Overview

Medical Education Programs

Our categorical medicine and combined Med/Peds programs are among the best in the country for several reasons. Firstly, we have a broad diversity of patients who receive both primary and specialty care at our clinics. Thus, at one end of the spectrum we have over 20 primary care practice sites with settings encompassing the inner city on the one hand and small communities near Indianapolis, on the other. At the other end of the spectrum are referrals from not only Indiana, but literally the world for patients who need specialized care. We also have a 10 year long collaboration with the Moi University in Eldoret, Kenya. Faculty, residents, and students participate in this exchange program. As a consequence of this breadth, we are able to expose trainees to virtually any type of practice setting imaginable.

The Department of Medicine is devoted to teaching. For example, we are one of two training programs in the country that has a formal program for teaching our residents how to teach. We do this via a retreat during the second year of training. Tangible evidence of our commitment to teaching is numerous teaching awards received by our faculty, plus the department having received the award from graduating students for offering the best clinical clerkship of their entire medical school experience. We have won this award seven times in the last eight years.

At the subspecialty level we are nationally recognized for the innovative training programs we offer. Our objective is to train subspecialists for academic and/or industry careers. As such, we have a robust didactic curriculum and in-depth research experiences in either bench, patient-oriented, or outcomes research. Graduates of our program are highly recruited when they finish.

Research Activities

Research in the Department of Medicine is both broad and deep. Every area of the department receives NIH support plus a multitude of grants from other sources such as foundations, the pharmaceutical industry, etc. Currently, we are ranked 16th in the country for NIH support alone. Our faculty are recognized at an international level and populate leadership positions in virtually every field of medicine.

Please see the sections on Clinical Programs and Research Centers, as well as the section on active Clinical Trials.

Clinical Services

The Department of Medicine at Indiana University is characterized by its balance. Though we are certainly a research-intensive institution, our accomplishments in this arena are matched by those in the clinic. We are the referral center of choice for our region. But in addition, our subspecialty expertise is matched by a robust primary care program.

For example, we have a primary care network (IU Medical Group - Primary Care) comprising about 20 venues and 150 generalist physicians. Thus, we offer the full spectrum of care in contrast to many academic medical centers that focus on tertiary and quarternary care. Needless to say, this clinical breadth offers a unique spectrum of training opportunities.

Our clinical services are also characterized by a myriad of multidisciplinary programs. In this fashion, a patient can be evaluated at one site by experts from all perspectives. For example, a woman with a lump in her breast could enter the health care system through a general internist, an oncologist, a radiologist, or a surgeon, each of whom had a different perspective on the patient's disease.

At Indiana University, such a patient would attend a clinic with representation from all of these domains, plus others like pathology, radiation therapy, and plastic surgery, so that she is afforded the benefit of collective expertise. In addition, such clinics are also more convenient for the patient, more cost-effective, and unique sites for training.