Residencies & Fellowships

The Educational Experience

At Weiss, our program philosophy is to provide quality clinical training to our residents in a nurturing and friendly environment. We emphasize an academic approach to problem solving by incorporating critical thinking skills. Residency training incorporates a varied case mix encompassing primary as well as tertiary care, thereby providing a broad based educational experience. Residents gain solid training in basic clinical skills including comprehensive history and physical examinations.

Weiss Memorial Hospital is a university-affiliated community teaching hospital located in an area that has a culturally diverse patient population base. Our residency programs provide a truly unique educational experience for those seeking a well-rounded training. We are academically affiliated with the University of Illinois and all residency programs at Weiss are fully accredited by the ACGME.

During the course of their training:

All categorical PGY1s and PGY3s are required to pass an observed clinical examination.
All categorical PGY1s and PGY3s are required to pass an in-house promotional examination.
All residents are required to take the ACP In-training exam annually.

Location

Weiss Memorial Hospital is conveniently located at 4646 N. Marine Drive (Wilson at Lake Shore Drive), on the lakefront of the city of Chicago. A major national center for medical education, Chicago is also the home of the American Medical Association and the American College of Surgeons.

Beaches on Lake Michigan are within walking distance from the hospital. The Art Institute, Field Museum of Natural History, Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium, Museum of Science and Industry, Museum of Contemporary Art, and Lincoln Park Zoo and Conservatory are all within easy reach.

The summer months bring a variety of activities, including art fairs in the Lake View, Uptown, Gold Coast, Old Town and Hyde Park neighborhoods, and free concerts at beautiful Millennium Park. The Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre are just a few of the city’s cultural treasures.

For sports fans, Chicago is home to Cubs and White Sox baseball, Chicago Bulls basketball, Chicago Bears football, Chicago Blackhawks hockey and the Chicago Fire soccer. Beautiful theaters located in downtown Chicago are home to exciting plays, musicals and ballets. Please visit the City of Chicago website for more information.

Weiss Memorial Hospital has teamed up with several professional athletic organizations to become their exclusive healthcare partner, providing them with team doctors.

Public Transportation

Weiss Memorial Hospital’s location provides easy access to public transportation with buses that stop in front of the hospital. The L trains are only four blocks from the hospital. Easy connections are made to either O’Hare or Midway Airports via the L trains or combination of bus routes and the L train.

Available Programs

At Weiss, our graduate programs include:

Transitional Year Program (one year): 8 positions
Preliminary Medicine Program (one year): 4 positions
Categorical Internal Medicine Program (three years): 15 positions per year
Sports Medicine Fellowship Program (one year): 1 position
Podiatry Program (three years): 5 positions per year

Available Electives

Cardiology
Critical Care
Endocrinology
Gastroenterology
General Surgery
Geriatrics
Hematology/Oncology
Infectious Diseases
Nephrology
Neurology
Nuclear Medicine
Orthopedics
Palliative Care
PM&R
Pulmonary
Radiation Oncology
Rheumatology
The required ambulatory month for categorical internal medicine includes clinics in internal medicine, dermatology, ob/gyn, orthopedics, pulmonary and sleep medicine, sports medicine, podiatry, and general surgery.
The required ambulatory month for transitional and preliminary year includes clinics in pediatrics, general medicine, general surgery, family medicine and ob/gyn.

Outside Rotations

(Allowed only for PGY-2 and PGY-3 levels)

University of Illinois, Chicago: Most specialties available. Other outside rotations in the Chicagoland area may be arranged by residents with approval of the Program Director.

