Nuclear Medicine Fellowship

The Nuclear Medicine Fellowship at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center is a one-, two- or three-year, ACGME-accredited program that admits one fellow per year.

The Nuclear Medicine Fellowship consists of a comprehensive curriculum in general nuclear medicine, positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) and radionuclide therapy.

Nuclear medicine is the medical specialty that uses the tracer principle, most often with radiopharmaceuticals, to evaluate molecular, metabolic, physiologic and pathologic conditions of the body for the purposes of diagnosis, therapy and research. Commonly performed nuclear medicine studies include nuclear cardiac studies, bone imaging, hepatobiliary and gastrointestinal tract imaging, renal studies, thyroid scans and multiple types of tumor imaging.

PET/CT imaging is performed for oncology, neurology and cardiology applications. PET detects alternations in glucose metabolism that occur in neoplastic and inflammatory conditions. Merging the PET data to a concurrently acquired CT scan allows for sensitive and accurate localization of aberrant glucose metabolism throughout the body.

Nuclear medicine also performs comprehensive diagnostic evaluation and therapy for a number of endocrine conditions including hyperthyroidism and thyroid cancer.

Two new leading-edge radionuclide therapies – Radium Ra-223 dichloride (Xofigo) and yttrium-90 (⁹⁰Y) SIR-Spheres microspheres – are offered by Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center’s Nuclear Medicine service.

Radium Ra-223 dichloride, an alpha-emitting radioactive therapeutic agent, is indicated for the treatment of patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer that has spread to bones and is causing symptoms. Xofigo therapy consists of monthly injections of the alpha-emitting treatment agent for up to six months.

⁹⁰Y SIR-spheres microspheres are approved to treat colon and rectal cancer that has spread to the liver. SIR-Spheres microspheres treatments are performed as an outpatient procedure by a specially trained team of interventional radiologists and nuclear medicine physicians.

Prerequisites:

The length of the education program depends on the level of appointment — NM1, NM2 or NM3 — to the program.

The education program length for trainees entering at the NM1 level is 36 months. To be eligible for appointment to the program at the NM1 level, applicants must have satisfactorily completed one year of graduate medical education in a program accredited by the ACGME or a program located in Canada and accredited by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC).

The education program length for trainees entering at the NM2 level is 24 months. To be eligible for appointment to the program at the NM2 level, applicants must have satisfactorily completed a program accredited by the ACGME, or a program located in Canada and accredited by the RCPSC.

The education program length for trainees entering at the NM3 level is 12 months. To be eligible for appointment to the program at the NM3 level, residents must have satisfactorily completed a program in diagnostic radiology accredited by the ACGME, or a program located in Canada and accredited by the RCPSC.

How To Apply:

The application process requires the submission of the following to program coordinator Chris Moorhead at [email protected]:

• Current CV
• Cover letter/personal statement containing the applicant’s goals for the Nuclear Medicine Fellowship
• Three letters of recommendation