University of Virginia Internal Medicine

[CoastalVirginia]

Have a few questions about the medicine program. Although not my #1 choice, I matched here last month and am excited to get started.

How stable is the program? I have heard the chair was fired last year and that recently many faculty and division chairs have been departing. Also, I have heard rumors about how unresponsive the hospital administration has become which may have led to the exodus.

Overall, I am super excited to move to Charlottesville. Also, the match list is impressive and the residents I have met were amazing and seemed like a cohesive unit.

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[buzzword]

Hey I am also going to UVA for IM!
I'm not from UVA, so I have no idea how to answer your questions. Just saw your post and thought I'd say hi to a fellow intern

 

[CoastalVirginia]

Hey, good to see a fellow intern as well!! Can't wait to move to the Hook!!

 

[digitlnoize]

Hey guys! Life-long Cville resident and new psych intern here. Went to DO school, not UVa.

I don't know much about what's been going on in IM. The psych residents seem to enjoy their IM months. It seems busy, but not abusive. My guess is that any turnover has more to do with administrative politics than anything else.

PM me if any of you guys have any Qs about town, where to live, or want to hang out when you get here.

 

[himanshu82]

I went to UVA for residency in internal medicine.

Absolutely great faculty but definitely a few chairs have left. Every single attending is absolutely great (except for the PD). Nice, approachable, laid back and very very hands off for the most part.

My biggest advice is to stay away from the program director, he can be tough to deal with, once the initial honeymooning period is over. The jovial, nice program director disappears about 2-3 weeks into the start of the internship. He is known for crucifying interns and residents when there is a negative outcome. Stay away.

Awesome residents, great teamwork, by far the best selling point of the program.

Great fellowship matches, great reputation throughout the country. Residents don't apply only for Cards and GI like other top ranked programs, they apply broadly for ID, Heme/Onc which helps.

 

[CoastalVirginia]

Although I haven't started, I would have to disagree with the post about the program director. I have met Dr. Donowitz and he was extremely nice and seemed to be an advocate for his residents. Also, I have since spoken to several people within the program who have echoed this sentiment about the PD.

 

[Instatewaiter]

Although I haven't started, I would have to disagree with the post about the program director. I have met Dr. Donowitz and he was extremely nice and seemed to be an advocate for his residents.

My biggest advice is to stay away from the program director, he can be tough to deal with, once the initial honeymooning period is over. The jovial, nice program director disappears about 2-3 weeks into the start of the internship. He is known for crucifying interns and residents when there is a negative outcome. Stay away.

I have no real input but I bolded the important part.

 

[CoastalVirginia]

You forgot to highlight the other important part. I have spoken to multiple other residents who have disputed this comment from this previous fellow (now Cardiology Fellow). They have stated that the program director is very supportive of the residents throughout their entire 3 years.

 

[digitlnoize]

You forgot to highlight the other important part. I have spoken to multiple other residents who have disputed this comment from this previous fellow (now Cardiology Fellow). They have stated that the program director is very supportive of the residents throughout their entire 3 years.

I've heard of one guy (an ortho resident, I think), >10y ago, who apparently was TERRIBLE and was booted after a particularly god awful performance on an IM rotation. Other than that, I know of no real issues there.

UVa is a hard working place, but overall considered a good place to work. I don't get any malignant vibes unless you consider being busy, but not breaking rules, a bad thing.

 

[himanshu82]

He definitely advocates very strongly for the residents. He has a very strong personality and will advocate for you and fight with any other department.

No doubt a great program, trained me very well, but try to get on his good side.

 

[werd]

i did my prelim year at UVA internal medicine. i got a great education, and could handle just about anything that came my way by the end of the year. also, cville is a great place to live. you work hard, esp. as an intern, but the environment is supportive, and i imagine any IM program at academic center is going to be on the challenging side. generally the hours rules are respected... i probably averaged 70-75 hours/wk on my ward months as an intern. on occasion we broke the 30 hour shift rule or the 10 hours off rule, if call was bad or patients misbehaved as we were trying to tidy things up. i can only speak to the intern year, but i have a positive view of the program..

 

[evieross]

Donowitz was horrible.

 

[gutonc]

Solid necrobump yo. Good luck with your chief year.

 

[CLE]

Donowitz was horrible.

Can you expand at all? He just seemed like a grandad who made grandad jokes that the residents didn't laugh at. Would you reconsider matching because of him? PM me with more specifics if you can.

