Let’s face it – trying to decide where to spend your residency can be complicated and numerous factors play a role in that decision. But here at Mount Sinai, we offer a potent combination of a top-notch medical education, the opportunity to work with some of the world’s best clinicians and researchers, and robust career development and mentoring plus we are based in the greatest, most intellectually and culturally vibrant city in the world.
Why Choose Mount Sinai
The Icahn School of Medicine has historically ranked in the top 20 of all accredited U.S. Medical Schools in the U.S. News & World Report annual survey on “America’s Best Graduate Schools.” The Department of Medicine is ranked 11th in NIH funding nationwide, with over $120 million in grants.
In its “Best Hospitals” issue for 2023-2024, U.S. News & World Report ranked multiple divisions in the Department of Medicine as leading locations for sub-specialty care, including Geriatrics, Gastroenterology, Cancer, Cardiology, Diabetes and Endocrinology, Pulmonary and Nephrology. These rankings exemplify our commitment to patient care and the education of our trainees.
But these numbers don't tell the whole story. Our program is considered by national leaders in medical education to be highly rigorous, providing excellent foundational training for any subspecialty in a highly supportive environment.
Mount Sinai is unique because it is located at the crossroads of one of the richest areas in the United States and one of the poorest. This nexus allows for an amazingly diverse patient population that is both highly demanding and highly in need of medical services. And this offers you a unique opportunity for your training—one that most physicians don't get in their entire careers.
And of course, as a resident at Mount Sinai you will live in New York City—one of the greatest, most diverse, and exciting cities in the world. Physically, our main campus is right next to Central Park, which provides a quick escape into natural beauty for runs, walks, bike rides or just relaxation. Residents can participate in all the cultural and recreational activities that New York City can offer: theater, museums, music, restaurants, and sporting events.
With three main training locations, you will be exposed to a wide array of patients that most trainees don’t see until later in their careers.
The Mount Sinai Hospital
Founded in 1852, The Mount Sinai Hospital is a 1,139-bed urban hospital known internationally for delivering the most sophisticated and advanced medical care available. The Mount Sinai Hospital provides primary and secondary care to local residents, as well as tertiary care to patients referred from around the world. Located on the borders of East Harlem, one of the poorest communities in the nation, and the Upper East Side, one of the wealthiest, Mount Sinai attracts an incredibly diverse patient population.
Elmhurst Hospital Center
Elmhurst Hospital is a 618-bed municipal hospital located in Queens. It maintains a close affiliation with Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and is located in the most ethnically diverse square mile in the world. There are over 100 translators on staff at Elmhurst for nearly 85 different languages. Because of this unique patient population, Elmhurst offers a very special opportunity to care for patients with diseases rarely seen in other hospitals in the United States. The hospital provides all levels of care to over one million residents of Western Queens. The emergency room and outpatient clinics are among the busiest in New York City.
James J. Peters Veterans Administration Medical Center
The VA Medical Center in the Bronx is the oldest VA facility in New York City, celebrating over 75 years of service to those who have served our country. Today the VAMC has 311 hospital beds and 120 nursing home beds and operates several regional referral points including a Spinal Cord Injury Unit. The rotation experience at the VAMC offers an opportunity for teaching particularly in the fields of psychiatry, physical medicine and rehabilitation, neurology, oncology, and geriatrics and palliative care. It also offers our trainees an extensive simulation experience.
As a resident in the Department of Medicine at Mount Sinai, you will work with and be mentored by an amazing group of physicians. We have some of the leading clinicians, physician-scientists, and researchers who will play an integral part in your development as a physician. Please click here to read more about our faculty.
At Mount Sinai, we provide a well-rounded and comprehensive training program that encompasses all aspects of academic medicine. We consider it a point of pride that so many of our residents have not only published major papers by the time they leave us, but also end up in prestigious fellowship programs throughout the country and around the world.
Career Mentoring
Upon arrival as an intern, you are assigned an advisor within the program to provide semi-annual feedback including review of evaluations and career goals. This person serves as a mentor for your professional development throughout your three years at Mount Sinai. Seminars for residents regarding fellowship applications as well as future career planning are held regularly.
Research Opportunities
Under the direction of clinical and basic science research directors, research opportunities with world renowned faculty abound at Mount Sinai. Residents are required to participate in scholarly activity with a faculty member during the course of their training. The Department of Medicine ranks in the top 15 of NIH-funded academic medicine departments with over $100 million in grants. A state-of-the-art core facility in genomic and proteomic medicine has facilitated the development of a broad precision medicine program that crosses all subspecialties and is centered in the Department of Medicine.
Department of Medicine faculty are involved in the latest basic and translational science, drawing on resources from throughout the Mount Sinai Health System. Our residents become an integral part of the discovery process in areas such as immunology/immunotherapy, fibrosis, inflammation, the study of the microbiome and ultimately how big data can be utilized to produce individualized therapies and treatments for patients suffering from a range of diseases.