Conferences

CME Lectures
Core Lectures
Geriatric Conference
Grand Rounds
Journal Clubs
Morbidity and Mortality Conferences
Morning Reports
Organ Rounds
Program Director Rounds
Psychosocial Rounds
Resident Topic Reviews
Teaching Rounds at Bedside
Tumor Boards

Application Requirements

For 2023-2024, Weiss is offering positions in the categorical internal medicine, preliminary medicine and transitional year programs. To apply:

All applications must be sent through ERAS. We will not accept faxed, mailed or emailed applications.
The minimum score requirements are:
– Internal Medicine Program: 230 in step 1 (for tests taken before 2022) and 240 in step 2
– Preliminary Year: 230 in step 1 (for tests taken before 2022)
– Transitional Year Program: 230 in step 1 (for tests taken before 2022)
Scores cannot be combined for an average required score
The Step 1 minimum score requirement applies to those applicants who took the exam prior to the Pass/Fail only reporting.
Application deadlines for 2023-2024 season are as follows:

Transitional Year Applicants

Application deadline – December 1, 2023
Interview Dates – November 8, 2023 until January 31, 2024

Internal Medicine Applicants (Categorical and Preliminary)

Application deadline – November 1, 2023
Interview Dates – November 3, 2023 until January 31, 2024

Although we have no definite cut-off period from the year of medical school graduation, applicants who have graduated in the past three years are preferred.
International graduates do not need an ECFMG certificate in order to apply; however, they do need to be ECFMG certified before the end of the interviewing season. ECFMG certification is required for NRMP ranking.
J1 visas are the only visas sponsored by the program at this time.
U.S. clinical experience, although preferred, is not a requirement for our programs.
Three letters of recommendation are required, one of which should preferably be a dean’s letter.
The Internal Medicine Residency Program does not participate in the NRMP match.
The Transitional Year Residency Program participates in the NRMP match.

Salary and Benefits

The resident salaries for the 2023 – 2024 academic year are:

PGY1: $58,261
PGY2: $59,995
PGY3: $61,916

Benefits include (subject to change):

Medical coverage available
Dental coverage available
Vision coverage available
Flexible Spending Account
Vacation: 4 weeks
Long-term disability
Basic life and AD&D insurance
Employee Assistance Program
Tax-sheltered annuity plans
Direct deposit
Educational stipend: PGY-1 residents receive $500, PGY-2 residents receive $1,000 and PGY-3 residents receive $1,500 for conference fees, related travel expenses and other educational related expenses approved by the Program Administrator.
Housing: Many housing options are available locally and throughout Chicago’s North Side.
Parking: Free parking is available in the hospital’s parking facility.

Download a Sample Resident Contract

Scholarly Activity

Click to view a list of the resident research and scholarly activity over the past few years.

• “Pain Management in Hospitalized Elderly Patients: A Safe and Effective Approach.” ACP Internal Medicine Annual Meeting, Apr. 2023, San Diego, CA (Winner of ACP Residency Program Award); Weiss Research Day, May 11, 2023 (Winner of Weiss Best QI Project Presentation Award). Seyma Eroglu M.D

• “Assessment and Improvement of Code Status Discussion by Internal Medicine Residents” Poster Presented at ACP Illinois Chapter, November 2022. Winner ACP IL Chapter 1st Place, Ali Baloch MD

• I Raise the Rates – A Quality Improvement Project to Raise the Rates of Influenza Vaccination

Sabahat Usmani MD, Yanint Raksadawan MD, Harsh Patel MD, Chandan Sapkota MD, Aline Arif MD, Gandih Gheir MD, Sabah Khan MD (Winner ACP QI Well Being Champion 2023)

• “Beware The High Voltaren: Case of Diclofenac Induced NAM.” ACP National Chicago Apr. 2022 (Winner of ACP Young Achiever Award); NYRIF, May 2022 (Winner of Best Poster Award) Sabahat Usmani M.D

• Vitamin D deficiency predisposes to severe COVID-19 infection: An overrated phenomenon or true? A Research article to address the question! 3rd Prize ACP Illinois Chapter, Rabia Mukthar MD

• “Don’t Worry, vapes are Harmless: First Known Case of Acute Kidney Injury Related to E-Cigarettes.” Published in American Society of Nephrology, Nov. 2023, Ahmet Erin Yassa M.D

