Message from the Chair and Program Directors

Dear Residency Candidate,

You are now planning to enter an important time in your professional training when you will expand your clinical skills and develop plans for your future career. The Stanford Department of Medicine's residency training program is designed to address those goals by ensuring your mastery of clinical medicine and guiding you to a rewarding academic professional life.

Commitment

The dedication of the Department to excellence in teaching and patient care, a wide breadth of clinical experience, high quality fellowship and research programs, and an outstanding faculty and housestaff combine to make this a superb environment for housestaff training for future academic leadership careers.

The Department and housestaff agree that one of the most important aspects of the Stanford program is its educational philosophy - to deliver high quality broad-based education in an academic and collegial environment. Broad clinical training is accomplished through rotations at the Stanford University Hospital, the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System and the county hospital, the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. The training program embodies a commitment to patient care and education, an atmosphere of scientific inquiry, high professional standards, all accomplished within an open atmosphere between housestaff and faculty.

Our intent is to make the ongoing study of medicine exciting, challenging, and enjoyable, while learning the competent and compassionate care of patients. We hope you find this web site about the Stanford program to be useful. We have used the advice of Stanford housestaff to address important issues for you. Because we want all of you to receive high quality training in internal medicine, we have also written the brochure as a guide to issues you should consider in selecting any residency program .... but our bias is clear: Stanford stands out among its peers.

Set on the beautiful Stanford Campus, Stanford University Hospital’s proximity to world-class research facilities and faculty mentors is a boon for housestaff interested in a career of academics.  From collaborative projects between the Department of Medicine and Departments in the rest of the school (as diverse as Engineering, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, and English), Stanford Medicine is an ideal location for the practice of academic medicine and the development of novel collaborations.

Within the hospital, clinical excellence is paramount, with emphasis on direct patient care.  We emphasize physical exam skills, along with clinical decision making, and a thoughtful, caring approach to patient care.  It is a medical institution where housestaff, many of whom have in-depth experience in areas of research, are viewed not just trainees, but as colleagues.

Sincere thanks from the program directors for your interest in Stanford Medicine