Residency Program

Applicant Information

• Director’s Message
• Chair’s Message
• Chief Residents' Message
• History
• Core Experience
• Specific Training Tracks
• Rotations
• Ambulatory Training
• Conferences
• Current House Staff
• Internal Medicine Graduates 05-09
• Salary & Benefits
• How to Apply

House Staff Resources
(password required)

Educational Resources

Specific Training Pathways
(The Generalist/Primary Care Pathway | The Research Pathway)

The Generalist/Primary Care Pathway

The Generalist/Primary Care Pathway at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Columbia University Medical Center is designed for residents in internal medicine who plan to pursue careers as generalists. Beyond an enriched curriculum, unique clinical experiences and a strong mentorship system, our Primary Care Pathway consists of a cohesive group of faculty and house staff dedicated to both academic medicine and excellence in the care of individual patients

Unlike other primary care programs, our Generalist/Primary Care Pathway remains closely integrated with the categorical training experience. Generalist/Primary Care Pathway residents rotate together as a group and see patients in their own clinic site, the AIM East Practice. The five months of ambulatory care includes enriched didactics as well as an innovative program linking home visit experiences to narrative medicine. This allows residents to learn how to use narrative skills as a means of enhancing communication and maintaining humanism in the doctor-patient relationship. Most importantly, the Generalist/Primary Care Pathway offers a unique sense of camaraderie and mentorship. The residents benefit from shared experiences, be it during elective or at faculty/resident social gatherings. We have a strong commitment to caring for the disadvantaged. We see ourselves as both as their medical providers and as their advocates. We are also dedicated to training an ethnically and culturally diverse group of residents, and we strongly encourage applicants from underrepresented groups to consider this program. We welcome you to contact any of our residents or faculty with additional questions.

Alex Montero, MD, MPH
Director, Primary Care Pathway
am430@lcolumbia.edu

The aim of the Research Pathway is to recruit the next generation of clinician-scientists to Columbia University and the New York Presbyterian Hospital. Trainees in the Research Pathway will complete Residency (2-3 years) and Fellowship (2-5 years). In addition, the Department of Medicine traditionally has recruited its faculty members at the Instructor and Assistant Professor level from among its ranks, particularly from research oriented fellows, and this tradition is enthusiastically embraced by the Chair of Medicine.

The Research pathway is designed to fulfill the requirements of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Research Pathway. Members of the Research Pathway will participate in all basic aspects of clinical training. In addition, residents in each year of the Research Pathway are scheduled for research-focused conferences and sharing of individual work. Trainees will also attend a weekly continuity clinic in the program’s ambulatory practice, Associates in Internal Medicine.

Trainees will also attend a regular seminar series in a journal club format, geared to intensive review of a research subject. Faculty members from the Department of Medicine will participate. Residents will also have the opportunity to publish reports on the mechanisms of disease or therapy in the “P&S”, our medical center’s magazine, which is widely read throughout Columbia University. In addition, the trainee will present a departmental conference and a Grand Rounds, based on their own research.

Members of the Research Pathway can elect the Research Pathway (“short-pathway” option) of the ABIM and initiate research and enter the fellowship of their choice in the PGY3 year. Members of the Research Pathway can also elect to remain in clinical work through PGY3, and initiate research and/or fellowship in PGY4.

Trainees may join any laboratory at Columbia University or, in rare cases, laboratories outside the University. Courses in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and in the Mailman School of Public Health are available to further enhance career development.

We encourage applications from future physician-scientists. Dedication both to clinical work and to finding answers at the lab bench are the most critical attributes of the future physician-scientist. Prior graduate work or a significant experience in a lab together with academic accomplishments are highly desirable.

The Research Pathway no longer has a separate National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) number. Applications to the Research pathway are reviewed by the directors of the House Staff Program and Research Pathway and by the Vice Chair for Research of the Department of Medicine. Selected candidates are invited to be interviewed by both clinical and research faculty and by the Fellowship Director of their choosing. Candidates are encouraged to visit Columbia University Medical Center on the research-focused interview day. Applicants to the Research Pathway may choose that pathway in their ERAS application, but should list the NRMP number for the categorical program when completing their rank list (see How to Apply).

Questions about the Research Track can be addressed to:
Jonathan Barasch, MD
Research Pathway Director
Associate Professor of Medicine
(212) 305-1890

Questions about the Preliminary Year can be addressed to intap@columbia.edu.