Director

Dr. Dharmini Shah Pandya — [click-for-email]

HSS Core Faculty

Dr. Rebecca Kim — [click-for-email]
Dr. Carly Sokach — [click-for-email]

Description

This is an innovative track grounded in preparing residents to become outstanding clinicians and leaders in the healthcare system. The track focuses on:

• Complex aspects of the healthcare system
• Individualized goals and systems-changing projects
• System-level quality improvement and patient safety initiatives
• Hospital economics and structures
• Hospital finances
• Informatics
• Leadership skills
• Medical education skill development

This track is equally valuable to residents who plan to pursue fellowship or remain in general internal medicine. This track is beneficial to residents who have an interest in public health, medical education, or administrative positions in the future. Didactic sessions focus on quality, safety, advocacy, hospital finance, and other domains, all built on a foundation to help cultivate leadership skills. During the two-year longitudinal pathway embedded within the medicine residency program, the PGY-2 year focuses on participation in didactic sessions in HSS domains. At the end of the PGY-2 year, armed with this knowledge, residents join leadership teams or committees of their choice and work to develop a passion project.

Passion projects take the form of

• educational curriculum development (medical education opportunities)
• quality improvement projects/system-wide projects that lead to change.

Throughout the two-year pathway there are multiple opportunities to lead resident didactics, teach and role model to junior classmates, and create a legacy that emphasizes various health systems sciences skill sets.

How and When to Apply

Interested residents are encouraged to apply for this track during the winter of intern year.  The application consists of the resident’s CV and a personal statement expressing their reason for interest in the program. 

Meet Our HSS Residents

Name: Richard Saporito, MD (Rick), PGY-3
Hometown: Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ
College: Villanova University
Medical School: Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
Why did you choose the Health Systems Science Track?:
I have been interested in healthcare innovation and quality improvement since working at a telemedicine startup company before medical school. The track has allowed me to continue to nurture these interests and gain practical experience in a large academic health system. It has made me a more resilient and collaborative physician and leader.

Name: Nicole Yoon, PGY-2
Hometown: Morristown, NJ
College: Boston College
Medical School: Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Why did you choose the Health Systems Science Track?:
The HSS track provides an exciting opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the complex health care system we work in and encounter almost every day. I am also looking forward to learning more about leadership development and innovative thinking as we continue through the program.