Training & Education

Each year the Keck School of Medicine matriculates approximately 180 medical students. In addition, the Department of Medicine graduates 60 board eligible specialists in Internal Medicine and approximately 30 board eligible sub-specialists in the various disciplines within Internal Medicine (e.g., Cardiology, Endocrinology, Geriatrics). Geriatric, Hospital, Palliative Care and General Internal Medicine (GHPGIM) faculty are instrumental in all of these graduates’ education and maturation into excellent physicians.

GHPGIM faculty physicians play strategic and leadership roles in the education of internal medicine students and physicians. Dr. Eric Hsieh is the Residency Director for the Internal Medicine training program. Dr. Jeffrey Canceko is Program Director for Medical Student Education. Drs. Antreas Hindoyan, Cathy Jalali, Sonia Lin, Joshua Sapkin, Patrick Sarte, and Angell Trevor are Associate Program Directors for Resident Education.

GHPGIM faculty members are solely responsible for supervising each of the patient visits performed by each of our residents in their own clinics. Currently our residents complete nearly 600 patient visits per week. In the inpatient setting, both at Los Angeles General Medical Center and USC Keck Hospital, GHPGIM faculty supervise more than 40 residents and dozens of medical students each month as they admit and care for approximately 250 patients each day. The faculty members are diligent in their supervision and instruction, conducting teaching and work rounds seven days per week and are available around-the-clock for their residents’ questions and/or patient problems. These teaching responsibilities are performed concurrently with faculty members’ active private practices.

Internal Medicine Residents

Faculty members in the Division of GHPGIM are responsible for the supervision of Internal Medicine Residents as they care for patients at Los Angeles General Medical Center on the Inpatient Medicine Wards service and daily Primary Care Clinics. Faculty members also supervise residents on the KH Inpatient Ward service. Each month, 40 house officers comprising of 14 teams rotate through both hospitals’ Inpatient Ward Services. Each team is supervised by one GHPGIM faculty member using an academic hospital medicine model. Each day, supervising faculty conduct two hour attending rounds to meet and discuss newly admitted patients, review the clinical course of the established inpatients, and educate the residents on inpatient medicine concepts. In addition, faculty members conduct daily afternoon discharge and management rounds. These clinical/bedside teaching rounds complement other structured curricular sessions for house officers and medical students. GHPGIM faculty members also supervise the training of house officers in ambulatory general internal medicine at the continuity clinics. The continuity clinics are situated onsite at Los Angeles General Medical Center and receive approximately 25,000 visits annually. These efforts are led by Drs. Eric Hsieh (Vice Chair, Educational Affairs) and Jeffrey Canceko (Internal Medicine Clerkship Director).

The Division of GHPGIM has taken an active role in enhancing its educational mission and program for students at the Health Sciences Campus and for medical house staff. It is imperative that its young physicians and allied health personnel are prepared to meet the challenges presented by the ever-changing nature of medicine as well as the aging of the American population. The clinical and didactic instruction provided by GHPGIM faculty goes a long way toward preparing resident physicians with information and expertise to help them understand and cope with emerging medical problems.