What the new study found
Researchers at Yale New Haven Health System ran an anonymous, cross-sectional survey of resident physicians and clinical fellows using the USDA's 10-item Adult Food Security Survey Module. Of roughly 600 eligible trainees, 164 completed the survey with usable data — a 28% response rate, reported in JAMA Network Open in October 2026 (DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.40774).
Overall, 30.5% of respondents (50 of 164; 95% CI, 24.0%-37.9%) met criteria for food insecurity in the prior 12 months. Broken out by specialty, radiology residents reported the highest rate of any group studied — 5 of 10 respondents, or 50.0% — ahead of anesthesiology (40.0%) and well above internal medicine and surgery (19.2%-19.4% each). That difference across specialties was not statistically significant (P=.24), and a 10-person subgroup is too small to generalize from. It's a signal worth noting, not a national radiology statistic.
The more robust finding in the same study is about training year, not specialty. 45.3% of PGY-1 residents (24 of 53) met food-insecurity criteria, compared with about 23% of residents in later years — an odds ratio of 2.71 (95% CI, 1.35-5.43; P=.004). Lack of money was strongly associated with food insecurity (odds ratio 72.0 for those who endorsed it); lack of time was not (P=.55). Among PGY-1s specifically, 51.9% cited lack of money as a barrier, versus 30.6% of later-year trainees.
A larger study puts radiology's number in context
A separate, larger study published in the same journal a year earlier offers a useful counterweight. That survey covered 1,656 residents and fellows across four training sites at two academic medical centers, and found a lower overall food-insecurity rate of 13.7% (JAMA Network Open, DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.50044). With a far larger radiology subgroup — 77 residents instead of 10 — it put radiology/diagnostic imaging at 13.0% (10 of 77), close to internal medicine (10.3%) and below surgery (22.1%) and pediatrics (19.7%).
Read together, the two studies agree that food insecurity among residents generally — regardless of specialty — is common enough to warrant institutional attention, and that it's worse for trainees in their first year. They disagree on whether radiology specifically stands out, which is exactly what you'd expect when one specialty subgroup has 10 respondents and the other has 77. The larger, better-powered study is the more trustworthy read on radiology's relative position; the smaller study is the more trustworthy read on how severe the problem can get within a single cost-of-living-stressed program.
The debt and stipend data that predate this study
Food insecurity doesn't appear in a vacuum, and radiology residency already has documented financial-strain data independent of these two surveys. A 2024 survey of 198 diagnostic and interventional radiology residents published in Clinical Imaging found 60% of respondents who answered the debt question (84 of 141) carried more than $100,000 in debt after medical school, while 79% of diagnostic residents (87% of interventional trainees) reported no formal coursework in personal finance, as reported by Radiology Business.
Stipends compound the problem geographically. A JACR analysis of PGY-2 diagnostic radiology stipends across 118 ACGME-accredited programs in 77 cities found a published range of about $49,500 to $72,000 — but once adjusted for local cost of living, that range narrowed to roughly $26,900 to $68,800, with an average 9.1% loss in real purchasing power nationally and losses as steep as 58.1% in the highest-cost markets, as reported by Radiology Business. A stipend that looks adequate on paper can still leave a resident in a high-cost city with less real income than a peer in a cheaper one.
What this adds to the pipeline conversation
Most discussion of radiology's workforce pipeline focuses on reading volume, burnout among practicing attendings, and the projected shortage of physicians overall. The financial condition of residents in their first one to two years of training gets far less airtime, even though it's the same pipeline that eventually staffs reading rooms and teleradiology queues.
None of the studies cited here show that food insecurity or debt is driving medical students away from diagnostic radiology specifically — that causal claim isn't supported by the data, and radiology has in fact remained a competitive match in recent cycles. What the data does show is a concentration of financial strain in the PGY-1 year, debt loads that outpace financial literacy, and stipends that don't reliably track local cost of living. Those are concrete, fixable inputs — need-based emergency funds, cost-of-living-adjusted stipends, financial literacy curricula — that institutions can act on regardless of how the specialty-level numbers eventually settle.
Where this fits alongside AI-assisted reporting
This is a training-economics story, not a reporting-technology one, and AI CT reporting doesn't fix a resident's grocery bill. But it belongs in the same shortage conversation imaging leaders are already having: every input that strains the pipeline — debt, stipends, burnout, attrition — eventually shows up as fewer radiologists available to read studies. Tools that give practicing radiologists a structured, ready-to-sign draft to review rather than a blank report to dictate reduce volume pressure on the attendings supervising those same residents today. The workforce problem has more than one lever, and the training pipeline is one that's been underexamined.
Frequently asked questions
How common is food insecurity among radiology residents?
In a 2026 JAMA Network Open survey of 164 trainees at Yale New Haven Health System, 30.5% met USDA criteria for food insecurity overall, and radiology residents had the highest rate of any specialty group studied at 50% (5 of 10). That radiology subgroup was very small, so the figure should be read as a signal, not a precise national estimate. A separate, larger 2025 JAMA Network Open study of 1,656 residents and fellows at two academic institutions found a lower overall rate (13.7%) and put radiology/diagnostic imaging at 13.0% (10 of 77), roughly in line with several other specialties.
Which residents are most affected by food insecurity?
First-year residents (PGY-1) consistently show the highest rates. In the Yale study, 45.3% of PGY-1 trainees met food-insecurity criteria versus about 23% of residents in later training years (odds ratio 2.71). Lack of money, not lack of time, was the factor statistically associated with food insecurity in that study.
Does radiology residency carry unusually high debt or low pay?
Separate surveys point to real financial strain in the specialty. A 2024 Clinical Imaging survey of diagnostic and interventional radiology residents found 60% carried more than $100,000 in debt and 79% had no formal coursework in personal finance. A 2021 JACR analysis of PGY-2 diagnostic radiology stipends across 118 ACGME programs found a published range of about $49,500 to $72,000 that narrowed to roughly $26,900-$68,800 once adjusted for local cost of living, with an average 9.1% real-dollar loss nationally.
What does this mean for the radiology workforce pipeline?
The debt, stipend and food-insecurity data describe financial strain concentrated in the earliest, most vulnerable years of training — a variable that gets far less attention than reading volume or burnout in discussions of why radiology struggles to staff its pipeline. It does not, on its own, prove residents are avoiding the specialty because of it; the data available show associated strain, not causation. It does add a concrete, underexamined input to the broader radiologist shortage conversation most imaging leaders are already having.
Source: Mahan E, Demiray A, Huot SJ, Criscione J, Vazquez M. "Food Insecurity Among Resident Physicians and Clinical Fellows at a Large Academic Medical Center," JAMA Network Open 2026;9(10):e2640774, doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.40774; comparison data from "Food Insecurity, Burnout, and Social Isolation Among Resident and Fellow Physicians," JAMA Network Open 2025;8(12):e2550044, doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.50044; as reported by Radiology Business. Debt and stipend data from Radiology Business (debt/financial literacy) and Radiology Business (stipend/cost-of-living). Figures are rounded as reported.