Fellowship Details & Requirements

Our GME Office has preliminary eligibility requirements that all prospective trainees must meet before applying for a training program at our institution. In addition to these criteria, our program also the following requirements:

• Applicants must be a graduate of a medical school with a degree of M.D. or equivalent and must have successfully completed residency in internal medicine within the United States.
• Applicant must be eligible for a physician-in-training (PIT) permit and are expected to have interest in the medical care of cancer patients and survivors, comorbidities, and management of symptoms and adverse effects of anticancer therapy, cancer-related outcomes research, and quality improvement.

Application Process

To apply, complete the program application and send the following information to Felicia Berry, Program Coordinator, via email at gimfellowship@mdanderson.org.

• Curriculum vitae
• 3 letters of recommendation (written within one year of appointment, written in recommendation of this fellowship program, dated and on institutional letterhead)
• Personal statement
• Copy of USMLE scores
• Visa status (J-1 visa support only)
• Sample writing piece (e.g., abstract, book chapter, presentation, or other)

Recruitment and Selection

Marketing for this position begins in September of each year for the following year’s slot.  Each application is reviewed by the program directors and if the candidate is a good fit for the program, an interview is set up and a selection is made once all viable candidates have been interviewed.

The selection of trainees is based on the candidate’s preparedness, intellectual, and humanistic skills, aptitude, academic credentials, personal characteristics, ability to communicate, and ability to benefit from the program.

Clinical Research (75%)

General Internal Medicine (GIM) fellows are expected to spend the majority of their non-clinical time devoted to developing clinical research skills that will enhance their academic careers. GIM fellows are expected to initiate and complete research projects emanating from hypothesis generated clinical issues. These clinical research efforts should develop into publications and presentations in professional journals and conferences. Fellows will be assigned a faculty mentor that will meet with them on a regular basis to advise and guide them on their research projects.

Fellows must also complete a Clinical Quality Improvement Certificate by the end of their fellowship period. Each fellow must also enter a minimum of one case in Safety Intelligence each year of their training. They will complete all requirements for trainees in our non-standard training program.

Clinical Rotations (25%)

The goal of this program is to prepare the fellow for a successful career in the care of internal medicine issues of cancer patients and survivors.

The GIM fellow will rotate through various clinical areas:
Internal Medicine Clinics: will include Suspicion of Cancer (SCC) Clinic, Perioperative Medicine (POEM), Fatigue Clinic, Internal Medicine Clinic for Patients with Metastatic Breast Cancer (LIMBS), Geriatrics, Benign Hematology, Rheumatology clinics, an Onco-Hospital Medicine.

Specialty electives:
Electives are tailorable clinical rotations for the fellow. Some of the clinical rotation options include GI Medical Oncology, Breast Medical Oncology, Lymphoma/Myeloma, Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Thoracic Medical Oncology, and other electives approved by the program leadership.

Clinical objectives:

• The fellow will provide medical care to cancer patients and survivors in management of medical comorbidities, symptoms management of cancer patients and management of adverse effects of anti-cancer therapies under the supervision of the internal medicine attending provider.
• The fellow is expected to demonstrate and apply medical knowledge in patient care by reviewing textbooks or literature on specific clinical topics.
• The fellow is expected to communicate with both the patients and the attending provider.
• The fellow is expected to document clinical encounters and procedures per institutional policies.
• The fellow is expected to log duty hours regularly and adhere to duty hours policy per the institutional requirements.
• The fellow is expected to participate in evaluation of faculty.
• For specialty rotations, the fellow is expected to participate in didactics per the specialty’s expectations.

This fellowship aligns its goals and objectives with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education's (ACGME) six core competencies to ensure comprehensive training and development of fellows in the field of Internal Medicine.

Patient Care

Our program emphasizes providing fellows with comprehensive training in state-of-the-art clinical care for internal medicine patients with oncological diseases and oncological conditions. Fellows will gain hands-on experience in both inpatient and outpatient settings, participating in the diagnosis, treatment, and long-term follow-up care of patients.

Medical Knowledge

Through structured educational activities, including lectures, journal clubs, and case conferences, fellows will acquire a thorough understanding of the pathophysiology, diagnosis and management of oncological disorders in internal medicine patients. Fellows will also engage in research endeavors to deepen their medical knowledge and contribute to advancing the field.

Practice-Based Learning and Improvement

Fellows will develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills through active participation in patient care, research projects and scholarly activities. They will receive mentorship from experienced faculty members to continually assess and enhance their clinical practice and research endeavors.

