Categorical Program

Dear Applicants,
I am so excited and grateful to be able to serve as the next Program Director for the Internal Medicine residency here at Penn! I am thrilled to be able to work with our outstanding program leadership and residents to ensure our program remains at the forefront of Internal Medicine training and educational innovation. I want to take a minute to introduce myself and share with you the vision and priorities for our program in the years ahead.

I am a proud Philadelphian, devoted medical educator, and dedicated General Internist. I joined the amazing faculty here at Penn in 2015 and have remained passionate about this program and its growth ever since! My background is in medical education research and innovation, but you will often find me mentoring resident quality improvement projects aimed at reducing disparities in trainee-delivered care. I spend time seeing patients and teaching at the Edward S. Cooper clinic and on our teaching service at Presbyterian Medical Center. Community engagement and advocacy are core to my role as a physician and I work alongside our resident PACE group (Physicians for Advocacy and Community Engagement) to organize education and advocacy efforts with our community partners.  

I want to start by acknowledging how foundationally strong our training program is, rooted in rigorous team-based clinical training dedicated to excellence in research, education, and patient care. In the years ahead, I envision a program committed to comprehensive training spanning the breadth of internal medicine. A program that not only maintains a focus on excellence in clinical care but understands the need to adapt its training to provide enhanced exposure to ambulatory medicine – both in general medicine and our ambulatory sub-specialties. Training that can be tailored to the diverse interests of our residents, emphasizing strong mentoring relationships that allow you all to be successful in academic and professional growth. A program that prioritizes diversity in its recruitment at all levels, commits to equity in its clinical outcomes, and fosters inclusion by reducing bias and discrimination in all learning environments. I see a program that commits to continuous growth by embracing innovation in medical education placing our program and its residents at the forefront of best practices in residency training. Most importantly, I envision a program that empowers our residents to become future leaders in academic medicine.

There are so many exciting things to think about in the months to come! Our immediate priorities are dedicated to recruiting a talented APD for DEI, implementing the final stage of our strategic plan to expand our elective time to 26 weeks across 3 years of training creating more space for scholarly pursuit and career-directed elective exploration, and strengthening mentorship opportunities for our residents. I personally believe that the residents who join our program are destined for success, to blaze new trails, and to push the boundaries of medicine in any area of internal medicine they are passionate about. To do this, we must provide leadership training and skills development. Finally, I’ll leave you with the priority of innovation – in all our educational spaces there is room and opportunity for growth to meet the needs of all our learners and the ever-changing landscape of medicine. Thankfully, we have the best residents and faculty to help contribute to this continued growth.
Thank you for your continued interest in our program and best of luck to everyone in this year’s match!

Best,
Amber Bird, MD

The Residency training program in the Department of Medicine enables residents to acquire the foundational knowledge and skills that prepare them for the practice of general internal medicine and its subspecialties through inpatient rotations in general medicine and subspecialty services, outpatient continuity practice, geriatrics, emergency medicine, and a wide variety of elective experiences.

Goals

Candidates seeking training in our categorical internal medicine program should be those who seek…

• To achieve excellence in the care of diverse patient populations, including hospitalized patients in three unique inpatient settings, and ambulatory patients across our outpatient practice sites;
• To gain a comprehensive exposure to medical subspecialties through rotations in intensive care medicine, inpatient subspecialty services, and outpatient subspecialty experiences;
• To acquire and polish foundational teaching skills through both practical opportunities teaching students and fellow house staff and through learning best practices in medical education;
• To enhance research skills through the performance of mentored research projects, and have the opportunity to present successful projects in regional and national conferences;
• To understand and be able to implement key concepts in quality and safety;
• To recognize and mitigate bias and disparities in healthcare, both in the delivery of healthcare to our patients and our communities;
• To promote and preserve personal wellness through participation in small and large group curricula and supported activities, and through a longitudinal curriculum designed to strengthen personal resilience.

Candidates interesting in applying for our Internal Medicine Residency can visit our Application Information page.

Structure: 6+2 Block Scheduling System

All housestaff participate in the 6+2 block schedule, in which they spend up to six consecutive weeks on inpatient services or electives, followed by two weeks in the ambulatory setting. This system is designed to introduce regular, predictable breaks from the more intense inpatient rotations, while also allowing separation of inpatient and outpatient responsibilities to allow each skill set to develop with an appropriate focus. It also creates four distinct cohorts within each class that facilitate mentoring and social activity scheduling. Within the “6”, each resident gets elective time to dedicate to skill building of their choosing:
Interns – 4 weeks
PGY 2’s – 10 weeks
PGY 3’s – 10 weeks (12 weeks starting in 2025)

Average Breakdown of Rotations