Program director message

AIMMC is a 408-bed community teaching hospital with a 100-year history of caring for the people of the northwest side of Chicago. The General Internal Medicine Residency Program was first accredited in 1956 and has maintained its full ACGME accreditation ever since. The Program currently has 56 residents. Our 48 categorical residents receive 3 years of training in preparation for careers in general internal medicine, hospital medicine or fellowships in the various subspecialties. Between 6 and 8 preliminary residents complete a one-year internship before going on to specialty training in their chosen field.

The program has a comprehensive didactic curriculum including sub-specialty workshops, morning reports, ABIM Board Review, Morbidity & Mortality Conference, weekly simulation lab and Grand Rounds. In 2019, our program transitioned to an X + Y schedule. This model is use by many internal medicine residency programs across the country targeting reduced trainee burnout, improved ability in balancing patient care responsibilities, and greater satisfaction in inpatient and outpatient clinical experiences. We use a 6 + 2 structure, where 6 weeks are inpatient/elective assignments, and 2 weeks are outpatient continuity clinic assignments. The didactic curriculum is delivered primarily in the outpatient setting, allowing residents protected time for engaging and manipulating concepts using flipped classroom and team-based-learning strategies.

In August of 2020, we launched the Lifestyle Medicine Residency Curriculum. A 3-year curriculum that includes 40 hours of lectures, 60 hours of independent application activities and 400 patient encounters. Completion of the curriculum enables graduates to sit for the certification exam given by the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine. We are only one of a handful of internal medicine residencies in the country offering this unique opportunity to be double boarded in both Internal Medicine and Lifestyle Medicine.

Desler Javier, MD, MBA, DipABLM
Program Director
Internal Medicine Residency Program
Illinois Masonic Medical Center
Advocate Health