Body Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Why UT Southwestern
The UT Southwestern one-year Body Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Fellowship is a Texas Medical Board (TMB)-accredited program that features hands-on clinical and technical training in abdominopelvic and vascular MRI through didactic and case-based teaching, exposure to MR-guided interventions, multidisciplinary conferences, opportunities for scholarly/research activity, and a variety of available elective clinical experiences. The fellowship draws on rich and diverse clinical resources at a large tertiary care university hospital system, which includes the William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital, NCI-designated Harold Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, and its affiliated outpatient clinics, as well as Parkland Memorial Hospital — Dallas County's public hospital and a Level 1 trauma center.
Program Mission
The mission of the Body MRI Fellowship program is to provide outstanding educational opportunities to trainees through innovative teaching, clinical training, and exposure to research and quality initiatives to develop excellent radiologists for either independent practices or academic medicine.
Program Aims
The Body MRI Fellowship aims to provide fellows with:
- A collegial learning environment with a unique diversity and volume of cases to develop into expert Body MRI radiologists geared towards either academic or private practice radiology
- Excellent case-based and didactic conferences as educational tools in addition to day-to-day workstation teaching
- Participation in multidisciplinary teams in order to develop relationships with referring clinicians and enhance impact on patient care
- The opportunity for advanced technical training in MR-guided prostate interventions
- An individualized fellowship elective experience based on specific clinical and/or academic interests of each fellow
- The opportunity to enhance understanding of MR physics, protocol development, and image optimization
Faculty
Lakshmi Ananthakrishnan, M.D.
- Director, Computed Tomography
- Assistant Professor
Jovan Begovic, M.D.
- Assistant Professor
Daniel Costa, M.D.
- Associate Professor
David Fetzer, M.D.
- Director, Ultrasound
- Assistant Professor
Hala Khasawneh, M.D.
- Assistant Professor
Gaurav Khatri, M.D.
- Chief
- Director, Body MR Fellowship
- Associate Professor
Ravi Kaza, M.D.
- Professor
Ananth Madhuranthakam, Ph.D.
- Director, Translational Research
- Assistant Professor
- Research Lab
Yee Seng Ng, M.D.
- Assistant Professor
Ivan Pedrosa, M.D., Ph.D.
- Vice Chair, Research
- Professor
- Research Lab
Jesse Rayan, M.D.
- Assistant Professor
Vasantha Vasan, M.D.
- Clinical Assistant Professor
Kanupriya Vijay, M.D.
- Associate Professor
Elena Vinogradov, Ph.D.
- Associate Professor
- Research Lab
Takeshi Yokoo, M.D., Ph.D.
- Medical Director, MRI
- Associate Professor
Qing Yuan, Ph.D.
- Associate Professor
Debora Zachello Reccimuzzi, M.D.
- Assistant Professor
Eric Zeikus, M.D.
- Chief Radiology Officer, University Hospitals
- Assistant Professor
Program Highlights
- Dedicated clinical training in Body MRI plus Abdominal Imaging, including focused abdominal CT/Ultrasound rotation
- Up to three months elective time, allowing fellows to tailor their training to their liking and choose from abdominal or multiple non-abdominal clinical or research electives
- High volume and excellent variety of clinical cases - geared toward either academic or private practice careers
- 800+ bed county hospital
- 900+ bed university hospital system
- Multiple outpatient imaging centers
- Hepatobiliary MRI (including MR elastography, iron/fat quantification); renal mass characterization; pancreas MRI/MRCP; prostate MRI; rectal cancer MRI; bladder cancer MRI; pelvic floor MRI/MR defecography; MR enterography; emergency MRI; MR angiography/venography
- MR-guided interventions, including prostate biopsies and transurethral ultrasound ablations (TULSA)
- 19 fellowship-trained Body MRI faculty and more than 25 abdominal imaging faculty, including multiple graduates from the program
- Dedicated academic time and academic enrichment fund for each fellow
- Didactic/case-based fellows lecture series, conferences, and MR physics course
- More than 20 clinical MRI magnets from multiple manufacturers
- Nine state-of-the-art 3T MRI units
- PET/MRI scanner (expected installation in 2022)
- Opportunity for valuable "hands-on" experience at MR scanners
- Protocol and image optimization
- Opportunity to participate in MRI safety and operations committees
- Teleconference and virtual readout capabilities in addition to in-person, one-on-one teaching at each workstation
- Provision for attendance at a national radiology meeting of the fellow's choosing
Beyond the clinical experience
In addition to clinical activities, fellows are trained in basic MR principles, research methodology, manuscript preparation, and other activities essential both to an academic career and to objective interpretation of current literature and clinical guidelines.
These efforts are supplemented by weekly body MRI case conferences, biweekly didactical case-based lectures, a regularly scheduled journal club, MRI protocol development meetings, and multiple interdisciplinary conferences such as those dedicated to hepatocellular carcinoma, gastrointestinal malignancies, colorectal cancer, renal cancer, prostate cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, and pelvic floor imaging.
In addition, fellows attend dedicated MRI physics lectures taught by MR scientists and clinical attending radiologists in a format that stimulates intimate discussion of various topics, allowing fellows to ask questions directly to experts in basic MRI principles.
