Internal Medicine Residency Program
About the internal medicine residency program
The Internal Medicine residency program at Lankenau Medical Center began over 70 years ago. We are a university-level academic experience in a warm, supportive and personalized environment.
Our goal is to train internists who will not only go on to pass their ABIM examination, but dedicate their lives and careers to becoming lifelong learners of internal medicine. We work closely with individual residents to help them develop and achieve their professional goals.
Learn more about Diversity, Respect, Equity & Inclusion at Main Line Health
The Lankenau Medical Center experience
Leadership, residents and graduates
Learn more about our leadership and faculty, residents and graduates.
Inpatient curriculum
Lankenau Medical Center offers two resident options in internal medicine: a preliminary internal medicine program (one-year internship) and a categorical internal medicine residency (three-year residency).
Our program has a focus on creating a family-type culture of mutual support and respect between trainees, faculty and program leadership. We have an additional focus on resident wellness and have our own residency Wellness Coach available for our trainees. We additionally see our program as succeeding through the creation of a personalized approach to each resident’s success and well-being.
Preliminary internal medicine residency program
Our preliminary program is designed for physicians who require one year of internal medicine training prior to going into a destination residency such as neurology, dermatology, radiation oncology, radiology/interventional radiology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, or anesthesiology. Over the course of a year, preliminary interns have exposure to a wide variety of disease processes in the acute patient care setting while preserving robust opportunities for learning elective specialties. We feel the preliminary year provides an invaluable background for any trainee entering a specialty residency.
Preliminary intern:
- 3-3.5 blocks of inpatient medicine
- 2 blocks of ICU
- 1 block of night float (0.5 blocks twice yearly)
- 0.5 block admitting team
- 4.5-5 blocks of elective time
* Blocks are two to four weeks in duration
Categorical internal medicine residency program
Our categorical program is designed for physicians who are interested in a career in internal medicine or internal medicine sub-specialties such as endocrinology, gastroenterology, cardiology, hematology/oncology, rheumatology, infectious diseases, nephrology, pulmonary/critical care and geriatrics.
We believe that our categorical internal medicine residency program provides a diverse clinical experience in conjunction with excellent didactic teaching that prepares our residents for satisfying, lifelong careers in medicine.
Categorical intern:
- 3-3.5 blocks of inpatient medicine
- 2 blocks ICU
- 6 two-week Y ambulatory blocks
- 1 block of night float (0.5 blocks twice yearly)
- 0.5 block admitting team
- 0.5 block of emergency medicine
Categorical R2:
- 3-3.5 blocks of inpatient medicine
- 1 block ICU
- 1 block admitting team (0.5 blocks twice yearly)
- 6 two-week Y ambulatory blocks
- 1.75 blocks of night float
Categorical R3:
- 3 - 3.5 blocks of inpatient medicine
- 6 two-week Y ambulatory blocks
- 2 blocks ICU
- 0.5 block admitting shift
* Blocks are two to four weeks in duration
Ambulatory experience
Lankenau Medical Associates (LMA) is the continuity practice for our internal medicine residency. Each categorical resident builds a panel of primary care patients over a three-year period.
LMA is a resident and faculty co-practice centrally located in Lankenau Medical Center, which serves a medically complex and diverse mix of patients from West Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs. LMA is a designated hub for LGBTQ inclusive primary care, and most of our faculty prescribe gender-affirming hormone therapy as part of their practice.
We ensure the quality of our residents' outpatient experience by maintaining a high functioning primary care practice. Our team includes a full-time doctoral level psychologist, dedicated social workers, nurse case managers, and even a community garden at Lankenau Medical Center that provides free vegetables to our patients. We are thrilled to be adding an ambulatory pharmacist this year as well.
Our program utilizes an "X+Y" scheduling model, which gives categorical residents uninterrupted time to focus on outpatient medicine during their two-week ambulatory blocks. Since transitioning to X+Y in 2021, we have significantly improved continuity between patients and their resident PCP. Ambulatory residents are excused from clinical duties on Friday mornings for dedicated ambulatory education, which includes a mixture of didactic lectures, point-of-care ultrasound practice, and case-based discussions. Finally, we build in "personal time" during ambulatory weeks, so our residents can keep up with essential life tasks like dentist appointments.
The ambulatory experience also includes dedicated subspeciality training. In the PGY-1 year, this takes the form of survey rotations in office-based dermatology, gynecology, neurology, geriatrics, nutrition, pain medicine, addiction psychiatry, sports medicine and endocrinology. Interns also rotate with LMA physicians and psychology faculty in the office and participate in our weekly review of high complexity patients.
In the PGY-2 and PGY-3 years, residents choose longitudinal ambulatory experiences among the core internal medicine subspecialties. These experiences allow fellowship-bound trainees to build relationships with subspecialists and experience office-based care in their future specialties. Upper year residents have dedicated time for quality improvement projects, panel management, and research projects during their ambulatory weeks. Residents also gain exposure to patients with substance use disorder during our Suboxone clinic Wednesday afternoons in LMA.
– Benjamin Larson, MD
Applying to our program
Our residency program will only accept applications through the Electronic Residency Application System (ERAS) program offered by the AAMC. While we preferentially review applications from applicants that have signaled our program, we do still consider applications from applicants that do not signal us. We do not use signaling as part of our ranking process for applicants that have interviewed with our program. Interview invitations are sent on a rolling fashion from October to mid-November. Additional interview invitations from our waitlist may be sent through January if there are cancellations or additional spaces. Unfortunately Lankenau's Internal Medicine Residency will not be participating in the ROL Pilot for the 2025-26 Application Season. Interviews for the 2025-2026 season will be released in the afternoon hours throughout the interview season.
Note: Unfortunately, due to legislative changes we will no longer accept H1B visas.
United States medical graduate applicant requirements
- Dean's letter
- Three letters of recommendation
- Medical school transcript
- Personal statement
- Curriculum Vitae in ERAS format
- USMLE/COMLEX step 1 and 2 scores
- For osteopathic medical graduate applicants, we welcome applicants who may submit COMLEX or USMLE (or both)
International medical graduate applicant requirements
- ECFMG certificate
- Must pass step 1 on first attempt and pass step 2 on first attempt with score over 220
- Graduation from medical school in the last five years
- Recent clinical experience (can be in your home country)
- Dean's letter
- Three letters of recommendation
- Medical school transcript
- Personal statement
- Curriculum Vitae in ERAS format
- We sponsor J1 and H1B visas
Contact
Kristen DiStefano
Manager, Internal Medicine Residency Program
distefanok@mlhs.org