NWH Transitional Year Internship Program

Joining the MGB workforce

MGB and NWH are committed to helping our workforce thrive.

To be a global leader in healthcare, it is essential that our workforce reflects the patients we serve and offers a variety of perspectives. This enables us to develop better solutions to our challenges and deliver higher quality care with better patient outcomes. A workforce with a broad range of skills, experiences, and perspectives is best positioned to innovate, create solutions, provide the highest quality care to all our patients, and ensure that our patients maintain trust and feel confident seeking care from our provider community.

Learn more about this work, led by the Office of Workforce Enrichment.

Residents at Newton-Wellesley Hospital

NWH is proud of its rich, 100+ year history in supporting postgraduate medical education and currently hosts more than 400 residents per year who spend a part of their training at NWH. A subset of this group are the ten interns in the Transitional Year internship program who work alongside interns from MGH Anesthesia, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Ophthalmology, MGH/McLean Psychiatry, MGH Internal Medicine, MGH Surgery, Tufts Internal Medicine, and Tufts Psychiatry programs. Interns also enjoy working with medical students from the Tufts University School of Medicine during their 3rd year clerkships, as well as PA students from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Each year, five PGY-3 MGH Internal Medicine residents are selected into the role of NWH Chief Resident. They are selected for their excellent teaching skills and lead many of the didactic sessions. They are also available to support the rotating interns and residents on the medicine services. The diverse groups of interns and residents who rotate at NWH contribute to an atmosphere of collaboration within the hospital and training program.

Culture of Newton-Wellesley Hospital

NWH blends the close-knit environment of a community hospital with the academic approach and high-level patient care unique to the Boston area. There are no Internal Medicine or General Surgery fellowship programs at NWH, so the residents benefit from direct collaboration with attending physicians. The aspirations of the residency program are commensurate with the vision statement of the hospital which is “to be among the premier community teaching hospitals in the world—achieved through the relentless pursuit of excellence and commitment to high quality and safe patient care.”

Culture of Safety

In addition to our focus on patient care and medical education, we seek to give our residents a strong background in areas of Quality and Safety. During the Quality Improvement elective, residents will receive a Basic Certificate in Quality and Safety from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. They will also participate in peer review and safety conferences at the hospital and departmental level and develop their own focused quality improvement project.

Culture of Wellness

We take trainee wellness very seriously and are committed to caring for the individuals who care for our patients. We offer complimentary membership to our on-campus gym, which includes free fitness classes. We have monthly intern appreciation and reflection sessions to promote comradery and well-being. All interns are paired with a faculty coach to meet with over the course of the year focusing on goal setting, reflection, building strengths, and planning for the future. Trainees are provided with complimentary meals, snacks, coffee, and parking.

Benefits

NWH offers competitive salaries and benefits with yearly intern salaries starting at approximately $82,516. Free parking or a paid monthly subway pass, and free membership to our onsite gym are other NWH-based resident benefits. A noon lecture series with lunch provided is scheduled each weekday. Meal cards, to be used at one of our two onsite cafes, are provided for breakfast and dinner for admitting and overnight shifts. All interns have four weeks of paid vacation.

Additional Information

Each year our residents graduate from the TY program into fields such as anesthesia, radiology, IR, dermatology, radiation oncology, ophthalmology, and other various programs.

Mass General Brigham requires that all employees obtain annual flu vaccination unless they receive a religious or medical exemption.

We participate in the ERAS and the deadline for applications is December 1. The NRMP code for our transitional program is 2395999P0. The ERAS Accreditation ID is 9992400246. Click here for additional information on trainee contract, benefits and policies.

