During the summer months, residents attend an introductory lectures series covering relevant principles of nuclear physics and instrumentation, radiochemistry and radiopharmacology and the rationale and technical details of current diagnostic procedures. This course is intended to both prepare the junior resident for clinical responsibilities and refresh and increase the knowledge of senior residents. During the remainder of the academic year, didactic lectures are given by faculty members approximately three times per week.

Residents are actively involved in daily clinical conferences within the nuclear medicine division, attended by residents, fellows, faculty and researchers. These conferences include:

• Clinical Case Follow-up Conference
• PET/CT Case Conference
• Pediatric Radiology/Nuclear Medicine Conference
• Quality Assessment Conference
• Protocol Review
• Journal Club

Residents are free of clinical responsibilities during education hours, usually from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. and noon to 1 p.m.

Residents have the opportunity to attend a multitude of multidisciplinary tumor boards held at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, translational research conferences and departmental grand rounds.

Residents usually alternate on one-week rotations to gain experience in the various disciplines of nuclear medicine. Rotations include: Inpatient Nuclear Medicine, Outpatient Nuclear Medicine, PET/CT, Nuclear Cardiology, Pediatric Nuclear Medicine, Therapy (radioiodine and parenteral administration), CT and radiopharmacy.

A central goal of clinical training in the nuclear medicine program is to enable the resident to take full responsibility for diagnostic and therapeutic studies performed on his/her service. This involves:

• Assessing the clinical problem to be answered (chart review, personal history and even physical examination)
• Evaluating the potential role of radionuclide procedures on the diagnostic process and ensuring that the patient receives the correct study
• Assessing the technical quality of images and attempting to answer the clinical question as completely as possible before discharging the patient from the Nuclear Medicine Division
• Interpreting the study with the supervision of the faculty

For the first several months, junior residents in the clinic work in tandem with a senior resident and a faculty member under progressively diminishing direct supervision. However, attending faculty members are responsible for supervision based on the experience of the resident and are always available for consultation, questions and discussions. The experienced resident participates in the training of less-experienced residents as well as of medical students and nuclear medicine technologists, discusses results with referring clinicians and has the opportunity to present interesting/challenging cases to colleagues and faculty at clinical conferences.

The radiopharmacy rotation provides an opportunity to experience the synthesis and quality-control procedures of many of the clinically used radiopharmaceuticals that residents will encounter. Additionally, a quality-control rotation provides experience in the duties of the nuclear medicine technologist, offering the opportunity to learn about radiotracer administration, image acquisition/processing, image quality control and in vitro procedures.

During training, residents are exposed to the type of research that is being conducted by senior faculty, other trainees, graduate students and other members of the Johns Hopkins community in various specialties. Trainees are encouraged to pursue any relevant line of research that excites their interest, and opportunities for collaboration both within and outside the department are vast.

The trainee's research is guided by frequent consultation with members of the faculty, especially with a faculty mentor in his/her area of interest. In addition, the trainee may present seminars at regular intervals, at which time the entire faculty reviews his/her progress. Residents have the opportunity to present their work at national meetings, such as the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging and Radiological Society of North America.