Advancing Health Equity and Excellence: Our Residency Programs
Our department is proud to offer two ACGME-accredited emergency medicine residency programs: a three-year emergency medicine residency and a five-year dual emergency medicine and internal medicine (EM/IM) residency. Each program is structured to develop tomorrow's leader in emergency medicine.
What Sets Us Apart Heading link
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4 Hospital Consortium Training Site.
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800 Alums Worldwide.
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75 + Board-certified Faculty.
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2 Level 1 Trauma Center EDs.
Experience the Best of Emergency Medicine Across Four Sites Heading link
Our residents train across four distinct emergency departments (EDs), each serving a distinct patient demographic. This multi-site model exposes them to a wide range of medical conditions, socioeconomic factors, and cultural perspectives. Each ED offers a different physical layout, workflow, technology system, practice style, staffing model, and team dynamic—challenging residents to adapt and excel in varied clinical environments.
This multi-location training model Heading link
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This multi-location training model
This multi-location training model also provides exposure to a wide range of healthcare delivery models from academic to private and clinical scenarios, including managing high-acuity trauma and cardiovascular emergencies, addressing healthcare disparities and mental health crises, and providing specialized care for vulnerable populations like the elderly and LGBTQ+ patients.
Beyond clinical training, rotating through four sites gives residents access to a broad network of attending physicians and distinctive subspecialists, fostering collaboration, mentorship, and career development opportunities.
Graduating from a program that offers experience in multiple sites gives our residents a significant advantage in the job market. The adaptability, diverse clinical exposure, and broad network of mentors our residents gain make them highly competitive candidates, ready to excel in any emergency medicine environment.
Get To Know Us Heading link
Welcome from our Program Directors Heading link
Introducing our EM/IM Residency Program
Welcome to the UIC Emergency Medicine/Internal Medicine (EM/IM) Residency Program!
We’re thrilled to welcome you as you explore the next step in your medical journey. At UIC, we recently celebrated our 27th graduating class and are proud to have over 65 EM/IM alumni who are making a difference across the country — and the world. You’re not just joining a program—you’re becoming part of a legacy.
Our mission is clear: to train and support a diverse group of residents to become clinically excellent in both specialties, and to prepare them as healthcare leaders who care and advocate for every patient with equity.
Why UIC EM/IM? Clinical Excellence is the foundation of everything we do. Combining our four-hospital consortium emergency medicine model with internal medicine training in a University and VA setting, this is where you’ll grow into a master clinician, ready to adeptly manage any patient in any setting.
Support is not just a promise—it’s a practice. Residency is challenging no matter where you go, but here, you’ll never face those challenges alone. You’ll be part of a community that pushes each other to grow while offering mentorship, camaraderie, and the resources to thrive. We don’t mold you into a preset version of a dual-trained physician—we support your unique path and help you discover what EM/IM can look like for you.
Diversity and Advocacy are integral to our identity. Wherever your passion lies, we value your background and your voice. We’re committed to training physicians who reflect and advocate for the communities they serve.
Leadership is expected—and nurtured. Our residents are leaders in the ED, ICU, wards, and clinics. They teach, serve on influential committees, and advocate for both their peers and their patients. You’ll be challenged to lead from the beginning of residency, and you’ll be supported every step of the way.
We’re excited to meet you, learn about your goals, and show you how UIC EM/IM can help you achieve them. Ask about our rotations, our mentorship, and our community. We’re proud of what we’ve built—and even more excited about what you’ll bring to it.
Welcome to UIC. Let’s build something great together.
-Dr. Adam Rodos, EM/IM Residency Program Director
Introducing our EM Residency Program
Welcome to Emergency Medicine!
Our mission is to train the next generation of EM physicians who are not only outstanding clinicians but also have the experience and passion to care for anyone at any time in any situation. All EM residents receive good training, so what makes UIC unique? Experience, multiple training sites, and an unparalleled drive toward health equity.
We have always been a program that utilizes multiple training sites. We began as a three-hospital group and are now a four-hospital consortium comprising The University of Illinois Hospital (UIC), Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, and Little Company of Mary Hospital. This is a distinctive model for training emergency medicine (EM) residents, offering tremendous benefits. Each hospital has a unique patient population, ranging from Tertiary care to significant health disparities, from urban, multicultural settings to large community/suburban areas. These different patient populations provide a foundation of experience that allows residents to choose the population they wish to serve for their careers. We believe this enriched variety of patients is as important in a resident’s development as anything learned on a blog or podcast. In addition to the variety of patient populations offered by the multisite system, the number of faculty and mentors available to residents is also significantly increased. While we have a formal mentorship program, the one-on-one time spent with an attending on shift often has some of the highest impact on resident learning and experience. Graduates routinely mention the multisite system as the “best preparation for that first job that anyone could have.”
