McLaren Bay Region, part of statewide McLaren Health Care, has expanded its Graduate Medical Education program and, in doing so, has increased access to primary care in Bay City.
The hospital received approval to add an internal medicine residency to join its established family medicine program.
Six internal medicine residents will join the hospital’s GME program when the program year begins July 1, 2024.
“Primary care is a resource that guides our overall health and wellbeing,” said Dr. Kenneth Parsons, McLaren Bay Region Chief Medical Officer. “With the addition of this training program, we will increase patient access to this vital service along with opportunity to add additional attending physicians to the Great Lakes Bay Region upon completion of their residency program. This is a great achievement made possible by the vision and dedication of a great team. McLaren Bay Region is proud to have positioned our organization to offer this service to the community.”
Internist Dr. Parul Sud will serve as program director of internal medicine. Additional GME core faculty include Dr. Hira Iftikhar (Associate Program Director), Dr. Rajesh Dandamudi, Dr. Elizabeth Pionk, Dr. Amanda Gomes, and Dr. Tazeen Ahmad.
Residents will work with hospitalist teams and see patients admitted onto hospital units and in the ICU and emergency department. Additionally, they will provide outpatient continuity care at the McLaren Bay Region Center for Academic Internal Medicine, located in the medical office building on the hospital’s West Campus located off Midland Road. Dr. Sud will oversee and provide clinical supervision of the residents at the clinic, which will expand in scope as more providers join the practice.
Approval to expand the hospital’s GME program followed an onsite visit from representatives from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) to review facilities, interview faculty, and review the program’s proposed curriculum.
“Developing a new GME program is a significant undertaking, but hospital leadership and our medical staff have us positioned to see that it is a success,” Dr. Sud said. “We are able to offer our residents an excellent environment in which to train and an organization that has long been a pillar in this community. We are very excited for this initial class and the experience that awaits them.”
A three-year program, six internal medicine residents will be added every year, reaching its full maturation in 2026 with 18 residents.
Learn more about all services offered at McLaren Bay Region at mclaren.org/bayregion.
About McLaren Bay Region
McLaren Bay Region is a 415-bed acute tertiary care hospital in Bay City, Michigan, providing specialty care, primary care, and preventive care. Services include cardiovascular, neuroscience, orthopedics, oncology, women’s health, and rehabilitation. McLaren Bay Region’s emergency department treats nearly 40,000 patients each year and is certified by the Joint Commission as a Primary Stroke Center. McLaren Bay Region is an integral part of the 13-hospital McLaren Health Care system based in Grand Blanc, Michigan. Learn more at mclaren.org/bayregion.
About McLaren Health Care
McLaren Health Care, headquartered in Grand Blanc, Michigan, is a $6.6 billion, fully integrated health care delivery system committed to quality, evidence-based patient care and cost efficiency. The McLaren system includes 13 hospitals in Michigan, ambulatory surgery centers, imaging centers, a 490-member employed primary and specialty care physician network, commercial and Medicaid HMOs covering more than 732,838 lives in Michigan and Indiana, home health, infusion and hospice providers, pharmacy services, a clinical laboratory network and a wholly owned medical malpractice insurance company. McLaren operates Michigan’s largest network of cancer centers and providers, anchored by the Karmanos Cancer Institute, a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the U.S. McLaren has 28,000 full-, part-time and contracted employees and more than 113,000 network providers throughout Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. Learn more at mclaren.org.