Career Development: Medical Specialties: Radiation Oncology

Radiation oncology is a medical specialty that focuses on treating oncology patients with radiation. Both pediatric and adult patients are treated in the practice of radiation oncology. The majority of these patients have a malignancy, which may be involving any site or organ system. A limited number of patients are treated for benign conditions. The typical practice setting is a hospital-based community or academic practice. External beam therapy with either a photon beam or an electron beam, focused on the site of the tumor, is most commonly utilized. Brachytherapy is also employed, and involves the placement of radioactive sources within or adjacent to tumors.

Residency training information:

• Duration of training (number of years): Five years
• Number of programs nationally: 78 programs
• Number of entering residency positions per year: 120 (Majority for PGY2)
• Types of fellowships or subspecialties: several fellowships/no subspecialties
• Type of Match: Regular
• Overall competitiveness: Very Competitive (difficult match for "average" student)

Primary faculty contact person for M1 and M2 students:

• Dr. Edgar Ben-Josef (edgarb@umich.edu)
  Phone: 936-8207
  

Medical Student Club or Interest Group:

• None

Shadowing or mentoring experiences available to M1 or M2 students:

• Dr. Edgar Ben-Josef (edgarb@umich.edu)
  Phone: 936-8207

Resources:

• http://www.med.umich.edu/radonc/
• American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology www.astro.org/home.html
• The American Board of Radiology www.theabr.org
• American Society of Clinical Oncology www.asco.org
• Association of Residents in Radiation Oncology – Students
  http://www.arro.org/students/index.htm

Suggested journals, books, or other information for interested students:

• International Journal on Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics (Int J Radiat Onc Biol Phys)
• Journal of Clinical Oncology
• Principles and Practice of Radiation Oncology, Perez and Brady (eds).