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Radiation Oncology Residency and Fellowship Training Program
Thank you for your interest in the department of radiation oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center. Our department offers six residency positions for a four-year training program.
Contacts
Gary M Freedman, MD, Residency Director
Alan Pollack, MD, Chairman, Radiation Oncology
Introduction
The training program in the department of radiation oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center is designed to provide the resident with a broad knowledge of clinical oncology, radiation biology, radiation physics and biostatistics through a diverse program incorporating didactic instruction, clinical experience, research opportunities and laboratory experience over four years. The program has a strong academic foundation and it is anticipated that residents will participate in research and publishing during their training to prepare them for a career in radiation oncology.
A strong clinical oncology experience is fostered by the one-on-one relationship between staff physicians and residents during their rotations. Teaching is emphasized by daily radiation oncology case conferences, daily multidisciplinary case conferences with the Fox Chase Cancer Center departments of surgical oncology, medical oncology, radiology and pathology, and weekly didactic lectures given by the staff. This clinical and didactic training may be enhanced by off-site clinical elective rotations or translational research in our divisions of radiation physics or biology.
Fox Chase Cancer Center
Fox Chase is an academic institution with an emphasis on oncologic training. In addition to our residency program in radiation oncology, the Center sponsors clinical fellowships in medical oncology, surgical oncology and pathology. Surgical residents, internal medicine residents, and medical students from Temple University Hospital also rotate through the hospital for their oncology training.
Fox Chase is the leader of the Fox Chase Cancer Center Partner community hospitals in the Pennsylvania and New Jersey region. Fox Chase is also the founder of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network that includes Memorial Sloan-Kettering, MD Anderson, Dana Farber Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins, Stanford and other leading oncology centers. This network develops national standards for cancer treatment, measuring outcomes, and contracting for cancer services.
The Radiation Oncology Facility
The department of radiation oncology is equipped with four linear accelerators, CT and conventional simulators and a low field open MRI simulator. Patients are treated with both conformal radiation therapy and state-of-the-art intensity modulated radiation therapy. Patients are currently treated with both interstitial and intracavitary low-dose-rate implants using Cesium or Iridium sources. A remote afterloading Nucletron is also used for high-dose-rate implants. The department technology also includes BAT ultrasound, CT-on-rails and stereotactic radiosurgery.
The Clinical Attending Physicians
The clinical division of our department consists of six radiation oncologists with site-specific clinical and research responsibilities. The resident will spend one or more three-month rotations over a four-year period working on a one-to-one basis with each staff member.
- Alan Pollack, MD, Chairman - Genitourinary cancers
- Eric M. Horwitz, MD, Clinical Director - Genitourinary cancers
- Andre Konski, MD, Clinical Research Director - Gastrointestinal cancers
- Nicos Nicolaou, MD, - Head and neck cancer, lymphomas and breast cancer
- Gary M. Freedman, MD - Breast and gastrointestinal cancers.
- Penny Anderson, MD - Breast, gynecologic and soft tissue cancers
- Steven Feigenberg, MD - Thoracic and central nervous system malignancies
The Clinical Experience
The department has established a national and international reputation in the treatment of breast, prostate, gastrointestinal, lung and gynecologic malignancies. We are also committed to participation in national cooperative group trials sponsored by the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group, Eastern Oncology Cooperative Group and Gynecologic Oncology Group. Approximately 2,000 consultations and 4,000 follow-up visits are seen by our staff each year. The department has under treatment approximately 150 patients each day. Patients seen in consultation or under treatment by a staff physician are evaluated initially by the resident.
Residents will complete the first 36 months of clinical training within our department. There are three months set aside in the senior year for outside rotations in pediatrics and other electives. Each resident will also spend a minimum of six months during the last year in either clinical translational research or laboratory basic science within the department of radiation biology. Each year, residents take part in the clinical in-service self-assessment examination given by the American College of Radiology.
Residents attend daily noon one-hour clinical case conferences. Recent cases are reviewed and discussed with the surgical and medical oncologists, pathologists and radiologists (usually with lunch). The radiation department holds regular journal club, morbidity/mortality or resident clinical physics conferences. There is also a resident didactic or case conference given by a radiation oncology staff physician on Wednesdays at 5 p.m. over pizza.
Residents not on-call must be in the department from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Residents are on-call by long-range beeper with an attending for a one-week period every six weeks. While on-call, the resident is responsible for after-hours patient calls (first triaged by the hospital nursing coordinator) and emergency consultations and treatments.
The Research Experience
There have been over 200 publications from the department of radiation oncology over the past three years alone. Residents are expected to engage in clinical research and submit manuscripts during their training.
During their training, residents are also encouraged to present their papers at major national meetings and have given over 10 oral presentations in the last five years at the annual meetings of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.
Radiation Physics and Biology
The radiation physics department consists of doctoral-level physicists, masters-level physicists, dosimetrists and certified therapists. The section of tumor biology and biophysics consists of doctoral-level senior investigators and their respective postdoctoral and laboratory assistants. Residents receive two hours of didactic training each week in radiation physics and/or biology from September through June. The courses are given on Wednesday from 3 to 5 p.m. During this time, the residents are freed from other clinical activities. The courses emphasize both basic science and applications to clinical practice.
Resident Benefits
Residents are fully reimbursed to attend at least one national clinical conference per year beyond their first year. Additional conferences may be permitted by the clinical director when the resident has research accepted for presentation. Each resident is entitled to 20 days (one month) of vacation/personal days per year. There are six paid holidays, of which during one the resident may also be on-call. The allowance for books and journals is $500 the first year and $300 in additional years. Health insurance is available for residents and eligible dependents with a portion of the premium paid by the resident. Term life insurance is also provided in the amount of $50,000 with additional coverage optional with additional premium. Residents are provided with free meals while working and free parking in the garage is available at the hospital.
Additional Information
Applicants must arrange for and complete a PGY-1 year independently before beginning their residency training in radiation oncology. Please contact Dr. Gary Freedman at 215-728-2789 for further information or an application for residency training.