Internal Medicine Residency Program

Stepping onto the wards for the first time as a student, I felt a deep sense of gratitude and awe. The patient’s bedside has remained for me hallowed ground, where knowledge and competence is called upon daily in the service of others. The intellectual challenges are continuous and of unparalleled consequence, each day presents the opportunity to impact individuals in small and large ways alike. This perspective informs our vision for the new Internal Medicine Residency program at Hackensack University Medical Center.

We have been given a remarkable opportunity to start a new residency program at the nexus of the new Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine. We are an ACGME accredited Internal Medicine Residency, with 36 categorical resident positions. The founding faculty and I have taken this opportunity to rethink and innovate in Graduate Medical Education. We have designed a residency that preserves and enhances the essential elements of experiential learning in a state-of-the-art hospital with cutting-edge technology. Residents are integrated into a robust culture of patient safety and engage in an interdisciplinary approach to patient care. The program has allowed us to even re-engineer the resident schedule in a way that maximizes learning, team-work and innovation. Our Residents are partners in these endeavors.

On behalf of the faculty, I welcome you to discover what Hackensack University Medical Center offers and invite you to be part of Graduate Medical Education reimagined.

Marygrace Zetkulic, M.D.
Program Director, Internal Medicine Residency Program
Assistant Professor of Medicine at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine

Deepti Reddy, M.D.
Associate Program Director, Internal Medicine Residency Program
Internal Medicine Sub-Internship Director, Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine- HUMC

Program Overview

• Innovative 6+2 schedule: 2-week continuity experience every 6 weeks to enhance greater outpatient continuity with the trainee’s patients.
• Dedicated time for longitudinal research, community outreach and resident wellness.
• Nationally recognized Heart and Vascular Hospital- providing residents with the opportunity to be part of multi-disciplinary teams providing the most innovative cardiac care.
• John Theurer Cancer Center, one of the nation’s largest and most comprehensive cancer centers, offering exposure to ambulatory and acute cancer care.

Program Mission

It is the mission of the Hackensack University Medical Center Internal Medicine Residency Program to educate physicians to provide a compassionate, cognitive, scholarly, relationship orientated approach to the care of patients. Our residents are prepared to serve and learn from the engagement of underrepresented minority populations among students, faculty, staff, and community. The residency created an environment that fosters life-long learning and innovation in the service of patients. Furthermore, the Internal Medicine Residency Program is a community practice where residents and faculty support each other, as they meet the challenge and embrace the privilege of providing such care.

Program Aim

The aim of the HUMC Internal Residency Program is to train residents as general internists who are fully competent to practice Internal Medicine in both ambulatory and inpatient settings; and are fully prepared for any career pathway in Internal Medicine, including primary care, hospital-based medicine, subspecialty training and academics.

At the completion of their residency training, our residents should:

• Possess the medical knowledge and clinical skills to independently provide competent care to patients with medical conditions commonly encountered by general internists in outpatient and inpatient settings
• Possess cultural humility, demonstrating respect, acceptance, and empathy for patients, regardless of their ethnic, cultural, socioeconomic, or other background.
• Demonstrate a commitment to excellence in patient care that includes advocating for their patients’ needs, helping their patients navigate through the health care system and coordinating their patient care among multiple disciplines.
• Recognize their role as a member of a system of health care, commit themselves to collaborate with the other members of the system to provide the highest quality of care, and to support the wellness of their colleagues.
• Demonstrate a commitment to lifelong, self-directed learning.
• Recognize that professionalism is the underpinning of all of the duties and responsibilities noted above, and commit to upholding the high standards of professionalism expected of a physician.