Why Choose Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West

For more than 150 years Mount Sinai Morningside (formerly Mount Sinai St. Luke's) has served New Yorkers living on the Upper West Side. Twenty-one years after St. Luke’s establishment, Mount Sinai West (formerly Mount Sinai Roosevelt) was founded. The two storied institutions were brought together in a merger in 1979, forming St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital. SLR, as it was known, joined with Beth Israel Hospital as part of the Continuum Health Partners merger in 1997. In 2013, Mount Sinai and Continuum joined forces to create the Mount Sinai Health System, of which Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West Hospitals are active and vital members.

The two institutions have a rich history of scientific breakthroughs and of serving the community. Mount Sinai Morningside was one of the first hospitals in New York City to begin ambulance service and was the first to establish an obesity research center in the United States funded by the National Institutes of Health. Mount Sinai West is a leading center for orthopaedic surgery and endovascular neurosurgery. Both institutions have been providing primary care to New Yorkers along the Upper West Side for generations.

The Upper West Side is an excellent catchment area for a diverse patient population as well as an exciting and vibrant place to live. Our patients range from CEOs to the homeless; we care for patients from every ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation and religious background. It is that diversity that brings us an extraordinarily rich educational experience — one that most residents don’t see until much later in their training.

In addition, the Upper West Side of Manhattan is a fabulous place to live. You are surrounded by parks with Central Park to the east, Riverside Park to the west and Morningside Park to the north. There are plenty of opportunities to take in a concert at Lincoln Center, see a play on Broadway or eat at one of the thousands of restaurants throughout the city. The area is a great place for families with a large number of top-rated public and private schools. Nearby public transportation allows you easy access to the entire city, from Yankee Stadium and the Bronx Zoo to Coney Island and the beaches in Rockaway, Queens.

The bulk of residency training takes place at two hospitals and three ambulatory sites throughout the city. Residents also rotate through one of New York City’s prestigious cancer centers.

Mount Sinai West (formerly Mount Sinai Roosevelt)

With 505 beds, Mount Sinai West is a full-service community and tertiary-care hospital with an emergency department serving Midtown and the West Side of Manhattan. Since its founding in 1871, it has placed strong emphasis on primary and specialty care. Located near vibrant Columbus Circle, the catchment area is broad — from the Theater District to the Upper West Side. Mount Sinai West serves a diverse patient population that includes expanding oncology services.

Mount Sinai Morningside

With 523 beds, Mount Sinai Morningside serves as the principal health care provider for the West Harlem and Morningside Heights communities and operates one of Manhattan’s few Level 1 trauma centers. It is home to the Al-Sabah Arrhythmia Institute, a world-class, multidisciplinary center specializing in the management of cardiac arrhythmias. Mount Sinai Morningside also enjoys an outstanding reputation for services in many other medical specialties, including Internal Medicine, Geriatrics, and HIV/AIDS. Mount Sinai Morningside also continues to expand its commitment to community-based ambulatory care and access to primary and specialty care.

Ryan Centers

The Ryan Centers are a community-based outpatient clinic network dedicated to providing comprehensive care in a culturally sensitive environment. The centers traditionally serve those New Yorkers who do not normally have access to high quality medical care. Our residents are assigned to see general medicine patients at one of three sites in the Upper West Side, including 46th Street, 97th Street and 125th Street, as well as one site in the Lower East Side.

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centers (MSKCC)

Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West are one of the few residency programs in New York City that offers rotations at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, one of the world’s premier institutions dedicated to cancer treatment and research. Residents have assigned rotations during their PGY1 and PGY2 years. They work with outstanding attending physicians, clinician/researchers and fellows and have plenty of opportunities to do hematology and oncology research. Many of our residents have served as chief residents at MSKCC and some have been accepted into their prestigious Hematology/Oncology Fellowship.

Our faculty members are dedicated to providing a rigorous and thorough training experience. They are compassionate mentors, known as experts in their fields who are committed to your training and preparation. Read more

Educational Innovations

As a resident at Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West you will take part in a rigorous training that reflects a spirit of innovation in medical education. While we have the traditional conferences and methodologies for teaching such as chart review, Peer Learning Session, evidence based medicine and journal club to name a few, our program has a long history of innovation in education. Many of these innovations are nationally recognized and have been adopted by major medical institutions throughout the country. As our housestaff knows, we are proud of our dynamic reputation and we are not shy to change a system if it improves education and training.

