Residency Program > State
University of Alabama Medical Center Program - Internal Medicine <> Program Director:
Gustavo R Heudebert, MD
Univ of Alabama Med Ctr
Dept of Med
1530 3rd Ave S BDB 327 ,
Birmingham, AL 35294-0012
E-mail: medres@uab.edu
Tel: (205) 934-2490
Fax: (205) 975-6424 | Contact Person:
Barbara H Grill
Univ of Alabama Med Ctr
1530 3rd Ave S
BDB 327 ,
Birmingham, AL 35294-0012
E-mail: bgrill@uab.edu
Tel: (205) 934-2490
Fax: (205) 975-6424 |
Program Requirements * :Step 1 cut-off 75
Step 2 CK cut-off: 75
Step 2 CS required: N
ECFMG Required: N
Graduated:
US Clinical Experience:
Recommendation Letters required: 3
Program Details *: Program Type: University-based
Speciality: Internal Medicine
Participates in SF Match: No
Interview Period: 12/01 -- 01/31
Interviews conducted: 367
Total Faculty: 236 Physicians, 85 Non-physicians
Faculty to positions: 1.9 to 1
Accredited Length: 3
Average Duty Hours: 72
Preliminary: Yes
Candidate Residency Status *: Citizens, Green card, EAD, J visa
IMG Friendly: No
IMG's in the program: 0 %
General Review *: The Program
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The UAB Internal Medicine Residency Training Program is currently comprised of 94 Categorical residents, 12 Primary Care residents, 7 Preliminary residents, 16 Medicine-Pediatrics residents, and 4 Chief Medical Residents. The program offers two tracks of training through the National Resident Matching Program, with the three-year track providing optional choices for training in the Primary Care or Women’s Health Tracks. | |
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Over the past 20 years, an average of 54% of our graduating residents obtained fellowships. Of our 37 residents who graduated in 2004, 21 (57%) entered subspecialty training. Ten of those entered fellowships at UAB and eleven entered fellowship positions in other outstanding institutions. Of the ten 2004 graduates who entered private practice, seven stayed in Alabama. Four of the graduates became Chief Medical Residents. One graduate became a hospitalist and one had a military obligation to fulfill.
UAB Medical Center
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The UAB Medical Center is an area of constant growth and development, ever improving to meet the needs of the people it serves. Established in 1945 as a four-year medical school in Birmingham, today the Medical Center complex encompasses approximately twelve city blocks and is ranked among the top academic medical centers in the United States.
University Hospital
 UAB University Hospital is Alabama's major general/acute and tertiary care center and the centerpiece of the UAB Medical Center. A teaching hospital for more than 50 years, UAB Hospital is licensed for 908 beds.
Children's Hospital
 Children's Hospital is Alabama's only freestanding pediatric hospital, and it is conveniently located just one block from UAB Hospital. The close relationship between the two facilities is evident in their frequent collaboration. Children's Hospital serves as the primary teaching hospital the UAB Department of Pediatrics, and it is also where the Medicine-Pediatric residents gain half their educational experience.
Veterans Affairs Medical Center
 The Birmingham Veterans Affairs Medical Center (BVAMC), structurally connected to UAB Hospital through the VA Research Wing, houses 135 beds 56 of which are assigned to the medical service.
The BVAMC is a major site for the clinical teaching activities of the Department of Medicine. BVAMC physicians hold full faculty appointment at UAB, providing educational services as attending physicians the general medicine and consultative services.
Cooper Green Hospital
 The municipal hospital for Jefferson County, Cooper Green Hospital provides a broad range of primary, secondary, and tertiary care. It is staffed by the Jefferson Clinic, P.C., a multispecialty group of physicians closely affiliated with UAB's training programs. Eight active members represent the specialties of general internal medicine, pulmonary medicine, cardiology, rheumatology, hematology, oncology, and infectious diseases. The hospital is adjacent to the UAB Medical Center.
