Body MRI Fellowship

Timeline

August 1, 2022: Programs may begin accepting applications
*November 7, 2022: Virtual interviews may begin
March 31, 2023: Virtual interviews completed
Grace Period: Applicants have until November 14 to accept or decline any offer made before November 14. For any offer made after November 14, the candidate has a 1 day grace period to accept or decline the offer.

*Acceptance Embargo Date: No fellowship may offer acceptances before this date except internal candidates, military candidates, spouses/domestic partners who are applying for any medical fellowship in the same year, and international candidates (non-ACGME or non-RCPS program applicants).

Your application must include

1. Application form
2. Curriculum vitae
3. Personal statement
4. Three letters of recommendation, including including at least one letter from your program director or current director
5. USMLE board scores
6. ECFMG certificate (if applicable)
7. Medical school transcript and Dean’s Letter

Please email your application materials to our Radiology Education Office.

On behalf of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) Body MRI Fellowship Team, led by Fellowship Director Karen Lee, MD, we thank you for your interest in our program.

This 1-year fellowship has intensive involvement in clinical and research MRI activities and is equally suited to prepare for a career in academic radiology and private practice. The strong academic component represents a key opportunity within this fellowship. The fellows will be involved in all aspects of clinical body MRI under the supervision of the program director and the MRI faculty. The body MRI fellowship focuses on achieving a deep understanding of the basic principles of MRI and protocol development with a hands-on approach. Our institution is the only academic center in New England to offer fellows the experience of performing in-bore MRI-guided prostate biopsies.

Close involvement with the dedicated MR scientists in our world-renowned Research MRI division enhances the experience. The fellow will be taught fundamental MR principles through an MRI physics course designed specifically for Body MRI fellows, run by MR physicists in an intimate small group setting, utilizing both a didactic and interactive teaching format with unique hands-on sessions at the magnets. In addition to clinical activities, the fellow will be trained in research methodology, manuscript preparation, and other activities essential both to an academic career and to the objective interpretation of current literature and clinical guidelines.

The MR division treasures its close collaborative relationships with referring services and its contributions to several multidisciplinary conferences per week are highly valued by their clinical colleagues. Translational MRI research projects, including hyperpolarized MRI, health science services, and radio-genomics are recent and current research endeavors of the MR division.

The Department of Radiology at BIDMC prides itself on being supportive of its fellows and places a strong emphasis on the quality of teaching on a person-to-person basis. Each year, two Body MRI fellows are selected for this comprehensive 1-year fellowship. In addition to being on the Body MRI service, each fellow will have 4 weeks of elective time which can be taken on another radiology service within the medical center, including musculoskeletal radiology, women's imaging, cardiothoracic imaging, abdominal CT/ultrasound, and abdominal interventions. Each fellow will also receive 4 weeks of vacation time.

Additional trainees on the Body MRI service may include 1 abdominal imaging fellow, 1-2 radiology residents, and a Body MRI mini-fellow.

Clinical MRI facilities consist of 10 in-house clinical Siemens and GE scanners including two 3T magnet systems, eight 1.5T units, and four scanners with wide bores. A 1.5T and a 3T GE MR system are utilized for both clinical and research scanning. MR-guided prostate biopsy and MR elastography capabilities are routinely utilized. Operated in conjunction with the Cardiology department, there is also a 1.5T whole-body Philips MRI system dedicated to cardiac imaging. Research facilities include a 9.4T horizontal bore small animal magnet and a Hypersense hyperpolarizer unit.

BIDMC is a busy Level-I Trauma Center and a major teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. BIDMC is also a major New England referral center for liver transplantation, inflammatory bowel disease, and hepatobiliary, pancreatic, gastrointestinal, and genitourinary oncology cases. The Body MRI service is a high-volume service responsible for performing and interpreting a wide variety of MRI studies obtained both within our medical center and affiliates, including:

• Hepatobiliary
  • Liver
  • MR elastography
  • Iron and fat liver quantification
  • Biliary MRCP
• Pancreas
  • Pancreas MRCP
  • Secretin-MRCP
• Spleen
• GI tract
  • MR enterography
  • Perianal fistula
  • Rectal cancer staging
  • Anal cancer staging
  • MR defecography
• Genitourinary
  • Adrenal
  • Renal
  • MR urogram
  • Bladder
  • Urethra
  • Male pelvis
    • Prostate
    • In-bore MRI-guided prostate biopsies
    • Contouring for MRI-US fusion biopsies
    • Penis
    • Scrotum
  • Female pelvis
    • Uterus
    • Ovaries
• MRI in pregnancy
  • Acute abdominal/pelvic pain
  • Placental abnormalities
• Peritoneum and retroperitoneum
• Oncology
• Lymphedema
• Chest and mediastinum
• MRA of the chest, abdomen, pelvis, and extremities
  • Aorta
  • Pulmonary artery
  • Mesenteric arteries
  • Upper and lower extremity run-offs

The Body MRI fellows are involved in all aspects of our Body MRI service, including:

• Interpretation and reporting of MRI exams
• Protocoling of MRI exams
• Monitoring performance of advanced MRI studies
• Troubleshooting MRI issues
• Evaluating MRI QA/QI issues
• Performance of MRI-guided prostate biopsies
• Teaching rotating residents and medical students
• Presenting in multidisciplinary conferences

