The Vanderbilt Internal Medicine Residency Program provides rigorous training for future health care leaders who will improve the human condition through the practice of medicine
Our Residency Program has been training distinguished physicians and scientists since 1925 and is among the top internal medicine programs in the country today.
The Vanderbilt tradition fosters strong peer and faculty mentor relationships with emphasis on excellence in patient care, attention to detail and a scholarly approach to clinical issues. The qualities we value most are intellectual curiosity, honesty, compassion and genuine enthusiasm for learning and for sharing what has been learned.
The Department of Medicine and the Residency program uphold the university’s highest academic standards, emphasizing the values of patient care, discovery, mentorship, and professionalism. Our program provides residents with exposure to a full array of experiences in all areas of internal medicine.
Internal Medicine residents and Department of Medicine faculty pictured on the Vanderbilt campus.
Welcome!
The mission of our program is to provide academic rigor in a supportive environment and to train future leaders in academic medicine who will improve the human condition through the practice of medicine, education, research and service.
Residents cite their sense of camaraderie as one of our program's greatest strengths. We attract talented residents from around the world, and the unique environment at Vanderbilt facilitates the development of close friendships among the residents, the faculty, and their families.
Collaborative, innovative training
Each year, our clinical faculty and trainees care for more than 500,000 outpatients and nearly 20,000 inpatients at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the on-campus Nashville Veterans Affairs Hospital. As the leading provider of indigent care in Tennessee, our institution serves patients from all backgrounds, including those from underserved, urban, and rural communities.
The Vanderbilt Department of Medicine has over 1,000 faculty affiliated with 12 traditional divisions and several interdisciplinary research centers. More than 150 residents and nearly 300 fellows and graduate students are currently training within the department.
We always seek new ways to mentor young learners and to develop future leaders in medicine, which requires a collaborative and innovative faculty working in partnership with others. Optimism, measured success, and teamwork are remarkable strengths of our Vanderbilt faculty.
Ally Glover, MD
VUMC Inpatient Chief Resident
VUMC Resident Voices
“I say it a lot to people, but it's really true: Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) is an exceptional place to train. The institution as a whole prides itself on excellence in both patient care and research, but the special thing to me about Vanderbilt is the way we achieve that aim of excellence in such a collaborative and educational environment. The culture of camaraderie extends beyond our residency and into the department of medicine as a whole.
Our residents get to learn from world experts in their fields, and that opportunity is still just extraordinary to me. From day one, our residents are exposed to a wide array of clinical medicine. In fact, I think one of our strengths is the mix of subspecialty services and general medicine services at Vanderbilt University Hospital. Our residents gain experience being the primary team for malignant hematology patients and renal transplant patients, but then the next block they may be rotating on our general medicine wards caring for patients with a broad range of pathologies. Our training is rigorous and purposeful, and yet, if you ask any resident about our program, what you'll hear about is not our research opportunities, educational pathways, or subspecialty exposure. Those are wonderful parts of our program to be sure.
Yet, what you'll hear about is the people that make this place what it is. You'll hear about the people that make VUMC a phenomenal place to learn and work. I know I'm grateful for the people who have invested so much in my growth as a physician, and I'm excited to do the same now for our residents as a chief.”
The Department of Medicine considers residency education to be a top priority. Unique features of our department include:
- A strong emphasis on bedside teaching. Attending rounds are conducted at the bedside daily on all our units.
- To maximize exposure to a wide array of subspecialists and patients, residents rotate on dedicated inpatient subspecialty services in cardiology, geriatrics, heart failure, hematology, hepatology, infectious diseases, nephrology, oncology, and pulmonary medicine.
- Significant growth of departmental non-teaching services ensures that the patients on the general medicine teaching services provide the best educational experience for house staff.
- Multidisciplinary ICU rounds that emphasize a team approach to care of the critically ill.
- Continued expansion of the primary care faculty (currently, there are approximately 100 clinical faculty in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Public Health) and organization of the ambulatory rotations in a "4 + 2 block" system for better teaching and an overall richer experience.
- A bedside procedure service in which residents receive intensive formal procedural training and direct attending level procedural supervision.
Vanderbilt University was founded in 1873 by a $1 million gift from Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt in order "to contribute to strengthening the ties that should exist between all sections of our common country." For the first 50 years of the university's existence, the School of Medicine occupied buildings in downtown Nashville. In 1925, under the leadership of Canby Robinson, a new hospital was built on the main campus and the modern School of Medicine was born.
Since then, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine has gained national prominence in many areas. Two Vanderbilt faculty, Dr. Earl Sutherland (cyclic AMP) and Dr. Stanley Cohen (epidermal growth factor) have won the Nobel Prize in Medicine, and Vanderbilt scientists continue to excel in research. At the present time Vanderbilt University School of Medicine ranks 11th in the nation in total NIH research grants, and the total value of Vanderbilt University Medical Center's external support for competitive research grants totals $483 million. In addition, Vanderbilt's rate of growth in NIH grants has been among the fastest in the nation over the past several years.
Eskind Biomedical Library
The Department of Medicine has had an equally illustrious history, beginning with its founding by chair Dr. Canby Robinson in 1925. Research in the Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt has led to major improvements in our understanding of disease, and currently the department ranks No. 1 in NIH funding among Departments of Medicine nationally.
The first Chief Resident in Medicine in the new facility in 1925 was Dr. Tinsley Harrison, who would remain on the faculty until 1941. The outstanding clinical leadership begun by Dr. Harrison and others continues to this day in the Department of Medicine. This happens through an integrated medical campus including the Vanderbilt University Hospital, the adjacent Veterans Affairs Hospital, and the Vanderbilt Clinic, which sees approximately 1.5 million outpatient visits per year.
To support the robust research programs at Vanderbilt, The Annette and Irwin Eskind Biomedical Library opened in 1994 adjacent to the main hospital and is home to state-of-the-art electronic information. House staff can access the library's databases remotely at any time.
The library is also home to the Department of Medical Informatics, one of the most outstanding informatics programs in the nation. Through cooperation between informatics and clinical departments, chiefly the Department of Medicine, our informatics program has been a national leader in the use of electronic health records for clinical care and discovery.
Program Director:
- John McPherson, MD, Vice Chair for Education
- Megan Dupuis, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Hematology and Oncology) - Incoming July 2026
Associate Program Directors:
- JP Arroyo, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Nephrology and Hypertension)
- Walter Clair, MD, MPH, Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine)
- Andrew DeFilippis, MD, Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine)
- Jill Gilbert, MD, Professor of Medicine (Hematology and Oncology)
- Jacob Hathaway, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine (General Internal Medicine and Public Health)
- Merranda Holmes, MD, Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine (General Internal Medicine and Public Health)
- Evan Brittain, MD, MSCI; Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine); Director, Tinsley Randolph Harrison Society
- Kaele Leonard, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine)
- Kevin Mitchell, MD, PharmD, Assistant Professor of Medicine (General Internal Medicine and Public Health)
- Neeraja Peterson, MD, MSc, Professor of Medicine (General Internal Medicine and Public Health); Associate Chair, Ambulatory Education
- Chris Terndrup, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine (General Internal Medicine and Public Health)
- Elizabeth Ann Yakes, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine (General Internal Medicine and Public Health)
Program Leadership
John McPherson, MD
Professor of Medicine
Director, Internal Medicine Residency Program
Vice Chair for Education, Department of Medicine
Megan Dupuis, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Associate Director, Internal Medicine Residency Program
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