Skip to main content

Body MRI

The Body MRI Fellowship program at Northwestern University and Northwestern Memorial Hospital (NMH) in Chicago has eight one-year positions. We will begin accepting applications for the 2025-2026 application season on 11/1/23 and will be doing virtual interviews for this fellowship year beginning the week of January 8th 2024 in accordance with SCARD guidelines.

Fellows rotate through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasound and computed tomography (CT) imaging during the course of the year with the main focus of the fellowship on body MR imaging. The MR experience includes abdominal and pelvic examinations. CT examinations include all non-neurological applications including abdominal, pelvic, and chest CT. Ultrasound includes abdominal and pelvic, thyroid, testes, and vascular/transplant applications. To see videos of our alumni describing their fellowship experience, check out our YouTube channel: 

YouTube Channel Video from our Chair 

Contact Us

Program Director

 

Horowitz-150-185

Jeanne Horowitz, MD.       

Program Coordinator

Kathryn Murphy

Department of Radiology
676 N Saint Clair St. Suite 800
Chicago, IL 60611
312-695-5978

Learn More & Apply

 Training Site & Equipment

NMH is a nationally ranked academic medical facility and Level I trauma center located in the heart of downtown Chicago’s Gold Coast. With over 17 high-field magnet systems, we currently perform of the highest volumes in the country for fellows to read. This number includes over 12,000 abdominal and pelvic MR exams per year as well as over 2,000 prostate MRs. Trainees gain additional experience reading studies from Prentice Women’s Hospital and our outpatient imaging center. In October 2014, Northwestern Memorial Hospital opened a 25-story Outpatient Care Pavilion on the downtown medical campus. CT utilizes the latest technology and is a high volume modality currently with 11 multidetector CT scanners including Siemens Force Definition 128 AS+, Siemens Definition Dual Source/ Dual Energy, Siemens Force Definition 64AS, Siemens Sensation Cardiac 64 and Siemens Sensation 16 and GE LightSpeed scanners.

 Curriculum

The majority of the fellowship (over six months) is focused on abdominal and pelvic body MR. The body fellows also rotate through computed tomography (CT) imaging, ultrasound (US) and musculoskeletal radiology (if desired) during the course of one year with the main focus of the fellowship on MR imaging. The MR focus is inclusive of hepatic MR exams focusing on liver lesion characterization diagnosis and staging of liver tumors, hepatobiliary imaging, pancreatic imaging, renal and adrenal imaging, MR enterography and urography, transplantation, rectal cancer and fistula imaging and female and male pelvic imaging.

Innovative functional imaging techniques at NMH include routine use of diffusion weighted imaging, MR elastography and 3T MRI imaging including prostate MR with fusion using the Uronav system and PET MR. The MR experience encompasses chest, abdominal, pelvic and musculoskeletal examinations. CT examinations are inclusive of all non-neurological applications of the abdominal, chest and musculoskeletal areas. Ultrasound includes abdominal and pelvic, thyroid, testes, musculoskeletal, and vascular applications. A month of elective time is provided. During this time, fellows can work in a variety of areas such as neuroradiology, breast imaging, cardiac imaging and interventional radiology amongst other numerous options. 

The fellow is responsible for all aspects of the body imaging exams, including protocols, monitoring of studies, exam interpretation and dictation and patient issues. The fellow has graduated responsibility and acts under the direct supervision of 19 faculty members. The faculty is fellowship trained with subspecialty fellowships, including body imaging, gastrointestinal and musculoskeletal radiology. Our highly trained staff includes full-time certified technologists, full-time RN coverage and reading room assistants.

Fellows benefit from expertise in the variety of top-ranked clinical areas at Northwestern, including urology, gastroenterology, vascular surgery, transplant surgery, oncology, orthopedics and sports medicine. In addition, there is a high-level collaborative MR research program with Siemens. Opportunities for clinical research and academic time are available and our fellows often participate in at least one project leading to a presentation at national radiology meetings and/or publications.  

