Education

GIM faculty has important leadership positions and teaching responsibilities in multiple course and units for the medical students, including Medical Decision-Making and the Physician Patient and Society courses.

This required four-week clerkship is intended as a brief, but intensive, introduction to the world of the primary care physician. Students will have the opportunity to work with physicians who practice the biopsychosocial, patient-centered philosophy that is central to primary care. During the four weeks, learners will be exposed to the broad range of clinical problems encountered by family medicine and internal medicine physicians, and gain a broader perspective on the role of medical care in people's lives.

The clerkship curriculum is geared to emphasize, in particular, communication skills, clinical decision-making skills, a commitment to lifelong learning, as well as health promotion and disease prevention.

At its core, the Primary Care Clerkship emphasizes clinical experience. Students will spend most of their time in one or two outpatient offices with a family medicine or internal medicine physician, providing a unique opportunity to work directly with an attending for an extended period.

Medical students will see multiple patients daily and will often be the first point of contact. These experiences will help students refine their skills in history taking and clinical write-ups, oral presentation, and physical examination.  Students will take part in a Clinical Skills Assessment (CSA) for feedback on their history taking, physical examination and clinical write-up skills. They will also utilize electronic medical records (EMR) and be exposed to the role of e-medicine.

Didactic sessions are held each Wednesday to supplement the clinical experiences. These are generally interactive, case-based discussions but also include lectures on disease prevention and web-based modules.  As a clerkship requirement, students will do a more formal presentation on a topic of their choice for their peers.

In addition to teaching clinical medicine, the GIM faculty is committed to training the next generation of researchers. Our researchers provide classroom teaching and supervise research projects for medical students, residents, and fellows.

Apply to our Program

Northwestern's American Heart Association (AHA) funded Strategically Focused Research Network (SFRN) in Vascular Disease supports two-year postdoctoral fellowship positions for individuals interested in advanced research training in peripheral artery disease. Research fellows will be trained in both science of vascular disease and the application of research methods to investigate and treat peripheral artery disease. Northwestern’s highly individualized 2-year training program offers basic, clinical, population, and randomized trial experience. The fellow’s progress will be overseen by established nationally-recognized scientists and mentors. This AHA sponsored fellowship provides opportunity to collaborate with other Vascular Disease Network centers across the United States.

Learn More

The Northwestern Medicine Transitional Care Clinic and the Northwestern University Division of General Internal Medicine host a 2-year fellowship that provides experiential education in underserved care and care transitions, clinical and academic mentorship, and coursework to train participants for meaningful careers in underserved patient populations.

Learn more about the Transitional and Community Care Experiential Education and Training Program