Training Tracks

The categorical program is the foundation of the residency and of the Department of Medicine. The program emphasizes outstanding, individualized clinical training in diverse patient care settings including University, Veterans Affairs, county, and private hospitals. Strong faculty physicians help provide a supportive educational structure with graduated responsibility over three years of training. In addition to required inpatient rotations and electives, all residents complete two months of an outpatient-based rotation at the VA including a neurology experience, a geriatrics rotation, a combined oncology and pulmonary rotation, and an emergency medicine rotation during their second and third year.  Many fellowship-bound residents do two months of research during their elective time. The program features a 4:1 schedule which provides an excellent balance of in-patient and out-patient months and allows for weekly dedicated educational time on non-call months.

Residents are able to pursue a myriad of electives in medicine subspecialties and a variety of other relevant areas in order to personalize their residency training experience. As in the Primary Care and Hospitalist Tracks, every Categorical resident selects one of three career Pathways to further individualize their training: Clinician/Educator, Research, or Leadership.  With this flexibility, residents are well-prepared to enter fellowship training or the physician workforce after completing the categorical program. 

Categorical track + MLP  

Applicants to the Categorical track, who possess excellent potential to become future academic leaders and are interested in pursuing advanced leadership training during residency, are also eligible to join the Medical Leaders Program (MLP)—a three-year program starting at the intern level that is open to residents in any track (Categorical, Primary Care, HTP). Prospective MLP candidates who are interested in the categorical track and leadership careers should apply to both programs as 4th year medical students. Desirable MLP candidates are offered positions contingent on matching into our residency program through any of the 3 established tracks (Categorical, Primary Care, Hospitalist). MLP residents who also are part of the Categorical track participate in all categorical curricular activities, and spend extra time throughout residency focusing in greater depth on hospital and health systems operations, healthcare finance, policy, clinical innovation, academic leadership, and management skills, alongside MLP participants from the Primary Care and Hospitalist tracks. 

Primary Care Track

Hospitalist Training Program

The Hospitalist Training Program (HTP), which commenced in July 2004 and is the oldest continuously operating hospitalist training program in the country, provides comprehensive and innovative preparation for residents seeking careers as hospitalists or hospital-based specialists. Because the program is designed to address gaps key gaps in most residency programs—specifically, clinical skills for hospitalist practice, intensive career mentorship, and systems improvement skill development—our graduates are well prepared to function clinically as hospitalists and act as change agents in improving healthcare systems. ​

HTP 

The HTP is available to up to 12 residents per year, and accepts applications in the match as well as during the spring of intern year. All accepted residents participate in our intensive three-year program, which starts with training during intern year. The track trains participants to be outstanding hospitalists and also emphasizes leadership of projects to improve quality, patient safety, patient experience, high-value care, and hospital efficiency. The HTP also teaches basic healthcare finance, business of medicine, and leadership skills.​ For clinical training, the HTP builds on the backbone of the categorical track rotations, such that residents are integrated into the overarching residency program and graduate with expertise in both inpatient and ambulatory medicine. However, the HTP substitutes track-specific clinical rotations including inpatient neurology, consultative medicine, and one-on-one preceptorships with faculty hospitalists in place of other general medical inpatient rotations, in order to tailor training to the needs of future hospitalists. The HTP also includes immersion training in quality improvement, patient safety, high-value care, and hospital efficiency through mentored implementation of team-based quality improvement projects, led by HTP participants. Additional program features include an individualized mentorship program, a hospitalist-focused journal club, a monthly project conference that affords the housestaff the chance to utilize the key tools and tenets of hospital medicine, opportunities to publish and present work at regional and national conferences, and biannual retreats. 

 HTP + MLP

Applicants to the HTP, who possess excellent potential to become future healthcare executives and are interested in pursuing advanced leadership training during residency, are also eligible to join the Medical Leaders Program (MLP)—a three-year program starting at the intern level that is open to residents in any track (Categorical, Primary Care, HTP). Prospective MLP candidates who are interested in hospitalist leadership careers should apply to both the Hospitalist track (HTP) and the MLP as 4th year medical students. Desirable MLP candidates are offered positions contingent on matching into our residency program through any of the 3 established tracks (Categorical, Primary Care, Hospitalist). MLP residents who also are part of the HTP attend all curricular elements available through the HTP, and spend extra time throughout residency focusing in greater depth on hospital and health systems operations, healthcare finance, policy, clinical innovation, leadership, and management skills, alongside MLP participants from the Categorical and PC tracks. 

