Internal Medicine Residency Training Program

Program Goals and Objectives

Thank you for your interest in the Cleveland Clinic in Florida Internal Medicine Residency Training Program. The goal of our program is to provide a comprehensive academic and clinical experience in general internal medicine with a strong emphasis on primary care and ambulatory medicine. This training has provided our graduates with the ability to pursue careers in academic or clinical general internal medicine or to continue with fellowship training within the subspecialties of internal medicine.

The goals of the training program are:

• To provide residents with the skills required to generate a differential diagnosis and manage medical problems within the broad scope of general internal medicine. 
• To foster the development of essential intellectual attributes which will then facilitate growth and development throughout the graduates’ career. Such attributes include the ability to critically assess and utilize the medical literature, to practice cost-effective, evidence-based medicine, and the ability to work together with specialists to provide the best care for possible for patients. 
• To promote the delivery of healthcare in a caring, compassionate, and professional manner.
• To facilitate and foster the personal career development of each resident physician in the program.

All of the attending physicians at Cleveland Clinic in Florida are full-time clinicians committed to excellence in clinical medicine and teaching. Cleveland Clinic in Florida continues the tradition of our associated institution, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, which has a long history of excellence in academia.

We are proud to provide quality education and training to our resident physicians within the context of our beautiful, state-of –the-art new facility in South Florida. We welcome you to review our program description and will provide you with further information at your request.

Program Director
Jose Muniz, MD, FACP

Associate Program Director
Gian M. Novaro, MD

Associate Program Director
Hamid Feiz, MD

About Our Program

The internal medicine residency program at Cleveland Clinic Florida is an intensive three-year training program.  This year marks our tenth year graduating doctors to work in the South Florida area.  Over these years our internal medicine residents have proven to be among the top in the country.

Each year the residents take an in-service examination that tests their knowledge about every facet of internal medicine.  Year after year, the residents have ranked among the top twenty programs out of three hundred and eighty four programs in the country.  In March 2007, the internal medicine residents competed in a state knowledge based competition against all the Florida residency programs and won first place.  They continued at nationals in May to finish among the top eight programs in the country.

Throughout the year, Cleveland Clinic in Florida internal medicine residents participate in research and scholarly activities.  Ample opportunities to pursue research under the guidance of experienced mentors in different subspecialties who publish research papers on a regular basis are available to residents from the start of their internship. The residents have frequently published in internationally renowned journals and participated in both state and national research competitions. 

One of the significant accomplishments of our residents includes frequent oral and poster presentations at the national American College of Cardiology (ACC) research symposium, a both challenging and prestigious competition.  Every Cleveland Clinic in Florida internal medicine resident takes part in research that plays a significant role in changing the way doctors practice medicine around the world.

The goal of the internal medicine residency program is to produce top physicians that will continue on to practice in South Florida.  Our graduates have gone on to many prominent positions here in South Florida including internists, hospitalists, Cardiologists, Gastroenterologists, Vascular medicine specialists, Endocrinologists, Nephrologists and hospital administrators to name a few.

Every resident here at Cleveland Clinic in Florida plays an integrate role in daily patient care.  Under the supervision of our world-renowned physicians, they diagnose and treat the majority of patients that present to our facility.  Each patient can be sure when they chose Cleveland Clinic in Florida as their hospital, they are being taken care of by the best physicians in the country.

Program Description

There are nine categorical resident positions per year and up to three preliminary first year positions with a total possible number of thirty residents. The year is divided into thirteen modules of four weeks each. More than fifty percent of modules are outpatient based. Elective months give the resident an opportunity to explore the outpatient component of a series of medical subspecialties. Residents interested in a particular subspecialty have the option of tailoring their electives to involve in-hospital service with call, or office based subspecialty training.

Longitudinal care clinic provides direct ambulatory patient care by assigning the resident as the patient’s primary care physician. Longitudinal clinics run one half day per week and residents follow patients through completion of their residency acting as their primary care physician. Residents are also exposed to long-term care issues that are only encountered in the ambulatory setting.

