Residency Program Overview

1. Research year (YEAR 01)
   The resident will work on a research project at either MGH or BWH under the supervision of a faculty research mentor. Projects are chosen to facilitate substantial progress within a single year. Residents typically publish one to two manuscripts as a result of their research efforts. Research projects are assigned taking into account both resident and faculty preference and with the constraint that one position will be at BWH and one at MGH. In addition, incoming first year residents will be expected to join the morning conferences, especially the summer series, and begin to shadow QA on the linacs during the final two months of the research year.

2. Clinical Rotations (YEAR 02-03)
   Clinical training is organized in to seven clinical rotations, as listed below. In the first clinical year, training includes radiation safety, treatment planning, and treatment equipment and dosimetry. Primary resident duties include machine and patient specific quality assurance. Treatment planning progresses from training cases and observations to actual clinical plans. The second clinical year includes brachytherapy rotations at both MGH and BWH, a dedicated stereotactic physics rotation at BWH and a Cyberknife rotation at BIDMC, a one month rotation at a suburban outreach location to gain exposure to radiation oncology physics in a smaller setting, and a two month proton physics rotation at MGH.

• Module 1 — Treatment machines and simulators
• Module 2 — Treatment planning
• Module 3 — Brachytherapy and Radiation Safety
• Module 4 — Radiation Dosimetry
• Module 5 — Special treatment procedures
• Module 6 — Outreach Clinic operation
• Module 7 — Education and professional experience

During each rotation, residents will work closely with a primary mentor and also interact with many of the staff and faculty physicists at each institution.