Starting in internship, you will meet with our Associate Program Director for Research who will connect you to a research mentor who shares your particular interests. Research opportunities are also available in areas closely linked to primary care such as outcomes and quality of care research. Housestaff research efforts culminate in a Department of Medicine Research Day each spring when residents present their data in oral and poster format. A guest speaker is chosen each year to demonstrate the evolving role of translational science.
Clinical Electives
The elective months are an important part of the resident’s training. Not only can they help enrich the general medical training, but they can help residents gain insight into possible future careers. The Department of Medicine offers electives in Cardiology, Clinical Immunology, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, General Internal Medicine, Geriatrics and Palliative Care Medicine, Hematology/Oncology, Hospital Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Liver Diseases, Medical Genomics, Medical Informatics, Nephrology, Pulmonary Medicine/Critical Care, Rheumatology, and Transfusion Medicine. Residents can choose either inpatient consult or outpatient electives.
Fellowship and Beyond
A large majority of our residents successfully compete for the most prestigious fellowship positions. During fellowship applications, each resident is also assigned to a faculty mentor to help them with the challenges of applying to competitive fellowships. For the residents choosing to remain in primary care, we make special efforts to find general medicine fellowships for those wishing to gain further expertise or pursue careers in academic medicine. Additionally, the Department of Medicine continues to work with its residents beyond their period of training, assisting them with career decisions after residency.
As a member of Mount Sinai's Internal Medicine Residency Program, you will have the chance to take part in unique medical curricula, which will further enhance your education. We have three main programs that are woven into your day-to-day training: Wellness in Medicine, Quality Improvement, and Evidence-Based Medicine.
Wellness in Medicine
Our residency program places a strong value on the wellness of our residents. Led by our resident-run Wellness Committee and Dr. Aveena Kochar, the Wellness Champion for our internal medicine residency program, we organize frequent wellness events to improve the well-being of our residents. We host mindfulness and meditation conferences, and inpatient visits from our hospital dog, Moby! Every resident is automatically enrolled in an "opt-out" wellness advisor program to check in and to offer mental health resources. We host an array of social events throughout the year, including ice-cream socials, Friday happy hours, a Halloween party, a holiday party, and a graduation party. We also plan barbecues to support our top-notch residency softball team!
Quality Improvement
The ever-changing landscape in American health care requires that we train future leaders who have a firm foundation in the concepts of quality improvement and patient safety. Housestaff officers are exposed to the following throughout their training:
- A monthly conference to highlight medical errors and discuss them openly and without blame, while performing a root cause analysis;
- A PGY-2 led outpatient quality improvement project run by residents in conjunction with their outpatient education. Projects in the past have included increasing healthcare proxy documentation and colon cancer screening with stool DNA testing.
- Other quality improvement and patient safety projects are actively encouraged and mentored in the housestaff quality committee — grant funding is available for quality-related research projects.
Evidence-Based Medicine
Our training program emphasizes evidence-based medicine (EBM). The multiple components of our EBM curriculum are woven into the overall residency to optimize learning and retention. The EBM curriculum emphasizes skills in critical appraisal, filtered resource utilization, and evidence summary. It includes small group journal clubs for interns and residents during outpatient rotations, EBM seminars for residents, small seminars in cost-effectiveness analysis, and incorporation of EBM skills into inpatient morning report.
At The Mount Sinai Hospital, we value everyone’s unique experiences and welcome residents from underrepresented backgrounds. Our hospital serves residents of East Harlem, a neighborhood historically made up of a large immigrant population and residents with limited access to healthcare.
Accordingly, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is committed to recruiting a diverse house staff. In conjunction with the Center for Multicultural and Community Affairs, we offer the Visiting Electives Programs for Students Underrepresented in Medicine (VEPSUM) elective to visiting fourth-year medical students. VEPSUM is designed to increase diversity in house staff and faculty.
The Department of Medicine sponsors Unconscious Bias and Undoing Racism Workshops for residents, faculty and staff. Additionally, as part of our noon conference schedule, we offer a series on underserved populations in healthcare, including lectures on health disparities in cardiovascular disease, LGBTQ health, transgender medicine and gender-affirming surgery, and masculinizing and feminizing hormonal therapy amongst others.
An Underrepresented in Medicine House Staff Interest Group was recently formed with focused mentorship, Wellness/Burnout sessions relevant to URiM trainees and social networking events undertaken.
Department of Medicine Diversity Council
Led by Dr. Mirna Mohanraj, Vice Chair for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, our Department of Medicine Diversity Council comprises residents, faculty, and administrators dedicated to improving equity, diversity and inclusion over all Medicine Departments in the Mount Sinai Health System. Responsibilities include reviewing policies, procedures and informal practices across the department that impact the DEI mission. Members collect and analyze demographic and qualitative data to assess departmental performance in comparison to its peers and provide oversight and evaluation of educational programming.
Graduates from our residency program go on to some of the most prestigious and highly sought-after fellowships around the country. We have alumni at nearly every major medical institution throughout the United States. Read more about our graduates and leaders in academic medicine who were trained at Mount Sinai.