Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (HDR GYN and HDR/LDR Prostate)

Our Facility:

Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Department of Radiation Oncology has a total of ten external-beam radiation therapy treatment machines and four simulators at the main campus. We have the most up-to-date linear accelerators, including Varian Trilogy and TrueBeam systems with three-dimensional onboard imaging.

Our motion management systems in regular use include real-time position management (RPM) respiratory tracking, Calypso, VisionRT, and ExacTrac. The simulators include two big-bore CT simulators, one PET/CT simulator, and one MRI simulator. All high-dose-rate brachytherapy treatments are performed in our newly renovated brachytherapy suite. Two fully shielded operating rooms are available in Memorial Hospital’s surgical suites for intraoperative radiation treatments and brachytherapy procedures.

Memorial Sloan Kettering is a member of the New York Proton Center. Several of our attending physicians treat patients with proton therapy at this facility, and residents are invited to attend and participate in treatment planning discussions.

Fellowship Description:

The MSKCC fellowship program represents the most robust and prestigious training program in the country and has been in existence for close to 40 years. The fellowship consists of a dedicated trainee that is exclusively managing patients who undergo brachytherapy procedures and receives unparalleled and necessary hands-on training to be able to perform a wide variety of procedures. The staff in our brachytherapy service treats several hundred patients each year; therefore, there is a great opportunity to partake of brachytherapy techniques in a wide variety of sites.  These include treatments for head and neck, thoracic, gynecologic, gastrointestinal, breast, and ophthalmic cancers. 

The duration of the fellowship is two months.  During the fellowship, the fellow will have the opportunity to interact with surgical and medical oncologists, the Brachytherapy Physics Department as well as other allied disciplines at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC). The fellow will work with and be supervised by recognized experts in their fields, in a multidisciplinary manner, and learn to integrate the use of Brachytherapy with other treatment modalities to provide patients with optimal care.  After successful completion of the fellowship, the fellow is expected to function as a consultant with clinical and technical expertise in the management of tumors with Brachytherapy

Case volume:

Memorial Sloan Kettering Brachytherapy Service:  Approximate #cases/month

HDR prostate:  24-32 cases

LDR prostate:  5-10 cases

HDR GYN: 3-5 cases

Misc: 2-4 cases

Resident Expectations and Learning Objectives:

1. The fellow will be able to demonstrate skills and competencies in the following categories related to Brachytherapy:

1. Patient care. Fellows must be able to provide patient care that is compassionate, appropriate, and effective for the treatment of health problems and the promotion of health
2. Medical Knowledge. Fellows must be able to understand basic principles and current guidelines for the use of Brachytherapy in various cancer sites. The fellows must also be able to demonstrate an integrated adequate knowledge of currently established and evolving biomedical, clinical, epidemiologic, and social-behavioral knowledge pertaining to Brachytherapy and be able to apply such knowledge to the care of patients with Brachytherapy.
3. Practice-based learning and improvement.
   1. Fellows are expected to develop skills and habits to be able to meet the following goals:
      1. Systematically analyze practice using quality improvement methods and implement changes with the goal of practice improvement.
      2. Locate, appraise, and assimilate evidence from scientific studies related to Brachytherapy and patient health problems.
   2. Interpersonal and communication skills.
      1. Fellows must demonstrate interpersonal and communication skills that result in the effective exchange of information and collaboration with patients, their families, and health professionals.
   3. Professionalism.
      1. Fellows must demonstrate a commitment to carrying out professional responsibilities and an adherence to ethical principles.
   4. Systems-based practice.
      1. Fellows must demonstrate an awareness of and responsiveness to the larger context and system of health care, as well as the ability to call effectively on other resources in the system to provide optimal health care.
   5. Fellows’ scholarly activities
      1. Fellows are expected to plan and execute research during their fellowship year.  All research projects must be approved by the fellowship director.  Research is expected to result in manuscripts suitable for submission to peer-reviewed scientific journals.

ABS Fellowship Application: MSKCC, HDR GYN and HDR/LDR Prostate

Accepting Applications