Cooper Green Hospital's internal medicine section complements UAB Hospital's educational programs by promoting efficient management of the complex social and medical needs of a diverse group of patients. Residents may also participate in the BIrmingham Health Care for the Homeless program, which is linked with the Cooper Green Internal Medicine section. This outstanding program has established one of the nation's premier models of service delivery for the socially disadvantaged. | |
Benefits
Annual Stipends: 2004-2005
R-1 $36,469 R-2 $37,669 R-3 $38,869
AT NO COST TO RESIDENTS:
• Professional Liability Insurance
• Group Term Life Insurance
• Long-Term Disability Insurance
• Accidental Death and dismemberment Insurance
• Parking
• Pagers, Lab Coats, and Laundering
• ACLS/BCLS Certification and re-certification
• American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine (ACP-ASIM) Annual In-Training Preparatory Board Exams
• ACP-ASIM Medical Knowledge of Self-Assessment Program (ABIM Exam Self-Study Program)
• Photocopying Privileges
• Internet Access, including PIN Access, Horizons Clinical Documents Access, Dial-Up Access, and Personal E-Mail
• Access to Exercise Facilities
• Counseling Services through the UAB Faculty and Staff Assistance Program
OTHER BENEFITS
• Health Insurance Plans for Residents, Spouses, and Dependent Children Provided at Favorable Rates
• Dental Insurance
• Family Leave
• Paid Vacation On-Site Medical Library
• Financial Support for Presentation at a Scientific Meeting
Program Tracks
Program offers two tracks of training through the National Resident Matching Program, with the three-year track providing optional choices for training in the Primary Care or Women’s Health Tracks.
Immediately following the announcement of the 2003 Match, all applicants matching with our three-year Internal Medicine Track will be contacted individually and asked to select their preferred three-year residency curriculum. The 2003 post-Match options are:
1. 3-year Categorical Track, for a career goal in either Internal Medicine subspecialty training or General Internal Medicine.
2. 3-year Primary Care Track, for a career goal in primary care, focusing on both inpatient and ambulatory general internal medicine.
3. 3-year Women's Health Track, a special subset of the Primary Care Track, which includes specific opportunities to participate in women's health care and clinics involving gynecology, high risk OB, HIV, breast, osteoporosis, continence, STDs, endocrine, cosmetic surgery, and eating disorders.
Applicants who match are assigned their preferred track for the R-1 year. However, all three-year Internal Medicine Track residents are allowed to change their initial track once during residency training by giving advanced notice to the Program Director.
It is important to note that completion of training in any one of the above three-year tracks will enable any UAB Internal Medicine resident to successfully obtain a desirable subspecialty fellowship position, enter into General Internal Medicine practice, obtain an academic position in Internal Medicine, or achieve another personal career goal in other areas of Internal Medicine.
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Curriculum
Categorical Track Curriculum
Primary Care Track Curriculum
Categorical Track
The objective of the Categorical Track is to provide a broad experience
in the comprehensive field of internal medicine. Residents develop skills both in primary patient care and consultative medicine. The multiple hospitals and clinics provide diversity in patient populations and practice settings, contributing to the breadth of experiences for the Categorical Track residents. Graduates from this track will be prepared to practice general internal medicine or enter subspecialty fellowship training
Responsibilities and Schedule:
The goal of the initial year of training is to acclimate the R-1 resident to internal medicine in a way that allows for the assumption of progressive responsibility for patient care under appropriate guidance and supervision. Thus, the R-1 resident is the physician with primary responsibility for the patient's care. Most of the first year is spent on inpatient services, including both general medicine and subspecialty wards. In addition, each Categorical Track R-1 resident has a month of emergency medicine and a month of ambulatory medicine. Although patient census is highly variable, each intern typically cares for 5 to 9 patients at any give time. Admissions are always evaluated in close association with the supervising R-2 or R-3 resident, though writing orders and initiating therapy remain the R-1 residents' prerogatives. Each service has a single attending physician who is a full-time faculty member. Attending physicians are always available to advise and assist. In addition, all medical and surgical subspecialty consultants are immediately available 24 hours a day. R-1 residents are generally not required to draw blood or start peripheral I.V.'s since these tasks are routinely performed by laboratory technicians and nursing staff. R-1 residents participate actively in the teaching of medical students rotating on their ward services.
The second year of training is aimed at expanding the breadth of the resident's knowledge base while providing an in-depth exposure to state-of-the-art practice of the various medical subspecialties. The PGY-2 year is almost evenly split between in-patient ward rotations and consultation services, mostly in the subspecialties. Other rotations include neurology/nutrition, VA Hospital Admissions Area (emergency department and walk-in clinic), and an elective month. On subspecialty in-patient services, the R-2 resident serves as the team leader and further develops supervisory and teaching skills while working with R-1 residents and medical students. On consultation services, the R-2 resident initially evaluates patients and then presents the findings and recommendations to the consult attending physician for review and discussion. Consultation services also include participation in subspecialty clinics, conferences, and other activities of the divisions. Didactic and bedside instruction is provided in the special skills and techniques inherent to the various subspecialties.
As in the PGY-2 year, time is evenly divided between ward and
consultation services. While the consult rotations are similar to the PGY-2 year, the majority of ward months for the R-3 residents are spent on the general medicine inpatient services of the VA Medical Center, Cooper Green and University Hospitals. The intention is to match the most senior and experienced residents with the rotations that require more responsibility for patient care, supervising and teaching. Working closely with the attending physician, the R-3 resident coordinates work rounds and teaching rounds for the team.
