**Official 2015-2016** - Diagnostic Radiology Program Reviews

Program: University of Michigan ("U of M")

Type of program: Academic. Alumni publications 92nd percentile (15th rank).

Size of program: 11 per year

Location: Ann Arbor, MI. Midwestern, mid-sized city (population 115k), college-town. Niche.com grades: Overall A+. Things to do A+. Easiest commute A+. Education A+. Community A+. Housing B+ (median rent $1,008). Crime/Safety C+. Health/Fitness A+, outdoor activities B+. Weather C (average high 58.8°F; average low 40.4°F; average precipitation 38in / 160 days; average snowfall 58in / 53 days; 2436 hr sunshine / year; 55% possible sunshine). Half an hour from DTW (Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport), 45 minutes to Detroit, which are both generally crappy places.

Overall goodness of fit: Familiar with and willing to live in the midwest. Cozy up in a college town, bundle up in a wintry climate. Take advantage of opportunities: administrative leadership track, research time / support / travel, access to high powered academic faculty, choice of strong fellowships at home institution. Drawn by the warm family feel of the program, caring program leadership, strong alumni connections, supportive mentorship. A top tier student willing to give up a little brand name and location for a chance to blossom and shine, or a second tier student itching for a lucky break to get upward mobility. Get along with down to earth / not so intense co-residents. Learns from copious conference time. Appreciates easing into call responsibility yet want a rigorous program that, now in the minority, still has some block of time overnight without in-house attending coverage.

Interview day experience: David Fessell, selection committee chair, professor (clinical track), goes out of his way to be welcoming, remembers your name, puts together a recruitment presentation that pulls at your heart strings, cares about mentorship, connects you with people, communicates with you early and often, gives you swag. I felt like the faculty interviewers really took an interest and understood me. The "interview" with the chiefs was superficial, closed-file.

Reputation of program: Doximity rank 8. Perennial AuntMinnie semifinalist for best program, but not finalist. First tier, not top 3, but definitely top 12. Roughly comparable to Duke.

Quality of education: Very good. Didactic heavy (11.5+ hr/wk conference), with a person clearly in charge of resident education for each division (this is an ACGME requirement but I did not see any other program that gave such people actual titles). Graded responsibility for call (buddy call halfway through R1, junior call, senior call). No in-house attending 3-8am. Some (?) protected time / no call prior to boards. R4: 9 mo elective/mini-fellowship(s) (?), can get nucs dual boarded. 2 weeks research time R2 and R3 each. Up to 12 months research during residency possible. In-house statistician, illustration, and graphic design staff. Institution-level certificate track for Healthcare Administration (20 mo, every other Thurs 1-4pm), innovation track for commercializing ideas. No CT colonography.

Fellowship: Strong. 60% stay at U of M. Other places in last four years most commonly MGH (3), BWH (3), UCSF (2), Penn (2).

Quality of residents: Somewhat good. 58% midwestern, 21% from top 30 schools, 64% AOA (5/11, 7/11, 4/10, 9/11). I think this is about as good as it gets for a program in the midwest; MIR is not any more diverse or elite-heavy. A handful of residents in the past few years have had national committee positions (eg, ACGME RC) and/or research awards. Not as academic as you would presume from the faculty and alumni productivity. Impressed by a senior that very confidently did cases at noon conference.

Quality of faculty: Very good. #7 in NIH funding. Chair Reed Dunnick (former president RSNA, ARRS, ABR, AUR) is getting senile and will be retiring next year; search ongoing for Dunnick 2.0. Some faculty that seemed prominent and interesting to me include Frey and Bohnen (neuro nucs), Kazerooni (chest, CV befitting a future chair: president ARRS, STR, AUR, ACR chancellor, ABR trustee), Jacobson (MSK ultrasound), Davenport / Cohan / Ellis (abdominal, quality), Saad (VIR, esp. liver), Srinivasan (head and neck), Carlos (health services/outcomes research), Luker (molecular imaging of chemokine signaling). Wish there was more informatics.

Quality of program director: PD Janet Bailey is friendly, informal, kind of quirky. Professor (clinical track). Has published some interesting articles: lack of 24/7 attending coverage is associated with better ratings on resident education, buddy call system reduces anxiety before independent call. Also mocking applicant letters of intent.

Quality of hospital facilities: Strong culture of using standing desks; each has personally programmed presets. 11 interventional suites. The floors are crumbling under the MR scanner at the children's hospital? Weird curtains separating cubicles in the call reading room?

Resident wellness: High morale. Happy. Well-adjusted, put-together. First name basis with most faculty. Regular basketball games.

Other notes: Excellent salary and benefits (PGY-2 $56,318 + $3,942 lump, iPad Air 2 64gb, $1500 per meeting presentation x unlimited, $1000 + $250 x 3 education fund, tuition + $1000 for AIRP, half week for RSNA R2-4, time for fellowship interviews, vacation 4 weeks + 9 holidays + birthday). Minus $170 union fee. Contrast reaction moonlighting opportunities. Only 4 days of paid paternity leave. Parking is inconvenient. StatDx included but no radprimer?

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**Official 2015-2016** - Diagnostic Radiology Program Reviews