Department of Medicine Medical Education & Training

World-Class Educational Opportunities

BIDMC is one of the nation's preeminent academic medical centers. As an institution, we are committed to excellence in clinical care, biomedical research, and education, and to the health and wellness of our patients and our communities.

In the words of Department Chair Dr. Mark Zeidel, “We train residents and fellows to provide the type of care they would want their families to receive: compassionate, comprehensive, high quality, and cutting edge.” With over 300 diverse trainees, the Department of Medicine supports the graduate medical education of future clinicians, devoted educators, and leading-edge investigators.

Led by an outstanding team of nationally prominent educators, the department provides highly innovative and effective residency and fellowship training programs, exceptional CME courses, and dedicated training experiences for Harvard Medical School (HMS) students.

Nationally Recognized Faculty and Teaching

The department has more than 500 full-time faculty members. Among them are members of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The department is highly regarded throughout HMS for its teaching, and our faculty are consistently recognized with prestigious teaching excellence awards both at HMS and on a national level. The department is proud to be part of a hospital that values education and encourages innovation and advancement in the field.

We are committed to training the next generation of doctors as our students learn from the best of the best in an open environment that produces the leaders of tomorrow.

Department of Medicine Education Programs

Our department offers a range of undergraduate and graduate programs to provide training in internal medicine and numerous specialties.

Additional Educational Opportunities & Resources

The department is committed to creating a fully-rounded educational experience for our trainees along with continuing educational opportunities for our faculty.

In addition to the wide range of educational resources available within our individual training programs, there are an array of departmental and BIDMC-wide opportunities available to all learners. We offer a Clinician Educator Track for Fellows and programs through our Linde Family Institute for Primary Care.

Other opportunities include:

Conferences & Educational Opportunities

Our BIDMC conferences provide time to come together and learn from leading minds within our medical center and across HMS, as well as host prominent national and international experts in their fields.

Throughout the academic year, we host weekly Medical Grand Rounds for the department and all our trainees. Our divisions host their own Divisional Grand Rounds including Endocrinology, General Medicine, Cardiology, Gastroenterology, Rheumatology, and Hematology Oncology, which are open to all our trainees.

Our residency program and Quality Improvement leadership also hosts a weekly privileged and protected Morbidity & Mortality Conference to review cases within our hospital. BIDMC-wide programs such as the Shapiro Institute, the BIDMC Academy, and the Franklin Epstein Society offer a spectrum of events on topics across medical education, research, and clinical care.

There are truly numerous conferences available to our learners each day.

Carl J. Shapiro Institute for Education & Research

BIDMC is home to the Carl J. Shapiro Institute for Education & Research, providing a myriad of educational, mentorship, and research opportunities as well as the first fully accredited hospital-based simulation center.

The mission of the Shapiro Institute at HMS and BIDMC is to support, promote, and develop innovative programs and models for the dual activities of teaching and conducting research at academic medical centers. The institute has physical facilities for medical education in our Center for Education, and the programs to support faculty, medical students, and housestaff.

They have developed innovative educational programs for medical students and trainees at all levels and programs to develop and train tomorrow's leaders in medical education such as the Rabkin Fellowship in Medical Education.

The Shapiro Simulation & Skills Center offers students and trainees the opportunity to build skills using advanced medicine simulations and technology in a specialized educational setting.

Franklin Epstein Society

This Department of Medicine-founded mentoring program has expanded across BIDMC and is open to all medical education trainees. The primary goal of the Franklin Epstein Society is to mentor our young research investigators and future physician scientists, as they work to establish their own research programs and apply for K and R Grants.

The Epstein Society is led by Dr. Steven Freedman. Participation is extended to investigators across all departments. Often, individuals will participate in both Franklin Epstein Society and the Grant Review and Support Program (GRASP), also led by Dr. Freedman, and is a multi-year program for K grant awardees seeking independent research funding.

Global Health Opportunities

At BIDMC, we support a range of global health experiences that provide opportunities for clinical care in unique and resource-limited settings across the globe.

We are proud to be home to the Botswana Global Health Program, led by Director Dr. Jon Crocker. Within that program, we host a Global Health Elective in our Internal Medicine Residency Program, which allows our residents time to train internationally.

We also have a Global Health Fellowship, in which fellows train at our main BIDMC campus and at our affiliate hospital in Botswana, the Scottish Livingstone Hospital (SLH).

We are also involved in a Partnership for Health Advancement in Vietnam (HAIVN), which is a collaboration between HMS, Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), and BIDMC.

Advancing Health in Vietnam

The Partnership for Health Advancement in Vietnam (HAIVN) is a collaboration between Harvard Medical School (HMS), Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), and BIDMC. In collaboration with the Vietnam Ministry of Health, Hanoi Medical University, the Ho Chi Minh University of Medicine and Pharmacy and other partners, we aim to improve the quality of medical education, research, and healthcare in Vietnam.

We strive to foster student and faculty interaction with Vietnamese peers, educate HMS students and post-graduate trainees in global health, and foster joint opportunities for scholarship between the two countries.

The HAIVN grant is managed at BIDMC. Our central aims are to:

Strengthen health systems through medical education reform
Improve healthcare delivery through developing capacity and systems for in-service clinical training and mentoring, and healthcare quality improvement
Collaborate to evaluate outcomes of implemented programs through integrated program monitoring and evaluation

Lisa Cosimi, MD, is the Director of HAIVN and in addition attends and teaches on the Infectious Disease service at BWH and is an Instructor in Medicine (Infectious Diseases) at HMS. Todd Pollack, MD, is the Director of BIDMC in Vietnam, providing in-country management to the HAIVN project offices in Hanoi and HCMC. He also holds a joint faculty position in the Division of General Medicine and Primary Care and the Division of Infectious Diseases. Bridget Gardner, also based within the division, serves as associate director of the project.

Graduate Fellowship Programs

We are proud to offer fellowship programs across the full spectrum of internal medicine. Learn more about our specialty and sub-subspecialty fellowships below.

Advancing Care, Research & Education