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Research Opportunities
A month of elective training is available during each of the PGY-2 and PGY-3 years. Elective time may be spent on a research project or pursuing some area outside of the traditional realm of internal medicine practice.
Residents interested in a research elective have a broad spectrum of research opportunities available to them. The UAB Department of Medicine ranks 4th in the nation in terms of NIH (total costs) awards. The Department comprises 16 divisions, all of which have extramurally funded research programs. Additionally, the Department is the hub of a number of major centers of research, several of national prominence, directed by members of the Department of Medicine faculty:
Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases Center
Center for Aging, Center for Nuclear Magnet Resonance Research and Development
General Clinical Research Center
Gene Therapy Center
Center for Human Genetics
Injury Control
Center for Outcomes and Effectiveness Research and Education
Minority Health and Research Center
Sleep/Wake Disorders Center
Alabama Transplant Center
Cystic Fibrosis Research Center,
Lung Health Center
UAB Liver Center
Nephrology Research and Training Center
UAB Cancer Center
Center for Social Medicine and Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Residents whose research efforts are selected for presentation at national conferences are given financial support for travel and presentation expenses.
Primary Care Track
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In July 1985, in recognition of the increasing need for broadly trained primary care internists, the Department of Medicine implemented a Primary Care Track under the direction of the Division of General Internal Medicine. The goal is to train physicians in comprehensive care of the adult patient. The core training experience focuses on in-patient internal medicine, an experience essentially identical to that provided in the Categorical Track. Graduates of the Primary Care Track describe themselves as well prepared to practice primary, consultative, and critical care medicine, and they have performed as well on the ABIM certifying examination as graduates of the Categorical Track. The Primary Care Track offers an optional curriculum, that provides primary care training with an additional focus in Women's Health Continuity Clinics In recognition of the need to acquire skills in out-patient medicine, the Primary Care Track provides more ambulatory training than is offered in the Categorical Track. Primary Care residents practice ambulatory medicine at two sites. Residents attend the Russell Ambulatory Clinic on a weekly basis. In addition, residents have a VA Medical Center continuity clinic which meets weekly, providing an opportunity to follow patients discharged from VA in-patient services. In both clinic sites, the resident is regarded as the primary physician with the attending physician serving as consultant and teacher. The attending physician to resident ratio is low (typically one attending working with four residents) to assure opportunity for close instruction and optimal teaching.
Block Months
The block month is a major distinguishing characteristic of the Primary Care Track. Block months are rotations devoted to ambulatory training. The purpose is to allow concentrated time in ambulatory medicine without in-patient responsibilities. One block month is provided during the R-1 year and two during each of the R-2 and R-3 years. For a typical block month, approximately 30% of the time is devoted to the continuity practice of general intemal medicine. The remainder of the time is devoted to areas such as geriatrics, office gynecology, otolaryngology, ophthalmology, dermatology, sexually transmitted diseases, sports medicine, and subspecialty internal medicine clinics. The specialty clinics are selected on an individual basis.
Typical R-1 Primary Care Block Month
Typical R-2 or R-3 Primary Care Block Month
The resident has the opportunity to work on a one-on-one basis with attending physicians in various medical subspecialties. Didactic Curriculum The primary care didactic curriculum includes multiple conferences and seminars each week. Ambulatory Care Conference for R-1 residents is a twenty-minute session held weekly at the beginning of clinic and covers topics including health maintenance and preventive medicine. Ambulatory Morning Report is a one-hour, learner-centered, case-based discussion held three times a week during block months. The General Medicine Tuesday Noon Conference reviews clinical topics relevant to primary care.
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Women's Health Track
The Women's Health Track is an option available in the Primary Care Track that provides primary care training with an additional focus in women's health. Residents receive gender-specific training that allows the provision of comprehensive health care to women, in addition to a solid foundation in all the traditional aspects of Internal Medicine. A maximum of two Primary Care Track R-1 positions may be accommodated to participate in the Women's Health curriculum per year.
One of the key differences of the Primary Care Track, offered in the Women's Health Track, is a GYN continuity clinic scheduled every other week, alternating with the typical residents' Primary Care Clinic. Approximately 30-50% of the ambulatory block rotation may be spent in women's health areas, including specialty clinics: gynecology, high risk OB, HIV, breast, osteoporosis, continence, STDs, endocrine, cosmetic surgery, and eating disorders.
Preliminary Track
The Preliminary Track provides 12 months of R-1 training in the Internal Medicine Categorical Track. A maximum of six preliminary positions are available through the NRMP.
