Top Applicant Questions

The Mass General Brigham Education leadership has promised that fellows recruited to a single site will have their fellowship at that single site. There will be no major changes or requirement to go to the other site. There may be minor changes, as our MSK divisions continue to become more integrated in terms of workflow. In other words, you may read out with some Brigham attendings remotely, and we may have combined conferences. There may also be opportunities for optional electives.

Starting next year (2026) we will be recruiting for 1 combined, Mass General Brigham musculoskeletal fellowship, for the class of 2028-2029. More details about the combined fellowship will be worked out in the spring (i.e. we do not know the structure of the combined fellowship at this present time).

Most fellows prefer to live in Boston or Cambridge due to easier access to MGH. There are many places that are walking distance to the hospital, although a bit more expensive. Even if you are not close to the hospital, the Boston public transportation system works well for the most part. There is a red line T (train/subway) station right next to the Yawkey building where the MSK division is located. Please check the “Will I need a car?” and “Working and living in Boston” videos for more insights. 

The two off-site locations covered by the MSK division are MGH West (Waltham, MA), and Newton-Wellesley Hospital (Newton, MA). Fellows will have week-long rotations at both locations throughout the year. Please check the video on “Fellow Rotations” for more details. 

A typical day usually starts at 8AM and ends around 5PM. In summary, if you are scheduled to be in the main campus reading room (we call it being “Online”), you will read cross-sectional studies (CT/MRI) in the morning and plain films in the afternoon. You may be assigned additional roles such as Conference or Consult fellow when you are Online. Read out is done at different moments depending on volume and staffing. For fluoro/US Procedures, patients are scheduled from 8AM-4PM. The fellow on CT procedures usually spends half of the day in the reading room dealing with requests and reading cases, and the other half in the IR suite performing the procedures. For the off-site rotations, the reading pattern is inverted (plain films in the morning and cross-sectionals in the afternoon). Newton-Wellesley also usually includes procedures in between cases. Waltham has an earlier start (6AM), but the fellow gets paid for the extra two hours of coverage (currently $100/hour but subject to change). 

Call starts on Friday at 5 PM and the fellow is responsible for covering the MSK pager until the following Friday. On weekends, the fellow and attending on call are expected to read all the studies performed from Friday evening to Sunday 8 AM, and all inpatient exams performed until noon on Sundays and holidays. All inpatient exams after noon on Sundays and holidays should be reviewed, but do not have to be dictated. Emergency procedures (mostly infection aspirations) and add-on protocols are also part of call responsibilities. Each fellow will usually be on call for a total of 6-7 weeks during the year. 

We have a new annual MSK curriculum with talks that will cover many topics in MSK, from basic MRI interpretation of different joints to discussions about tumors and rheumatologic conditions. These talks are given by our staff every Friday throughout the year. We also have regular MSK interesting case conferences, which is a great opportunity to show typical and unusual cases in an informal environment with the goal of learning as a group. 

There are multiple multidisciplinary conferences in which our group is involved. Please check the video on “Conferences” for more details. The MGH radiology department also has daily conferences for the residents, and the other divisions have their own conferences for anyone who is interested. Additional conferences and courses are available through the Mass General Brigham newsletter sent to all employees every week. 

The fellowship at MGH offers exposure to a high volume of nearly all types of MSK procedures, including steroid injections, arthrograms, aspirations, biopsies and ablations. Fellows will also be trained in spine procedures such as epidural injections and nerve root blocks. The volume of procedures is enough to get all fellows comfortable to practice independently by the end of the year. 

Participation in research is not a requirement, but for those who are interested, there are plenty opportunities available. If you are interested in a particular topic, you should be able to find someone in the division to get you involved in a short-term project for the fellowship year. More information on the video on “Academic Opportunities”. 

If you are eligible for a full medical license in the state of Massachusetts, you can sign up for CT/MRI contrast coverage during evenings and weekends. The moonlighting shifts can be taken at the main campus or at other MGH sites such as Waltham. The schedule is organized by one of the MGH radiology residents. Currently there is also a teleradiology moonlighting opportunity for a community hospital affiliate to read general radiology.

We always have a mix of academics and private practice, overall 50/50 when looking at all the fellowship classes from a bird's eye view. Please check the “Where Do Fellows Go?” video for a summary about the most recent years. One of our goals is to help you to attain your professional goals, so don't hesitate to reach out and ask if you have questions when you're applying for jobs!

The MGB administration has promised that: 1, fellowships will not combine until divisions are combined across MGB (has not happened to MSK yet); and 2, all trainees will only experience a combined fellowship program if they are recruited into that program. Therefore, to our knowledge, you will only be at MGH, and you will not be rotating through Brigham and Woman's sites.