6+2 Ambulatory Block Model

Ours was one of the first residency programs to implement the unique system of two-week ambulatory blocks occurring every eight weeks. A dedicated two-week block allows for a much richer outpatient exposure and makes room for a number of educational activities including work in the Simulation Lab, the communications workshop and evidence-based medicine sessions, to name a few. Apart from Internal Medicine continuity clinics, residents have opportunities to rotate through a wide range of subspecialty clinics. Ambulatory didactics are conducted during two half-day sessions, which includes clinical topics and an evidence-based medicine seminar which teaches residents to critically analyze medical literature. Dedicated time is set aside for the Johns Hopkins online modules which all residents are expected to complete.

No 24-Hour Call

In our program, there is no 24-hour call. To ensure coverage, the Department of Medicine has adopted a universal night float system for inpatient floor rotations and the intensive care units. Residents feel this enhances their learning experience and decreases fatigue associated with overnight call.

Center for Advanced Medical Simulation (CAMS)

We believe that training and educating tomorrow’s physician leaders includes not only didactic and book learning, but hands-on experience. The largest Simulation center in Manhattan and only one of fifty nationwide, our state-of-the-art center is the only accredited simulation center in New York City providing vibrant and dynamic training for our residents. A standardized curriculum that teaches diverse skills such as communication in stressful situations, procedures such as ultrasound-guided central line insertion and leadership skills in medical code scenarios is taught to all housestaff. Each session in the simulation lab is directly observed by our faculty and each participant of the simulation is debriefed and given feedback at the end of the session. There are also a number of research studies being conducted in the CAMS. Residents rotate regularly through the center during their ambulatory blocks and during their Mount Sinai West floor and ICU blocks. Residents work closely with the faculty of the Sim Center as part of their training.

Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS)

Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has become an increasingly common tool that internal medicine physicians utilize on a daily basis. It allows for rapid assessment at the bedside to help diagnose a variety of conditions, and helps to steer additional workup and treatment decisions, especially in situations where patients may be clinically decompensating. POCUS further improves accuracy and efficiency when performing bedside procedures, including peripheral IV insertion, paracentesis, and thoracentesis, among many others. Given the ever-growing importance of POCUS in internal medicine, the residency program is committed to integrating formal ultrasound training into the already outstanding longitudinal curriculum. Residents now have the opportunity to receive a series of didactic sessions on specialized ultrasound topics during their academic half days, learn and practice organ systems-based ultrasound skills in simulation case-based scenarios, and gain more hands-on ultrasound experience through ultrasound electives. This innovative, longitudinal POCUS curriculum will enable the residents to gain experience and expertise in this ever-growing field, and will undoubtedly prove useful to all of them in their future careers.

Academic Half Day  

Academic Half Day is our weekly educational conference where interns and residents have protected time dedicated for learning. Each conference, structured around a high-yield core topic, consists of four learning activities. We utilize a variety of educational methods to promote engagement, discussion, and long-term knowledge retention. Attending participation is a key component of each Academic Half Day Conference and many of our world class faculty are invited to deliver focused lectures.

Afternoon Report

Every Friday afternoon, we hold Afternoon Reports at each site, where a resident presents an interesting case that they encountered. We utilize small groups, moderated by a Chief Resident or Attending, to discuss each case in terms of differential diagnosis, appropriate investigations and treatment.

Wellness Curriculum

The goal of our Wellness Curriculum is to take our practice of medicine to a higher level of satisfaction, effectiveness and meaning — thus positively changing our lives, our patient care and the lives of those around us. Our overarching goal is to expose residents to a variety of ideas and practices so as to strengthen the bonds within our community, alleviate and prevent burnout, foster empathy and, ultimately, improve our care of patients while finding more meaning and joy in our chosen profession. Numerous wellness clubs, Women in Medicine and the House Cup Competition, serve are a few examples of our program's commitment to prioritizing resident well-being and fostering a sense of family community. We are thrilled to have a creative and diverse housestaff who continue to share their passions and unique talents in order to enrich our family’s common journey.

One of the most important things the Department of Medicine does is to prepare our housestaff for each phase of their medical careers. The mentoring involves guidance on patient care, teaching and planning life beyond residency.

Mentoring System and Career Development

From your first day as a member of our housestaff you will be assigned a mentor and a chief resident who comprise your mentoring team and who will provide guidance throughout your training. You will develop additional mentors – either clinical or research - as you develop more specific areas of interest. And we have rigorous and challenging fellowships in Cardiology, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, Infectious Diseases, Nephrology and Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine. Our goal is to create a web of support and camaraderie for you as you navigate your residency and future graduate medical training.

Special Events

Throughout the year, various events are organized by the program (e.g. Halloween event, ice skating trips). At the end of the academic year, the Department of Medicine also organizes an annual retreat for rising PGY2s to aid with their transition to their new roles and responsibilities of the next academic year. Residents are guided in teaching methods, learning to give feedback, and taking on team leadership roles as well as improving overall patient care.

Click here to see a list of our recent graduates by subspecialty.