Selectives – these rotations must be done during the 3 years of training. These are: Cardiology, Gastroenterology, Nephrology, Endocrinology, Rheumatology, , Infectious Disease, Pulmonary, General Internal Medicine Consult (PGY 2 or PGY 3) and Emergency medicine.

Electives – the residents may choose which electives suit their individual interest. These are: Allergy & Immunology, GYN,  Neurology (outpatient), Ophthalmology/ENT, Psychiatry, Radiology, Research Elective, Rheumatology, and Vascular Medicine.

Residents are allowed 1 month of research elective rotation in their third year. At the end of training, third year graduating residents do an oral presentation of their research projects in the Annual Cleveland Clinic Florida Research Week.

Residents can do subspecialty or ambulatory rotation of their choice at a different facility in their second and third years. One outside rotation per year is allowed in the second and third years.

Call Frequency

Call mostly falls onto interns while second and third year residents have night float. Every resident will have at least 1 day a week free of hospital duties averaged over a period of 4 weeks.

Inpatient Internal Medicine Service/Floors
Intern call is no more often than every sixth night. Seniors on Floors get 4 to 6 days off during a four-week module.

ICU call
Intern call is no more often than every fourth night. Seniors on ICU will be on call typically only 2 Saturdays per four weeks and get 2 weekends off in one module.

Sunday cross-cover
Each second year senior has up to 7 Sunday calls and each third year senior has up to 4 Sunday calls in a year.

Conferences

Morning Report/Teaching Rounds: These are held everyday from 8:00am-9:00am four times a week by faculty staff. Some presentations and discussions are done at the bedside. The main emphases of these conferences are clinical signs interpretation, differential diagnosis and management. Subspecialty attendings are invited for discussion for selected cases.

Noon Conference

This will take place four times a week from 12 pm to 1 p.m and includes core-curriculum and didactic lectures. Broad range of topics covered during these sessions with participation from Internal Medicine and subspecialty faculty.

Cleveland Clinic Florida Medical Division Grand Rounds

These are held every Wednesday from 12:00pm - 1:00pm.

Board Review

Every morning at 7:00 am. This optional conference lead by our program director is an excellent resource for the ABIM exam preparation.

Journal Club

This is held at 6:00pm on a Thursday typically at an outside restaurant approximately once a month. PGY2 residents discuss a recent journal article.

Ambulatory Care Core Curriculum

Weekly conference held at noon on Monday. This is based on an ambulatory care journal article.

Morbidity & Mortality Rounds/CPC

This will occur at noon conference on the second to last Tuesday  of every month. PGY3 residents will present interesting cases as part of the CPC. Faculty involved in the teaching case are invited for discussion.

Educational Resources

Residents have access to the Goldblatt Medical Library 24 hours a day. Also, all the computers at Cleveland Clinic Florida have access to Uptodate, MDConsult, and a variety of full-text resources. All computers have access to the internet as well.

Career Opportunities

Our graduates have ample opportunities for practices and fellowships.

Board Pass Rate

Our overall ABIM exam-passing rate is 100%.

Pay Scale

• PGY-1 – $42,687
• PGY-2 – $44,022
• PGY-3 – $45,521

Benefits

Disability Insurance – Long Term

Paid for by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation for Residents/Fellows in Clinical Training. Guaranteed issue, portability, HIV stance.

Health Insurance

Single or family plan paid for by Cleveland Clinic in Florida

Dental and Vision Care Plans

Paid for by Cleveland Clinic in Florida

Life Insurance

$25,000 term group policy.

Educational Allowance

A $250 educational allowance per year is available to all clinical residents/fellows. Primary use is for textbooks. After required textbooks are acquired, residents/fellows are allowed to substitute journal subscriptions, educationally based computer programs and palm pilots.  All residents will be provided with MKSAP books once having joined the ACP.  All third year residents will have the Med Study books provided for them by the program.

