I'm Dr. Keith Unger. I'm the residency program director
here at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital for the Radiation Oncology Residency Program.
The mission of our residency is to train residents in the independent practice of radiation oncology
using cutting-edge cancer treatments. The values of our Hospital include cura personalis,
or care of the entire person, something that we also strongly believe in in our training program.
A few things attracted me to a residency here at Medstar Georgetown. Chief among them was our early
adoption of advanced technology. So as a resident, you get exposure and experience with CyberKnife.
We were, or rather are, one of the first in the world to have the ZAP-X radio surgical system.
And then, we also have pencil beam scanning proton therapy which is currently the most
advanced form of proton therapy. So when you take all these things together, residents really have a
lot of opportunities for research, collaboration. And when it's time to look for a job, we're very
marketable. Here at Georgetown, we really value our residents and find them to be an essential
part of the team. As they progress through their clinical years, we try to give them more autonomy.
And during their final years of their residency during their pgy4 and pgy5 years, they have a
lot of input into their clinical rotations, their research time, as well as their away electives.
Basically if they come to us with a solid plan, we try to do as much as we can to support them.
And being a smaller program, it's easy usually for us to help them achieve their goals. I chose
MedStar Georgetown, first and foremost, because this program offers excellent training with a
diversity of clinical experience, faculty who are dedicated to teaching, and a great location.
But what really made Georgetown stand out was the culture and the people. At the end of my interview
day, I felt almost energized because I felt like I really fit in with the people I had met that day.
I could immediately tell that the faculty were genuine and down to earth and that I would look
forward to working with them. I chose to come to Georgetown because I rotated here as a medical
student and really liked the culture here. There's a great diversity in terms of patients, clinical
cases, and state of the art technologies that we get to use every day to treat our patients.
I've been really satisfied with the experiences I've had both in the clinic and doing research.
The attendings are super supportive and very dedicated to resident education,
and I've had a great experience here so far. I really feel lucky to come to work every day,
and I feel very privileged to be training at Georgetown. One of the biggest advantages of
working at Georgetown is that we get to rotate through a variety of different clinical sites
including a more urban practice in downtown D.C. at the Washington Hospital Center,
a more rural community practice out in Southern Maryland Hospital Center in Clinton, Maryland,
and we spend most of our time here at our home institution of Georgetown University Hospital.
We see a wide variety of different patients and diversity and patient backgrounds. We meet people
from Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and the D.C. area. But also with all the diplomats
in D.C., we actually end up treating a lot of foreign people too. And kind of get to meet a
lot of interesting people with different diseases and interesting pathology. All my co-residents and
I love to spend time just exploring the D.C. area together. I feel like for D.C., anything you could
be interested in, we have. Whether it's hiking, fitness, food, culture. Personally, I love going
for runs around the National Mall and monuments and in Rock Creek Park. And I love going to shows
with my co-residents. I've gone to the ballet at the Kennedy Center,
musicals at Ford's Theater. We've had a lot of fun together just exploring the D.C. area. And,
some of my favorite memories of residency have just been exploring D.C. with my co-residents.
I've had a fantastic time here at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital as a resident.
I feel that they have prepared me to move on into my career going forward as a radiation oncologist.
If you are looking for a place that will provide you with a variety of clinical scenarios and a
plethora of technologies to work with, this is definitely the place for you. Training in all
these different types of settings makes me feel confident that what I do leave Georgetown someday,
I'm going to be a comfortable and confident physician and able to treat in any variety
of settings that I'm going to be in. I am grateful to be working here right now. Residency
is everything I really hoped it would be, and all the work it took to get here was worth it.