Upon completion of the fellowship the fellow will be capable of running a nuclear medicine clinical service, will be an expert in the use of nuclear medicine procedures for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, will have a firm understanding of the physical principles and mechanisms involved in the emission and detection of radiation, the synthesis and localization of radiopharmaceuticals, the operation of instrumentation, the quantitative determination of radioactivity concentrations, and the biological effects of radiation. The fellow will also have experience in teaching and research in nuclear medicine. The varying patients at each of our four hospitals help to develop well-rounded learning experiences for our fellows. For example, at University Hospital one learns about thyroid cancer imaging and management, antibody imaging, transplant imaging and PET scanning. At Riley all of the cases are pediatric and include congenital heart disease, neonatal hypothyroidism, pediatric oncology imaging, and imaging of genitourinary problems.
All nuclear fellows receive at least three months training at each of the four hospitals.
In the latter stages of training, the fellow essentially runs the clinic while faculty members are available for questions or problems and review the fellow's work. This mentoring system is supplemented by an extensive lecture series. At the completion of the nuclear medicine fellowship, the fellow has qualified for the American Boards of Nuclear Medicine certification.