Applicants
Program Overview
People
How many residents are in the program?
We currently have 71 categorical, 6 primary care, 21 med/peds, and 11 medicine-preliminary residents. An additional 5 neurology interns, 7 radiology interns, 1 radiation oncology intern, 1 preventive medicine intern, and 4 ophthalmology interns spend much of their intern year with the department for a total of 126 residents.
How available are attending physicians and specialists?
Every rotation has a designated attending physician available around-the-clock, either in the hospital or by phone or pager. An attending rounds on every inpatient service every day. Residents feel very comfortable calling staff as needed. All the subspecialties of medicine have attending physicians (and fellows when applicable) on call around-the-clock.
Who precepts on wards?
Subspecialty ward services (Cardiology, Hematology, Oncology, and Geriatrics) are covered by subspecialty board-certified attending physicians, and have a fellow assigned to the service. The general medicine ward services are covered by hospitalists (40%), general internists (50%), and selected subspecialists (10%).
Who does the teaching (residents, fellows, or faculty)?
At UMMC, we are proud to have some of the best educators in the southeast. Most of the didactic sessions in the core curriculum are led by faculty members. A great deal of the teaching of the program is done as patient care decisions are made and comes from other residents, fellows, and faculty, even students!
Do residents meet individually with the program leadership?
All residents meet individually with the program director or an associate program director on a semi-annual basis for review of performance and milestone accomplishment and to address any of the resident's concerns with the program.
Do residents have scholarship mentors?
Each resident has the opportunity to be paired with a scholarship mentor, who is not the same person as his or her advisor. The mentor is identified based on the expressed scholarly interest of the resident. An intern who is uncertain of his/her scholarly interest at the start of residency can utilize his or her advisor to aid in identifying a scholarly interest. Dr. Licy Yanes Cardozo is our Director of Resident Research. She serves as a point person to help set up mentoring relationships, projects, and statistical analysis assistance. Mentors are available in general medicine, in every subspecialty, and in quality improvement and patient safety. Additionally, UMMC is home to several large ongoing research studies, including the Jackson Heart Study and Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study. UMMC also boasts a large research division including its own clinical trial unit and newly constructed $50 million dollar, 124,852 square-foot Translational Science Research building here on campus.
Is research required of residents?
All residents are required to complete a scholarly activity at least once during their training. This may include original research, quality improvement, curriculum development, case reports, textbook chapters or review articles. A scholarship curriculum is delivered throughout training to teach more about how to conduct research and to present scholarly work. We have created a Research and Scholarship Committee that includes program leadership and core faculty that is creating a research and scholarship "toolkit" to help residents take advantage of the research opportunities available within the department and on campus.
What have recent graduates of the program chosen as their career paths?
Most graduates in recent years are pursuing subspecialty training in a wide variety of fields. Some graduates are working as hospitalists and a few are traditional general internists. View our residents' recent fellowship matches here.
How do you evaluate your residents?
The program uses an evaluation software called MedHub. Evaluations are required from all team members in order to provide feedback to both trainees and faculty. Our evaluations are competency and milestone based in order to ensure that our residents are prepared for independent practice when they graduate. We keep evaluations anonymous to encourage honest feedback and strongly encourage face to face feedback at all levels. Our clinical competency committee reviews the milestone based progress of every resident once every six months as well. We also use observation during conferences and interaction regarding consults and other patient care needs in the hospital. Lastly, we ask the residents to reflect on their own performance prior to each semi-annual visit with the associate program director or program director.
How can residents offer feedback about the program?
Residents are strongly encouraged to talk to the chief residents or to program leadership about any issue that arises. Residents are given surveys of the program yearly where they are able to anonymously voice concerns. The program director and APDs also meet once per month with all the residents for an hour that is dedicated to acknowledging publicly colleagues who have helped out or performed outstanding work and to the residents voicing any new concerns. We make small and sometimes large changes every year to our schedule or curriculum based on feedback or ideas from our residents.
Programs
Are rotations available in every major subspecialty?
Yes. We have rotations in every Our residents experience rotations in all subspecialties in the inpatient and outpatient settings. We have primary services in General Medicine, Cardiology, Critical Care, Geriatrics, Hematology, and Oncology; and we have consult services in Cardiology, Nephrology, Pulmonary, Endocrinology, Rheumatology, Allergy/Immunology, Gastroenterology, Infectious Diseases, Hematology/Oncology, Palliative Care, and Sleep Medicine. Residents can also rotate in the CCU, and all residents spend two weeks on our combined Medicine Consults/Procedure Team service. We also have a robust ambulatory curriculum that includes dedicated time in Cardiology, Infectious Diseases, Hematology/Oncology, Gastroenterology, Endocrinology, Nephrology, Geriatrics, Rheumatology, Allergy/Immunology, and Pulmonary in the clinic setting. Opportunities abound for rotations in the community setting, both in the Jackson metropolitan area and in more under-served areas of the state.
