Radiation Oncology Residency Curriculum

Our residents work one-on-one with an attending physician at three different sites. Rotations last three months. During the resident’s second year they will also do a rotation at MD Anderson.

Harris Health

The residents spend a lot of their time at the J. Evans and Mary P. Attwell Radiation Therapy Center, located within the Harris Health Smith Clinic. The Smith Clinic was designed exclusively for outpatients requiring specialty care. In addition to the radiation therapy center, the facility also houses The Smith Breast Center, the Smith Infusion Therapy Clinic, the Smith Diagnostic Imaging Department and the Smith Oncology clinic. The facility opened in October 2012.

Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center

The MEDVAMC Radiation Therapy Center provides services to veterans in southeast Texas at the VA Medical Center’s main campus. The center provides External Beam radiation and IMRT.

MD Anderson Cancer Center

Residents spend three months at MD Anderson, where they gain valuable experience with low-dose rate (LDR) permanent seed implants for prostate cancer and treating pediatric patients at the MD Anderson Proton Therapy Center.

Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center (McNair) 

The Baylor St. Lukes's practice is located at the O'Quinn Tower in the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center. Here we have a state-of-the-art Varian Edge linear accelerator, and Halycon Radiotherapy Unit with Bravos Brachytherapy suite. Residents will be exposed to more of a standard outpatient private practice setting. Presentations are more routine, but trainees will learn the ins and outs of coordinating care, working with insurance approvals, and coding, all things that are critical to understand in any market. Two teaching faculty provide full-time coverage at any given time. There is required attendance at tumor boards (breast/pancreas/H&N/CNS/GI) and didactic lectures are held in the conference room here on Friday afternoons.

Clinical Didactic Course

This course consists of faculty lectures, problem-based case conferences, an oncoanatomy curriculum featuring guest lecturers from other oncology specialties, resident lectures (supervised by faculty), and guest Radiation Oncologist lectures. The goal of the clinical didactic course is to provide an in-depth knowledge of clinical radiation oncology including the indications for irradiation and special therapeutic considerations unique to each site and stage of disease.

Radiation Physics Didactic Course

This course provides instruction in principles of medical physics for the safe, effective, and efficient delivery of radiation treatments. This includes instruction in the physics of radiosurgery, intraoperative radiation therapy, 3D conformal treatment planning and delivery, IMRT, radioimmunotherapy, unsealed sources, total body irradiation as used in stem-cell transplantation, total skin irradiation, high- and low-dose rate brachytherapy, hyperthermia, kilovoltage irradiation, plaque therapy, particle therapy, radiation safety procedures, calibration of radiation therapy machines, the use of state-of-the-art treatment planning systems, the construction of treatment aids, and the safe handling of sealed and unsealed radionuclides. The course will also prepare residents for the ABR written board examination in Medical Physics.

Cancer and Radiation Biology Didactic Course

This course includes instruction in the basic sciences essential to radiation and cancer biology, in classical and molecular effects of ionizing radiation, radiation effects on normal and neoplastic tissues, cancer biology associated with different radiation techniques (including 3D external beam radiation, IMRT, radiosurgery, brachytherapy, total body radiation, hyperthermia, high and low dose brachytherapy), as well as the fundamental biology of the causes, prevention, and treatment of cancer. Residents will be able to apply this knowledge in the selection of safe and effective treatments for patients. Residents will be prepared for the board certification examination in Radiation Oncology.

Resident as Teacher Course

As a resident, you serve a vital role assisting in the training of Baylor medical students. To develop your skills as a clinical teacher, Baylor offers a core “Residents as Teacher” curriculum to all residents.

Residents will attend multidisciplinary conferences, and present cases as needed. They will attain the skills and experience to:

• Recognize the common presentations and physical findings in patients with particular types of malignancies.
• Know the various means of obtaining tissue for diagnosis, which methods are best for particular types of tumors, and recognize the difference between benign and malignant tissues on pathologic review.
• Be able to interpret plain films, CT scans, MRI and nuclear medicine studies for diagnosis and staging of patients.
• Be familiar with the different modalities used in treatment of various malignancies (surgery, chemotherapy or radiation therapy), and which types of treatment are most effective for a particular type or stage of malignancy.
• Gain communication skills by presenting cases and providing the risks and benefits of radiation therapy as it relates to particular case.
• Documented tumor board attendance can be used to fulfill the requirements for radiology and pathology.