Diagnostic Radiology

The Diagnostic Radiology Residency Training Program at Bridgeport Hospital is an ACGME accredited, four-year residency training program approved for 16 residents. We participate in the National Resident Match Program (NRMP) administrated by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).

Residents in the program are exposed to a variety of patients with a wide range of medical needs. Both the inpatient and outpatient population reflect the pathology of the diverse populations represented in the greater Bridgeport area. This diversity in the patient population ensures that residents experience a wide range of disease entities.

With our many subspecialty-trained faculty members, residents receive the hands-on training necessary to become excellent radiologists and exceptional teachers. The program’s goal is to fulfill the ACGME core competencies, from medical knowledge to patient care, and prepare residents for the American Board of Radiology exams.

Message from the Program Director

Welcome to the Bridgeport Hospital Diagnostic Radiology Residency Program. We have an outstanding program that provides first-rate training and excellent opportunities for hands-on experience in all areas of diagnostic radiology. Residents are taught by our sub-specialty trained, dedicated and friendly faculty who have an unparalleled depth and breadth of experience in clinical radiology. The case mix and case volume are on par with any major teaching hospital. Very few radiology programs can offer the volume and diverse case mix residents experience here including trauma, oncology and preoperative cardiovascular imaging, as well as exposure to community imaging centers. 

In addition to the superb clinical training you will receive, the faculty is eager to guide resident research projects and encourage residents to attend and present their work at national meetings. Residents are also encouraged to become actively involved in hospital committees where they have the opportunity to influence decisions that affect patient care, demonstrate clinical knowledge and hone vital leadership skills.

With such a dynamic and well balanced program, it is not surprising that graduates frequently earn very competitive fellowships. We are very proud of our residents’ 100 percent board pass rate. Our residents graduate with the confidence and the experience to work in any environment — private practice or academic.

Please explore the program in greater detail and don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. 
 
Noel B. Velasco, MD  
Program Director 		Scott C. Williams, MD  
Associate Program Director
The Radiology Department is a fully digitalized department equipped with 32 and 16-slice CT scanners as well as a 1.5 Tesla MR scanner. The department includes a modern angiographic suite and a suite for uro-radiologic procedures. The ultrasound unit offers state-of-the-art equipment with a dedicated US unit for ultrasound-guided breast procedures. The nuclear medicine unit offers equipment for isotopic studies, including two gamma cameras with SPECT capabilities. The department is also equipped for digital mammography with 3D tomosynthesis and digital stereotactic breast biopsy systems.

A state-of-the-art radiology information system maintains all orders, results and statistics for the entire department. This information system is interfaced with the entire Yale New Haven Health information system for improved patient care. Filmless images from the PACS system can be viewed in the Radiology Department and in all other related clinical and education areas throughout the hospital.

The residency program is designed to give gradual increased responsibility to the residents in all Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology subspecialties during the first three years, prior to the CORE examination administered by American Board of Radiology (ABR). It is important to undertake the multiple specialties gradually so that the acquired skills are maintained during the entire residency. 

Throughout the four years of training, residents can expect to go through the following rotations: 

  • Radiographs
  • Body CT (including CT enterography, CT urography, CT cystography and CT virtual colonoscopy)  
  • Neuroimaging (including CT and MRI)
  • Musculoskeletal Imaging
  • Ultrasound (including ultrasound-guided procedures) 
  • Interventional Radiology
  • GI/GU Fluoroscopy
  • Mammography (including ultrasound and mammographic guided procedures)
  • Body MRI (including musculoskeletal MRI)
  • Nuclear Medicine
  • Thoracic Imaging
  • Night Float

Additional rotations are provided including Pediatric and PET/CT Imaging at Yale New Haven Hospital as well as additional Mammography at an off-site women’s imaging center. 

Third year radiology residents also participate in elective rotations at the American Institute for Radiologic Pathology (AIRP).

Residents are required to participate in on-call rotations. These rotations include weekday short calls and weekend long calls. The weekday short call is from 4:30 to 9 pm and the weekend call is from 9 am to 9 pm. The night float residents take over the responsibilities after 9 pm. Afterhours calls and night float are quite busy, with adequate exposure to wide variety of ED pathologies. Full support and supervision by radiology is provided 24/7. There is graduated learning from junior to senior years, and the residents learn radiology as well as the collaborative effort in managing a high-volume workload.

As part of their training, residents in the Diagnostic Radiology residency are provided with free access to online educational systems, i.e. STATdx, RADPrimer and e-Anatomy. STATdx is a digital, clinical decision support system that helps physicians make fast, accurate diagnoses in complex cases. RADPrimer provides residents and program directors with tools to assess and track imaging knowledge in the core disciplines of radiology, and E-Anatomy is an award-winning online atlas of the human anatomy. 

Our Medical library has recently switched to a completely online platform with a large variety of journals and books as well as on-demand materials that are provided free of charge to residents. 

