ST. LOUIS – Internal medicine, a key component to primary care and hospital medicine, provides comprehensive care for adult patients and is the backbone of health care systems around the world. In 1954, Mercy started an internal medicine residency program, the first community-based program of its kind in Missouri. At the time, it was one of only 14 such programs in the United States.
Since its inception, the Mercy Internal Medicine Residency has trained more than 400 physicians practicing in Missouri and across the U.S. Now in its 70th year, the residency based at Mercy Hospital St. Louis is a three-year program with an enduring legacy of training the next generation of compassionate and community-minded internists.
“Mercy-trained internal medicine physicians help care for thousands of patients each year, locally and nationally, with many serving in leadership positions,” said Dr. Farrin Manian, Mercy St. Louis chair of the department of medicine. “We are particularly proud of our dedicated faculty and program directors and coordinators, without whom 70 years of training outstanding physicians would not have been possible.”
Nine residents join the program annually, and each has the option of pursuing a variety of specialty areas, including primary care, hospital medicine, critical care or subspecialty medicine such as gastroenterology or infectious diseases. Nearly half of all primary care physicians affiliated with Mercy St. Louis are graduates of the program.
“One of the ways to gauge the success of any residency program is when its faculty members freely trust their graduates to care for their family members or themselves. This is what I have seen and continue to see with our residency program, and I am proud to be part of it!” Manian said.
