Programs Available
The Department of Radiation Medicine and Applied Sciences is one of the leading Radiation Oncology Departments in the country, home to exceptional clinical, education and research programs. We have 7 treatment centers in the greater San Diego region which offer medical students an exceptional educational experience. At each, we provide students exposure to cutting-edge therapies including IMRT, IGRT, SRS and SBRT. In addition, we have a busy brachytherapy service at the McGrath Outpatient Pavilion in Hillcrest, treating patients with gynecologic, prostate and head/neck cancers. Through our affiliation with the California Proton Center, students gain exposure to proton therapy in both adults and children. We are eager to welcome medical students interested in radiation oncology experience all we have to offer.
1st and 2nd Year Medical Students
We can offer clinical shadowing experiences for early UC San Diego medical students with an early interest in radiation oncology. Many of our faculty are preceptors for the Compassionate Action and Real Engagement (CARE) course for MS1 and MS2 students. Ad-hoc shadowing can also be arranged for interested students – please contact Dr. Michael Sherer (msherer@health.ucsd.edu).
3rd and 4th Year Medical Students
The 3rd year course (RMAS 410) is open to UCSD students during their 3-week selective blocks during third year. The goal of this course is to provide a comprehensive introduction to clinical radiation oncology and help students understand the basics of radiation physics, biology and treatment planning.
The 4th year course (RMAS 429) consists of a 4-week rotation which offers a comprehensive experience to UC San Diego and non-UC San Diego medical students. These electives will offer a diverse experience in radiation oncology in the clinical outpatient setting. From June-October this rotation is geared toward students interested in going into radiation oncology (due to limited space), though we are happy to have students going into other fields throughout the winter and spring. Students will spend time with attending physicians, see patients, participate in treatment planning, and attend weekly education sessions.
We can accommodate 4th year medical students from outside institutions but space is limited. Interested students can find more information here, and apply through VSLO. Students will need to have a car for transportation to different clinic sites. For visiting students, a UC San Diego ID will be provided so a temporary parking pass can be purchased for the month. We do offer scholarships for students from underrepresented or disadvantaged backgrounds (Visiting Elective Scholarship Program).
The 3rd year students will rotate primarily at our main campus in La Jolla, and 4th year students will spend time in La Jolla plus time at the Proton Center and our Hillcrest brachytherapy suite. Overall, we hope this rotation will offer students an engaging, educational, and well-rounded experience.
Here are some comments from prior rotators:
- “Working with many different attendings and residents gave me a great overview of the many different disease sites in radiation oncology, and helped immensely in building my fundamental knowledge”
- “Attending physicians and residents were excellent teachers and took time to tailor my learning to my future specialty”
- “I really enjoyed the opportunity to spend significant time at clinic visits collecting a thorough history and helping navigate a patient through their many options for treatment of cancer”
Research
For medical students with an interest in research we offer several opportunities including summer research internships (through the MSTAR program, or NIH Short-Term Research Training Grant program), mentorship with Independent Research Projects (ISP) for UC San Diego students, or longer-term programs including UC San Diego's TL1 institutional training grant. More information about ongoing research in our Department can be found here.
Contact Us
Director of Medical Student Education
Michael Sherer, MD
Email: msherer@health.ucsd.edu