• “Assessing Chronic Kidney Disease Guideline Awareness.” Poster Presentation at Weiss Research Day, May 2023, Maria Vernoica Avendano

• “Pyoderma Gangrenosum: Do Not Wake Up a Sleeping Giant.” Poster Presentation at Weiss Research Day, May 2023.Yadana Oo M.D

• “FSGS and Covid-19 in Non-African American Patients.” Published in Kidney360-American Society of Nephrology, May 2023. Carlos Rueda M.D

• “Does Vaccination Reduce the Severity of Covid-19 Infection and Shift the Paradigm of Risk Factors for Severe Infection.” Poster Presentation, ACP Internal Medicine Annual Meeting, Apr. 29, 2023, San Diego, CA. Ayesha Saleem M.D

• Delivery Outcomes in Pregnant Patients with Takayasu Arteritis – A Nationwide Inpatient Database Study

Yanint Raksadawan MD, Sabahat Usmani MD – Poster Presentation ACR Convergence 2023 and NYRIF/CCR East 2023

• Congestive Heart Failure and Large Vessel Vasculitis – A Study on Clinical Outcomes, A Nationwide Inpatient Database Study

Yanint Raksadawan MD, Sabahat Usmani MD, Amro Taha MD, Harigopal Sandhyavenu MD – Poster and Oral Presentation NYRIF/CCR East 2023

• Prevalence of Endometriosis and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome in Patients with Rheumatic Diseases in the United States

Sabahat Usmani MD, Catherine Lavallee BS, Maria Antonelli MD, Cuoghi Edens MD

Poster Presentation American College for Rheumatology ACR Convergence 2023

• RheumMadness and theMednet: Impact of a Collaboration between independent educational

initiatives

Guy Katz MD, Melissa Briones MD, Nina Couette DO, Meredith Balback MD, Sabahat Usmani MD,

Lauren He MD, Michael Macklin MD, Iman Qaiser MD, John Kellog MD, Courtney Blair, Benjamin Lueck,

Akrithi Garren MD, Matthew Sparks MD, Lisa Criscione-Schreiber MD, MEd, David Leverenz MD MEd.

Poster Presentation American College for Rheumatology ACR Convergence 2023

• An Atypical ClassRheum: RheumMadness, a collaborative rheumatology competition building

knowledge and community

Meredith Balback MD, Sabahat Usmani MD, Guy Katz MD, Lauren He MD, Michael Macklin MD, Iman

Qaiser MD, John Kellog MD, Courtney Blair, Benjamin Lueck, Akrithi Garren MD, Matthew Sparks MD,

Lisa Criscione-Schreiber MD, MEd, David Leverenz MD MEd.

Submitted to American College for Rheumatology ACR Convergence 2023

• Impact and cardiovascular outcomes of large vessel vasculitis in atrial fibrillation hospitalization: A

nationwide inpatient database study

Sabahat Usmani, Yanint Rakhsadawan, Amro Taha, Harigopal Sandhyavenu, Jalpan Patel, Thatiana Goni,

Hafiz Muhammad Waqar Younas, Irisha Badu

Poster presentation NYRIF 2023, Poster Presentation American College for Rheumatology ACR Convergence 2023

• “A cooperative Approach for Treatment of Zenker’s Diverticulum” Ishtiaq Hussain. Published in Surgical Endoscopy, June 2022

• “Monkeypox and Secondary Syphilis: A Diagnostic Dilemma.” Poster Presentation, ACP Northern Illinois Meeting, Nov. 2022, Chandan Singh Spkota M.D

• “Ocular Syphilis: High Index of Suspicion Will Preserve Vision.” Poster Presentation, ACP Northern Illinois Meeting, Nov. 2022, Mustafa Ali Samejo M.D

• “Immune to Varicella Because You are Double Vaccinated? Think Again.” Poster Presentation, ACP Northern Illinois Competition, Nov. 2022. Alina Ghimire M.D

• “Discitis or Neurosyphilis: A Diagnostic Dilema.” Poster Presentation, ACP Northern Illinois Competition, Sep. 2022.Najiyah Salwa M.D

