-Victoria (Tori) Mayer, MD, Class of 2010
Fellow in Health Policy Research, University of Pennsylvania
Einstein-Montefiore’s two ambulatory Internal Medicine training programs, Social Medicine and Primary Care, share a similar mission: to improve the health of underserved communities by training outstanding primary care physicians. The residents in both programs are committed to working with communities and advocating for social change.
Social Internal Medicine, with its roots in South Bronx health centers since 1970, fits within the larger Residency Program in Social Medicine (RPSM) at Montefiore, which includes separate training programs in Social Pediatrics and Family Medicine. RPSM is a unique, cross-disciplinary model of residency training with a focus on generalism and community-oriented primary care. The Primary Care Medicine Program has its origins in the traditions of General Internal Medicine and seeks to train outstanding generalist physicians. Like the Social Medicine Program, the Primary Care Medicine Program was also dedicated to training physicians to care for underserved populations and has been recognized for its teaching innovations in ambulatory education, clinical epidemiology and global health.
In 2011, the Primary Care/Social Internal Medicine Program was fully combined. Though they have two match numbers, the programs are regarded as one within Einstein/Montefiore, sharing one curriculum, ambulatory site, leadership, and faculty. Primary Care/Social Internal Medicine residents collaborate on projects and maintain a personal and professional camaraderie that defines the program. Graduates of both programs have been regularly identified as leaders, and in the last 20 years 40% of the PGY-IV Chief Residents of the categorical program have come from the ranks of the Primary Care/Social Internal Medicine programs (which comprise only about 10% of the total housestaff). In the 2011–2012 academic year, three of the five chief residents for the Internal Medicine program were Primary Care/Social Internal Medicine graduates.
PC/SM is highly respected and well integrated with the categorical Internal Medicine program at Montefiore. While on inpatient rotations, residents in PC/SM work side-by-side with their categorical colleagues. Residents who train in Primary Care/Social Medicine at Montefiore enjoy dual identities: as members of the larger Internal Medicine Residency Program and together as "PC/SMers."
Both programs are dedicated to the service of the urban underserved, employ a holistic approach to health, and share the extensive rounds and seminar curricula in ambulatory medicine. The programs are two paths to the same destination: outstanding primary care and community medicine training at Einstein-Montefiore.