Welcome from Chiefs

Welcome from Chiefs

Thank you for your interest in our residency program. As chief residents for the 2017-2018 academic year, we would like to highlight a few distinguishing features of our city and program.

Life in Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh is a revitalized medium sized cosmopolitan city with vibrant life for over 2.6 million metropolitan area residents. Located between the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers, Pittsburgh offers affordable living, attractive safe neighborhoods and many indoor and outdoor activities. Pittsburghers are particularly proud of their championship caliber professional sports teams, army of driverless robotic Uber cars, world-class universities and hospitals, restaurants, arts and music scenes.
Several articles have outlined the renaissance of Pittsburgh and have documented the rising profile of our city as both a great place to live and as a destination for travelers:

#3 - 10 Insanely Affordable Summer Destinations for 2017 – USA Today
#4 - The 17 Best Places to Travel in 2017 – Harper’s Bazaar
#1 - Most Livable City in the Continental US - The Economist
#1 in Northeast - The 5 Best Big Cities - Time Magazine
#1 of 17 - America's Best Food City - Zagat
Dreaming of Pittsburgh – The Wall Street Journal 
From Steel to Tech, Pittsburgh Transforms Itself - NPR - All Things Considered
Living Well, On Location - Huffington Post

Pittsburgh is divided into distinct neighborhoods, each with their own character. The most popular with our residents over the years have been Lawrenceville, Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, Oakland, Strip District, Mt. Washington, Greenfield, East Liberty and the South Side. Each have distinct nightlife options, breweries, distilleries, festivals, farmer’s markets, restaurants and personality. Only a short drive from the city, the suburbs of Pittsburgh including the North Hills, Fox Chapel, Sewickley and Mount Lebanon offer top-rated schools and further entertainment options. Living a good life in Pittsburgh on a resident salary is possible for both single residents and those with families!

About our Residents

We pride ourselves on our diverse population of residents. Our residents have diverse educational backgrounds, life experience and perspective. Our residents are smart, hardworking, value relationships and enthusiastically take on leadership responsibilities throughout our department, within the hospital and in the community. Our residents make a difference in the lives of our patients, referring physicians, within the UPMC organization and even for those oceans away.

Case Volume/Diversity/Complexity:

The UPMC system is comprised of more than twenty-five hospitals with greater than 5,000 licensed beds in western and central Pennsylvania. As residents, we physically rotate at six hospitals (all within a four mile radius). While we are certainly a large academic program, rotating at both quaternary referral centers and small community hospitals provides an excellent case mix. At our main academic site, UPMC Presbyterian, we see complex pathology, rare surgical pathologies, complex interventional radiology cases, level 1 trauma and multivisceral transplants. In addition, we are fortunate to rotate frequently at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, ranked the 7th best children’s hospital in the country by the 2016-2017 US News and World Report. This diverse case mix, combined with attending’s willingness to teach, allowed our program to win the “Most Best Case Submissions” award at the American Institute of Radiology and Pathology course in Washington, DC in 2016! We truly feel that the education at UPMC rivals any program in the country. Our volume is extraordinarily high and we are a “resident-driven” department. You will work hard here and you will become an excellent radiologist. Due to our reputation, volume and case complexity, our residents are highly sought after by private practice groups and major academic institutions around the country. In fact, many current and past academic chairs as well as those in leadership positions in national radiology organizations have trained at UPMC.

New Radiology Department:

We are not in the basement! Completed in April 2015, the nearly $50 million renovation to the Department of Radiology places us in the main lobby of the UPMC Presbyterian. Our central location allows for a more patient-centered imaging experience and is more conducive to collaboration with clinical colleagues. Our new department is equipped with a beautiful resident lounge with attached call-room, state-of-the art conference room, ergonomic reading rooms and four new angio suites.

Schedule:

The responsibilities of first year residents outside of the normal work day are minimal, allowing them to focus on reading and learning the fundamentals of radiology. R2 residents carry more of the call-burden as the R3 residents are excused from all call responsibilities after February for board studying. R4 residents essentially design their own schedules, allowing them to complete focused training in their areas of interest. We utilize a night float system with three residents working on any given night; responsibilities consist of preliminary interpretations of STAT in-patient studies.

Research:

The UPMC Department of Radiology is one of the largest in the country, with over 200 clinical and research faculty. We currently rank among the top with respect to NIH research funding and several residents were awarded 2017 RSNA research grants. In the 2015-2016 academic year, 79% of our residents were involved in at least one research project; our cumulative tally over the last 12 months was 20 publications, 50 national/regional presentations and 5 book chapters. We have recently established a 3D Printing Laboratory which is used for teaching, research and clinical applications. Although we have many research-minded residents in our program, no one feels obligated to participate. Many residents participate in educational activities such as teaching medical and physician assistant students or leading imaging rounds for internal medicine residents. In addition, there are many opportunities for quality improvement and administrative roles including safety and graduate medical education committees.

Moonlighting:

We have six UPMC affiliated moonlighting sites throughout the city and local suburbs. Approximately 30 weekly shifts are assigned to R2-R4 residents. Moonlighting responsibilities are freely traded among residents and are not mandatory, though are highly coveted. Two of our sites, the UPMC center for Sports Medicine and the Lemieux Sports Complex, house practice facilities for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pittsburgh Penguins.

Clinical Informatics:

We have a fantastic Informatics program, headed by Dr. Chris Deible, one of our academic cardiac radiologists. UPMC is currently collaborating with GE Healthcare for a new, state-of-the-art PACS system designed "by radiologists, for radiologists.” This is coined Next Generation Imaging (NGI). GE software developers shadow our attending’s and residents, giving input regarding interface and usability preferences. The PACS that we help to develop will be rolled out nation-wide as part of GEs NGI initiative.

Rad-Aid:

The UPMC Resident International Radiology Program was established in 2014 by residents who have been actively involved in radiology education and quality improvement initiatives in Haiti with the non-profits RAD-AID and NOAH. This provides the option for potential rotations abroad in the R4 year.

Sincerely,

Orrie Close, MD
Michael Magnetta, MD, MS
Hayley Oligane, DO
2017-2018 Chief Residents