Radiation Oncology Residency - Curriculum + Structure

In addition to rotations at Tufts Medical Center, residents complete most clinical rotations at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, with some rotations at the University of Massachusetts. Pediatric rotations are done in collaboration with Boston Children’s Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, now part of Mass General Brigham. Each of these centers offers academic strengths that complement the experience at Tufts Medical Center.

The curriculum covers disease sites including bone and soft tissue, breast, central nervous system and eye, gastrointestinal tract, genitourinary tract, gynecology, head, neck and skin, lung, lymphomas and leukemia, and pediatrics. Rotations are typically organized into ten-week blocks, primarily at Tufts Medical Center and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The program fosters a true multidisciplinary approach to clinical management.

Using the New Innovations Residency Management Suite, residents and faculty receive learning goals and objectives for each rotation based on postgraduate year level before the rotation starts. The primary goal is for residents to provide excellent care, from initial consultation and multidisciplinary care planning to radiation simulation, treatment management and follow-up. Residents gain exposure to practice-changing literature and extensive hands-on experience with surgical, radiological and medical oncology teams, including close collaboration with the radiation therapy team.

Clinical rotations emphasize one-on-one experiential learning with supervising faculty, allowing increasing autonomy as residents progress. Faculty provide ongoing feedback to support resident growth. Resident case logs are reviewed twice yearly during semi-annual evaluations to ensure broad clinical exposure and to tailor scheduling to maximize learning opportunities.

Tufts Medical Center offers a physics course directed by Cassandra Stambaugh, PhD, DABR, taught by faculty from Tufts Medical Center and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, using both traditional and flipped classroom lectures. Kathryn Huber, MD, PhD, from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, teaches cancer and radiation biology through more than 20 hours of didactic lectures supplemented by on-demand videos.

The program includes an annual three-hour virtual mock-oral exam to prepare residents for board certification. This session simulates radiation oncology board exams through timed, one-on-one case discussions with faculty who provide individualized feedback and practical exam tips. Residents receive scores and meet with the program director to review results. Faculty examiners do not develop or administer actual board exams.

Residents are encouraged to take elective rotations in departments such as pathology, nuclear medicine and radiology during postgraduate years four and five. Electives can be clinical rotations in radiation oncology subspecialties at Boston or Worcester sites or research projects in clinical or basic science. Electives may also take place at Boston Medical Center.