UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine-UCLA Medical Center Program

Program Identity & Fit

UCLA's integrated IR residency is an academic, tertiary/quaternary program embedded within a five-hospital network (Ronald Reagan UCLA, Santa Monica-UCLA, West LA VA, Olive View-UCLA, and Children's Hospital LA), giving residents exposure ranging from complex quaternary referral cases to safety-net VA and county-affiliated populations. The five-year categorical structure builds three years of diagnostic radiology foundation before two years of IR subspecialization, with a preliminary surgery year at UCLA and dedicated procedure logging reviewed at semiannual counseling. Research is structurally supported rather than merely optional: the Translational Research Imaging Center (TRIC) offers preclinical/cadaveric device-testing infrastructure used for device development (Guglielmi coil, Onyx, MERCI), and residents have protected research time plus faculty-mentored investigative months. The program's device-innovation history and academic hospital network suggest it values residents oriented toward procedural rigor, academic productivity, and eventual subspecialty/faculty-level practice rather than general community IR work.