To support the goals of our IR residency program we offer a robust curriculum of educational, case, and multidisciplinary conferences to complement bedside teaching and direct patient care. This is in addition to the DR core curriculum which takes place during PGY2-4.

Conferences

• Teaching Conferences: IR teaching conference occurs every Tuesday morning from 7-9am and includes a broad range of clinical IR topics, case conferences, and guest lectures from other specialties on IR-related clinical topics (e.g. Endoscopic Approach to GI-bleeding).
• Multidisciplinary Conferences: Multidisciplinary conferences occur throughout the week including GI Tumor Board, Dialysis Access Conference, and Liver Conference among others.

Journal Club

Quarterly IR journal clubs are held in the evening at area restaurants which creates a fun and relaxed learning environment. Multiple articles are presented by the residents and discussed as a group with the IR faculty. Articles are grouped thematically around a relevant IR topic, and include both seminal articles as well as recent updates to encourage understanding of current clinical practice and assimilate new knowledge to update our practice.

IR Rotations

• Core Clinical IR Rotation (at UI Health)
  The core IR clinical rotations occur at UI Health. During PGY2-4, IR residents will have at least 1 IR rotation per year. During PGY-5 and PGY-6, IR residents will spend the majority of their rotations at UI Health on the clinical IR service. The IR service at UI Health is a robust and busy clinical practice, offering the full gamut of IR procedures, outpatient IR clinic, and inpatient admitting and consulting services. Areas of special interest include a high volume of interventional oncology procedures (TACE, Y-90, and Microwave/RFA/Cryo -ablation), portal hypertension (TIPS, BRTO, and BATO), while supporting one of the busiest organ transplant centers in the city. Additional areas of expertise include the creation (EndoAVF) and maintenance of dialysis access.
• IR-related Rotation in Vascular Surgery (at UI Health – Typically PGY-6)
  To supplement the endovascular experience during IR residency, this 4-week rotation on the Vascular Surgery service at UI Health allows our IR residents to gain additional experience performing aortic and peripheral vascular interventions. Residents also attend outpatient vascular surgery clinic, read non-invasive vascular studies, and consult on the inpatient service.
• IR-related Rotation in Pediatric IR (at Lurie Children’s Hospital – Typically PGY-6)
  To supplement the pediatric IR experience during IR residency, this 5-week rotation at Lurie Children’s Hospital allows our residents to gain experience in the performance of a wide range advanced pediatric IR procedures, as well as the inpatient and outpatient management of pediatric patients. This rotation is supervised by IR faculty with advanced pediatric IR training, and is a unique opportunity.
• IR-related Rotation in GI/Endoscopy and Hepatology (at UI Health – Typically PGY-5)
  A unique 4-week rotation with our close collaborators in the GI department allows our trainees to better understand and participate in the multidisciplinary evaluation and management of GI-bleeding, portal hypertension, biliary pathology, and GI-oncology. Two weeks are spent in the GI/Endoscopy suite assisting during upper and lower endoscopy for GI bleeding, ERCP, and EUS. Two weeks are spent on the Hepatology service seeing liver transplant patients in outpatient clinic, and consulting on the inpatient Hepatology service.
• IR-related Rotation in ICU care (at UI Health – Typically PGY-5)
  The ACGME required ICU rotation takes places in the medical intensive care unit (MICU) at UI Health. This 4-week rotation helps our residents become familiar with topics such as mechanical ventilation, invasive monitoring, and hemodynamic support and resuscitation. In addition to serving as an active member of the ICU team, IR residents help facilitate a multidisciplinary approach to image interpretation in the critical care environment and gain additional experience in the performance of bedside procedures.
• IR Call
  During PGY-5 and PGY-6, IR residents are expected to take q4 pager call for the IR clinical service.

University of Illinois Hospital and Health Center (UI Health)

The primary training site, and part of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), UI Health comprises a clinical enterprise that includes a 462-bed tertiary care hospital, 21 outpatient clinics, and 11 Mile Square Health Center facilities, which are Federally Qualified Health Centers.

The University Hospital serves a diverse urban population and offers exposure to complex and unique pathology due to the central location in Chicago’s Illinois Medical District. UI Health is one of the busiest solid organ transplant centers in Chicago. The multidisciplinary cancer center is accredited by the Commission on Cancer. Coupled with leading hepatobiliary and gastroenterology programs, this translates into an excellent interdisciplinary interventional oncology program.

Complete renovation of the Interventional Radiology department was completed in the summer of 2020, and includes three interventional angiography suites, two of which are equipped with new GE discovery IGS 740 systems, and the third with a Siemens Artis Z system. Additionally, the radiology department utilizes multiple GE CT scanners (including one optimized for IR use), and multiple 1.5T and 3T MR units including a 9T research magnet, as well as numerous ultrasound machines from different manufacturers. The high volume of procedures and state of the art equipment allows for excellent training in the full gamut of interventional procedures.

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Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago

Lurie Children’s Hospital is a Tertiary care pediatric hospital located on the downtown Northwestern Medical Campus. It is the largest in the Midwest, and consistently ranked in the Nation’s Best Children’s Hospitals according to US News and World Report. Its major clinical programs include transplant & hepatobiliary interventions, arteriovenous malformations, and musculoskeletal interventions. Residents will spend approximately 3-months at Lurie as part of the diagnostic radiology training during PGY2-4, as well as a dedicated 5-week IR rotation as part of the advanced IR training during PGY-6, working directly with Lurie IR faculty.