Benefits
- Fellows are provided dedicated academic time to pursue their academic interests under direct supervision of the Body MRI faculty. Fellows may participate in ongoing scholarly projects in the Department and/or observe technologists at the scanner to further enhance their understanding of image acquisition techniques and protocol optimization. Allotted time for monitoring cases at the scanner further enhances the understanding of image acquisition techniques and protocol optimization.
- In addition to assigned Body MRI and a dedicated abdominal CT/US rotations, elective time is provided up to three months annually, including at least one month in abdominal imaging.
- Fellows are entitled to an academic enrichment fund to support educational materials, attendance to scientific meetings and/or trainings.
- Dedicated meeting/educational and interview days in addition to monthly accrued vacation and sick time.
Call
Fellows take MRI pager call and on-site call at Clements University Hospital under the supervision of Body MRI and Abdominal Imaging faculty.
Facilities and Equipment
The Body MR reading room is strategically situated within the Rogers MRI facility, located within the Harold Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center and adjacent to the Advanced Imaging Research Center (AIRC). Fellows have easy access to MR scanners to directly supervise examinations and tailor pulse sequences at the scanner console.
Clinical facilities consist of:
- More than 20 whole-body clinical MRI systems, including state-of-the-art 1.5T and 3T Philips and Siemens systems
- More than 20 multidetector CT scanners, including six dual-energy spectral CT scanners
- 50 ultrasound units, including state-of-the-art Philips and Siemens scanners with elastography software and contrast-enhancing ultrasound imaging capabilities
- PET/MRI to be installed in 2022
Other facilities within the institution include:
- Dedicated 3T and 7T whole-body research magnets
- Several animal MRI scanners
- Three hyperpolarizers
Conferences
- Weekly fellow case-conference where fellows present unknown cases with interesting pathology to faculty and discuss the relevant findings and provide an appropriate differential
- Bimonthly didactic and case-based lectures as part of a dedicated Body MRI fellowship curriculum
- Monthly MRI physics lectures taught by MR scientists and clinical attending radiologists
- Monthly journal club where fellows develop critical assessment skills to evaluate methodology, strengths, limitations, and real-world applications of relevant studies
- Numerous multidisciplinary clinical conferences in combination with medicine, surgery, pathology, and the various clinical subspecialties
Radiology Grand Rounds are held monthly with prestigious visiting and local professors, offering the opportunity to meet and learn from leading national authorities on a wide variety of topics. Fellows are also welcome to attend resident conferences that pertain to Body MRI, as service duties allow.
Research Opportunities
Intellectual vibrancy and technological innovation are core values of the Department. Fellows are encouraged to participate in ongoing research or QA projects, or initiate new projects in abdominal, pelvic, or vascular imaging under the supervision of the body MRI faculty.
Potential topics may include, but are not limited to:
- Clinical research, including case reports, educational exhibits, radiologic-pathologic, or radiologic-clinical correlations.
- Clinical protocol optimization, including exam speed and efficiency, artifact reduction/management, and evaluation of existing or emerging pulse sequences.
- Technological innovations in perfusion, diffusion, spectroscopy, angiography, and image registration/segmentation.
- Quantitative imaging of liver fat and iron, diffusion, blood flow (arterial spin labeling and phase contrast imaging).
- Prostate cancer (risk stratification, active surveillance, MRI-US image fusion, MR-guided prostate interventions).
- Liver and hepatocellular carcinoma imaging and treatment response assessment
- Rectal cancer MRI including innovate techniques to predict and assess response to chemoradiation
- Multiple other clinical topics including Pancreas MRI, bladder cancer MRI, benign and malignant gynecologic imaging, pelvic floor imaging, etc.
Ancillary services, such as research MRI technologists, research scientists, physician assistants, and nurses, research coordinators, as well as support for IRB submissions, creative services, and biostatistics are available within the Department. The department provides support for and encourages fellows interested in presenting their work at national meetings.
Salaries and Benefits
Hospital stipends are set annually and are competitive nationally with those of other teaching programs. The amount, shown in the chart below, depends on the year of residency training.
Low-cost hospitalization and dental insurance is available to contracted house staff, as well as a group life insurance plan.
Medical malpractice insurance is provided for Radiology house staff by the Department through the University of Texas System group plan.
The Fellow’s assignments and vacation usage will be determined and/or approved by the Program Director. Fellows accrue vacation and sick leave on a monthly basis and may utilize such leaves consistent with State law and the Policies and Procedures adopted by UTSW to implement the State law.
| Year | Annual Salary |
|---|---|
| PGY 6 | $79,086.00 |
| PGY 7 | $82,716.00 |
| PGY 8 | $86,866.00 |
Application Process
The program provides up to five one-year fellowship positions annually. We are currently accepting applications for academic year 2025–2026 and will be accepting applications for 2026–2027 in the fall. Our program abides by the SCARD Fellowship Policy. Information regarding the application process can be found under How to Apply on the main Fellowships page.
International Medical Graduates
For questions regarding International Medical Graduates, visit our fellowships page. Please note the above residency requirements.