Malpractice Insurance

Paid by the Cleveland Clinic Educational Foundation/Cleveland Clinic Florida. Limited to activities within the training program.

Medical Library

Online searches (Medline, Toxline, etc.) by Library Staff. Self-service photo copying of library materials. Full time medical librarian.

On Call Meals

Paid by Cleveland Clinic in Florida when on in house night call.

Paid Time Off

Vacation, 3 weeks (15 working days).  Second and third year residents will have either the Christmas or New Years weeks off for vacation in addition to the 3 weeks provided per year.

Maternity

6 weeks paid leave for natural childbirth or adoption; 8 weeks for cesarean section. Additional time off unpaid up to a maximum of 12 weeks under the Family Medical Leave Act.

Paternity

2 week paid leave. Additional time off unpaid up to a maximum of 12 weeks under the Family Medical Leave Act.

Travel Privileges

Residents at PGL-3 or above, in their final year of training at Cleveland Clinic in Florida (that have completed more than one year) are eligible for one 5-day meeting with a maximum reimbursement of $1,200.

Uniforms

Lab coats are furnished by the Cleveland Clinic Florida.  All residents are required to dress professionally.  Only exception is the ICU and night float where scrubs are permitted.

Application

All applications are processed through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS). We consider applicants with USMLE scores of 85 percentile and above. Also, international medical graduates should have at least 2-6 month of hands-on clinical experience in the United States (Observership does not count towards this requirement). We do sponsor J-1 and H-1 visas.

Contact

Residency Coordinator, Internal Medicine
Phone: 954.659.5884
866.293.7866, 954.659.5000
Fax: 954.659.5622
Email: imprg@ccf.org

Cleveland Clinic in Florida
2950 Cleveland Clinic Boulevard
Weston, Florida 33331

Internal Medicine Board pass rate: 100% over the past 3 years (2005, 2006, and 2007classes) 

Awards and Presentations: 2004-2008

Florida ACP Meeting Fall 2004
First Place Winner Poster Competition: Tolga Erim DO

Florida ACP Meeting Spring 2005
First Place Winner Poster Competition: Einar Lurix MD

Florida ACP Meeting Spring 2005
Finalist ACP Jeopardy Competition: Rotem Amir MD, Hernan Avella MD, Tudor Scridon MD

Florida ACP Meeting Fall 2005 
Second Place ACP Jeopardy Competition: Hernan Avella MD, Tudor Scridon MD, Nydia Martinez MD
Oral presentation: Lakshmi Mahendran MD, Einar Lurix MD
Poster presentation: Bianca Afonso MD

Florida ACP Meeting Spring 2006
Finalist ACP Jeopardy Competition: Hernan Avella MD, Nydia Martinez MD, Bosede Afolabi MD

Florida ACP Meeting Fall 2006
First Place Winner of State Finals in Medical Jeopardy Competition: Hernan Avella MD, Bosede Afolabi MD, Nydia Martinez MD
Poster Presenters: Bianca Afonso MD and Bosede Afolabi MD
   
National ACP Meeting Spring 2007
Fourth Place Winner in National Medical Jeopardy Competition: Hernan Avella MD, Bosede Afolabi MD, Nydia Martinez MD

Florida ACP Meeting Spring 2007
First Place Winner of State Prelim in Medical Jeopardy Competition: Hernan Avella MD, Bosede Afolabi MD, Nydia Martinez MD

Florida ACP Meeting Spring 2007
Oral Presentation: Einar Lurix MD
Poster Presentation: Bruce Kuo MD, Leanne Artigas MD

Miami International Revascularization Symposium Spring 2007
Poster Presenter:  Einar Lurix MD

Florida ACP Meeting Fall 2007
Third Place Winner State Finals in Medical Jeopardy Competition: Deepa Kabirdas MD, Bosede Afolabi MD, Nydia Martinez MD
First Place Winner of the Poster Competition: Sergio Chang MD
Winner of the Garry Izzo Integrity Scholarship Award: Einar Lurix MD
Poster Presenters: Sergio Chang MD (Winner), Ella Ariza MD

