Fellowships
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)
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 experiences, 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 yearly.
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.
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.
We have several internal moonlighting opportunities available, including contrast coverage and preliminary reporting.