Medicine I Site Descriptions
Students will work with designated inpatient teams at each site to provide care for and learn from hospitalized patients. Most locations require a car and some provide housing. Most sites provide a complementary set of student conferences. Students at all sites (except for the most far-reaching: BID Plymouth, Berkshires, and Roger Williams) return to campus for alternating Monday and Wednesday afternoon didactics at Boston Medical Center (see below). Videos of the conferences at Boston Medical Center will be made available for students at all sites and zoom links are available for those at the farthest sites.
Each site has an MD Site Director and Program Coordinator who will partner with you to ensure a great learning experience and will be available to address immediate educational and logistic questions or concerns. The Site Director or designee at each site will function in a role similar to your Clerkship Director at Boston Medical Center, and provide you with feedback on your performance.
Berkshire Medical Center (Pittsfield, Mass) Located in beautiful Berkshire County, Berkshire Medical Center is a 298-bed community teaching hospital. Berkshire Medical Center provides primary and specialized health care services to the people of Berkshire County and surrounding communities. BUSM students work alongside interns, residents, and attendings, and share experiences with students from the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Housing is provided and a car is required.
Associate Clerkship Director: Steven Lamontagne, MD (slamontagn@bhs1.org) (413) 447-2839
Program Coordinator: Stephanie Wade (swade@bhs1.org) (413) 395-7879
Beth Israel Deaconess, Needham (Needham, MA) BID Needham is a 58-bed (including 7 ICU beds) community hospital. The inpatient service is staffed by attending hospitalists, who are internal medicine trained physicians specializing in the care of inpatients. This means that essentially 100% of your physician interactions will be with attending physicians which will afford you a higher level of independence and autonomy. A car is required.
Associate Clerkship Director: Jonathan Goldman, MD (jdgoldma@bidmc.harvard.edu) (781) 453-6100
Program Coordinator: Barbara Breslin (bbreslin@bidneedham.org)
Beth Israel Deaconess, Plymouth (Plymouth, MA) BID Plymouth is a 150 bed community hospital that provides care to patients and communities on the South Shore and on Cape Cod. Students will work directly with hospitalists in the provision of care (with an opportunity for greater independence and autonomy), and get first-hand experience in an accountable care organization. A car is required and housing is provided.
Associate Clerkship Director: Albana Mihali, MD (amihali@bidplymouth.
Program Coordinator: Mary Jo Donovan (mjdonovan@bidplymouth.org)
Boston Medical Center BMC is a private, not-for-profit, 493-bed, academic medical center located in Boston’s historic South End. An acute care, full-service hospital, BMC provides healthcare to a diverse patient population, including vulnerable, inner-city residents. The primary teaching affiliate for Boston University School of Medicine, BMC is the largest safety net hospital in New England. Students work on teams composed of interns, residents, attendings, and fellows.
Clerkship Director: Sonia Ananthakrishnan, MD (Sonia.Ananthakrishnan@bmc.org) (617) 638-7230
Program Coordinator: Yulianna Santos (yusantos@bu.edu) (617) 358 – 3523
St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center (Brighton, MA) Founded in 1868, SEMC is located in Boston’s Brighton neighborhood that provides a full range of medical specialties, including family medicine, cardiovascular care, women and infant’s health, cancer care and orthopedics. Steward Health Care has always been committed to championing the best in health care for patients in the communities where they live and work. Through this partnership, they are able to open access to academic-based, tertiary level care to patients in communities across Eastern Massachusetts and beyond. Students work alongside interns, residents and hospitalists to provide patient care.
Associate Clerkship Director: Paul Fallon, MD (paul.fallon@steward.
Program Coordinator: Binali Patel (Binali.Patel@steward.
Kaiser Permanente (San Jose, California) The Boston University Extension Campus at Kaiser Permanente Silicon Valley hosts 3rd year core clerkships up to one year in duration. It is an integrated program where student rotations occur at both Kaiser San Jose and Santa Clara Medical Centers; the Medicine 1 Clerkship takes place at the San Jose campus. This clerkship program offers Boston University medical students an opportunity to train within the nonprofit integrated, managed care system that is often hailed as the health care model for the future. You work directly with hospitalists (there are no residents) and a car is required. Housing is provided.
Associate Clerkship Directors: Marina Dergun (Marina.X.Dergun@kp.org) & Subbu Lakshmi (Subbu.Lakshmi@kp.org) (408) 972-4576
Program Coordinator: Elizabeth Chua (Elizabeth.L.Chua@kp.org)
MetroWest Medical Center (Framingham, MA) MetroWest is a community hospital in Framingham, MA with 300 beds. Students join teams composed of one attending/hospitalist, one resident, and one intern. You may attend didactics at Metrowest. A car is required.
Associate Clerkship Director: Tom Treadwell (Thomas.Treadwell@
Program Coordinator: Rhonda Carlson (Rhonda.Carlson@mwmc.com)
Roger Williams Medical Center (Providence, RI) The medical service at Roger Williams Medical Center in Providence, RI boasts a blend of primary and tertiary care in an academic community hospital and also is the site for the state’s only bone marrow transplantation program. Students work alongside interns, residents and hospitalists to provide patient care. You may attend didactics at Roger Williams. Housing is provided.
Associate Clerkship Director: Lidia Vognar (lidia.vognar@
Program Coordinator: Sue Saccoccia (ssaccocc@chartercare.org) (401) 456-2388
West Roxbury VA The VA serves as a major teaching affiliate of BUSM, and trainees at the VA are exposed to a challenging and rewarding patient population characterized by a heavy burden of chronic illness, particularly cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases, and medical problems resulting from specific circumstances such as traumatic brain injury or spinal cord injury. The VA system also affords you the unique opportunity to experience a national-scope, single-payer, integrated health system. You work on teams with interns, residents and attendings from both BUSM and Harvard Medical School, and attend didactics at the VA. A car is often necessary.
Associate Clerkship Director: Richard Serrao (Richard.Serrao@va.gov) (857) 203-5056
Program Coordinator: Laura Muckerheide (Laura.Muckerheide@va.gov) (857) 203-6942