How is call structured?
On general medicine wards at the University Hospital, day call rotates among six teams and night call is covered by a night float team. At the VA Medical Center, there are 3 medicine teams that operate on a drip system for admissions. Cardiology wards overnight call is covered as a night shift by the team members assigned to the rotation. Hematology, Oncology, and Geriatrics ward services are also covered as a night shift by upper level team members with the exception of a few nights per month. The University ICU, the VA ICU, and Emergency Medicine rotations are shift work.
What is the average patient volume?
On inpatient and consult services, PGY-1s generally care for 5-8 patients at a time, upper level residents care for 10-14 patients. In clinic, PGY-1s see 3-4 patients/half day; PGY-2s 4-5 patients/half day, and PGY-3s see 5-6 patients/half day.
How much independence do the residents have?
Upper level residents have a great deal of autonomy. As team leaders, they perform initial assessment of patient problems, write admission orders, and make the day-to-day decisions regarding patient care. Attending physicians and fellows are available around-the-clock for advice as needed, but do not dictate patient care decisions. Although interns are supervised more closely by upper level residents and attendings, they are allowed to make decisions regarding patient care. The program philosophy is one of active learning, where education is constantly woven into the primary emphasis on patient well-being, and trainees are allowed enough independence to learn how to appropriately care for patients.
Do residents have time to read?
Yes. Duty hour limitations allow time outside the hospital for rest and recreation, and many rotations have "down time" during the day for reading. With the implementation of our X+Y+Z schedule, they have found even more time to read and study. Several rotations have study half-days that are built into the schedule. More time becomes available as residents advance in the training program, and at the PGY-3 level many rotations have limited weekend and night call duties as well as increasing time during the day for study.
What opportunities are offered for those interested in pursuing academic medicine?
Since we work in an academic medical center, there are ample opportunities to be mentored by a current faculty members in regards to research but also career counseling. For those who think they would like to practice in an academic setting and focus on teaching, we developed the Clinician Educator Track, which is a two-year longitudinal curriculum specifically focused on teaching and leadership. Participants are chosen through an application process in the spring of each year. The curriculum consists of direct teaching of medical students and fellow residents, didactics, journal club, leadership development courses, and the Stanford Medical Educator's course. For those interested in research, we also offer the Clinician Researcher Track, which also spans two years, and provides a foundation in basic science and/or clinical science research.
What is the core curriculum?
The core curriculum is presented at noon conference several days per week and covers general medicine and specialty topics with an emphasis on board preparation. Intern curriculum is delivered to interns only and focuses on topics they are most likely to see during the year. An online ambulatory curriculum is supplemented by didactic sessions.
What other teaching conferences are scheduled?
General medicine ward rotations have morning report Monday through Friday, and most subspecialty rotations include a didactic curriculum. In addition to the core curriculum, noon conference includes two departmental conferences: Medical Grand Rounds and Continuous Quality Improvement Conference. Other noon presentations include Special Topics (including billing and coding, malpractice insurance, financial planning, and a curriculum on quality improvement and scholarly activity), Journal Club (a resident-led literature review), and Health Disparities Curriculum. These conferences have a 70% attendance requirement for all residents.
Do your residents participate in quality improvement projects?
Yes, all of our residents perform team-based quality improvement projects throughout their residency. They receive instruction on the purpose and the specific manner in which quality improvement work is conducted, and they receive guidance from both the program leadership and faculty advisors while performing their projects. Projects may pertain to either the inpatient or outpatient setting, and they often are tied to the hospital’s quality initiatives. The best project is recognized each year by the department.
Do your residents pass the internal medicine board exam?
We are proud to say that our ABIM board pass rate is excellent. 96% of our residents passed the board exam last year, and 92% passed on their first attempt over the past 3 years (the national one-year and three-year pass rate is currently 87%). We offer a free board review course after graduation for all residents to help them prepare for this important exam.
Do you have a point of care ultrasound curriculum?
Yes, we have a point of care ultrasound (POCUS) curriculum led by one of our Associate Program Directors and utilize POCUS daily in our patient care. We also utilize POCUS heavily on our Procedure Team, which is led by our hospitalist faculty and staffed by two of our residents at all times. This team also doubles as the Medicine Consults team.
Tell me about your primary care track.