Interpersonal and Communication Skills

Fellows will refine their communication skills to effectively interact with patients, families, and interdisciplinary healthcare teams. They will learn to convey complex medical information in a clear and empathetic manner, fostering meaningful relationships with patients and facilitating collaborative care.

Professionalism

Our program instills values of professionalism, integrity, and ethical conduct in fellows, preparing them to uphold the highest standards of patient care, research integrity and professional responsibility. Fellows will learn to navigate challenging ethical dilemmas and demonstrate respect, compassion, and cultural sensitivity in their interactions with patients and colleagues.

Systems-Based Practice

Fellows will gain insight into the health care system's structure and function, learning to navigate complex health care environments and advocate for optimal patient outcomes. They will collaborate with interdisciplinary teams to improve patient care quality, safety, and efficiency, while also understanding the socioeconomic and cultural factors influencing health care delivery.

By integrating these core competencies into our fellowship program, we aim to produce highly skilled and compassionate internal medicine specialists who are equipped to excel in clinical practice, research and leadership roles within academic medicine. Our fellows will emerge from the program with the knowledge, skills and professionalism necessary to make meaningful contributions to the field of internal medicine and provide exceptional care to patients and their families.

The General Internal Medicine Fellowship Program at MD Anderson offers an academic clinical research track. The goal of this program is to train physicians who will not only become independent clinician-investigators with expertise in complex patient oriented research related to the health outcomes of cancer patients, including the following content areas; survivorship, co-morbidity management, health disparities, patient education, quality of care, or quality improvement but also to have the necessary skills to provide the highest standard of care to cancer patients and survivors.

Academic Clinical Research Track: The fellow will be involved in intensive research training with one-on-one mentoring. At the completion of the program, the fellow will be expected to master the necessary skills to conduct clinical research and have submitted his work for presentation at national meetings and peer-reviewed journals.

The clinical assignment will coordinate with the fellow’s research interest. For example, a research track in co-morbidity management would result in clinical activities in the Outpatient Clinics and Outpatient Specialty Clinics (i.e. Cancer-Related Fatigue Clinic, Suspicion of Cancer Clinic, Lasting Effects of Cancer Treatment Clinic, Anticoagulation Clinic, Geriatrics and Continuity Clinic). Clinical activities will consist of three months equivalent out of each year.

The fellow will also participate and present at the General Internal Medicine department’s Journal Club and Research Conferences and is expected to attend Institutional Grand Rounds, the Internal Medicine division’s bimonthly CME lectures and other relevant institutional lectures or courses.

This year, we will include a pilot program on Lifestyle Medicine for Patients with Cancer as part of this fellowship program.

Some of the prestigious programs our fellows have been accepted into over the past few years:

Athira Jayan, M.D.: accepted into the Hematology Oncology Fellowship at Scripps, San Diego

Ashwathy Balachandran Pillai, M.D.: accepted into the Hospital Medicine Onco-Hospitalist Fellowship at MD Anderson, and hired as a hospitalist in this department upon completion of her training

Fauzia Ullah, M.D.: accepted into the Experimental Clinical Hematology Fellowship Program at the Cleveland Clinic

Rachel Ombres, M.D.: a Palliative Care Physician and a Geriatric Medicine Specialist with Allegheny Health Network in Pittsburgh, PA

Jeffrey Aldrich, M.D.: accepted into the 3-year combined Hematology/Oncology Fellowship - Emory University in Atlanta, GA 

Recent Fellow and Faculty Publications

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor-induced Myositis.
Athira Jayan, Andrew L Mammen, Maria E Suarez-Almazor ;Rheumatic Diseases Clinics of North America. 2024 May 1

A Qualitative Study of Knowledge of Metabolic Syndrome, Attitudes about Lifestyle Modifications, and Preferences for Lifestyle Interventions among Patients with Cancer.
Isabel Martinez Leal, Ashwathy B Pillai, Jessica T Foreman, Kimberly W Siu, Natalia I Heredia, Carmen Escalante, Ellen F Manzullo, Aimee J Christie, Tamara E Lacourt ;Research Square. 2023 Sep 4

Safety and effectiveness of direct oral anticoagulants for the treatment of gastrointestinal cancer-associated venous thromboembolism.
F Ullah, J Song, CM Rojas Hernandez, MH Kroll, CP Escalante, KM Toale The Oncologist 28 (11), e1005-e1016

Enhanced Recovery Stem-Cell Transplantation:Multidisciplinary Efforts to Improve Outcomes in Older Adults Undergoing Hematopoietic Stem-Cell Transplant.
An Ngo-Huang, Rachel Ombres, Rima M Saliba, Nicholas Szewczyk, LaToya Adekoya, Tacara N Soones, Jill Ferguson, Rhodora C Fontillas, Alison M Gulbis, Chitra Hosing, Par; JCO Oncology Practice. 2023 Mar 1