Health Equity has been a cornerstone of our residency program and integral to our university’s mission for decades. The research division of our department focuses on projects that aim to improve population health and raise the standard of emergency care. Much of this work is conducted outside the walls of the ED, in the community where our patients reside. Some of these projects are described below. We have developed a fellowship program in Health Equity that was born out of a health equity track within the residency program. Many of our residents and graduates have worked on the projects listed below. As the momentum for health equity has grown, so has the number of faculty members in our department concentrating on improving community health. Equity is not just about our patients; it also involves the physicians we recruit and hire. We have one of the nation’s most diverse faculties; our residency classes also mirror this diversity.
Emergency Medicine is a rapidly evolving field, and UIC Emergency Medicine is at the forefront of training and innovation, truly enjoying the role of leading educational advances that will continue to make medical school graduates outstanding emergency physicians.
Frequently Asked Questions Heading link
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Frequently Asked Questions
The following are several frequently asked questions that applicants have regarding the program and application process.
- How do I apply to UIC’s Internal Medicine/Emergency Medicine Combined Residency Program? All residents are accepted to the IM/EM program through the ERAS match. This acceptance is only at the PGY-1 level. Unfortunately, regardless of prior training, residents must complete 5 years at the University of Illinois at Chicago in order to successfully complete the program.
- If I apply to Emergency Medicine or Internal Medicine at UIC, can I also apply to IM/EM? While the IM/EM requires a separate submission to the NRMP/ERAS, applicants can apply to 2 (or all three programs). We do recommend that a separate personal statement be written specifically for the IM/EM program.
- If I am invited for an interview, does my IM/EM Interview count for the IM or EM programs as well? As a separate program, we have an independent interview process. We understand the complexities of the interview season and the challenges to time and finances for the students. If a candidate is interested in interviewing for either parent program, we will work with the respective parent program to facilitate a visit which will meet the standard for both programs. Please let us know in advance so that we can help to coordinate the process.
- If I request to interview with IM/EM and a parent program, will it reflect negatively on my application for either program? No. Given the paucity of combined training opportunities across the country, we understand that a student will look at other options. We expect it.
- What letters of recommendation do I need to apply for the IM/EM program at UIC? We ask that all applicants have at least one letter from a respected Emergency Medicine physician as well as one letter from a respected Internal Medicine or Internal Medicine Subspecialty physician. All applicants must submit a minimum of three letters of recommendation.
- What type of personal statement should I write? Applicants who write a personal statement specifically targeted at combined training have a more competitive chance of matching into the program.
- What can I do to improve my chances in matching at UIC in IM/EM? Solid performance on all clinical rotations, not just internal medicine or emergency medicine is important. Board scores need to be competitive, but there is no minimum score for consideration in the program. Research, while not mandatory, will make any applicant more competitive. The application committee does ask that applicants demonstrate leadership and excellence in their activities outside of their medical pursuits.
- When can I schedule an interview? Applicants will be contacted by the interview committee after reviewing application materials. Interviews will take place on Thursdays in November and December. An applicant must interview at UIC to be considered for the program.
- What do graduates do upon completion of the IM/EM program? Graduates from the program have an oftentimes overwhelming variety of options upon completion of the program. UIC has placed graduates in academic as well as community emergency medicine. We have graduates actively working in internal medicine subspecialities (after completing further fellowship training) and general internal medicine. Currently, two UIC graduates are residency program directors and one is an ER department head. Graduates currently represent UIC on a national level.
- Does the University of Illinois at Chicago IM/EM Combined program consider graduates of osteopathic medical schools? Yes, however all applicants have to have passed the USMLE Step 1 examination for consideration.
- Does the University of Illinois at Chicago IM/EM Combined Program consider graduates of foreign medical schools? Yes, all applications are considered equally. For information on visa applications, visit the Office of Graduate Medical Education website. Of note, all combined programs in the US are non-ACGME-accredited and are subject to the provisions governing visa sponsorship.