Division of Ultrasound Medicine

Our Ultrasound Division has been expanding since its inception in 2002 with Colleen Campbell serving as the Division Director. Since this time we have grown with representation at UCSD, the Veterans Association Medical Center, and Rady Children’s Hospital as well as holding a prominent role in medical student education within the UCSD School of Medicine.

Our residents start out with intern ultrasound bootcamp for two weeks during their orientation. We add depth of training over the entire residency with at least four weeks of ultrasound in total. Scanning shifts occur at Rady Childrens Hospital, UCSD at both sites, in the ICU and in the ED, and at the VA Medical Center in the ED. Thanks to our previous fellow, Michael Macias, we have a website with all of our lectures available, interesting cases, journal review, and brief tutorials on relevant ultrasound topics at: https://emultrasound.sdsc.edu/. Check it out!

Our fellowship was started in 2010 and is EUFAC-accredited. This coming year the fellowship will be led by Dr. Akash Desai. We have produced successful fellows annually with many going on to lead ultrasound divisions in academic and community health systems. We accept one fellow annually. 

Ultrasound faculty and the fellow participate in weekly journal club review, QA sessions and biweekly scanning shifts. Once a quarter we host division-wide journal club in person to build camaraderie: there’s few things better than taking the boat out in the beautiful San Diego Harbor with the UCSD ultrasound gang, going over some articles, and enjoying a drink with the sunset. 

It is our passion to share our love of ultrasound with other specialties. At UCSD there is a full host of EM fellowships that allow for exciting cross-fellowship collaboration. Beyond the emergency department, there are opportunities for advanced ultrasound training across the house of medicine, with ongoing relationships with regional anesthesia (nerve blocks), cardiac anesthesia (TEE), OB, pediatrics, MSK/sports medicine, and critical care medicine.

Finally, many of us are very active in international ultrasound. Our first trip was to Mozambique in 2012. Dr. Smyres has led our team to Peru and Ghana and former fellowship director Dr. Singh has spearheaded our teaching efforts in Uganda and Mexico. Our goal is to leave machines where we teach in order to continue to provide immediate diagnostic capabilities to our colleagues in other countries. 

The ultrasound division has also partnered with El Centro Regional Medical Center (ECRMC) in El Centro, CA for residents to gain POCUS exposure at ECRMC, with protentional to do scanning shifts across the border in Mexicali.

We look forward to continued growth of our division in the ever- fascinating field of point-of-care ultrasound!

See more information on the Division of Ultrasound Website