Transitional Year Schedule

The typical Transitional Year intern schedule is divided into 13 four-week blocks. Each TY intern is scheduled to take four weeks of paid vacation per year. However, due to scheduling constraints vacation can only be taken one week at a time (not two or three consecutive weeks). The typical distribution of rotations is as follows:

• Medicine Ward Service: 1–2 blocks
• Surgery Service: 1–2 blocks
• Intensive Care Unit: 1 block
• Night Medicine: 2-3 blocks
• Pediatric Ward Service  1 block (opt-in)
• Ambulatory Care: 1 block
• Emergency Medicine: 1 block
• Elective: 3 blocks including a Quality Improvement elective

Medicine Service

There are four medicine teams that comprise our medical teaching service. Each team is comprised of:

• MGH or Tufts senior medicine resident
• MGH or Tufts medicine intern
• NWH-based intern
• Tufts MSIII student
• MCPHS PA student
• NWH Hospitalist

Each medicine intern accepts new patients every other day. Formal pass-off of night medicine admissions to the day teams occurs each morning during Morning Report, which is led by the MGH Chief Resident. New admissions are accepted by the admitting interns until 5:00 pm. Non-admitting (swing) days are typically shorter, and interns often can sign out by 4 p.m. Admitting interns typically end their days by 8 p.m.

Each team is supported by a dedicated Hospitalist attending, and there are no private attendings involved in the inpatient medicine services.

Patients present with a variety of illnesses including coronary artery disease, cardiac arrhythmias, congestive heart failure, valvular heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, diabetes and its complications, renal failure, stroke, seizure disorders, a variety of neoplastic diseases such as lymphoma and multiple myeloma, gastrointestinal bleeding, pancreatitis, pneumonia, pyelonephritis, and bacterial endocarditis. Given the communities from which NWH draws, the patient population is typically older, well-educated, and compliant with medications and follow-up, although there are certainly exceptions.

There are many didactic sessions scheduled on the medicine service. Morning Report and noon conference lectures with lunch are scheduled daily. On a weekly basis, intern report, simulation training, and Grand Rounds are held. The MGH Chief Resident based at NWH leads many of these didactic sessions.

Surgery Service

There is one large surgery team that includes:

• MGH upper level surgery resident(s): (4-5)
• MGH surgery interns (1-2)
• NWH-based interns (4)
• Tufts MSIII students (4)
• Physician Assistants
• PA students (8–10)

Care of the surgical patients at NWH is team-based, and interns will have the opportunity to spend time on the Acute Care Surgery team as well as the Subspecialty Surgery team. If you enjoy the operating room, you will have plenty of time to hone your skills in surgeries such as laparoscopic and open cholecystectomies, large and small bowel resections, hernia repairs, vascular bypass and endarterectomies, breast biopsies, breast lumpectomies, and modified radical mastectomies. NWH has the largest gastric bypass department in the Commonwealth, and there will often be patients on the surgery service status post gastric bypass.

Due to the resident work hour requirements, we follow a night float system in which each intern on the team will take turns working the overnight shift for four to six nights at a time. There is always an upper-level surgery resident in-house, day and night, to provide supervision and assist in patient care. Weekly didactic lectures and simulation center trainings are led by a surgical attending or the surgical senior resident.

Intensive Care Unit (ICU)

The ICU is a closed unit of 12 beds comprised of surgical, cardiac, and medical patients. The surgery service remains the primary team for the surgery patients in the ICU. The cardiac and medical patients are covered by the ICU resident team, which is comprised of:

• MGH senior medical resident
• MGH junior medical resident
• Tufts junior medical resident
• NWH-based interns (4)

The ICU is staffed by critical care attending physicians during the day and moonlighter attending-level physicians at night. The ICU follows a night float system, and each intern works five to seven night shifts over the block. Patients present with a variety of syndromes requiring intensive care unit treatment including sepsis, respiratory failure, toxic overdoses, acute myocardial infarction, unstable angina, congestive heart failure, and gastrointestinal bleeding. There are daily teaching sessions. The ICU is one of the most enjoyed rotations due to the team structure and excellent teaching.

