Categorical Medicine

Welcome Class of 2027

Categorical Medicine Highlights Heading link

Program Highlights

The Department of Medicine at the University of Illinois Chicago has a 60-year tradition of providing thorough and comprehensive training in Internal Medicine. Our goal is to prepare future physicians for a wide range of career paths, including careers in academic internal medicine, primary care, and subspecialty clinical practice. We also are committed to an education-packed year for our preliminary residents to assist them in having excellent performance in their specialty programs. We do so with an eye toward the changing health care environment and the increasing demands upon physicians to be both evidence-based and humanistic in their approach to clinical decision-making.

Structure

Size: We are one of 48 “large” (>100 residents) internal medicine residencies in the country with 115 residents in the Categorical and Preliminary Programs, plus 16 Medicine/Pediatrics, and 15 Internal Medicine/Emergency Medicine residents for a total of 146 trainees. This number of housestaff allows us great flexibility in scheduling requested rotations, vacations, family leave, and wellness days.

Program Leadership: There is a deep bench of dedicated and experienced clinicians, educators, and researchers leading the program, including our Department Chair, Program Director, Deputy Program Director, Senior Associate Program Director, ten additional Associate Program Directors, and five Chief Residents.

Chief Residents: We annually recruit six residents who have completed training in our program to stay on for an additional year as faculty and administrative leaders. They each are dedicated to distinct aspects of the program: University of Illinois Hospital, Jesse Brown VA Hospital, Research, Education, Ambulatory Care, Diversity and Inclusion, and Quality and Patient Safety.

Faculty: Residents are supervised by over 200 full-time faculty who are only affiliated with the UIC Department of Medicine. Our faculty teach and provide patient care, which allows them to concentrate their efforts on residency mentorship, research, and education. Faculty are evaluated by the housestaff on their teaching abilities monthly to assure they remain excellent educators.

X+Y Format: We have a 4+2 system for senior residents with 4 weeks of inpatient or consult rotations followed by 2 weeks of an ambulatory Y-block. The Y-block features continuity clinics at UIH and the Jesse Brown VA, longitudinal electives, research half-days and administrative protected time. During the Y-block, residents experience a robust ambulatory medicine focused didactic schedule. We have now also implemented a similar system for our interns with a “Flex X” to ensure they are scheduled to be on an ambulatory rotation, inpatient/outpatient consult rotation, or vacation every 6 weeks at the most.

Training Sites: Residents rotate at the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System (UIH) and the Jesse Brown VA (JBVA), which both have inpatient medicine services and continuity clinics. These hospitals are only three blocks away from each other and conveniently located steps away from public transportation by train or bus. Both sites serve a diverse and underserved patient population within Chicago. UIH cares for everyone in the community regardless of their insurance. About 50% of patients have Medicaid or are without insurance, 25% on Medicare, and very few with private insurance. The JBVA provides free care to veterans that have served our country and are often from under-resourced communities.

Multidisciplinary Teams: Care teams consist of a wide range of health care professionals, including social workers, discharge planners, pharmacists, pharmacy residents and students, medical students, and advanced practice nursing students.

Specialized Tracks: We offer dedicated tracks for Academic Internal Medicine, Global Health Advocates and Scholars, Leaders for Local Change, and Medical Education. We are also the first medicine residency in the country to sponsor an Innovation in Internal Medicine track. We now offer an Integrated Geriatrics-Internal Medicine pathway, where residents will complete their 3 years in Internal Medicine and then devote their PGY4 year to a Geriatrics fellowship. In addition, we offer a Physician Scientist Development Program that guarantees trainees a spot into their desired fellowship after two years of general internal medicine. UIC is one of the few programs that offers a Stimulating Access to Research in Residency (StARR) fellowship that allows residents to do a dedicated year of research within the fields of cardiology, hematology/oncology, or pulmonology with an NIH sponsored R38 research grant for during their PGY4 year. Finally, we are now offering a new program called the Richard J. Weber GI Research Training Honors (GRIT) Program for an internal medicine resident to complete a PGY4 year of clinical research focused within gastroenterology/hepatology/nutrition. Both the StARR and the GRIT programs require residents to do 80% research and 20% clinical training during their PGY4 years.

Preliminary Year: Our preliminary PGY-1s enjoy the same number of electives and opportunities as the Categorical residents with the exception that they do not have a continuity clinic. However, if desired, preliminary residents can participate in non-Internal Medicine subspecialty clinics (e.g., Dermatology, Ophthalmology).