Serial frailty assessments following allogeneic stem cell transplant in older adults: A pilot study.
Rachel Ombres, Jude K.A. des Bordes, Uday R. Popat, Sriram Yennu, Richard E. Champlin, Supriya G. Mohile, Partow Kebriaei, Holly M. Holmes;Journal of Geriatric Oncology. 2021 Sep 4

An update on cancer-related fatigue in older adults: A narrative review.
Tacara Soones, Rachel Ombres, Carmen P. Escalante ; Journal of Geriatric Oncology. 2021 Aug 2

Inflammatory Myositis in Cancer Patients Receiving Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors.
Aldrich J, Pundole X, Tummala S, Palaskas N, Andersen CR, Shoukier M, Abdel-Wahab N, Deswal A, Suarez-Almazor ME. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2021 May;73(5):866-874. doi: 10.1002/art.41604. Epub 2021 Apr 1.PMID: 33258544

A Systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies and uncontrolled trials reporting on the use of checkpoint blockers in patients with cancer and pre-existing autoimmune disease.
Lopez-Olivo MA, Kachira JJ, Abdel-Wahab N, Pundole X, Aldrich JD, Carey P, Khan M, Geng Y, Pratt G, Suarez-Almazor ME.Eur J Cancer. 2024 May 31;207:114148. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2024.114148. Online ahead of print. PMID: 38834015 Review.

Treatment patterns and outcomes of high-grade immune checkpoint inhibitor-related pneumonitis in an oncology hospitalist service.
Manzano JM, Sahar H, Aldrich J, Lu M, Shoukier M, Peterson CB, Dickson K, Koom-Dadzie K, Kheder E, Franco Vega MC, Mohammed A, Muthu M, Simbaqueba C, Senechalle MS, Brito-Dellan N.Support Care Cancer. 2024 Feb 16;32(3):160. doi: 10.1007/s00520-024-08361-1.PMID: 3836600

Our trainees have the opportunity to work alongside leading  cancer experts at MD Anderson and institutions across the Texas Medical Center. Additionally, our trainees receive exceptional support from the fellowship leadership team: 

In addition to gaining unparalleled clinical and research training experience, our General Internal Medicine Fellow has access to exceptional resources and benefits to help them build meaningful careers and lead fulfilling lives.

Institutional benefits and support

GME trainees’ salary stipends are updated every year based on the ACGME’s recommendations, and because our trainees are considered workforce members, they also enjoy MD Anderson’s employee benefits, including health insurance, retirement planning, disability insurance and six weeks of parental leave.

Our GME House Staff Senate offers trainees the opportunity to experience a leadership role in a medical field career, and the institution’s Academic Mentoring Council provides avenues to secure tailored academic mentoring from faculty. Our GME trainees benefit from the extensive support offered to our research trainees, too; they are invited to participate in grant application workshops, apply for pilot grants to support their research ideas and receive monetary awards for securing extramural grant funding.

Trainee wellness is also of utmost importance at MD Anderson.

Our trainees have access to MD Anderson’s employee networks, fitness center and other wellness resources provided by the institution. Additionally, our Graduate Medical Education Committee (GMEC), which provides oversight of our accredited programs, regularly assess our trainees’ needs and implements various initiatives, such as providing free call meals and discounted parking to GME House Staff, to address those gaps. The committee even has a subcommittee entirely dedicated to supporting the wellness of our trainees.

Our efforts to ensure a welcoming and supportive education and training experience have been commended nationally. In 2023, the Office of Graduate Medical Education received the DeWitt C. Baldwin, Jr. Award, a prestigious national award that recognizes our institution for its respectful and supportive environment for delivering medical education and patient care.

Beyond MD Anderson

MD Anderson’s location has many benefits, too. Our main campus is nestled inside the Texas Medical Center, the world’s largest medical center which boasts about 10 million patient encounters each year. Many of our faculty are involved in interorganizational research collaborations, both within the TMC and across the nation, exposing trainees to groundbreaking advancements in medical care in real time.

Most importantly, the city of Houston is a great place to call home and raise a family. We are one of the most culturally diverse cities in the nation. More than 145 different languages are spoken across the city, placing us behind only New York and Los Angeles. In fact, about 30% of the city’s population speaks a language other than English at home. And, paychecks here stretch farther than most U.S. metro areas, thanks to our low cost of living.

Visit our Why Houston page to learn more about our city’s affordable housing, fine dining, entertainment scene, nationally renowned museums and other great attributes.