Peter Zimbwa, MD, PhD, MRCP, DTM&H
Cleveland Clinic
Associate Staff 2007 - 2008
Cardiovascular Disease Fellow 2008

Peter Zimbwa, MD, PhD

Medical School: University of Zimbabwe
Outside Interests: Music, Politics and Squash

Everyone is cognizant of the critical role that residency plays in the formative years of all clinicians. There are numerous programs. And, on paper at least, there are many excellent programs. The crunch comes to whether a particular program delivers the requisite training in a wholesome and yet collegiate fashion. The prospect of choosing a residency program in internal medicine can thus be daunting.

While many programs espouse diversity, not all have embraced it to the extent that the Cleveland Clinic has. As a foreign medical graduate, the composition of a program is a key consideration. The “salad” of exceptional international staff physicians, fellows and residents serves, not to make a political point, but to deliver world-class medical training and service in a singularly unique setting. The diversity in physicians and in the patient population coupled with the large size of the institution affords the residents an unsurpassable opportunity to be exposed to the full breadth of medicine. A resident’s patient list not uncommonly inter spaces such diagnoses as are deemed bread-and-butter with some rather exotic ones that mirror the patients that the CC attracts by virtue of the caliber of its physicians who are internationally renowned for their expertise. Choice of subsequent subspecialty training is enhanced and influenced by the wide experiences.

While there is a core curriculum for residents delivered at the bedside, in seminars, conferences, journal clubs, ambulatory clinics and research labs, training is also tailored to suit individual needs. Other than excellent bedside medicine, the CC has pioneered cutting-edge bench and clinical research that has set it apart from many others. This distinguished historical tradition has endured the test of time. As a resident, research is encouraged and facilitated early on. All these attributes make CC internal medicine graduates very competitive fellowship candidates.

For foreign medical graduates, there is a well-oiled CC machine that facilitates both J1 and H1B visas. I feel privileged to be able to take full advantage of the many opportunities that the CC offers to better myself as a physician.