On January 10th, we closed out our final interview day for our Diagnostic and Integrated Interventional Radiology Residency Programs – our two programs recruiting medical students. We continue to run the recruitments in parallel given how much overlap there is between the residents and residencies. Nearly every applicant who applied to our Integrated Interventional Radiology Residency also applied to UNC Diagnostic Radiology. Diagnostic Radiology continues to be a competitive specialty, however Interventional Radiology was one of the most competitive specialties in the 2019 match. 
Over the past few years, UNC has had major complement increases. Our Interventional Radiology Residency initially started at 5 residents, 1 per year. We are in the process of expanding to 2 residents per year and have already been granted a temporary increase to match 2 IR residents from medical school this year. Additionally, our Diagnostic Radiology Residency is now approved for 36 Diagnostic Residents for an average of 9 per year. Within the next few years, we hope to be fully approved for 10 Integrated Interventional Radiology residents (2 per year).
This match season, UNC received over 800 applications for DR and over 160 for IR. Our review committee paired down the applications to interview just over 100 applicants. While most applicants were from North Carolina and the surrounding states, we interviewed applicants from Florida to Massachusetts to California. Board scores and resumes seem more impressive every year. This year, the average Step 1 score of an applicant we are interviewing is just over 245 with nearly 30% elected AOA. The recruitment day is the easy part. The perks of living in Chapel Hill, the culture of our program-both a family atmosphere and collegial teamwork, our resident procedure and case volume, conquering of the Core Exam, fellowship match, and job search sells itself.
Recruitment is always a busy time. Peter, Cody, and I are thankful for the efforts of the entire recruitment committee, but in particular the tireless work of Krista Sills, our phenomenal Program Coordinator, and our Chief Residents, Justin Rodriguez, John Campbell, Hamilton Howe, and Clayton Commander.
As we put the finishing touches on our rank list and rejoice in the end of recruitment season, I will celebrate by kicking off the start of the Independent Interventional Radiology Residency recruitment (formerly IR fellowship).
David M. Mauro, MD
Associate Residency Program Director
Diagnostic Radiology / Integrated Interventional Radiology Residency Programs