• “Differentiation Syndrome in a Patient with Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Harboring IDH2 Mutation Treated with Enasidenib.” Weiss Research Day, May 4, 2022, and upcoming presentation at IASLC (world conference on lung cancer), Aug. 6, 2022, Bhoomika A Sukhadia M.D

• “Where Have All the Bicarbonates Gone?” ACP Internal Medicine Meeting, April 29, 2022 – Third Rank in ACP Illinois Chapter Clinical Vignette Competition and Young Achiever in National ACP Meeting, Mehmet Vural M.D

• “A Reversible Cause of Pancytopenia in SLE.” Weiss Research Day, May 4, 2022 “Appropriate Use of Telemetry.” Weiss Research Day, May 4, 2022. Phyo Su Yin, MD

• “Improving the Use of Dexamethasone in Hospitalized COVID Patients.” ACP National Meeting, Apr. 29, 2022; ACP Illinois Northern Poster Competition, Oct. 29, 2021; Weiss Research Day, May 19, 2021; ACP Webinar: Promoting Well-Being in Residency Program Through QI Coaching, Nov. 16, 2021 – Third Place at ACP Illinois Poster Competition 2021; ACP Advanced Residency Program Award Winner 2022. Tu Ngoc Thanh Nguyen, MD

• Tarff, A., Drew-Bear, L. E., Di Meglio, L., Yee, R., Vizcaino, M. A., Gupta, P., Annadanam, A., Cano, M., & Behrens, A. (2022). Effect of topical bovine colostrum in wound healing of corneal surface after acute ocular alkali burn in mice. Experimental eye research, 220, 109093.

• Yee, R., Yuan, Y., Tarff, A., Brayton, C., Gour, N., Feng, J., & Zhang, Y. (2022). Eradication of Staphylococcus aureus Biofilm Infection by Persisted Drug Combination. Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland), 11(10), 1278.

• Tarff, A., Drew-Bear, L. E., Yee, R., Cano, M., Zhang, Y., & Behrens, A. (2022). Bactericidal Efficacy of High Irradiance Ultraviolet Photoactivation of Riboflavin Versus Standard Corneal Cross-Linking Protocol In Vitro. Cornea, 41(9), 1166–1170

• “In-Hospital Outcomes of Covid-19 Associated Myocarditis: A Nationwide Inpatient Sample Database Study.” Poster Presentation, ACC Meeting, Mar. 2023, Harigopal Sandhyavenu M.D

• “Heart Failure 360: Improving the Quality of Inpatient Heart Failure Care in a Community Teaching Hospital.” ACP Residents’ and Medical Students’ Day, October 23, 2019, and Weiss Research Day, May 19, 2021.

• Author — Aysha Aslam, Jose Gonzalez Portugal, Hamood Dhillon, Anna Zubovskaia, Suzanne Pham.

• “The Unusual Suspect.” ACP Residents’ and Medical Students’ Day, November 4, 2020, and Weiss Research Day, May 19, 2021. Presenter/Author — Chaudhry Hamood A Dhillon

• “Metformin and Lactic Acidosis.” SGIM 2021 and Weiss Research Day, May 19, 2021. Presenter/Author — Azfar Farooqi

• “Impact of Non-Invasive Ventilation (NIV) in the Treatment of Acute Hypoxemic Respiratory Failure during COVID- 19 Pandemic: Retrospective Study in a Community Based Teaching Hospital in Chicago”: First Author Mehmet Vural; presented CHEST 2021 Conference — Presenter/Author — Mehmet Vural

• “Where Has all the Bicarbonate Gone?” Case Report First Author Mehmet Vural: ACP 2021 Northern Illinois Meeting. Presenter/Author — Mehmet Vural

• “A new onset hypermetabolic lymphadenopathy in patient with breast cancer and COVID-19 infection: a case report”. Zubovskaia A., Boshkovska Spaseski M., Hashimi M., Singh J., Kuznetsova M. ACP Northern Illinois Chapter, oral clinical vignette, November 2021.

