Recent Alumni

I did a rotation here as an MS4 because my now husband was doing his PhD at University of Georgia, and I felt of the programs near there, this was the best fit for me. I ended up loving the program because of the people—the faculty love teaching and the residents were so inclusive of me as a student. As a resident, I found that the people here are our greatest strength, but it is not only the faculty and residents but the dosimetrists, therapists, physicists, and everyone on our team who make the place great. Everyone is willing to teach and works hard putting patient care first. I also loved living in the Triangle—the whole area is beautiful. The forests and hiking trails are awesome, there are so many sporting events, and there are some really good restaurants.

I loved my time at UNC! As a young resident, faculty were always willing to teach me new procedures or help me think through complex cases. As a senior resident, faculty members led me drive the treatment decisions and develop my independence as a radiation oncologist. The focus on resident development also allowed me to have the time to develop professionally. I developed my niche in research at the intersection of health policy and radiation oncology. UNC also supported me financially to pursue multiple leadership positions nationally via ASTRO, ARRO, and the AMA. I would highly recommend UNC to any prospective trainees.

UNC was a great place to train, and it just kept getting better and better every year. Because of the excellent training from amazing attendings, multidisciplinary collaboration, and unique opportunities for research and career development, I now have my dream job with a large private single-specialty group (about 20 radiation oncologists), working as a CNS subspecialist in the largest hospital in my home state. I love my patients, and enjoying applying the clinical skills I learned and honed at UNC.

I feel fortunate to be able to spend the time needed to build relationships with patients, alleviate their concerns, and effectively manage symptoms associated with cancer and its treatment. Although not without its frustrations, I also enjoy the process of asking and trying to answer engaging research questions that can help improve outcomes for patients in the future. My mentors at UNC have taught me to keep a healthy balance between my various roles both within and outside of the hospital.

I love radiation oncology because it encompasses several different aspects of medicine into one specialty. You have interactions with patients on a daily basis, you have a procedural component (brachytherapy, SpaceOAR, etc.), and there’s a technology component (reading films, contouring, etc.). I’m early in my career, but am really enjoying where I work and the people I work with. It is a small field, which can be good and bad, but the good is you can collaborate with friends/former colleagues across the country and meet up for annual meetings, etc. UNC was a fantastic place to train. Excellent learning atmosphere and eager-to-teach faculty. Also excellent faculty in other areas (medical oncology, thoracic, urology, etc.) who would help teach as well (e.g., in tumor boards and multidisciplinary clinics). Also a nice place to live with easy access to the beach or mountains in your downtime.

Radiation oncology is the perfect field to me because it provides the perfect blend of patient interaction, technical procedures, and cutting edge technology. I couldn’t be happier at my decision to train at UNC as I was fully prepared to begin my career as an independent investigator and practitioner immediately after graduation.

Training at UNC prepared me to thrive in academic medicine. The clinical training and research opportunities as a resident made my job search and subsequent transition to independent clinician and researcher easy.

The UNC Radiation Oncology Residency gave me the ideal training to succeed as a radiation oncologist, and my wife and I will always look back fondly on our years in Chapel Hill.

I highly recommend pursuing a residency experience at UNC–Chapel Hill. Your mentors will be sincere in their desire to mold you into a competent and compassionate Radiation Oncologist, and they have all of the necessary technology/didactics to have you breezing through your board examinations and hit the ground running as a junior attending in any setting you wish to pursue. Chapel Hill is a wonderful place to live for people with young families or for those looking to start a family (I met my wife while in training). There is a perfect mix of culture, outdoors activities, and southern hospitality.

Radiation Oncology is the best field in medicine and UNC is one of the best places to be trained. Not only did I receive an amazing clinical education, but I was also taught how to interpret evidence based medicine so that I can now utilize new standards that did not exist during residency. I truly miss everyone there.