Hospital Medicine

University of Illinois Hospital

About 60% of inpatient experience is at the 440-bed tertiary care hospital. Ward rotations include general internal medicine (5 teams), hepatology, hematology, oncology, sickle cell, cardiac care unit (CCU), medical intensive care (MICU),and hospital medicine/procedure service. Consult rotations include rheumatology, endocrinology, nephrology, infectious diseases, pulmonology, cardiology, allergy/immunology, transplant infectious diseases, genetics, transplant nephrology, gastroenterology/hepatology, neurology, addiction medicine, geriatrics, palliative care, medical education, narrative medicine, and tropical medicine.

‎‎Jesse Brown VA

About 40% of inpatient experience is at the 200-bed VA hospital. Rotations include general internal medicine (5 teams), medical intensive care unit, and emergency medicine. Consultative rotations include pulmonary, nephrology, infectious diseases, gastroenterology, and cardiology.

Research and Education

Daily Conference: There is protected educational time every weekday from 12:00pm to 1:00pm. We also have “Flamin’ Feud,” a fun diagnostic reasoning game, on Thursdays after noon conference.
Report Conferences: There are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday VA Morning Reports and UIH Hospitalist Afternoon Reports on Mondays.
Monthly Journal Club: Faculty host an informal journal club at an offsite location, typically their home. Dinner is provided.
Scholarly Activity and Conference Funding: All residents participate in scholarly activity, ranging from case reports, basic science, translational, and clinical research that result in posters, abstracts, and published manuscripts. The program funds residents to present their scholarly activity at society meetings. Residents can also receive funding to offset the costs of open-access publications. Additionally, we have multiple Works-in-Progress throughout the year, which gives residents opportunity to meet with research faculty to help ensure they are getting appropriate help and mentorship. We also host a Summer Research Series, which is intended to teach residents everything from how to come up with a research question to writing an IRB.
Protected Research Time: There is dedicated time available on Y-blocks in both second and third years of training to facilitate data collection, data analysis, and poster and/or manuscript preparation. Residents are paired with a faculty mentor to help support them in their research endeavors.
Medical Library: Residents have electronic access to an enormous number of resources through the UIC Medical Library including thousands of textbooks and journals, and UpToDate.
Project And Investigative Research (PAIR) Database: An internal website is available which enumerates research projects amenable to resident participation, allowing trainees to easily find research in their areas of interest.
Stimulating Access to Research in Residency (StARR) Program: Our department has received a multimillion-dollar, multi-year R38 grant to support research within the residency as well as an additional guaranteed 4^th year of training after residency. For AY26, there will be three residents enrolled in the StARR program.
Richard J. Weber GI Research Training Honors (GRIT) Program: Our program also supports an internal medicine resident to complete a PGY4 year of 80% clinical research focused within gastroenterology/hepatology/nutrition and 20% clinical training.
Educational Stipend: GME provides a monthly education stipend to residents.
American College of Physicians: The program pays for membership to the American College of Physicians, which allows additional educational opportunities and discounts on educational and board preparation materials

Procedure and Skills Training

Simulation and Integrated Learning (SAIL) Institute: SAIL is a 25-million-dollar simulation center allowing residents to sharpen their procedural and clinical skills prior to beginning their training as well as during their residency.
Point-of-Care Ultrasound: We offer two ultrasound rotations (one at UIH and one at the VA), which provide clinical training in bedside ultrasound provided by experienced faculty, as well as serving as a procedure service. We are one of ten programs in the country to offer an Ultrasound Fellowship.
Clinical Leaders and Academic Scholars (CLASS) Fellowship: UIC has a unique one- or two-year fellowship to train graduates of the program in additional skills to become future life-long educators.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Within Our Family: With one of the highest overall scores on U.S News and World Report’s ethnic diversity index, UIC’s student body is one of the most diverse in the nation. This diversity is reflected in our resident complement as well as the patient populations we serve. Currently 27% of our residents are doctors that are underrepresented in medicine.
Serving the Underserved: We are passionate and dedicated to providing health equity to our community. Residents participate in many charity events, COVID testing and treatment for marginalized individuals, STI outreach clinics that provide free testing and treatment, and the Chicago Street Medicine program that cares for the undomiciled at their respective locations.
Resident DEI Council: The mission of our resident-led DEI council is to foster a diverse community where our residents can thrive and reach their professional goals through mentorship, research, and education. The council aims to further increase diversity, equity, and inclusivity within our Internal Medicine Program by recruiting and retaining a diverse house staff and resident body. The council includes 4 branches: Community Engagement, Outreach/Opportunity, Research, and Education.
Department of Medicine Inclusion Council (DOMIC): Leadership and membership in DOMIC are from diverse backgrounds with a mission to advance the diversity and inclusion of faculty and trainees through education, advocacy, scholarly activities, mentorship, and networking. We feel that diversity drives innovation and promotes health equity. DOMIC sponsors many educational activities, including our anti-racism curriculum and education on unique aspects of care for the LGBTQA+ community. We have an Associate Program Director specifically dedicated to our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives within the residency.
Bias Reduction in Internal Medicine (BRIM): We were one of the first medicine programs in the country to train our residents in BRIM. These workshops provide education and awareness of our unconscious biases in order to name them, tame them, and create a diverse and inclusive environment for our health care professionals and our patients.
Women Trainees Interest Group (WTIG): Founded by our IM residents, WTIG is a group created for all women trainees from all programs at UIC. Their mission is to improve the health of underserved women in the community through advocacy and outreach, create mentorship opportunities for women trainees, and enhance education about Women’s Health within our institution.

