Radiation Oncology Residency

We are an accredited 4-year residency training program by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The program is a combined effort of the Wake Forest School of Medicine and The North Carolina Baptist Hospital known as Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center (WFBMC). 

We strive to:

• Educate and train physicians to be competent and skillful in the practice of radiation oncology
• Mentor residents in the delivery of compassionate, excellent care of cancer patients in a multimodality fashion
• Strive to involve residents in research endeavors to improve clinical and quality of life outcomes for cancer patients.

To develop the next generation of thought leaders for our specialty

Program Structure
The structure of our program is:

• 4 year program (PGY 2-5)
• Accredited for 6 residents
• Didactic lectures
• Multidisciplinary Conferences for resident participation including:
  o    Thoracic Oncology
  o    Head and Neck Cancer
  o     Pediatric Oncology
  o    Radiosurgery
  o    Neuro-Oncology
  o    Genitourinary Oncology
  o    Breast
  o    Melanoma/Sarcoma/Gastrointestinal
• Internship is required for entry into the program
• Program consists of a minimum of 36 months of clinical rotations in radiation oncology on the WFBMC campus
• 6-9 months of research electives
• 3 months of electives either on the WFBMC campus or external as arranged by the resident
• Intradepartmental didactic courses in radiation physics and radiation biology

WFUBMC
The WFBMC is a 1,187 bed teaching facility that is a tertiary and quaternary referral center and preferred physician referral center for cancer patients in Western North Carolina.  We have a 5 state draw region for patient referrals including North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.  We see a wide variety of patients from a wide variety of backgrounds including a substantial number of patients from underserved populations.  Our campus facilities consist of the following:

• Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center
• Brenner Children's Hospital
• Comprehensive Cancer Center of Wake Forest University, an NCI accredited comprehensive cancer center
• Department of Radiation Oncology

Training Program Distinctive for Research

• Clinical Research Focus includes the areas of:
• Cancer Treatment
• Complimentary and Alternative Agents
• Quality of Life
• Translational (Bench to Bedside)
• Partnerships for clinical trials with multiple cooperative groups including
  •         RTOG
  •         CALGB
  •         COG
  •         NSABP
  •         CCCWFU
  •         NABTT
  •         GOG
  •         ACOSOG
•  We have a cooperative relationship with 18 surrounding institutions as part of our CCCWFU CCOP Research Base.
• Active Radiation Biology section with strong emphasis in translational research

Faculty and Mentoring

• 26 faculty including clinical, physics and radiation biology
• Intimate learning experience
• 6 MD enthusiastic faculty from diverse training backgrounds located at the WFBMC campus
• 4 satellite clinics with 5 adjunct clinical faculty to provide further expertise to residents in radiation oncology as practiced in a community setting
• 12 physicist group active in emerging new technologies and imaging techniques

Patient Resources

• Approximately 4500 new patient consults per year
• Approximately 800 treated patients per year
•  Low and High Dose Rate Brachytherapy for multiple disease sites including CNS, Breast, prostate, GYN
• Gamma Knife and linear accelerator based cranial radiosurgery
• Extracranial Stereotactic Body Radiosurgery/Radiotherapy
• 4-D Treatment planning
• 3-D simulation with CT/PET and MR simulators in the department
• IMRT and IGRT capability

Physics Information
Physics for Residents  by Dr. Ken Ekstrand