• “Outcomes of Nursing Homes Patients Admitted with Covid19 Pneumonia at a Community Hospital in Chicago — 2020”. ACP Illinois Northern Chapter, poster presentation, November 2020. Presenter/Author — Elena Baltag

• “Program Directors Research Productivity and Other Factors of Anesthesiology Residency Programs That Relate

to Program Doximity Ranking.” Article. Co- author- Parvin Nejatmahmoodaliloo. Published in Journal of Education in Perioperative Medicine, 2021, April.

• Cited in PubMed; PMID: 20053203. Pub Status: Published.

• “Hodgkin Lymphoma Associated Vanishing Bile Duct Syndrome Successfully Treated with Radiation as a Bridge to Chemotherapy.” Maryam Ebadi, Jeffrey Olson, Justin Bateman, Damien Mathew, Jianling Yuan, Armin Rashidi. Precision Radiation Oncology. 2021; 5(2):110-14.

• “No evidence for colonization of oral bacteria in the distal gut in healthy adults.” Armin Rashidi, Maryam Ebadi, Daniel J Weisdorf, Massimo Castalongo, Christopher Staley. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2021; 118(42): e2114152118.

• “Altered microbiota-host metabolic cross talk preceding neutropenic fever in patients with acute leukemia.” Armin Rashidi, Maryam Ebadi, Tauseef Ur Rehman, Heba Elhusseini, Harika Nalluri, Thomas Kaiser, Sivapriya Ramamoorthy, Shernan G Holtan, Alexander Khoruts, Daniel J Weisdorf, Christopher Staley. Blood Advances. 2021; 5(20):3937-50.

• “Quantitative Serum PCR Argues against Long-term Persistence of HHV-6 Viremia after Umbilical Cord Blood

Transplantation” Maryam Ebadi, Justin Wasko, Jeffrey S. Miller, Daniel J. Weisdorf, Armin Rashidi. 2021; 23(3): e13555.

• “Circulating Bacterial DNA and Neutropenic Fever during Anti-leukaemia Chemotherapy. British Journal of

Hematology.” Armin Rashidi, Thomas Kaiser, Maryam Ebadi, Shernan G. Holtan, Tauseef Ur Rehman, Daniel J. Weisdorf, Alexander Khoruts, Christopher Staley. 2020; 191(2): e55-e58.

• “It’s All in the Film.” Maryam Ebadi, Amy K. Beckman, Sophia L. Yohe, Armin Rashidi, Gregory M. Vercellotti. British Journal of Hematology. 2020; 89(1):8.

• “Exogenous HMGB1 promotes the proliferation and metastasis of pancreatic cancer cells.” Zhu L, Ren S, Daniels

MJ, Qiu W, Song L, You T, Wang D, Wang Z. Frontiers in Medicine, section Gastroenterology. October 4, 2021.

• “Preoperative differentiation of serous cystic neoplasms from mucin-producing pancreatic cystic neoplasms using a CT-based radiomics nomogram.” Chen S, Ren S, Qian L, Daniels MJ, Duan S, Wang Z, Chen R. Abdominal Radiology. February 8, 2021.

• “Assessment of RAPID and Syngo.via in Core Infarct Estimate Compared with DW-MRI Obtained within 24 Hours.” Daniels MJ, Sherbaf F, Lin D. Electronic Poster Presentation. American Society of Neuroradiology Annual Meeting. May 22-26, 2021.

• “Comparing Resident and Faculty Perspectives for In-Person versus Online-based Radiology Lectures.” Daniels MJ, England RW, Guryildirim M, Son J, Bokhari D. Electronic Poster Presentation. ACR 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting. May 15-19, 2021.

Medical Student Program

Medical students from the University of Illinois, Chicago and Rosalind Franklin University rotate through Weiss Memorial Hospital as part of their core clerkship in medicine and as sub-interns in the ICU.