Wellness and Humanities Initiatives

Structural Changes: Numerous initiatives have been implemented to ensure resident wellness, including structuring work hours to assist with healthy time away from patient care, a 4+2 curriculum model for senior residents, Wellness Days, and two Step 3 days. We also have a rigorous backup policy that ensures a resident can immediately obtain coverage should they feel less than capable of excellent patient care for any reason and a liberal Family and Medical Leave policy that gives abundant paid time off for trainees. Additionally, we have an Associate Program Director specifically dedicated to resident wellbeing. Finally, the Program Director, Dr. Mikolajczyk, has significant, protected administrative time to meet with residents individually during his monthly office hours.
Wellness Committee: This committee is composed of residents, chief residents, and faculty who seek to assess and promote well-being throughout the year. We not only organize enjoyable events, but we also seek to help with professional development, engage residents in community service, and encourage residents to serve as Wellness Ambassadors.
Humanities Curriculum: Regularly scheduled didactics on a variety of Humanities topics such as Narrative Medicine & Narrative Humility, Visual Thinking Strategies and the Art of Observation. Residents also participate in humanities workshops during their Y-block didactics throughout the year. Residents are invited to participate in a two-week Narrative Medicine elective where they work 1:1 with a faculty preceptor to complete reading and writings assignments. Interested residents are encouraged to submit their written work for publication or presentation. The UIC IM Program has also partnered with the Art Institute of Chicago to offer a program in Civic Wellness which includes an annual visiting professor Grand Rounds Lecture as well as a guided museum visit every spring.
Firm Leaders: Each residency year has firm leaders who meet regularly with their colleagues and program leadership to assure easy communication of new ideas and recommendations from the residents in a frequent and safe space.
Annual Retreats: Every year, each residency class gets protected time off to attend an offsite retreat for wellness activities, dedicated time for self-reflection for career development, and feedback sessions with program leadership.

Beyond Residency

Fellowship Acquisition: Numerous structures are in place to foster matching into competitive fellowships. There are numerous workshops on topics such as interviewing skills, CV preparation, mock interviews, and fellowship panels with program directors and fellows so they can discuss their journeys and provide guidance from it. Over the last decade 97% of graduates seeking a fellowship matched. In 2022, 46% of residents matched at the first choice on their match list, and the average spot down on their list was 1.8.
Academic Internal Medicine: Over the last 8 years, 30% of our graduates entered careers in general internal medicine. Many of these residents become academic hospitalists.
General Medicine Career Planning: The program arranges career planning panels for residents interested in hospital medicine and primary care with guidance on the application process and timeline. We even have panels of recent graduates from our program to share their experience and answer questions.

Other Unique Features

Clinical Teaching and Feedback Didactics: Faculty-led sessions during the overnight retreat give residents the opportunity to learn additional teaching skills (e.g., 1-minute preceptor, how to deliver a chalk talk) and how to give feedback, as well as the chance to practice these skills with residents and medical students. The Department of Medical Education also offers a Resident As Teacher experience (RATe) for residents from all specialties to participate in.
Step-Up Program: An evidence-based curriculum allows PGY-1 residents to step-up into the role of senior resident at the end of intern year with supervision and feedback provided by their PGY-2 resident and attending in order to feel more comfortable with the transition to a senior.
Narrative Medicine, Street Medicine, Reflective Practice rotational experiences
Department of Medicine Book Club
Internal Moonlighting: PGY-3s have several opportunities to moonlight on the weekends in order to gain additional inpatient experience with pay.
School of Public Health: The campus is home to one of the best schools of Public Health in the country. Residents are able to work toward a certificate degree or a Master of Public Health degree and tuition is waived if residents attend onsite classes.
Sports and Fitness Center: Our newly renovated Sports and Fitness Center is located on campus just a block away from each of our inpatient hospitals, providing easy access to wellness activities before, during, or after the workday.
Chicago: We are located in an incredible city rich in world-class museums, architecture, restaurants, and multicultural neighborhoods. Most residents live within 15 minutes of campus and have ample time to explore the city. To further enjoy the city, the program provides free tickets to the Chicago Bulls, the Tony award-winning Steppenwolf Theater, and Hubbard Street dance company.

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Categorical Medicine