 
Early Specialization in Interventional Radiology (ESIR) is a training option for diagnostic radiology residents and medical students who identify an early desire to specialize in interventional radiology. Our program has been approved for two positions for the ESIR track starting the R2 year. This offers extra dedicated interventional radiology rotations, as well as rotations in the ICU and in ultrasound. These extra rotations meet the ESIR requirements. This is particularly helpful for residents applying to competitive, independent IR fellowships, as they are able to perform more complex procedures even before they start their fellowships.

Daily Conferences
Conferences are given daily at 7:30 am, noon or 3:30 pm. The daily conferences are provided by the in-house attending radiologists as well as visiting radiologists in all radiological subspecialties. Conferences include didactics, anatomy and anatomy-pathology correlation as well as case review conferences. 

Physics Curriculum
A comprehensive physics curriculum is provided by the medical physics team at Yale University on a weekly basis.

Interesting Case Conferences
Interesting case conferences are held on a weekly basis, usually Fridays, to give the residents opportunity to view and discuss interesting cases.

Tumor Boards / Multidisciplinary Conferences
The residents and radiologists actively participate in tumor boards/multidisciplinary conferences held at Bridgeport Hospital. These include GI, GU, Thoracic, Breast and Ob-Gyn conferences.

Review a sample of publications in the section in the Bridgeport Hospital Medical Library. 


Diagnostic Radiology and the GME office encourage all interested residents to engage in academic research. For any research endeavor accepted for presentation at a meeting, the department provides up to five conference days (besides the vacation days). The GME office also reimburses registration and some of the expenses for the conferences. Residents consistently present at a variety of national and international meetings. Recent examples include: 

  • American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS) 
  • Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) 
  • Society of Advanced Body Imaging (SABI)
  • American College of Radiology (ACR) 
  • Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) 
  • American Society of Neuroradiology (ASNR) 
  • American Society of Emergency Radiology (ASER) 
  • Association of University Radiologists (AUR) 
  • Society of Cardiac MR (SCMR)

 

 


Residents live all over Fairfield County with many affordable towns/cities near the hospital including Stamford, Milford, Stratford, Trumbull, Fairfield, Norwalk and New Haven. 

Because residents spend four years of their lives in the program, it is important that everyone maintains a healthy working relationship within the program and with the other residency programs in the hospital. The House Staff Council organizes multiple events throughout the year, from the annual welcoming-the-first-years’ party to the end of the year gala event. Previous events have included ice-skating, bowling, taco trucks, summer barbecue, and Halloween and holiday parties. The radiology residents also like to get together for happy hours, as well as for games of soccer and tennis.  

For outdoor adventures, Fairfield County offers a wide range activities for residents who choose to live nearby. Area towns offer hiking, biking, several beaches, museums and state parks. The MetroNorth railroad makes trips to New York City, New Haven, Boston and Rhode Island easy. Vermont is also easily accessible for people interested in skiing. 

The program puts great emphasis on work/life balance and is very supportive of residents with families and children. The relationships built during residency are important and ideally will continue well beyond graduation.


Former Residents

2021 
Muhammad Umer Afzaal, MD, Abdominal Imaging, Johns Hopkins University
Gunjan Garg, MD, Abdominal Imaging, Yale University
Rahul Hegde, MD, private practice, Mass.
Harpreet Sawhney, MD, Neuroradiology, UT Houston

2020
Ahmadreza Ghasemiesfe, MD, Cardiac Imaging, UC Davis. 
Puneet Kochar, Neuroradiology, MD, Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.
Pranav Sharma, MD, Interventional Radiology, University of Minnesota. 

2019
Neeraj Bhatt, MD, Neuroradiology, Yale University
Jubin Jacob, MD Interventional Radiology, Memorial Sloan Kettering. 
Francisco Lazaga, MD, Body Imaging, UCSF.
Ahmed Abdelbaki, MD, Interventional Radiology, University of Iowa

2018
Waqaar Ahmad, MD Interventional Radiology, University of Iowa
Sreelatha Diviti, MD, Body Imaging, Emory University
Kusum Hooda, MD, Breast Imaging, University of Wisconsin
Shuo Li, MD, Interventional Radiology, Jackson Memorial Hospital

2017
Melkamu Adeb, MD, Abdominal Imaging, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Daichi Hayashi, MD, Musculoskeletal, SUNY Stonybrook
Nisarg Parikh, MD, Abdominal Imaging, University of Pennsylvania
Salil Sharma, MD, private practice, NY.

2016
Dara Fedele, MD, Breast Imaging, Mallinckrodt Institute
Fang Lu, MD, Pediatric Radiology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Laura Miller, MD, Abdominal Imaging, Beth Israel Deaconess

 
For more information about the Diagnostic Radiology Residency Training Program at Bridgeport Hospital, feel free to email program coordinator Khaleila Thompson, or call 203-384-3834.




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