Emergency Medicine

Each NWH intern will spend one four-week block rotating in our Emergency Department, one of the busiest EDs in the Commonwealth. Although NWH is not a trauma center, we do see a variety of emergency situations such as myocardial infarction, sepsis, congestive heart failure, GI bleed, acute stroke, and drug overdoses. The interns have first contact with a variety of patients and can often do procedures such as suturing and intubation if desired. The 10-hour shifts are typically scheduled from 7:30 am to 5:30 p.m., or noon to 10 p.m. There are weekly lectures on core emergency medicine topics given by an Emergency Department attending.

Ambulatory Care

The Transitional Year Review Committee requires that a minimum of 140 hours be spent in an ambulatory setting. During this rotation interns spend their time offsite at an NWH affiliated Urgent Care center. Interns have first contact with patients and work alongside one to two attendings, leading to optimal supervision and education. Interns will gain proficiency in performing outpatient procedures such as suturing and I&D.

Night Medicine

Each NWH intern spends two to three blocks on the night medicine team. There are three night medicine interns covering different “regions” of the hospital for the four medicine teams. The night medicine interns cross-cover the service and admit patients to their “region.” The night medicine interns work up to six nights in a row. Typically, a night medicine intern works 12 nights total out the 28-day block. The remaining 16 days/nights of the four-week block are scheduled as vacation and/or as “backup.”

Electives

There are a variety of elective choices at NWH, and transitional year interns have three blocks reserved for electives. There is a four-week quality improvement elective that is offered to each TY intern. Other electives that residents commonly choose include anesthesiology, cardiology, dermatology, ophthalmology, pulmonology, radiology, pathology, and palliative care. We are very flexible on what electives interns choose, and many interns choose to pursue research opportunities during an elective block as well.

Pediatrics

Interns are given the opportunity to rotate on our inpatient pediatric service in lieu of a block of medicine or surgery. NWH interns work with the pediatric team comprised of a pediatric hospitalist, MGH pediatric junior resident, MGH pediatric intern, Tufts sub-Is and medical students, and MCPHS PA students. This four-week block is divided into two weeks of daytime shifts and two weeks of evening (4:00 pm–11:00 pm) admitting shifts. In addition to the variety of pediatric ailments encountered on-service, education on this service is supplemented by numerous didactics, journal club, radiology rounds, and grand rounds.

Current Residents

Class of 2027

Jay Chandra
Harvard Medical School: Diagnostic Radiology

Hannah Cole
Harvard Medical School: Dermatology

Samantha Gregoire
Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo: Dermatology

Rachel Heinrich
University of Iowa Roy J. & Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine: Dermatology

Kathleen Kilroe
UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine: Diagnostic Radiology

Justin Kim
Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University: Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation

Mason McDowell
Boston University School of Medicine: Dermatology

Bala McRae-Posani
Weill Cornell Medicine: Diagnostic Radiology

Olivia Michaels
University of Massachusetts T.H. Chan School of Medicine: Diagnostic Radiology

Goranit Sakunchotpanit
Tufts University School of Medicine: Dermatology

Previous Transitional Year Residents

Class of 2026

Justine DiBiasio, MD
University of Massachusetts
Brigham and Women’s Hospital: Anesthesiology

Apostolos (Paul) Katsiaunis, MD
Tufts University
The Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University: Dermatology

Konrad Kozlowski, MD
University of Miami
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center: Interventional Radiology

Subin (Casey) Lim, MD
Eastern Virginia Medical School
Tufts Medical Center: Dermatology

Edwin Qiu, MD
Boston University
Boston Medical Center: Diagnostic Radiology

Emily Rencsok, MD, PhD
Harvard University
Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital: Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation

Brianna Smith, MD
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Mayo Clinic - Rochester, Minnesota: Diagnostic Radiology

Anastacia Wahl, MD
Georgetown University
Brigham and Women’s Hospital: Diagnostic Radiology

Claire White-Dzuro, MD
Vanderbilt University
Oregon Health & Science University Hospital: Diagnostic Radiology

