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We offer an immersive, high-volume clinical experience to our residents. More than 10,000 nuclear medicine studies are performed annually, providing clinical services that include:

  • General nuclear medicine
  • Nuclear cardiology
  • Oncologic PET/CT
  • Cardiac PET/CT
  • SPECT/CT
  • Nuclear therapies

Residency training is provided by four nuclear medicine faculty, with one faculty dual trained in nuclear medicine (ABNM) and diagnostic radiology (ABR), two faculty in nuclear medicine (ABNM) and one faculty in diagnostic radiology (ABR). 

Call Duty

Because call duty is integral to becoming an independent nuclear medicine physician, residents provide short-term coverage for evening and weekend coverage. 

Facilities

Our program is based at the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) with additional clinical service at the Baltimore VA Medical Center (BVAMC). The two hospitals are physically connected.

BVAMC is a national leader in all-digital imaging with advanced technologies. Approximately 15 percent of our residents' time is spent on this campus.

The radiology department has expanded into a new inpatient facility and has deployed a sophisticated hospital-wide picture archiving and communication system with computed radiology.

Our department also includes a small animal imaging center with SPECT and PET/CT capabilities, as well as other preclinical research modalities. 

In total, our program has access to seven advanced SPECT cameras, three PET/CT scanners, one PET/MR scanner and two radionuclide generators.

Conferences

Our conferences are held every weekday throughout the year. These include:

  • Didactic lectures
  • Case-based presentations
  • Clinico-pathological conferences
  • Journal clubs

In addition, residents attend and present at monthly clinical protocol meetings, research meetings in conjunction with the cyclotron program, cyclotron program journal clubs and quarterly quality assurance presentations.

Residents also participate and present in 10 different multidisciplinary conferences in combination with medicine, surgery, medical oncology, surgical oncology, radiation oncology, pathology and other clinical subspecialties.

Radiology clinical and research Grand Rounds are held monthly with prestigious visiting and local professors, offering the opportunity to learn from leading national authorities on a variety of topics.

Research

Intellectual vibrancy and technological innovation are core values of the Division of Nuclear Medicine and the Department of Radiology, which are developed through research and collaborative efforts of the clinical faculty, medical physics and research faculty.

Our faculty publish in leading imaging journals. Dedicated research rotations are included in our residency program and are very highly encouraged.

Residents are required to engage in scholarly activity as part of their ACGME-accredited training. Results must be published or presented at institutional, local, regional or national meetings. Residents also complete a quality improvement project annually.

Extensive teaching files—including the ACR Learning Laboratory and a large departmental library—are available. More than 6,000 square feet of basic research space are assigned to the department in nearby medical school buildings.

Pilot project funds and dedicated research time are provided to those who wish to pursue an academic career.

Instrumentation

The Division of Nuclear Medicine has state-of-the-art instrumentation with PET/CT, SPECT/CT, GMP cyclotron facility, image reconstruction and analytical core laboratories for translational molecular imaging and clinical trials.

We have multiple FDA-approved INDs for novel radiotracers for translational research, as well as NCI-sponsored multicenter clinical trials. In addition, we have access to animal imaging facilities with animal SPECT/CT and animal PET/CT.

Collaborative Research

In collaboration with researchers throughout campus, the Cyclotron and Radiochemistry program can facilitate research using radiotracers labeled with 18F, 15O, 13N and 11C macromolecules tagged with metal radioisotopes, such as 64Cu, 89Zr and 55Co.

Residents can participate in research projects in neurodegeneration, oncology, cardiology, metabolism, immunology and innovative technologies, including nanomedicine and theranostics.

Feedback

Residents are required to take the American Board of Nuclear Medicine In-Service Training Examination yearly.

Written feedback from the faculty and proven case performance are supplied to the residents during personal semiannual meetings with the program director.

Anonymous written feedback on the program and the faculty is solicited from the residents semi-annually.

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