Abdominal Imaging Fellowship

There are 14 abdominal imaging fellowship positions at the University of California, San Francisco, separated into two tracks;

1. Abdominal Imaging (4 fellowship positions)
2. Abdominal Imaging Combined with Dedicated Ultrasound (10 positions)

Abdominal Imaging Fellowship

This unique program integrates training across the several UCSF campuses in San Francisco;

1. Moffitt-Long (ML), Mission Bay (MB) and Mount Zion (MZ) Hospitals (Ron Zagoria, MD, Chief of Abdominal Imaging – ~4 months)
2. UCSF Veteran Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) (TBD - ~4 months)
3. Zuckerberg-San Francisco General (ZSFG) (Mark Wilson MD, Chief of Radiology - ~4 months)

Each UCSF campus has unique strengths.  Abdominal Imaging at ML, MB and MZ focuses on oncology, infection and genetic disorders. Abdominal Imaging at the VAMC emphasizes a mix of CT, US and MRI for general abdominal diseases with emphasis on oncology, vascular disease and infections.  The ZSFG is the only level 1 trauma center in San Francisco so there is a large volume of trauma cases and advanced stage disease cases.  Research is a large component of the AI section at all sites. 

The AI fellowship provides structured training in the performance and interpretations of all forms of abdominal imaging and exposes fellows to a large and diverse abdominal imaging workload. Fellows receive comprehensive and supervised training in CT of the abdomen and pelvis (including advanced applications such as three-dimensional imaging, CTA, virtual colonoscopy and dual energy CT), PET/CT, PET/MR, MRI and MRA of the abdomen and pelvis (including liver, prostate, gynecologic and genitourinary applications), MR elastography, image-guided needle biopsies, and GI and GU fluoroscopic examinations. The MRI service at the VA also includes musculoskeletal imaging. Ultrasound training occurs at the VA and SFGH, and incorporates general abdominal, genitourinary, vascular, and obstetric imaging and includes US-guided needle biopsies, and intraoperative studies. The department employs state of the art high-resolution ultrasound scanners with color and power Doppler, high field strength (1.5 and 3T) MRI scanners with spectroscopic capability, an interventional MRI scanner, multiple CT scanners (including 64-slice technology), PET/CT scanners and most recently a GE SIGNA PET/MR scanner. Successful applicants will be involved in all aspects of abdominal imaging, and will fully participate in the clinical, teaching and research activities of the department. 

Abdominal Imaging with Dedicated Ultrasound

This fellowship consists of 10 positions that combine time in the Abdominal Imaging section and the UCSF Ultrasound section.  It involves ~ 8 months of Abdominal Imaging and 4 months of Ultrasound.  The Abdominal Imaging component consists of abdominal imaging at Moffitt-Long, Mission Bay and Mount Zion Hospitals (Ron Zagoria, MD, Chief of Abdominal Imaging – ~ 4 months), the UCSF Veteran Affairs Medical Center (TBD - ~2 months), and Zuckerberg-San Francisco General Hospital (Mark Wilson MD, Chief of Radiology - ~2 months).

The Ultrasound section of diagnostic sonography has 6 faculty who attend exclusively in the section of Ultrasound and 5 who share responsibilities with either Breast imaging (1) or Body Imaging (4) plus 25 ARDMS registered sonographers. We perform over 110 cases per day among 5 sites at UCSF including Moffitt/Long Hospital, the Ambulatory Care Center, the Women’s Health Center on the Mt Zion campus, Mission Bay Hospital and Montgomery Street Imaging. The 5 sites are fully staffed each day and imaging at all sites is linked by PACS. Fellows get a balanced experience rotating to all sites and working with all attendings.

The department employs state-of-the-art high-resolution ultrasound scanners with color and power Doppler to perform a wide variety of sonograms including abdominal, thyroid, musculoskeletal, testicular, liver, kidney, and pancreas transplants, genitourinary as well as obstetric and gynecologic imaging. We are currently performing US contrast studies and using elastography, shear wave imaging as appropriate. Fellows will get experience performing a number of procedures including saline infusion sonograms, US-guided needle biopsies, needle aspirations, MSK applications including aspirations and injections using sonographic guidance, and highly specialized ultrasound-guided fetal interventions in the Delivery or Operating suites.

The Ultrasound section has a large commitment to the prenatal diagnosis of fetal anomalies and participates fully in the UCSF Fetal Treatment center, a major referral center for in utero therapy.

Education and Research

Dedicated research time and mentoring is provided for both tracks.  Fellows have successfully presented at national meetings including the RSNA and SAR and published in peer review journals. 

Section faculty provide a didactic lecture series specifically tailored for abdominal imaging fellows. Didactics span topics of CT, MR, PET, PET/MR and Ultrasound. Additionally, all Abdominal Imaging fellows are allowed access to workshops in CT Colonoscopy, MRI workshop for body imaging fellows conducted Dr. Thomas Hope and Dr. Michael Ohligher and Clinical Prostate MR workshop hosted Dr. Antonio Westphalen, Chief of Clinical Prostate MRI. 

Teaching duties include interdisciplinary tumor boards, clinic-radiological meetings and resident and medical student conferences.

Previous fellows have pursued successful careers in both academic radiology and private practice.

Abdominal Imaging Fellowship Program Director