Michelle Wu, MD
University of Massachusetts
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center: Diagnostic

Class of 2025

Jared Alswang, MD
Medical School: Harvard University
Residency: Interventional Radiology

Drew Bergman, MD
Medical School: Dartmouth College
Residency: Radiation Oncology

Emily Granger, MD
Medical School: University of Maryland
Residency: Dermatology

Isabelle Kozik, MD
Medical School: University of Buffalo
Residency: Dermatology

Omkar Mayur, MD
Medical School: Medical College of Georgia
Residency: Dermatology

Paul Peso, MD
Medical School: Western Michigan University
Residency: Diagnostic Radiology

Chenin Ryan, MD
Medical School: Dartmouth College
Residency: Dermatology

Nicholas Verdini, MD
Medical School: Tufts University
Residency: Radiation Oncology

Alyssa Wohlfahrt, MD
Medical School: Tufts University
Residency: Interventional Radiology

Christopher Zoppo, MD
Medical School: University of Massachusetts
Residency: Interventional Radiology

Why did you choose to come to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for your transitional year? What are the strengths of the program?

"I loved spending my intern year at Newton-Wellesley Hospital and I would make the same choice all over again. You will not find a more supportive group of individuals that will not only help you survive but thrive during intern year. My class was not only a group of phenomenal individuals, but also amazing teammates and friends. I expected to work hard during intern year but I had no idea how much I would enjoy it and it is 100% because of the amazing people at NWH. It is a truly unique program in that you get a very well-rounded experience. In my opinion it is the only true transitional year program in the Boston area. I felt capable in both medicine and surgery by the end of my year at NWH and had exposure to the ED, urgent care, and ample elective opportunities. The quality of teaching is excellent and I felt the attendings were eager to teach and engage residents. I always felt that there was someone available to help guide my clinical decisions to enable me to provide great clinical care. Overall, Newton-Wellesley is an amazing place to learn and start a medical career. My advice to applicants is that it should be your number one choice for intern year.”

"I'm going into radiology, and for my intern year I was specifically interested in a transitional program that offered the right balance between surgery and medicine. I also wanted to have the feeling at the end of the year that I had survived intern year. Newton-Wellesley provides both. In addition, the attendings and senior residents are incredibly friendly and totally committed to our learning, and I couldn't have asked for a better class of co-interns!"

"I chose a transitional year because I wanted a year that would provide experience in both medicine and surgery. Most transitional years have an abundance of one or the other. NWH, however, offers an almost even split. Another benefit of this program is the close-knit community hospital feel with the benefit of being affiliated with MGH. As such, the program is laid back while providing excellent educational opportunities. Finally, the faculty is amazing. I can't even imagine having more supportive attendings on every service. They really care about our well-being and education."

"I chose to spend my preliminary year at Newton-Wellesley Hospital because I wanted to work in a friendly, close-knit community hospital where I felt like I would truly get to know people and the place in my limited time there. I also wanted to be in a location that prioritizes the resident experience in terms of education, community, and lifestyle. Newton-Wellesley Hospital has met and exceeded all of my expectations, and I will surely look back on this year as a fabulous choice for the start of my residency."

"I chose NWH because I was looking for a smaller community hospital but still with some of the rigor (but definitely not all of it) of a large academic center. I feel like NWH is the perfect mix of both these things; the upper level residents and attendings are extremely knowledgeable and interested in teaching, but at the same time super nice as well. I definitely am very fortunate that I get to spend my TY here, training under such talented physicians and building the strong base I desire for the rest of my residency."

"I chose NWH based on its location and its culture. Its location is ideal: Newton is close enough to Boston/Cambridge that it is a manageable commute, but it also is a great option for people who want to avoid the city. Culturally, the hospital is rooted in academic medicine with its affiliation with MGH. However, NWH is much more manageable than other large, academic medical centers (smaller campus, smaller teams, smaller patient census, etc.). I wanted an intern year that would give me a solid foundation in medicine and NWH has done that without causing burn out. Finally, its affiliation with Partners comes with benefits, including a great salary as well as excellent healthcare options."