We developed the track 12 years ago due to the need for more primary care physicians in Mississippi. The track increases the amount of continuity clinic exposure for each resident by approximately 50% over the course of his or her residency. In addition, primary care track residents have at least one rotation in a private practice clinic, typically in a rural or underserved area where office based procedures are part of the normal clinic practice. At least one X block is replaced with a primary care block that focuses on a variety of clinic experiences essential to full preparation for primary care, including sports medicine, ob/gyn, dermatology, and ENT. The residents receive didactics specific to the track, including those which focus on primary care billing and practice operations. Future plans include extending our partnerships with other locations in the state for valuable community experiences. Dr. Jessie Lavender serves as the Primary Care Track director.
Do you have other tracks in your residency program?
Yes, while the primary care track is available in the Match, we have three additional tracks to which you can apply in January of your intern year. We have our clinician educator track which has existed since 2019-2020, and this year we started a hospitalist track and a clinician researcher track, both of which span the final two years of residency. The hospitalist track gives those who are interested in hospital medicine additional opportunities to prepare for both the patient care and the business aspects of hospital medicine, while the clinician researcher track allows for focused one-on-one mentorship of a project with the goal of publication by the end of residency and for further training on the conduct of research.
What are your plans for future programs?
We plan to develop further each of the four tracks within our program and to expand our Residents as Teachers and Leaders curriculum to include an emphasis on developing a professional identity. We also will begin a curricular series that focuses on specific skills essential to navigating life after residency, including preparation for fellowship interviews, contract negotiation, practice management, and financial management. We also are planning a longitudinal focus on evidence-based medicine through morning report and noon conference to go along with our focus on the evidence in case conference and journal club.
What is the continuity clinic experience like?
We moved our clinic to a brand new facility - Colony Park South - in Ridgeland in February 2025. It is a 10-12 minute drive from the main campus, and to allow for that, we have adjusted templates so residents can make it to noon conference after morning clinic and can make it to the clinic after attending noon conference. The new facility is a significant upgrade in the size of exam rooms, the number of work spaces, and the width of hallways and doorways. The facility has onsite lab, x-ray, advanced imaging, bone density imaging, mammography, and physical therapy. Several restaurants and coffee shops are also in the immediate surrounding area.
Places
Is this a university-based or a community-based program?
The program is university-based with UMMC as the primary training site. About 1/4 of each resident's time across the 36 months of training is spent at the adjacent VA Medical Center. UMMC is the the only Level 1 trauma hospital in the state. With over 700 beds, it is the largest diagnostic, treatment and referral care system in Mississippi. Inpatient stays total about 29,000 annually with more than 209,000 outpatient and emergency visits every year. UMMC encompasses 6 health science schools with more than 2,800 students and with over 10,000 employees, the medical center is the largest employer in Mississippi. The VA has a maximum capacity of 60 medical beds, and the MICU has been remodeled recently.
What is the patient population (disease processes, socioeconomic background, variety)?
As the only academic medical center in a state with great disparities in health status, high disease and mortality rates and low socioeconomic status, UMMC serves a large and culturally varied population. A large number of patients from the Jackson area use the University for primary care, and patients from around Mississippi are referred for procedures and for diagnostic or therapeutic dilemmas. About half the patients are government-insured (Medicare and/or Medicaid) with a fair number of uninsured and some privately insured patients. Many state and local officials are cared for at the University Hospital. The VA population is predominantly male, older, and with more "bread and butter" internal medicine diagnoses.
How much training in primary care vs. tertiary care?
A third of a resident's time over the three years of training is spent in the ambulatory setting, much of that in primary care and subspecialty ambulatory clinics. The other two-thirds are either consultative or inpatient rotations which are most often tertiary care.
Perks
How much vacation time annually?
All residents have three weeks of vacation time each year with an additional six days completely free of duty around Christmas or New Year's.
Is there provision for educational leave?
Attendance at regional or national meetings is encouraged and administrative leave is provided for meetings. Additionally, the Trainee Scholarship Fund is used to help fund trainees' travel and meeting registration for presentations.
Yes. The resident-run Wellness Committee actively works to improve system issues and promote city events. There are also several residency-hosted social events throughout the year, including a golf tournament, crawfish boil, bowling tournament, and holiday party.
What is the maternity/sick leave policy?
Medical leave is available for use in accordance with hospital policy. As ourlined by the ABIM, residents are allowed up to 35 days of leave per year of training. For FMLA, while residents may take as much as 12 weeks of FMLA for a given instance as outlined by employment law, up to six weeks of FMLA may be taken once in training with the guarantee of this time being paid, as outlined in the ACGME guidelines. The amount of paid leave available beyond those six weeks depends on the resident's length of employment.
Is affordable housing available near the hospital?
Yes, there are several neighborhoods within 10 minutes driving distance of the hospital with affordable housing.
Is parking free for residents?
Yes, residents are provided covered parking at no charge.
What is the salary?
Information regarding salary and benefits can be found here.