Responsibilities:
R-1 Residents (PGY-1)
The goal of the initial year of training is to acclimate the R-1 resident to internal medicine in a way that allows for the assumption of progressive responsibility for patient care under appropriate guidance and supervision. Thus, the R-1 resident is the physician with primary responsibility for the patient's care. Most of the first year is spent on inpatient services, including both general medicine and subspecialty wards. In addition, each Categorical Track R-1 resident has a month of emergency medicine and a month of ambulatory medicine. Although patient census is highly variable, each intern typically cares for 5 to 9 patients at any give time. Admissions are always evaluated in close association with the supervising R-2 or R-3 resident, though writing orders and initiating therapy remain the R-1 residents' prerogatives. Each service has a single attending physician who is a full-time faculty member. Attending physicians are always available to advise and assist. In addition, all medical and surgical subspecialty consultants are immediately available 24 hours a day. R-1 residents are generally not required to draw blood or start peripheral I.V.'s since these tasks are routinely performed by laboratory technicians and nursing staff. R-1 residents participate actively in the teaching of medical students rotating on their ward services.
Schedule:
Faculty
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GUSTAVO R. HEUDEBERT, M.D.
Program Director
Associate Professor,
Division of General Internal Medicine | |
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LISA L. WILLETT, M.D.
Associate Director
Assistant Professor,
Division of General Internal Medicine | |
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ALAN M. STAMM, M.D.
Assistant Director and
Director, Primary Care Program
Associate Professor,
Division of General Internal Medicine |
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JOHN I. KENNEDY, JR., M.D.
Assistant Director
Professor,
Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine |
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F. STANFORD MASSIE, JR., M.D
Assistant Director
Assistant Professor,
Division of General Internal Medicine |
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J. R. HARTIG, M.D.
Assistant Director and
Director, Medicine-Pediatrics
Assistant Professor,
Departments of Medicine and Pediatrics | |
Application
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Only electronic applications via the ERAS are accepted for our Internal Medicine residency positions.
U.S. medical students should contact their Dean’s Office for access to the ERAS system. IMG’s must apply for residency through ERAS by contacting the ECFMG.
All R-1 positions for the 2006-2007 academic year for this program are selected through The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP). The UAB Internal Medicine NRMP numbers for Match participation are:
NRMP # 1007140C0 Categorical Track
(3-year traditional, primary care, or women’s health track)
NRMP # 1007140P0 Preliminary Track
(1-year in duration)
The following documents are required and must be submitted with your Internal Medicine application via ERAS:
• Dean’s letter
• Medical school transcript
• Three letters of recommendation
• Personal statement
• USMLE Step I score report (required with initial application)
• USMLE Steps II and III score reports are required if available. (Applicants are strongly encouraged to take Step 2 before beginning residency training. USMLE Step 2 must be taken and passed by August of the R-1 year to continue in the training program.)
• Current photo
• ECFMG certificate, if available
DEADLINE APPLICATION DATE: December 1 |
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Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Should one of the three required letters of recommendation be submitted by the Chairman of Medicine?
A: A Chairman’s letter is not required, but is acceptable. We prefer that your recommendations be submitted by faculty members of your school who are well acquainted with you and your medical education experiences, and who can provide knowledgeable references for you.
Q: Does your program consider a minimal cut-off score for USMLE exams?
A: Passing scores for USMLE are required. There are no minimal passing score requirements; however, USMLE scores are considered an important part of the complete application, and higher USMLE scores offer a more competitive edge to your application as a whole.
Q: Must IMG’s be certified by the ECFMG to apply to your program?
A: An ECFMG certificate is not required at the time of application, but in order for IMG’s to be considered for an interview, they must have completed USMLE Steps I and II and the CSA exam when submitting their applications (or the scores must be available prior to a scheduled interview). IMG’s who are interviewed for this program MUST provide documentation (an ECFMG letter of certification or an ECFMG certificate) to our office PRIOR TO February 15, 2006.
Q: Is Prior US clinical training required for IMG’s?
A: No. Prior US clinical training/experience is not specifically required, but, if documented, may be taken into consideration when your application is reviewed.
Q: Does your program sponsor H-1B Visas?
A: Visas that are accepted for IMG trainees are:
• F-1 Student Visa
• ECFMG-sponsored J-1 Clinical Visa
• Our program may consider sponsoring H-1B Visas, on an individual basis (these are exempt from the cap)
Q: Does your program impose a limit on the graduate year of applicants?
A: No. Our Program does not limit the year of graduation of US grads or IMG's.
Q: Does your program accept Complex scores from DO applicants?
A: Yes. Our program does not require USMLE scores from DO applicants. |
Interview Experiences *:
Residency Experiences *:
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