Our Internal Medicine Residency is a three-year program focused on whole person care. Our residents serve patients in some of the country’s most medically underserved areas.

Program Highlights 

  • Through our program, you get the experience you need to become eligible for board certification.
  • Caring for the whole person is a focus not only for our patients, but for our residents.
  • You’ll train at multiple sites and get exposure to distinct healthcare systems. Training sites include a tertiary care center, county hospital, and veteran’s hospital.
  • You have the opportunity for hands-on training at three continuity clinic sites: Social Action Community Health System (SACHS), Loma Linda Veterans Affairs Ambulatory Care, and Riverside University Health System.
  • Various tracks, pathways, and concentrations allow you to tailor your education to your goals. Tracks include categorical, preliminary, primary care, and global service. Pathways include HIV, point of care ultrasound (POCUS), and lifestyle medicine.

Program Components

Curriculum

Our core focus is to train clinicians first and foremost. Our curriculum guides you on your way to become a clinician, clinician-educator, clinician-researcher, or clinician-scientist.

Team Structure

Inpatient Ward

  • One teaching attending
  • One PGY-2 or PGY-3 resident
  • One or two PGY-1 residents: average six to eight patients each
  • Two or three medical students

Intensive Care Unit

  • One teaching attending
  • One PGY-2 or PGY-3 resident
  • One or two PGY-1 residents: average six to eight patients each
  • Two or three medical students

Facilities

Loma Linda University Medical Center
Our medical center serves an area roughly equal to 25% of the state of California. As a tertiary care facility, the center commonly receives patients with unusual or complicated medical conditions. There is an active medicine service, cancer center, intensive care unit, and coronary care unit.

Loma Linda Veterans Affairs Hospital
The Jerry L. Pettis Memorial Veterans Affairs Medical Center is a 560-bed facility located just a few blocks from our medical center. Serving more than 60,000 veterans, residents have a valuable opportunity to participate in diverse patient care experiences through inpatient, outpatient, and home care programs.

Riverside University Health System Medical Center
Riverside University Health Systems Medical Center (RUHSMC) is a 400-bed hospital in Moreno Valley. Because RUHSMC is the designated county hospital, residents are exposed to a significant amount of unusual and interesting pathology. At this facility, you have the opportunity to train in invasive procedures through a procedure team elective attended by the chief residents.

Social Action Community Health System (SACHS)
SAC Health System is a non-profit community healthcare corporation that provides general internal medicine and subspecialty specific medicine. Their clinics provide affordable health care services for all, primarily serving underinsured patients.

Available Electives

  • Allergy/immunology
  • Cardiology
  • Dermatology
  • Emergency medicine
  • Endocrinology
  • Gastroenterology
  • Hematology/oncology
  • Hospitalist medicine
  • Infectious disease
  • International elective
  • Nephrology
  • Occupational medicine
  • Palliative care
  • Physical medicine and rehab
  • Preventative medicine
  • Procedure/ultrasound
  • Pulmonology
  • Radiology
  • Research elective
  • Rheumatology
  • Sleep medicine
  • Women’s health

Research

Projects
As a resident, you’ll have opportunities to work on scholarly projects in all of the internal medicine subspecialties with nationally-renowned faculty. You may also take a one-month research elective.

Quality improvement projects are available at all training sites.

Education Concentrations

Primary Care Track
The primary care track provides unique and comprehensive training for those planning a career in primary care general internal medicine. Our goal is to train highly competent, socially responsible general internists skilled in the contemporary methods of primary care.

While maintaining the traditional core of training in internal medicine, the primary care track emphasizes the role of the internist as a member of an interdisciplinary healthcare team. The curriculum emphasizes rotations in outpatient geriatrics, adolescent medicine, psychiatry, dermatology, community resources, managed care, and women’s health. The curriculum also includes conferences on primary care topics and ambulatory case presentations.

Elective opportunities are extended beyond the traditional subspecialty rotations to include addiction medicine, allergy and immunology, otolaryngology, ophthalmology, orthopedics, pediatrics, physical medicine and rehabilitation, and women’s health. The continuity care clinic experience is also extended to include two clinics per week on non-call rotations.

In general, the ambulatory care experience emphasizes preparation for the practice of integrated, whole-person, primary care. residents learn ambulatory procedural skills such as flexible sigmoidoscopy, skin biopsies, and medical gynecology in order to prepare them for the delivery of comprehensive primary care.

HIV Pathway
The HIV pathway is a specialized pathway within the primary care track. This pathway is designed for physicians who intend to focus on the treatment of patients with HIV infection or who intend to practice in low- and middle-income countries where HIV is prevalent. You will participate in our primary care track, where one of your clinics will be primary care of the HIV infected patient. After passing a rigorous examination towards the end of your residency, you will be credentialed by the American Academy of HIV Medicine, which is something not all infectious disease trained specialists have.

Lifestyle Medicine Pathway
In this pathway, you will pursue your passion in lifestyle medicine and complete the Lifestyle Medicine Residency Curriculum (LMRC). You’ll then be eligible to sit for the Lifestyle Medicine Certifying Board examination. Components include didactic learning, application activities, practice lifestyle medicine, mentorship, and electives with preventative medicine.

POCUS Pathway
Our point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) pathway is for residents enthusiastic about an academic ultrasound career. You’ll learn how to integrate point-of-care ultrasound into daily patient care and lead in ultrasound education, research, and administration. Key factors include ultrasound academic half-day curriculum, ultrasound and procedural electives, research and teaching opportunities, flexible curriculum, and a POCUS certificate.