The University of Colorado offers an excellent one-year program for medical school graduates who will be pursuing other subspecialties.  Preliminary residents experience a variety of inpatient venues, work in ambulatory clinics and the ED, and have a wide range of elective opportunities. Preliminary interns have the same high quality and high autonomy patient care experiences as Categorical interns. The primary differences between Preliminary and Categorical interns include activities during the +1 clinic week, which vary depending upon the destination specialty, and having one additional elective than Categorical interns.

Internal Medicine Physician-Scientist Training Program/ ABIM Research Pathway  

Goal

The goal of the Program is to optimize clinical training and academic career development during the residency period, while linking trainees with subspecialty programs and mentors, to most effectively develop creative, independent and successful physicians who will become academic leaders in their chosen area of biomedical investigation (basic, translational, clinical or population sciences). 

CCTSI Colorado Profiles

Background

The University of Colorado Internal Medicine Residency Program has a long history of developing outstanding physician-scientists who become academic leaders. The Department remains very committed to developing and nurturing the careers of future academicians in all areas of biomedical investigation, from bench to bedside to population sciences. Our new Anschutz Medical Campus, coupled with the Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CCTSI), and the Comprehensive Colorado Cancer Center, provide an outstanding, state-of-the-art environment for trainees to obtain clinical and research training. The Physician-Scientist Training Program (PSTP) has been established to formalize this academic training pathway, while providing flexible and individualized training plans, in order to optimize the career success of each trainee. To this end, the PSTP provides linked admission to the categorical IM Residency Program and to the Subspecialty Fellowship Program of the trainee’s choice contingent upon excellent performance during residency training. The PSTP focuses on providing superb clinical training, provides academic career mentoring and advising throughout the combined residency/fellowship training period and into independence, and for eligible candidates, incorporates the “short-track” ABIM Research Pathway option. We seek candidates who have excellent clinical judgment, who are highly committed to an academic career, and who have substantive and productive prior research experience (eg, MD/PhD trainees and MD-only students with research experience either before or during medical school in a year-out program). The PSTP is directed by Arthur Gutierrez-Hartmann, MD, Professor of Medicine and of Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics, and Director, Medical Scientist Training Program.

• Linked match to the Categorical Internal Medicine Residency Training Program and the Subspecialty Fellowship Program of interest.

• A training supplement for journal subscriptions or travel to meetings will be provided to each PSTP trainee during the residency period.

• Complete (3-yr) or “short-track” ABIM (2-yr) residency training options will be tailored to the abilities and needs of each candidate.

• Flexible clinical schedules and opportunities for research rotations with subspecialty mentors will be provided.

• Trainees will be able to choose research fellowship mentors from a broad pool, including subspecialty faculty, and approved basic science and public health faculty, at Anschutz Medical Campus (AMC), Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC), Denver Health Medical Center (DHMC), and National Jewish Health Center (NJH).

• Monthly sessions addressing key elements of academic success: eg, how to choose a mentor, how to choose a research question, how to write an Aims page, how to present at a national meeting, and what are the key grant writing issues in the various NIH funding mechanisms will be coordinated by Dr. Gutierrez-Hartmann. 

• Continuous mentorship and advising on optimizing academic career development, from residency to fellowship to independence, will be a key feature of the Program.

• Of particular importance, the PSTP will establish a community of highly-driven, ambitious, creative and independent clinical investigators who can interact, collaborate and continue to help each other as they progress through their careers.  

Eligibility

• Applicants with evidence of strong clinical judgment and a substantive and productive research background, often with a prior Ph.D.

• Applicants with a clear and unwavering commitment to and potential for academic research careers in a subspecialty area.

Visa

We will only sponsor J1visas through ECFMG for PSTP.

 

Application and Interview Process

Applicants interested in applying to the PSTP should apply via ERAS to NRMP 1076140C2.  Once invited for an interview, candidates should submit (1) Letters from previous research mentor(s), if not submitted with the ERAS application; and (2) Area(s) of subspecialty interest and names of interest faculty who might serve as research mentors, so that appropriate interviews with fellowship program(s) can be arranged at the time of residency interviews. 

 

Contact Information

Physician Scientist Training Program Department of Medicine 12631 E 17th Ave, B177 Academic Office One 8th floor, room 8411 Aurora, CO 80045 

Phone: 303-724-1784 Email: PSTP@ucdenver.edu