Integrated Interventional Radiology Residency Program

About the Integrated Interventional Radiology Residency Program

This is an exciting time for Interventional Radiology (IR). The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) has recognized IR as a unique clinical discipline in medicine and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has created a new training program to give physicians the cognitive knowledge, procedural skill, and clinical expertise necessary to practice in this new specialty. UCSF already has a superb Diagnostic Radiology (DR) Residency and we have worked closely with the DR Program Director, Dr. Soonmee Cha, to make sure that the new IR residency provides excellent training in DR as well as robust training in all aspects of IR. UCSF currently matches one Integrated IR resident per year.

The UCSF Interventional Radiology Section is committed to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion as these remain vital to the practice of minimally invasive image guided therapies for patients, trainees, faculty and workforce. The principles of equity and inclusion, as rooted in our anti-racist, anti-sexist and anti-homophobic programmatic values, are essential to the educational mission of our fellowship. Our curriculum and educational practices reflect our ongoing commitment to dismantling structures of power, oppression and privilege within graduate medical education, and in recruitment practices to the specialty of Interventional Radiology. Our aim is to create a safe and equitable learning environment for all members to thrive.

Educational Program

The five-year IR curriculum consists of 3 years focused on diagnostic imaging and 2 years focused on IR. Up to nine months of the fourth year (PGY5) will be spent in IR or IR-related rotations. IR residents will take call for diagnostic radiology during the first four years and will take call for IR in the final year. The IR section provides training across the broad domain of vascular and non-vascular procedures. Clinical care is at the heart of our IR practice. The UCSF IR section admits patients, manages inpatient care and maintains a robust clinic practice.

IR Faculty

The IR faculty consists of full-time Interventional Radiologists under the direction of Dr. Pallav Kolli, the IR Section Chief and the IR Residency Program Director. In addition, there are full-time Interventionalists at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG) and one at the San Francisco Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAH). Introductory IR rotations take place at ZSFG and VAH and advanced rotations are located at the University Moffitt and Mission Bay campuses as well as the Mount Zion outpatient IR center.

Internship

We encourage those interested in IR to obtain a strong clinical internship (PGY1 year) in medicine or surgery. Clinical internships at UCSF in General Surgery can be structured with the IR residency in mind and we encourage IR residency applicants to apply for a general surgery preliminary position at UCSF. The last two months of the PGY1 surgical internship will be spent in the IR section.

Application Process

Students may enter IR in two ways:

Apply directly from medical school into an Integrated IR residency or
Apply to a DR residency program now and apply later to an Independent IR residency during the third year (PGY-4) of diagnostic radiology residency training.

UCSF offers one Integrated IR residency position and three Independent IR residency positions. Students interested in IR at UCSF have the option of applying to our Integrated IR Residency or the DR residency.

Medical students who know they want to specialize in Interventional Radiology may want to apply to the Integrated IR residency.
Students who are considering IR but are also strongly interested in DR may want to apply to the DR program.

Applicants for the IR and DR programs will be evaluated using the same process and according to the same standards.

Our application deadline is October 1, 2024-- 20 months before the anticipated start of radiology residency.

UCSF Department of Radiology participates in the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS). All positions are filled through the National Resident Matching Program .

We require a medical school performance evaluation ("dean's letter") and 3 letters of recommendation. You can solicit letters of recommendation from any faculty members who know you well, but we suggest that they be from physicians who are familiar with your clinical work. No more than one of the three letters should be written by a radiologist. If you have had extensive research experience, you may choose to submit a 4th letter from your mentor or advisor.

You must have completed a preliminary year of training at an ACGME-accredited institution before entering our residency program.

We want you to have a pleasant and informative visit to UCSF. We suggest that you look upon the interview day as an opportunity to find out more about our department -- the people, programs, and facilities -- and to help us learn about you. Feel free to ask questions, and please let us know if we can assist you in any way.

*FOR 2025 APPLICATION CYCLE - ALL INTERVIEWS WILL BE VIRTUAL*

During recruitment for July 2026 positions, you will have the opportunity to virtually meet the Program Director, learn about the program, interact with residents, see a didactic conference, and discover research opportunities. You will be invited to an early-evening virtual social hour where you will have the chance to meet additional residents without faculty present. We host our virtual interviews using Zoom and utilize breakout rooms for our one-on-one interviews.

Second Visits

Unfortunately, we cannot accommodate requests for second visits or "second looks". After your interview, if you have additional questions about the department, please email or call your interviewers, the program director or the residents.