The high number and complexity of exams allow the fellows to learn a large variety of material. We currently have several imaging conferences a week that are suitable for the fellowship level. These include a weekly Body Imaging conference during which interesting cases are reviewed, a weekly didactic conference for the fellows, a weekly interdepartmental GI/GI oncology conference, a weekly urologic oncology conference, a biweekly gynecologic oncology conference and a monthly Soft Tissue Sarcoma Imaging conference. There are a variety of other departmental and interdepartmental conferences that are available to the fellows. The fellow is expected to be an active part of resident and medical student teaching on the rotations.

This fellowship is also committed to inclusion, physician wellness, fostering career development and mentorship. Following this fellowship, the fellows are well prepared for the best academic and private practice positions across the country. 

 How to Apply

This fellowship program does not participate in the match. Applications will be accepted after November 1. Please note that no interviews will be conducted before January 2024 as recommended by SCARD. As we anticipate high demand for January virtual interview slots, interested applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible. If you are interested in applying, please contact us at 312-695-5978 or see below. Applicants will need to send the following materials to the fellowship coordinator at Kathryn.Murphy@nm.org

  • Completed Graduate Medical Education application
  • Curriculum vitae
  • Personal statement
  • Three letters of recommendation addressed to Dr. Jeanne Horowitz
  • USMLE transcripts
  • ABR Board scores, if applicable
  • Passport-size photo of yourself
  • Visa information, if applicable

 

 Alumni List

We have listed our alumni and where they have gone to work post-fellowship. 

2012-2013

  • Warren Brandwein, MD - Elmhurst Medical Group
  • Jonathan Cogley, MD - Baystate Medical Center
  • Joseph Luke Gatlin, MD - St. Dominic's Hospital, Jackson MS
  • Erin O'Neill, MD - Medstar Washington Hospital
  • Adrienne Vargo, MD - St. Paul Radiology, St. Paul MN
  • Vicnays Venu, MD - University of Alberta, Alberta, Canada
  • Joseph Yacoub, MD - Georgetown University

2013-2014

  • Maneesh Gupta, MD - Ellesmere X-ray Associates, Toronto, Canada
  • Ravi Guttikonda, MD - University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center
  • Nick Kujala, MD - Elmhurst Hospital
  • Antonella Lostumbo, MD - Chicago VA
  • Joe Meranda, MD - Radiology Associates of Northern Kentucky
  • Meghan Single, MD - Rochester Regional Health, Rochester, NY

2014-2015

  • Samir Amin, MD - CarePoint Health, Pittsburgh, PA
  • Nishant Kumar, MD - Elmhurst Medical Group
  • Hans Mouser, MD - Priority Radiology, Louisville, KY
  • Wesley Roberts, MD - Advocate Sherman Radiology, Elgin, IL
  • Amrita Sikka, MD - Wisconsin Radiology Specialists
  • Vincent Yang, MD - Kaiser Permanente Vacaville Medical Center, Houston, TX

2015-2016

  • Sharon Adam, MD - Chief, Body CT and Vice Chair Research, Tel Aviv University
  • Jordan LeGout, MD - Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL
  • Vanessa Lewis Williams, MD - University of Kansas
  • Chris Lindquist, MD - University of Manitoba
  • Montu Patel, MD - Oklahoma University
  • Mike Savino, MD - Kaiser Permanente Vallejo California

2016-2017

  • Yu Hong, MD - Radiology Imaging Associates, Denver, CO
  • Irene Hotalen, MD - Radiology Associates, Hollywood, FL
  • Amit Marwah, MD - Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital 
  • Naziya Samreen, MD - NYU Winthrop University
  • Mrunal Shah, MD - Advocate Christ Hospital
  • Talentshia Vethanayagamony, MD - Loyola VA

