Diagnostic Nuclear Medicine Residency and Fellowship Training Program

Josef Machac, M.D., Residency Program Director

Overview

The Diagnostic Nuclear Medicine Residency Program is a two-year training program. The Program requires an internship year as a prerequisite to residency training. The program meets all requirements of the American Board of Nuclear Medicine in Diagnostic Nuclear Medicine.

The Program

Advances in the field of Nuclear Medicine have significantly increased the educational needs of  residents over the past decade. The teaching program at The Mount Sinai Medical Center is a dynamic one that is responsive to these changes. We strive to provide our residents with the knowledge and skills that are required for any possible future experience in Nuclear Medicine that they might aspire to - including a research position at a university, clinical subspecialty practice at a major medical center, or a general Nuclear Medicine practice in a community setting.

To achieve this goal, we teach residents with a combination of didactic lectures and participation at interactive resident conferences. We offer a comprehensive orientation lecture series for our new residents and provide an extensive resident conference schedule. At Mount Sinai, resident conferences are conducted at least twice per day; often there are three conferences in a day. Departmental conferences occur several times a day at Mount Sinai and are open to all residents.

Residents rotate through various subspecialties from the very beginning of their training. These include Clinical Nuclear Medicine, Nuclear Cardiology, Positron Emission Tomography and the Radionuclide Laboratory. Each subspecialty is under the supervision of a faculty member. During early training, emphasis is placed on the basic sciences and fundamentals of nuclear medicine.

All subspecialties approach resident teaching in a similar manner. Residents are an integral part of each area; the nature of their participation is dependent upon their level of training as well as their personal knowledge and skill. Attendings supervise all scan reading and procedures. Junior residents initially observe procedures performed by senior residents and the supervising attending physician. As the resident gains more experience, he/she becomes more actively involved in the decision-making process and in the performance of the procedures. All residents are under the supervision of at least one attending, this apprenticeship method works well for residents at all levels of training. The Program is quite close to being a tutorial "one-on-one" program.

PET Imaging Fellowship

The Nuclear Medicine division offers 1-2 years of a PET Imaging fellowship, a non-ACGME program designed to supplement a two-year Nuclear Medicine residency with full time PET imaging training in clinical and research applications including cardiac and oncology PET.

Facilities

The Department of Nuclear Medicine houses state-of-the-art Gamma Camera imaging equipment and PET Scanners

• 1 PET Scanners:
• 1 GE PET + CT Discovery LS scanner
• 1 Triple Head SPECT Scanner:
• 1 Philips Prism 3000 scanner
• 5 Dual Head SPECT Scanners:
• 2 T22 Hitachi SPECT cameras
• 3 ADAC SPECT cameras
• 4 Single Head SPECT Scanners:
• 4 RZ Hitachi SPECT cameras

The department performs approximately 13,000 examinations per year. Training includes experience in all aspects of diagnostic Nuclear Medicine and the Radionuclide Laboratory.

The Department of Nuclear Medicine at The Mount Sinai Medical Center is committed to excellence in patient care and dedicated to resident education. The facility is state-of-the-art and functions as a critical information resource for the Medical Center and affiliated institutions. As we enter the twenty-first century, the role of Nuclear Medicine will become even more important as Molecular imaging becomes even more of a daily part of patient management. Our training program prepares the resident to excel in this new and vital leadership role in health care.

For more information, contact:

• Josef Machac, M.D.
  Residency Program Director
  josef.machac@mssm.edu
• Ms. Veronica Cody
  Secretary
  veronica.cody@mssm.edu

Positron Emission Tomography (PET)

The Mount Sinai Medical Center Nuclear Medicine

The Mount Sinai Medical Center Nuclear Medicine Faculty