 

[reca12]

Can you expand at all? He just seemed like a grandad who made grandad jokes that the residents didn't laugh at. Would you reconsider matching because of him? PM me with more specifics if you can.

You missed this poster's epic diatribe of the program. I actually have the original post still, because my friend had sent it to me before it was edited to what you see now. I can PM it to you.

 

[CatFactorial]

You missed this poster's epic diatribe of the program. I actually have the original post still, because my friend had sent it to me before it was edited to what you see now. I can PM it to you.

How odd. Who saves SDN posts?

 

[reca12]

How odd. Who saves SDN posts?

Someone who realized that the poster would probably end up deleting the whole thing? It was sent to my email, which is why I still have it.

 

[glendenning1312]

Someone who realized that the poster would probably end up deleting the whole thing? It was sent to my email, which is why I still have it.

Can you repost the original evieross post or send it to me via PM?

 

[scrappylemur]

you sound like a whiney snowflake. Your attitude rather than race or sex probably has more to do with your dissatisfaction that anything else.

Wow really? This is the type of attitude that propagates racist/sexist behavior and slows down its elimination.

First and foremost, I'm NOT saying you're a racist or have any ill will towards any groups of people. It's not my place to judge you as a person.

As a minority myself on the interview trail, I have felt what OP has mentioned in varying degrees. It's usually innocent unfamiliarity with other cultures ("Wow, you're from country X? You must eat a lot of beans and rice huh.") but it can border on outright discrimination. What I have learned is that if it feels strange on interview day, or any daily encounter for that matter, even though you can't quite put your finger on what's causing the unease, you gotta trust your gut instinct. A lot of this stuff between the lines type of stuff; people are generally good at hiding preconceived notions when you first meet. I also look for diversity in faculty make-up when choosing a program.

But to dismiss these situations purely as a problem with the OP's attitude is to dismiss that person's lifetime of experience with discrimination, both the subtle and overt. Especially when OP has provided pretty solid evidence that would be pretty hard to chalk up to coincidence. It's like saying, "Harvey Weinstein did nothing wrong, those girls just have a whiney attitude about normal sexual conduct". When people put the blame on the victim for feeling victimized, it immediately turns the argument from "how can we be better" to "this isn't even wrong, why should i change". We should strive to better at recognizing these problems, instead of sweeping them under the rug because it's uncomfortable.

sorry for the little rant

To the OP, thank you for bringing this to light and for your advice.

 

[Steeler7588]

Donowitz was horrible.

This post (edited from the original version) and the now-deleted recent posting from 'blackhoomd' are both by the same person, pretending to be different identities in order to hurt UVa's reputation online. The 'blackhoomd' account is an unfortunate attempt to impersonate a good friend and UVa Medicine alum; she has a very favorable impression of the program and was upset to read that post.

As a former UVa medical student and current chief resident, we've made encouraging progress in increasing diversity in the last several years at the medical school level and last year at the residency level but we're working hard to improve this further. I think our residents feel very well-supported but I would encourage all of you to talk to as many residents as possible (if you visit us on an interview day) or email us chiefs with any questions/concerns. We'd be happy to answer any questions and give you the most accurate sense of our program as possible.

Best of luck to all of this year's applicants.

 

[jhamaican]

This post (edited from the original version) and the now-deleted recent posting from 'blackhoomd' are both by the same person, pretending to be different identities in order to hurt UVa's reputation online. The 'blackhoomd' account is an unfortunate attempt to impersonate a good friend and UVa Medicine alum; she has a very favorable impression of the program and was upset to read that post.

As a former UVa medical student and current chief resident, we've made encouraging progress in increasing diversity in the last several years at the medical school level and last year at the residency level but we're working hard to improve this further. I think our residents feel very well-supported but I would encourage all of you to talk to as many residents as possible (if you visit us on an interview day) or email us chiefs with any questions/concerns. We'd be happy to answer any questions and give you the most accurate sense of our program as possible.

Best of luck to all of this year's applicants.

Some Moderator put me on probation (whatever that is) for calling out that troll.

Why they deleted all the posts it beyond me. it was clearly a hit job on UVA by some butthurt individual.

 

[CatFactorial]

Some Moderator put me on probation (whatever that is) for calling out that troll.

Why they deleted all the posts it beyond me. it was clearly a hit job on UVA by some butthurt individual.

That is bogus you were making sense.