Florida ACP, Spring 2008
Oral Presentations: Sergio Chang MD, Nydia Martinez MD
Poster Presentations: Jorge Zapatier MD, Lior Shamai MD, Bruce Kuo MD

ACP Nationals, Washington DC, May 2008
Poster presentations: Lior Shamai MD, Jorge Zapatier MD

AMA Research Poster Symposium, Hawaii, Nov 2007
Poster Presentations: Cesar Bonilla MD, Deepa Kabirdas MD, Amy George MD, Shibu Varughese MD, Bianca Afonso MD, Bruce Kuo MD

Florida ACC meeting, September 2005
Tudor Scridon: Deepa Kabirdas MD

Annual Meeting of the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography
Washington DC, July 2006
Tudor Scridon: Deepa Kabirdas MD

American Heart Association Scientific Sessions. Chicago, IL. November 2006
Bruce Kuo MD

Annual Meeting of the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography
Washington DC, July 2007
Cesar Bonilla/Bruce Kuo MD

Annual American Society of Nuclear Cardiology Symposium & Scientific Session
San Diego, CA. September 2007
Bruce Kuo MD

American Society of Nuclear Cardiology 2007
Dandes EM/Bruce Kuo MD

Heart Rhythm Society 2007
Tudor Scridon/Bruce Kuo MD

American College of Cardiology 2007
Ribeiro RS/Bruce Kuo MD

Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography 2007
Michael Shen/Bruce Kuo MD

Society of Cardiac Computed Tomography 2008
Vargas EA/Bruce Kuo MD

Florida ACC meeting, August 2008
Bosede Afolabi/Cesar Bonilla MD

American Society of Nuclear Cardiology Sept 2008 (accepted)
Bruce Kuo MD

American Society of Nuclear Cardiology, September 2008 (accepted)
Michael Shen/Paul Michael MD

RSNA 94th Scientific Assembly and Annual meeting, Nov-Dec/ 2008 (accepted abstract)
Cesar Bonilla MD

Program Alumni

CLASS OF 2008
Farhan Abid, Hospitalist, South Florida
Bianca Afonso, Gastroenterology Fellow, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Bosede Afolabi, Cardiology Fellow, Cleveland Clinic in Florida
Ella Ariza, Infectious Diseases Fellow, University of Miami
Rajender Cheruku, Hospitalist, South Florida
Deepa Kabirdas, Chief Resident, Cardiology Fellow (2009), Albert Einstein Medical Center, PA
Ayman Layka, Nephrology Fellow, Cleveland Clinic in Florida
Nydia Martinez, Pulmonary Critical Care Fellow, University of Miami
Ismael Ortega, Pulmonary Critical Care Fellow (2009), Medical College of Georgia

CLASS OF 2007
Jeffrey Melendez, Hospitalist, Locum tenens
Aarti Kanwar, Hospitalist, California
German Gonzalez, Gastroenterology Fellow, Cleveland Clinic in Florida
Lakshmi Mahendran, Staff attending, Cleveland Clinic in Florida
Nicole Gallego, Group Practice, South Florida
Einar Lurix, Chief Resident, Gastroenterology Fellow (2009), Cleveland Clinic in Florida
Hernan Avella, Pulmonary Critical Care Fellow, Oregon Health & Science University
Farah Soliman, Group Practice, Tallahassee

CLASS OF 2006
Rotem Amir, Group Practice, South Florida
Bella Beraha, Hospitalist, South Florida
Robert Piloto, Staff attending, Cleveland Clinic in Florida
Rute Paixao, Nephrology fellowship & Staff Attending, Cleveland Clinic in Florida
Joel Camilo, Gastroenterology Fellow, UMKC, Missouri
Patricia Sanchez, Gastroenterology Fellow, UMKC, Missouri
Elsy V Navas, Cardiology Fellow, Cleveland Clinic in Florida