During this season where many of us express thanks and gratitude for the many blessings and gifts that we experience in our lives, on behalf of the Department and the Educational Leadership Groups, we collectively wanted to acknowledge, celebrate,  and thank all members of the Department of Medicine including faculty, staff, and trainees for the great success enjoyed by our Department reflected both internally and externally.

Educational Highlights of the past year for which we are very grateful for all of your collective contributions:

Recognition of excellence in Medical Student Education as recognized by the UMMC Evers Society and the Association of American Medical College (AAMC) Post-Graduate Survey

Comments from Dr. Michelle Horn:

In relation to Student Education, the Department of Medicine has again received very good feedback from the students themselves with the 2018-2019 Evers report and Graduation Questionnaire. The Evers report is submitted each year by the Carl G. Evers Society, a student-run organization here at UMMC that assesses each 3^rd year clerkship, and the Graduation Questionnaire is issued by the AAMC to all graduating medical students. In both of these reports, our clerkship is thought of very highly by the medical students with 98% of students rating the quality of the educational experience in the Internal Medicine clerkship as good or excellent and over 95% of the students agreeing that our rotation in particular helped them with those skills required of all physicians, i.e. history taking and physical examination skills and that they were observed performing these skills. Almost all of the students felt they were provided effective teaching and feedback while on our clerkship. All of these favorable responses are made possible by the hard work, effort, and dedication each and every one of you put forth in the education of our medical students. They recognize your passion for patient care and teaching and are certainly appreciative of it, as am I.

In regards to a major addition in the medical school curriculum, each medical student will now participate in a required 4 week M4 Transition to Residency Boot Camp, which will take place in the Spring of 2020. During this course, all of the students will receive lectures and training on topics relevant to being a physician. We will also have specific training for those students going in to Internal Medicine so that they are more prepared for starting their intern years in July. We are excited about this opportunity and know that as always our faculty and residents will be willing and ready to assist in any way to make this course successful.

Recruitment of the best and the brightest into the Medicine Residency and Medicine–Pediatrics Combined Residency Programs

Comments from Dr. S. Calvin Thigpen:

This interview season has been a particularly busy one for our internal medicine categorical, primary care track, and preliminary programs.  With 23 interview days on which typically 12-14 applicants have visited or will visit our campus, our residents and the members of our house officer selection committee have been, and will continue to be, putting in a significant and much appreciated effort towards the recruitment of our next intern class. 

Our pool of applicants this year consists of 1906 people from all over the United States and over 25 foreign countries.  We currently have 274 categorical and primary care track applicants who have been interviewed or are scheduled to interview, and they represent 38 United States allopathic medical schools, 13 osteopathic medical schools, and 12 international medical schools.  Among them all, 24 will match into our categorical program, two into our primary care track, and six into our program’s preliminary positions.  We are excited about welcoming each of them to our team when Match Day takes place Friday, March 20, 2020!

Comments from Dr. Zeb Henson:

Interviews for the combined Internal Medicine/Pediatrics program have been ongoing since October.  As the residency program has grown to 5 residents per year, so, too, has the regional interest.  This year 167 students applied to the Med/Peds residency program, with 67 of those applicants being graduates of US medical schools in 21 states.  After reviewing applications, 54 applicants were invited to interview, and 85% of those invited have been scheduled to interview. 

Med-Peds interview days are a true team effort as we aim to show the applicants as much as we can about Internal Medicine and Pediatrics and also how we uniquely combine these disciplines in our training program.  Assistant Program Directors from both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics are involved in the interview process, along with our core Med-Peds faculty.  We aim to continue to find residents who are missional and service-oriented in their aspirations and have displayed excellent clinical skills, as well as having the knowledge and ability to learn two disciplines four years.  We are truly thankful for the faculty and chief residents who give time to this very important (and very time-consuming) process.

When our education programs thrive, so do our faculty and patients. Neither sustained success nor growth can happen in a vacuum. We thank everyone in the Department for their ongoing commitment to excellence in patient care and Medical Education. We look forward to serving the department in the coming year and certainly welcome and encourage all of you to continue and grow your own participation in these important programs. We look forward to sustaining this level of excellence and introducing new and important initiatives at all levels of education. 

With Gratitude,

Richard M. Wardrop III, MD, PhD, FAAP, FACP

Professor and Vice Chair for Education and Faculty Development

S. Calvin Thigpen, MD, FACP

Program Director, Medicine Residency

Zeb Henson, MD, FAAP, FACP

Program Director, Combined Medicine-Pediatrics Program

Michelle Horn, MD, FAAP, FACP

Program Director, Department of Medicine Student Programs