Charles Seelig, MD, director of Medical Education at Greenwich Hospital.
On June 6, the Greenwich Hospital/Yale University Internal Medicine Residency Program will celebrate its 50th graduating class. With an average cohort of five to six residents per class, the program has played a pivotal role in the development of over 300 internists since its inception in 1975.
Simultaneously, the Yale Affiliated Hospitals Program in Internal Medicine was created as a consortium of community hospitals as academic affiliates of Yale School of Medicine (YSM), with Greenwich Hospital one of the first in Connecticut to join.
Greenwich Hospital is a level II affiliate, meaning residents can do rotations at Yale New Haven Hospital, and YSM makes a significant contribution to the curriculum.
“There is a lot that goes into being a level II affiliate,” said Charles Seelig, MD, director, Medical Education, Greenwich Hospital, and clinical professor, General Internal Medicine, YSM. “Our faculty has a variety of benefits as well.”
The opportunities that come with this affiliation have attracted students from around the world, including James Pallett, MB Chb, medical director, Greenwich Hospital Hospitalist Program, and assistant clinical professor, Internal Medicine, YSM.
“The affiliation with Yale School of Medicine exposed me to being part of a clinical redesign project, leading to my current position and my passion for improving healthcare outcomes through care redesign,” he said. “The weekly lectures led by Yale faculty provided us with the latest evidence-based medicine in internal medicine.”
Kristy Tefft, a fourth-year medical student at New York Medical College, trained at Greenwich Hospital. Tefft said she was drawn to the Internal Medicine Residency Program because of its exceptional teaching quality and collaborative learning environment.
“During my third-year medicine clerkship at Greenwich Hospital, the attendings and residents not only modeled clinical excellence, but also deeply valued patient-centered care and humanistic medicine,” she said. “That experience had a lasting impact on me and inspired me to continue my training in an environment that prioritizes both academic rigor and compassionate care.”
Teamwork and support from fellow residents are common themes for many graduating classes. Dr. Seelig attributed the camaraderie to the residents’ shared experiences. “The culture at Greenwich Hospital preaches service, taking great care of patients and taking care of each other,” he noted.
When it comes to what’s expected of the residents after graduating, Dr. Seelig’s philosophy is clear. “They should be good doctors. They should know enough to practice medicine effectively. They should have the right attitude toward patients, and they should maintain that work-life balance we have tried to promulgate while they’ve been here. If they can do all that, then I have accomplished my goal.”