"I love the community atmosphere at NWH. The environment is warm and friendly and education is offered in a setting that truly fosters learning."

"I was really excited to be part of the Newton-Wellesley Hospital transitional year program for my intern year. The balance of excellent academic medicine and friendly staff throughout the whole hospital makes it a great place to come to work and the feeling is infectious. The opportunity to rotate through so many departments of the hospital allows for a unique experience. In just one year, this provides us with an understanding of how a hospital works and how the role of a physician plays a part in successful treatment of a large variety of patients."

“At NWH, interns get exposure to a wide range of pathology and get to work with excellent attendings and residents. There is significant exposure to common disorders found in the community setting.”

“I love that NWH has high-quality colleagues, administration, and faculty. They are approachable, willing to help out, work as a team, and are highly intelligent.”

"Reflecting back on my time at Newton-Wellesley Hospital is a surprisingly difficult task. For as many hours as I spent on the wards, in the ICU, ED, and everywhere in between, the thing that I remember most strongly is not the number of admissions I did, or the numbers of hours I logged, but the wonderful people who make up the NWH family. NWH is a very tight-knit community; you’ll find that by the end of your first month, you have formed relationships with a large chunk of the attendings in the hospital, and by the end of six months, everyone feels like family. There is a culture here of teaching—not only in formal didactics but in brief chalk talks and free moments. This is the hospital where people always wave and say ‘hey’ in the hallways. It’s the hospital where you never find yourself paying for a meal. It’s the hospital where you know that everyone from your co-residents to the pharmacy staff to the attendings all have your back. You will no doubt work hard and spend many difficult hours here, but you will be amazed at how fast you grow, and how proud others are to watch you do so. And a year later, when you look back, what you’ll really remember are the amazing people at NWH who helped make this happen."

Shipley Simulation Center

Founded in 2011, the Shipley Medical Simulation Center (SMSC) at NWH is a hospital-based training facility driven by its mission to improve patient experience and quality of care at NWH by providing evidence-based SIM education for our clinical staff and health professions trainees. Located in the ground level of the Ellison Building, the SMSC is comprised of two simulation treatment spaces fully wired for live and archivable multi-media review of simulation learning scenarios. These rooms can be configured to simulate a variety of clinical settings (ORs, ED bays, consult rooms, procedure areas, ICU, PACU, etc.). The SMSC houses four high-fidelity patient simulator manikins, configurable by SIM instructors. The manikins reproduce life-like bio feedback and are useful for creating an immersive training experience. The SMSC is staffed by task trainers who can assist clinicians wishing to hone their skills in key clinical tasks, such as intubation and paracentesis. In addition to the care simulation rooms, the SMSC also provides debriefing rooms, and a small lab for training with screen-based digital simulation applications.

What is Simulation?

Simulation provides the opportunity for learning that is both immersive and experiential. The staff at Newton-Wellesley Hospital are using experiential learning in many ways such as static and interactive manikin simulators, task trainers, and screen-based (computer) simulations. Simulation allows individuals to develop skills, both clinical and behavioral, in a safe and organized manner. By recreating scenarios that are rarely experienced in the clinical setting, our teams will be better prepared and trained in emergency crisis management.

Beyond the impact on individual and team performance, simulation techniques learned in our simulation center provide an opportunity to improve system performance. In addition to practitioner inexperience, most medical errors are systems-related and not attributable to individual negligence or misconduct. Practicing techniques in our simulation center may help to reduce medical errors, improving patient safety.

