The Musculoskeletal Fellowship program at Penn Medicine is one of the longest-running musculoskeletal fellowship programs in the nation. Established by Dr. Murray K. Dalinka (author of Arthrography), his legacy provided us with the ability to offer an exceptional ACGME-accredited training program with the goal to train expert musculoskeletal radiologists who will serve as leaders in the field. Penn Medicine will transition to a Non-ACGME Musculoskeletal Imaging Fellowship training program in July 2023.
The Division of Musculoskeletal Radiology at Penn offers training in all aspects of musculoskeletal imaging and intervention. Our diagnostic service includes rigorous diagnostic ultrasounds, MRIs (including spine MRIs), CT scans and radiographs.
Our interventional service includes:
- US-guided therapeutic injections including PRP and nerve blocks
- US-guided biopsies
- CT-guided biopsies
- Fluoroscopy-guided therapeutic injections and arthrogram
- Spine interventions at Pennsylvania Hospital
Dedicated weekly academic time provides great opportunities for our fellows to participate in the clinical research, mentoring programs and also presenting in international conferences.
MSK Fellowship Highlights
- Level-1 Trauma
- Sarcoma Program
- State-of-the-art ultrasound-guided intervention practice
- Extensive procedural experience for fellows
- Dedicated academic time and support for fellow research
- Numerous multidisciplinary and educational MSK conferences
- Informatics mini-fellowship (1 MSK fellow per year)
Scope of Training
Each fellow is trained in the following modalities:
- MRI
In addition to standard MSK MRI, we also read spine MRI and MR neurography
MRI Volume: 400 /week, 21,000 /year
Equipment: 8 3T magnets, 14 1.5T magnets
- X-RAY AND CT
We read all bone radiographs and MSK CT (excluding spine)
X-ray/CT Volume: 3000 /week, 150,000 /year
Equipment includes: Dual energy CT, Weight-bearing CT, Conventional Tomography for trauma
- MSK ULTRASOUND: DIAGNOSTIC AND INTERVENTIONAL
2 Dedicated MSK Ultrasound suites with subspecialty trained sonographers
MSK US Diagnostic exams: 3,300 / year MSK US Procedures: 1,600 / year
- BIOPSY SERVICE
CT fluoroscopy and ultrasound guided biopsy
Fellows participate in EVERY MSK biopsy
Over 500 extremity biopsies / year (At least 100 per MSK fellow)
- FLUOROSCOPIC PROCEDURES
Dedicated MSK Fluoro suite
Spine intervention
1,300 Fluoro procedures / year
Each fellow participates in evening and weekend call responsibilities, shared with and supervised by MSK staff. Fellows must spend one week in the Emergency Department on a night float rotation.
Fellows are responsible for:
- Sharing consultations with emergency room personnel and referring clinicians
- Teaching residents, medical students and other reading room visitors who rotate on MSK clinical services
- Giving case-based and didactic presentations at a weekly resident conference
Call and Moonlighting
- Weekly "pager" call with in-house weekend coverage (call pool includes fellows and mini-fellows)
- 1 week of ER nightfloat (extra compensation for this week)
- Internal - Can sign up for an additional week of paid nightfloat
- External - Previous fellows have worked with various local groups
Curriculum
Instruction includes read-out sessions with the Musculoskeletal (MSK) staff, hands-on ultrasound and biopsy training, weekly case conference, didactic fellow conference, various monthly conferences with Orthopedic Surgery and Rheumatology as well as week-long rotation with pediatric MSK radiologists at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). A number of elective options are available within the Department of Radiology and with clinical services in Orthopedic Surgery and Rehabilitation Medicine.
Fellows are involved in a scholarly project that is to be completed, or nearly completed, by the end of the year. Dedicated academic time and workspace are provided for the project. Fellows may attend any departmental conference, clinical schedule permitting. An extensive digital MR and plain film teaching file is available for conference preparation.
| Weekly Conferences |
Monthly/Quarterly Conferences |
| MSK Fellow conference |
Sports Medicine conference |
| Radiology grand rounds |
Journal club |
| Sarcoma conference |
Rheumatology Conference |
| MSK case conference |
Hand/wrist conference |
Practice Locations
We support busy orthopedic surgery, trauma and rheumatology practices, as well as brisk inpatient and outpatient volumes. Our department has the latest CT, MR, fluoroscopy and ultrasound units.
Penn Medicine University City
Home to the Penn Musculoskeletal Center, merging specialists from orthopaedics, rheumatology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, internal medicine, pain medicine and radiology — the first of its kind in Philadelphia. Our main MSK reading room, ultrasound clinic and dedicated fluoroscopy suite are all here, so MSK Fellows will likely spend the bulk of their time at this location.
Penn Presbyterian Medical Center
Level 1 Trauma Center
Located across the Street from our Musculoskeletal Center.
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Epicenter of the Philadelphia main campus. Located a few blocks from our musculoskeletal center.
Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine
Home to Penn Medicine's Abramson Cancer Center
Our biopsy service is stationed here. We perform ultrasound guided and CT-guided biopsies with on-site cytopathology support in coordination with our multidisciplinary sarcoma and tumor service.
Our Fellows
Meet Our Musculoskeletal Fellows
Alumni
Class of 2022
Ahmad Babaa: Jefferson Health – Abington, Pennsylvania
Mannan Parrikh: Southtowns Radiology, West Seneca, NY
Barzin Behzad: Penn Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
Class of 2021
Drew Gunio: New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine
Justin Ngeow: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Sarim Baig: Christiana Care
Class of 2020
Karen Clark: University Radiology Group, New Jersey
Catherine King: Northwest Radiology, Indianapolis, Indiana
Naveen Selvam: Doylestown Health, Doylestown, Pennsylvania
Class of 2019
Stephanie Jo: Penn Medicine; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Samir Mehta: VA Palo Alto; Palo Alto, California
Matthew Uriell: One Medical Center; Upland, Pennsylvania
Class of 2018
Po-Hao Chen: Cleveland Clinic; Cleveland, Ohio
Brian Ju: Penn Medicine; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Paul Niziolek: Indiana University; Indianapolis, Indiana
Class of 2017
Salim Banbahji: University Radiology; Somerset, New Jersey
Thomas Bevilacqua: Great Lakes Imaging; Buffalo, New York
Michael Perry: University of Virginia; Charlottesville, Virginia
Learn More and Apply
Program Director
Ryan McClintock, MD
Assistant Professor of Clinical Radiology
Contact Us
Coordinator: Denia Budhan
Department of Radiology/Musculoskeletal Imaging
Penn Medicine University City
3737 Market Street, Mailbox #4
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Contact: denia.budhan@uphs.upenn.edu | 215-294-9521