Explore Our Training Program

Our residents complete the majority of their clinical training at the Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven Hospital. Residents rotate through disease-site-specific clinical services every two months, working directly with faculty who specialize in each cancer type. Services are generally structured with one or two attending physicians and are balanced by clinical volume to provide residents with a consistent workload and ample opportunity for residents to work closely with faculty and receive individualized clinical teaching and mentorship. Residents gain broad exposure to all clinical subspecialties of radiation oncology, including pediatric malignancies through Yale New Haven Children's Hospital.

During each rotation, residents participate in all aspects of patient care, including new patient consultations, radiation treatment planning and delivery, on-treatment management, and follow-up care. Residents assume progressively greater responsibility and independence throughout their training under the close supervision and mentorship of attending physicians.

Residents typically complete one or two rotations at the Lawrence and Memorial / Smilow Cancer Hospital at Waterford, approximately 45 minutes from New Haven, during their PGY-3 year. This experience provides a strong foundation in the practice of general radiation oncology in a community hospital setting while maintaining close integration with Yale. The site is staffed by Yale radiation oncology faculty, physicists, and dosimetrists, and residents work with multiple faculty specialists across disease sites and participate in multidisciplinary tumor boards.

Beginning in January 2027, residents will also rotate at the Connecticut Proton Center in Wallingford, located approximately 20 minutes from New Haven. The center is staffed by Yale radiation oncology faculty, physicists, and dosimetrists working alongside Hartford HealthCare radiation oncologists with Yale faculty appointments. This rotation provides comprehensive training in proton therapy, including patient selection and evaluation, treatment planning and delivery, pediatric radiation oncology, and the clinical, technical, and physics principles unique to proton therapy.

Throughout their training, residents gain experience with a comprehensive range of radiation treatment techniques, including CT simulation, three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT), intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and Gamma Knife radiosurgery, stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), interstitial and intracavitary brachytherapy, total body irradiation (TBI), total skin electron beam therapy, and proton therapy. The breadth of these clinical experiences provides residents with the training necessary to meet eligibility requirements for the American Board of Radiology examinations.

Our comprehensive didactic curriculum complements clinical training and provides residents with a strong foundation in the clinical, technical, and scientific principles of radiation oncology. Protected time from clinical responsibilities is provided for resident educational conferences and didactic sessions.

Clinical education is organized in blocks by disease site and includes three dedicated didactic sessions each week. These incorporate formal faculty lectures, case-based discussions, and interactive treatment planning sessions designed to develop clinical decision-making and reinforce the practical application of radiation oncology principles. The curriculum emphasizes the landmark studies that establish current standards of care while also incorporating emerging evidence, ongoing clinical trials, and evolving treatment paradigms. Residents learn not only how to approach the management of individual malignancies, but also the evidence underlying treatment recommendations and how new data are shaping clinical practice. A complementary treatment planning conference, led by our medical dosimetrists, provides focused instruction in treatment planning for each disease site.

Formal radiation physics and radiation biology lectures are held weekly and repeat annually. The physics curriculum follows the AAPM/ASTRO Core Physics Curriculum and provides residents with an understanding of the fundamental physics principles essential to the practice of radiation oncology while preparing them for the American Board of Radiology (ABR) physics examination. The radiation biology curriculum follows the ASTRO Radiation and Cancer Biology Study Guide, providing a structured foundation in radiobiologic principles and preparation for the ABR radiation and cancer biology examination.

Residents also participate in the multidisciplinary tumor boards relevant to their clinical rotations, providing opportunities to learn alongside colleagues from surgical oncology, medical oncology, radiology, pathology, and other specialties. Weekly departmental Grand Rounds and Yale Cancer Center Grand Rounds further expose residents to advances across radiation oncology, cancer biology, translational research, and multidisciplinary cancer care.

Our Visiting Professor Lecture Series brings leaders in radiation oncology and related fields to Yale throughout the year. In addition to learning from experts at the forefront of the field, residents have opportunities to interact directly with visiting faculty, providing valuable opportunities for mentorship, professional development, and networking.

We are committed to preparing residents to become future leaders in radiation oncology while recognizing that leadership can take many forms. Residents are encouraged to pursue their individual academic and professional interests, with mentorship, protected time, and resources available to support a wide range of career paths.

Twelve months of protected elective time is incorporated into residency training and can be tailored to each resident's career goals. Residents may use this time to pursue research, develop clinical trials, participate in away clinical rotations, or engage in other focused academic and educational experiences. Physician-scientists pursuing intensive research training may also apply for the American Board of Radiology Holman Research Pathway.

Our residents pursue diverse scholarly interests, including basic and translational science, clinical and health services research, clinical trial development, medical education, global health, quality improvement and patient safety, and artificial intelligence and deep learning. Residents also gain exposure to clinical and translational investigation through the care of patients enrolled on clinical trials and opportunities to participate in the development and implementation of investigator-initiated studies.

Mentorship is central to this process. Each resident is paired with a faculty mentor who provides longitudinal mentorship throughout the four years of residency, complementing the clinical and research mentorship that develops through rotations and individual scholarly projects. Mentorship is tailored to residents' evolving academic interests, research goals, and career plans.

The weekly Yale Radiation Oncology Consortium (YROC) further supports resident academic development through a curriculum in clinical research methodology and clinical trial development, research-in-progress presentations, and journal club discussions. Residents benefit from the broader academic resources of Yale School of Medicine, Yale Cancer Center, and Yale University and may pursue educational and collaborative opportunities across the institution.

Research and scholarly activity are strongly encouraged, and residents are supported in presenting their work at national and international scientific meetings. Educational funds provided by Yale New Haven Hospital and the Department of Therapeutic Radiology support educational materials and professional development, including travel to scientific meetings and the presentation of original research.