Our Facilities

The SMSC is equipped with four state-of-the-art computerized manikins that display symptoms and signs the same way people do. At times standardized patients and family members are also used to enhance the experience by adding more realism to the scenarios. Each room is fully wired for audio and video, so faculty members can observe students’ performance. The two simulation rooms currently simulate a medical surgical room and a pediatric room but can also be made into an ICU or operating room.

The SMSC is here to help make your next simulation a successful one! We will work with you to design and build simulation experiences that inspire critical thinking, collaboration, and promote learning and growth. We are able to provide many services, including debriefing rooms. If you are interested, you may make a reservation online. Make a reservation.

Simulation Using the SMSC's Facilities

The SMSC has access to a wide range of technologies that allow us to create high-fidelity simulations. Several classes consistently use our facilities, including weekly simulations run by our Chief Medical Resident for medical students, physician assistant students, and interns, and Newton-Wellesley's Patient Care Associate training class.

ACLS and PALS are also hosted at the SMSC. In order to make simulations as realistic as possible, the simulation lead usually sits in our Control Room and can observe participants through a one-way mirror and can speak to and hear them using our A/V system. Our computerized manikins can also be fully controlled from this room.

In-Situ Simulation

We can also come to you! Running a simulation on your unit brings a level of realism to the scenario. Much of our technology is portable and can be brought to you. For example, we designed and ran two drills for Cardiac Rehab, where the nurses, physical therapist, dietician, and support staff had to respond to abnormal cardiac rhythms and activate a Medical Assist. Running drills on-unit allows for full staff participation. It can also reveal potential areas for improvement on the unit itself, allowing for the identification of potential deficiencies in the environment that could be changed to promote patient and staff safety.

Shipley Simulation Center manikins

The larger patient room (on the left) can fit two manikins. On the right, you see the Sim Man 3G, an advanced simulation manikin capable of replicating a variety of patient conditions. Our two patient care rooms replicate hospital conditions as closely as possible.

Debriefing Rooms

The SMSC has two debriefing rooms for post-education meetings and conferences. These high-tech meeting rooms feature widescreen TVs and fully networked video playback systems to allow for a full discussion of the simulation and additional teaching to review what happened in the simulation. Trainers and observers can even watch the simulation unfold on the television through the closed-circuit video system.

Simulators

Our life-like manikins add to the experience of the simulation. Healthcare providers are able to train in a safe and realistic environment before seeing the same complication or emergency in our hospital. Our manikins have many functions that help engage learners, including heart sounds, lung sounds, and pulses. Learners can also perform procedures such as catheter placement and IV access.

Meet our manikins:

• SimMan3G© is an adult manikin.
• SimMom© is a maternity birthing manikin.
• SimJunior© is a 4-6-year-old child.
• SimNewB© is a newborn.
• ResusciAnne© allows learners to practice the proper mechanics of CPR. This manikin measures the rate and depth of compression which is helpful feedback to improve performance.

Task Trainers

Clinicians refine their technical skills through task trainers. Task trainers allow for clinicians to practice proper mechanics of a skill and build muscle memory with coaching and corrective feedback.

• Airway trainers
• Paracentesis
• Intraosseous access
• Intravenous access
• Arterial blood sampling
• Lumbar puncture
• Urinary catheter placement
• Automatic External Defibrillator trainer

Working with Industry

Simulation can also be a valuable tool for industry, especially sales staff and product developers. We work with medical device and pharmaceutical companies to set up simulated environments for testing of new technologies from the genesis of product development to implementation.

Prototype Testing

The information gathered and lessons learned from testing various clinical situations can provide valuable insight on product performance. We’ll develop simulations that mimic a real-life example that your product can be interfaced with. You and your team can observe your device and make any necessary changes from the data that you gather in our simulation rooms.

Clinician Training

When your product is ready for launch, you can use our simulation rooms to properly train the clinical staff to ensure proper use of the device. To ensure the clinical staff will be using the device correctly, we offer our simulation rooms to mimic the actual clinical setting where you can instruct and provide feedback for the clinicians to become as ready as possible.