Nuclear Medicine Fellowship

Program Director
Tracy Yarbrough, M.D.
tlyarbrough@ucdavis.edu

Mission Statement

To leverage diversity and excellence in research, academic and clinical molecular imaging to train the future representatives of molecular precision medicine.

Program description

The UC Davis Nuclear Medicine Fellowship Program is traditionally a one-year program, requiring one prerequisite completion of a full diagnostic radiology residency. Foreign medical graduates are welcomed, after obtaining an evaluation letter from the California Medical Board along with additional stipulations outlined in the links at the end of the page.

The Nuclear Medicine Fellowship Program is currently located within the Department of Radiology and includes both inpatient and outpatient care. Nuclear medicine has whole-body SPECT cameras (one single, one dual-head and three SPECT/CT). The department also has three multi-slice PET/CT scanners including the recently installed whole body EXPLORER PET scanner. UC Davis operates one cyclotron on main campus and has two cyclotrons for human use and research on the health system campus. The program also has two DEXA cameras for bone density testing (bone mineral densitometry) and a thyroid probe camera for thyroid uptake.

The Division of Nuclear Medicine is responsible for therapy, oncology, cardiology, pediatrics, and routine nuclear medicine examinations. Ongoing research and collaborations in the nuclear medicine clinics will expose residents to the academic and research components of the university. In addition, the program does offer elective or outside rotations to The Northern California PET Imaging Center, Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, or David Grant Medical Center, Travis AFB, for one to two weeks per year.

Application process

An ACGME internship (PG-I year) is required for entrance into our program in addition to completion of a full diagnostic radiology residency (exception for reverse NM3 pathway applicants as described in the next section). The internship must be accredited clinical training in internal medicine, pediatrics, surgery or surgical specialties, obstetrics and gynecology, neurology, family and community medicine, emergency medicine, or any combination of these. No more than a total of three months may be spent in radiology, radiation oncology, and/or pathology. The diagnostic radiology residency must also be from an ACGME accredited program and must have at least four months of Nuclear Medicine training to qualify for sitting the ABNM board certification exam.

Alternatively, if an internship year has been completed (or is being completed) and an ACGME diagnostic radiology residency will commence one year later, the Nuclear Medicine fellowship year may precede the standard radiology residency (this is also known as the reverse NM3 pathway).

Please contact us via email or phone if you qualify and/or are interested in the standard or reverse pathways for more information.

We do participate in the match at the PG-V level, and typically offer one or more positions to begin in July.

Graduates of international medical schools must comply with restrictions imposed by the Medical Board of California and be eligible for or be licensed to practice in California. Information concerning licensure is available from the Division of Licensing, Medical Board of California, 2005 Evergreen Street #1200, Sacramento, CA 95815, phone: 916-263-2382.

All applications must be submitted via the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) if possible; however, out of match may be considered under certain circumstances (please email the program director for more details). An application for a position should be submitted preferably no later than November 1st. Personal interviews are granted by invitation only.

Requirements

Completion of an ACGME-accredited internship (PGY-1) year in the United States or Canada.
Requirements and procedures for licensing in California have changed and are substantially different than years past. Please visit the California Medical Board Licensing Requirements page for specific details of the new requirements. Additional information concerning licensure is available from the Division of Licensing, Medical Board of California, 2005 Evergreen Street #1200, Sacramento, CA 95825, calling 916-263-2344, or by visiting the Division of Licensing, Medical Board of California website.
Requirement for acceptance of international medical graduates at UC Davis for postgraduate training