Internal Medicine Residency

Welcome to the Internal Medicine Residency Program at North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo, Mississippi. We became American Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accredited in 2020 and are based at the largest rural hospital in America. We are a new training site that combines state-of-the art facilities with experienced clinical and academic faculty. Our patients, staff, commitment to diversity and innovative learning make this an amazing place to train. Our goal is to ensure that residents achieve clinical competence in a supportive family environment. We do this by creating the perfect balance of autonomy and supervision as well as education and workload. Our structured didactics are engaging and complement the diverse pathology and patient care challenges we face daily. We listen to the input of staff and trainees to continually improve our program and ensure that everyone reaches his or her full potential. Our graduates will go on to a variety of careers in primary care, subspecialty medicine and hospitalist medicine. When you graduate from this program you will be able to competently enter fellowship or independently practice medicine.

On a personal note, I completed undergraduate studies at the University of Florida in Gainesville and medical school at NSU-COM in Fort Lauderdale. I then completed residency at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach. I ultimately came to north Mississippi through the National Health Service Core in 2005. I was the founding internal medicine program director at Magnolia Regional Health Center in 2008. In my 10-plus years as program director at MRHC, I was fortunate to be named the ACOI national “Teacher of the Year,” be selected to the ACGME Internal Medicine Resident Review Committee, and be named a member of the American Board of Internal Medicine Board of Trustees. In reflecting on my career as a medical educator, it has been the accomplishments of my trainees that has made me most proud. Our graduates had a more than 97% first time board pass rate, entered outstanding fellowship programs, and became competent attending physicians in a multitude of primary care and specialty practices.

We are also fortunate to call Tupelo, Mississippi, our home. Tupelo is a beautiful city that is famously known as the birthplace of Elvis Presley. Our city offers an excellent cost of living, growing economy, abundant restaurants and outdoor activities that blends our historic past and gives a glimpse into our bright future.

I hope you will come see what the program and north Mississippi have to offer. This is a place where you will learn, grow and truly make a difference!

The first year is a traditional intern year. The resident will spend one half-day per week in ambulatory Continuity Clinic on all rotations other than Medical Intensive Care Unit and night float rotations. Each rotation period is based on a per month basis and includes the following rotations:

• Internal Medicine (four rotations)

• Cardiology

• Night Float (one rotation)

• Emergency Room

• Geriatrics

• Medical Intensive Care

• Neurology

• Behavioral Health

• Anesthesia

• Continuity Clinic at IMA-Tupelo

In the second year rotations, the resident gains increased knowledge and skills working with in the hospital and clinic settings. The resident will spend one half-day per week in ambulatory Continuity Clinic on all rotations other than MICU and night float rotations. Each rotation period is based on a per month basis and includes the following rotations:

• Gastroenterology

• Internal Medicine (two rotations)

• Pulmonology

• Rheumatology

• Medical Intensive Care

• Night Float (two rotations)

• Hematology/Oncology

• Continuity Clinic at IMA-Tupelo

• Elective (two rotations)

In the third year the resident gains a greater wealth of knowledge in working with our core faculty and subspecialty physicians in a variety of electives. The resident will spend one half-day per week in ambulatory Continuity Clinic on all rotations other than MICU and night float rotations. Each rotation period is based on a per month basis and includes the following rotations:

• Nephrology

• Internal Medicine (four rotations)

• Cardiology

• Night Float

• Infectious Disease

• Medical Intensive Care

• Endocrinology

• Continuity Clinic at IMA-Tupelo

• Elective

There will be dedicated daily didactic conferences based on the MKSAP curriculum. Faculty lecturers will ensure that all residents are presented ABIM’s learning objectives annually and these lectures will be archived for individual study. In addition to the dynamic structured curriculum there will be daily faculty directed case presentations to help learners translate medical knowledge into clinical competence. Furthermore, each month the following conferences will be given and archived:

Internal Medicine Journal Club:  an opportunity to hone skills in critical appraisal of medical literature and to gain tools needed for lifelong learning

Morbidity and Mortality Conference: case presentation to encourage consideration of differential diagnosis and opportunity to improve management options

Internal Medicine Grand Rounds:  an opportunity for scholarly pursuit of a topic relevant to internal medicine and to learn presentation skills

Quality Improvement and Scholarly Activity Projects: each resident completes a research project during the second and third years, and the results are shared in a formal presentation. This project is intended to be a creative, individualized effort in an area of special interest to the resident. Technical and scholarly support is provided.