Conference Curriculum

• Daily MRI Case Conference: Interesting MRI cases of the day will be presented daily by the residents and fellows on service to highlight key teaching points.
• MR Physics Lecture Series: During the first half of the fellowship year, a 1-hour MRI physics lecture will be given weekly by the MRI Research Faculty covering essential and basic MRI concepts supplemented with hands-on sessions at the MRI scanner. These lectures are given casually, usually conducted at the whiteboard, to facilitate an interactive discussion with the physicist.
• Weekly Abdominal Fellow Lecture Series: During the second half of the academic fellowship year, a 1-hour abdominal didactic lecture series will be provided by MRI and abdominal imaging staff to discuss advanced topics in abdominal and pelvic imaging.
• Weekly Abdominal Imaging Conference: This 1.5-hour conference includes a mix of didactics, interesting case presentations, journal club, quality improvement, and fellow peer-learning presentations.
• MRI Follow-Up Case Conference: A weekly case conference where Body MRI cases previously logged in an extensive MRI case follow-up database will be discussed with relevant subsequent imaging and pathologic correlation presented.
• Multidisciplinary Conferences (MDC): Body MRI fellows are the primary radiology presenters at weekly GU Tumor Board, as well as at monthly Urology Rounds. MRI fellows will be responsible for presenting radiology images for the Surgical M&M conference approximately four times a year. MRI fellows also have the opportunity to participate in a variety of additional multidisciplinary conferences offered throughout the medical center, including:
  • Pancreaticobiliary conference: Monday and Friday
  • GI Tumor Board: Wednesday
  • Gynecology Oncology Tumor Board: Wednesday
  • Liver Tumor: Thursday and Friday
  • Pelvic Floor: Quarterly
  • Lymphatic Medicine and Surgery: Friday
  • Medical-Surgery Rounds: Thursday

Research

Each Body MRI fellow is expected to complete at least one scholarly project during the year. At least one research project during the fellowship year will be expected to be submitted for presentation at a national meeting or for publication. Additionally, each fellow will perform at least one Practice Quality Improvement project during the academic year which will be presented at our Department's Annual Morris Simon Research Day. Each fellow generally receives one academic day per week to achieve these scholarly pursuits. At the beginning of the year, the MRI staff will meet with the fellows to discuss academic goals and identify research and PQI projects. Progress will be discussed at monthly meetings.

Call Duties

Body MRI fellows are part of a larger general call pool which is shared among the radiology fellows throughout the department. Call responsibilities are currently divided into diagnostic call duties and procedural call duties. During diagnostic call, fellows are in-house, interpreting and reporting on inpatient non-neuroradiology CT and MRI exams. During procedural call, fellows are on pager call and cover urgent, but infrequent CT/US-guided procedures (e.g., drainages, percutaneous cholecystostomies, urgent biopsies). Currently, on weekends, the diagnostic and procedural call duties are combined. In general, each fellow over the course of the year is expected to cover 4-5 weekend call shifts, 20 weeknight in-house diagnostic call shifts, and 25 weeknight procedure call shifts via pager.

Leo Tsai, MD, PhD, MSc

Clinical Director of MRI

Fellowship: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Residency: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Internship: Brigham and Women's Hospital
Medical Degree and PhD: Harvard Medical School-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology
Additional Education: MSc – Cambridge University, United Kingdom

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Karen Lee, MD

Body MRI Fellowship Program Director

Fellowship: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Residency: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Internship: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Medical Degree: Harvard Medical School

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Cinthia Cruz-Romero, MD

Director of Ultrasound

Fellowships: Massachusetts General Hospital
Residency: San Juan de Dios Hospital, Universidad de Costa Rica and University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf Joint Program
Internship: Hospital Calderon Guardia
Medical Degree: Universidad de Costa Rica Facultad de Medicina

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Marty Smith, MD

Director of Radiology, Harrington Healthcare System

Fellowship: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Residency: University of Washington
Internship: Lahey Clinic Medical Center, Burlington, MA
Medical School: Harvard Medical School

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Abraham (Fourie) Bezuidenhout, MD

Fellowships: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Residency: University of Stellenbosch, Cape Town
Internship: Tygerberg Hospital, Cape Town
Medical School: University of Pretoria, School of Medicine

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Junsung Rho, MD

Fellowship: Massachusetts General Hospital
Residency: University of California San Diego
Internship: UMass Memorial Medical Center
Medical School: Tufts University School of Medicine

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Jesse Wei, MD

Fellowship: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Residency: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Internship: Newton-Wellesley Hospital
Medical School: Harvard Medical School-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology

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Pei-Kang (Ken) Wei, MD

Fellowship: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Residency: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Internship: Washington Hospital Center
Medical School: Dartmouth Medical School

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Research Faculty

David Alsop, PhD

• Harvard Catalyst Profile
• Email Dr. Alsop

Gopal Varma, PhD

• Harvard Catalyst Profile
• Email Dr. Varma

Aaron Grant, PhD

• Harvard Catalyst Profile
• Email Dr. Grant 

• Neelabh Maheshwari, MD
• Swachchhandra Songmen, MD

After fellowship, our alumni have accepted a broad range of clinical and academic positions at BIDMC and other medical centers and private practices, including:

• Advanced Radiology Services, Grand Rapids, Michigan
• Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, Massachusetts
• Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts
• Boston Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts
• Cambridge Health Alliance, Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Commonwealth Radiology Associates, Massachusetts
• Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Saudi Arabia
• Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, Florida
• Rhode Island Medical Imaging, Brown University, Rhode Island

2021-2022: Bradford Hastings, Elizabeth Vandeventer
2021-2020: Daniela Tridente, Pei-Kang (Ken) Wei
2019-2020: Maureen Frederick, Michael Johnson
2018-2019: Thomas Anderson, Stella Lam
2017-2018: Jennifer Steinkeler, Komal Talati
2016-2017: Tarek Hegazi, David Becker-Weidman, Dinushi Perera