 The
Massachusetts General Hospital, department of radiation oncology,
has worked in collaboration with two universities to provide
onsite clinical internships for students in the field of Radiation
Therapy Technology for many years. They are: Suffolk
University in the Medical Science program which consists
of clinical radiation therapy or medical biophysics and University
of Vermont in the Radiation Therapy program.
The department of radiation oncology performs over 40,000
treatments per year. The extensive list of treatment options,
including intensity modulated radiation therapy, proton beam
therapy, brachytherapy, and intraoperative radiation therapy
to name a few, allows students to obtain broad experience
while on assignment here.
The program is highly selective with a limited number of
internship opportunities available per academic year. Students
integrate classroom theory with patient care by completing
over 1300 clinical contact hours. Students are exposed to
unique and/or advanced treatment modalities while treating
common as well as extremely rare cancers. They learn the art
and importance of teamwork while working with multidisciplinary
groups within the radiation oncology specialty area, including
radiation oncologists, radiation therapists, medical dosimetrists
and physicists, oncology nurses, oncology social workers and
other medical professionals. The collective goal is to ensure
patients receive the best possible medical care with the best
possible outcomes. By the end of the internship, many of the
students remain employed at the hospital or they are placed
in other academic centers throughout the US.
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