Physician Residency

The Department expects residents to participate in hypothesis-driven, thematic-based research during training, and all residents are guaranteed six to 12 months of research time during the PGY-4 year. The specific length of research time afforded each resident will be based on the nature and quality of the proposed research as determined in advance by their research mentor(s), the residency program director and the department chair.

Residents have the discretion of tailoring their research in the form of biological laboratory research, clinical research or medical physics research under the supervision of a designated mentor. Basic research opportunities will not be limited to radiation research, but will be open to any cancer-related laboratory programs associated within the UCI School of Medicine and Comprehensive Cancer Center. The American Board of Radiology (ABR) Holman Pathway will be considered for exceptional candidates with a strong background in research. During the allocated research time, residents will be free of all clinical responsibilities and will not be expected to take call.

UCI is recognized as a leader in the burgeoning field of health services research. Opportunities exist for trainees to work with faculty in the Health Policy Research Institute (HPRI) through the Masters of Science in Biomedical and Translational Science (MS-BATS) and the Certificate Program in Clinical Research, which aims to produce leaders and agents for change in diverse settings such as the community, federal and state governments, health care organizations and academic departments. Residents with an interest in health services research are encouraged to pursue careers that play an active role in shaping and evaluating policies and programs to improve systems, with particular focus on care for those outside of society's mainstream.

The UCI Radiation Oncology Department believes that the foundation for achieving our goals is to embrace the quality imperative in everything we do. This includes safety and quality in our clinical care and research activities, as well as excellence in our educational endeavors and value in our community outreach initiatives. Residents are expected to participate in quality improvement and safety activities throughout training and are an integral part of the department’s commitment to quality assurance and patient safety.

In addition to weekly peer-review conferences, a monthly quality improvement meeting attended by representatives of all divisions of the department, including nursing, therapy and dosimetry, occurs on an ongoing basis for purposes of self-evaluation. As mandated by the University of California, residents are required to work with faculty mentors to develop initiatives to promote safety in the workplace through designated radiation oncology clinical quality initiative (CQI) projects, formulated in accordance with the program director and the Graduate Medical Education (GME) staff.