is a high volume service with a wide diversity of cases from our emergency department, cancer center, inpatient and outpatient settings. CT is a robust service with approximately 50-75 CTs performed daily.

US

There are 13 ultrasound machines, including Siemens S3000, Ge LogiqE9 and Philips IU 22 with state-of-the-art software, including pulse inversion harmonics, contrast-enhanced ultrasound experiencs, elastography and 3D. In addition to image interpretation, ultrasound-guided procedures are performed on this service. We perform approximately 150-200 guided thyroid and lymph node biopsies each year.

GI/GU

There are 6 digital fluoroscopy rooms in our main hospital. On this rotation, fellows perform and supervise inpatient and outpatient genitourinary and gastrointestinal fluoroscopic procedures and interpret abdominal plain films.

The educational component of the department’s mission is a top priority to the abdominal imaging section. The Abdominal Division is comprised of ten in-house faculty, who actively mentor our fellows while they perform their clinical and research activities.Multidisciplinary conferences and frequent consults provide ample opportunities for clinical collaboration and feedback.

In addition to daily resident lectures, we host weekly (40 weeks) dedicated 2 hour fellows workshops covering dedicated hands on education on disease focused topics.

In addition to daily resident lectures, we host a dedicated fellows lecture series covering subjects such as advanced imaging techniques and MRI physics.

To learn more about our faculty, click here.

Currently, members of the faculty are involved in multiple areas of research including ultrasound contrast agents, alternative MR contrast agents, imaging in fatty liver disease, MR imaging of endovascular stents, as well as participating in national, multicenter cardiac imaging trials.

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 one block south of the UNC Hospital building 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. Multiple clinical trials and research studies are performed on these systems.

On-call responsibilities involves one week of attending-level CT and US calls approximately every 8-9 weeks for the year.

Fellows earn 4 weeks (20 days) of vacation for the year with an additional week of vacation over the Christmas/New Years’ holidays.
Fellows will have the opportunity for internal and external moonlighting hours.

 

 For more details on applying for the Abdominal Imaging division’s 2025-2026 one-year fellowship program, beginning November 1, 2023, click here.


FACULTY