Welcome from the Chairman
On behalf of the faculty and trainees of the Department of Medicine at Boston University Medical Center, I would like to welcome you! We are eager to help you learn more about our Department’s rich array of training opportunities and strong tradition of academic and clinical excellence.
The Internal Medicine Residency Program at Boston University Medical Center provides an extraordinary opportunity to care for a highly diverse patient population in a Department with a longstanding history of commitment to the highest standards of medical education, clinical care, research, and community service. A number of critical features of our program greatly enrich the training experience:
- Boston Medical Center, our main teaching hospital, is an integrated facility comprised of what was formerly Boston City Hospital and Boston University Hospital. Accordingly, it is both a tertiary referral hospital with breadth and depth in all medical specialties and state-of-the-art technology, as well as the primary inpatient facility for Boston’s medically under-served population. In fact, Boston Medical Center cares for more uninsured and indigent patients than any hospital in New England. Boston Medical Center’s motto, “exceptional care without exception,” reflects our commitment to care for all patients regardless of means. Boston Medical Center also has a very rich tradition of clinical investigation and of training academic leaders – as of a few years ago, a quarter of all Deans of Medical Schools in the United States conducted some portion of their clinical training at Boston City Hospital! This unique blend of an extraordinarily diverse patient population, modern medical facilities, rich tradition of clinical and academic excellence, and an unshakeable commitment to caring for all members of our community combine to provide an especially satisfying training experience.
- We also utilize the Boston VA Healthcare System, community hospitals, and community health centers in our program. Each of these sites provides an important and complimentary training experience to that encountered at Boston Medical Center. Our Department’s full-time faculty are based at these sites and work closely with our trainees.
- The training program encourages a broad range of career goals in its trainees and facilitates a customized mix of elective, research, international, and didactic experiences to help house staff identify and pursue their interests. The leadership of the house staff program is known throughout the country for innovation in medical education and residency training.
- The Department’s research programs provide an extraordinary environment for faculty and trainees to work collaboratively in preventing, diagnosing, and treating human disease. The Department’s research funding from the National Institutes of Health place it in the very top group of research-intensive Departments of Medicine in the United States. The Department has internationally renowned research programs in a number of areas. Examples include cardiovascular biology, pulmonary inflammation and immunology, endocrinology, arthritis, alcohol/substance abuse, genetics, obesity, cancer biology, clinical epidemiology, amyloidosis, scleroderma, HIV/AIDS, and sickle cell disease. The most important longitudinal study of cardiac risk factors ever conducted – the Framingham Heart Study, is largely supported by investigators in the Department of Medicine. The world-class research programs in the Department foster critical thinking, inquiry, and discovery in the Department’s clinical and educational programs, and create a wide range of meaningful training opportunities for house staff and fellows to work under the attentive mentorship of renowned faculty.
The leadership and faculty in the Department of Medicine are highly committed to providing a supportive, challenging, and inspiring training experience. We take seriously our obligation to insure that our program continuously adapts to new learning opportunities, the needs of our patients, and the interests of our trainees. Finally, we are strongly devoted to helping our house staff transition successfully to the next stage in their careers. Indeed, our residents are highly successful in competing for the most desirable specialty fellowships and practice opportunities in the country.
We appreciate your interest in our program and encourage you to contact us if we can provide any additional information.
Best wishes,
David L. Coleman, M.D., F.A.C.P.
Wade Professor and Chair
Department of Medicine
