Video Produced by Harry Moxley - UVA Marketing, School of Medicine
Learn about UVA’s radiation oncology residency program from our chair, faculty, and residents.
Audio Transcription:
[MUSIC PLAYING] JAMES LARNER: I'm James Larner, Chair of Radiation Oncology at the University of Virginia. We are a small department. But nonetheless, we're part NCI-designated cancer center. And we're part of a top tier medical school. We have four, hopefully soon, five R1s within our department. We realize our primary mission is to train residents to be superb clinicians.
EINSLEY JANOWSKI: Hello, my name is Einsley Janowski. And I'm the residency program director here at the University of Virginia. I think the best part of our residency program are our residents. They are caring, capable, and compassionate. They're intellectually curious and clinically excellent. It is a pleasure to work with them and an honor to train them.
JASON SANDERS: Hi, I'm Jason Sanders. And I'm one of the chief residents at the University of Virginia Department of Radiation Oncology. During my interview, the first thing that really struck me was that everyone I met with seemed genuinely interested about me, as not just a medical student, but as a natural person. And they asked me about my interest in research in radiation oncology and then in things outside of the clinic.
KRISTI WARD: My name's Kristi Ward. I'm currently a PGY-3 here at UVA. As a medical student, I was lucky enough to rotate here. And what really stood out about UVA, amongst other programs, were the people. When I was here visiting, I could tell that the residents were family. And that has really come true now that I am a resident here. We have a really strong clinical education program here. We see a wide variety of cases. We have a robust clinic schedule and a very strong brachytherapy program, which was another one of the reasons I decided to choose UVA.
KARA ROMANO: Hi, I'm Kara Romano. I'm an assistant professor here in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Virginia. At UVA, we're really lucky to have an excellent brachytherapy training program and an excellent brachytherapy clinical program for our patients, which means that we see a wide range of early stage to very advanced stage disease that we treat for both gynecologic cancers and prostate cancer.
EINSLEY JANOWSKI: When I took over as residency program director, in order to improve the residency experience, I really wanted to focus on the things that I was insecure about and anxious about when I was a resident. And one of those things was how to understand the physics curriculum. Physics is a part of the boarding process. So what I did, as well as enlisting the help of Dr. Romano and some of our excellent clinical physicists, is to develop a boot camp curriculum for our residents. This gives them clinical vignettes and how we incorporate physics in the safety and precision of our radiation treatments. It's a week long program, and we've gotten excellent reviews from our residents.
TIM SHOWALTER: My name's Tim Showalter. I'm Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology, where I specialize in genitourinary cancers and brachytherapy. I'm involved in helping residents grow their research skills across a variety of research methodologies, ranging from simple chart review studies to more complicated outcomes research. I also enjoy mentoring residents in development and conduct of clinical trials.
CHRIS LUMINIAS: My name is Chris Luminias. I'm currently a PGY-4 resident here. I chose to come to UVA after doing a visiting rotation here. During that rotation, I really felt like I fit in with the residency culture. Our coresidents are really supportive and kind and friendly to work with. I think the culture of having really approachable friendly attendings translates into research opportunities that go really well...
...JAMES LARNER: Radiation oncology is obviously a technically oriented subspecialty. Our portfolio of equipment is extraordinary. We have a long history of having a Gamma Knife. We have a total of four linear accelerators. We're expecting a MRI-LINAC to be on board within the next 12 months. I'm extremely optimistic about the role UVA radiation oncology is going to play in the future of our specialty.
As a board certified medical oncologist in my previous life, I strongly believe that the best drug we have is radiation. It's not only the most efficacious, it's the most targeted. I'd hope you will give you the radiation oncology a serious consideration. I would like nothing more than for you to join our team so that together, we can advance the field.