2017-2018

  • Brett Bachelor, MD - Priority Radiology, Louisville, KY
  • Ryan Dhaemers, MD - Northwest Radiology, Indianapolis, IN
  • Mohit Gupta, MD - Quantum Radiology
  • Danielle Hill, MD - University of Indiana
  • Omar Katib, MD - Lutheran General Hospital
  • Daniel L'Heureux, MD - Rush University
  • Benedicta Omene, MD - Royal Oak MI

2018-2019

  • Kunal Kothari, MD - Manhasset NY
  • Joshua Lechusz, DO - Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center
  • Peter (Shou) Mei, MD - Mercy Hospital, Chicago, IL
  • Abe Salinas, MD - Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Radiology ER section
  • Harsh Shah, MD - Mercy Hospital, Chicago, IL Vision Radiology
  • Ravi Sheth, MD - Northwestern Kish
  • Martha Terrazas, MD - University of New Mexico

2019-2020

  • Xiao-Zhou Du, MD - Royal Inland Hospital, Canada
  • Brian Gilcrease-Garcia, MD - Houston Methodist Hospital
  • Jacob Lewis, MD - Sumner Radiology
  • Juliana Starcevich, MD - Radiology Associates of Albuquerque
  • Timothy Tsai, MD - Radiology, INC Elkhart General Hospital
  • David Wymer, MD - Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Abdominal Imaging
  • Lisansha Zahirsha, MD - DuPage Medical Group

 2020-2021

  • Hisham Bajwa, MD - Radiology Associates of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV
  • Michael Choe, MD - Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital 
  • Darshan Gandhi, MD - UT Regional One Health (UTROP), Memphis TN
  • Michael Kim, MD - Medical College of Wisconsin
  • Paul Nolan, MD - Advocate Christ Medical Center
  • Hannah Recht, MD - Northwestern Memorial Hospital 
  • Ali Serhal, MD - Northwestern Memorial Hospital 
  • Ming-Lun Chiu, MD - Northwestern Memorial Hospital

2021-2022

  • Noah Atwi, MD - Joliet Radiologic Service Corporation
  • Amany Aziz, MD - Duly Medical Group 
  • John Burns, MD - Advanced Radiology Consultants, Kansas City 
  • Patrick Murphy, MD - Northwest Community Hospital 
  • Michael Nellamattathill, MD - North Shore University Health System 
  • Rehan Nizamuddin, MD - North Shore University Health System 
  • Tugce Trabzonlu, MD - Northwestern University 
  • Tina Washington, MD - Georgetown University 

2022-2023

  • David Brogan, MD - NorthShore University Health System
  • Jack Chen, MD - Allina Health
  • Meaghan Dwyer, MD - Northwestern Memorial Hospital
  • Syed Hussaini, MD - Advocate Aurora Health
  • Cody Rissman, MD - Advanced Radiology Consultants Lutheran General Hospital
  • Gillis Schwartz, MD - University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
  • Deanna Thorson, MD - Northwestern Memorial Hospital

 Sample Body Imaging Lecture Topics for Fellows

  • Liver MRI
  • LIRADS
  • Diffusion weighted MRI
  • MR elastography
  • MRCP
  • Solid and cystic pancreatic masses
  • Solid and cystic renal masses
  • Adrenal MRI
  • Rectal MRI
  • Prostate MRI
  • Interesting and challenging GI and GU issues
  • GU trauma
  • Imaging pregnancy complications
  • Imaging postoperative ob/gyn complications
  • Placental MRI
  • Spectral CT: Fundamentals and Clinical Applications
  • Techniques for CT dose reduction and image optimization
  • Interal hernias
  • Liver, renal, and pancreas transplant ultrasound
  • How to lead a group physician wellness project
  • Personal finance

 Why Northwestern?

Housestaff training through McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University provides diverse and challenging clinical experiences and world-class education located in the heart of the beautiful city of Chicago. Learn more via the links to the McGaw website below.

Watch Our Videos

McGaw Experience Discover Feinberg Northwestern Medicine Community Partnership Program Learn More About Chicago Get to Know Streeterville

Follow Radiology on FacebookInstagramLinkedIn