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Graduate Medical Education

Graduate medical education at Mass General Brigham benefits from an outstanding faculty and staff, a diverse group of patients from local communities and around the world, and state-of-the art facilities and technology to train expert clinicians, physician scientists, and leaders in all areas of medicine. Our integrated system of academic medical centers, community hospitals, psychiatric and rehabilitation hospitals, health centers, and primary care practices provide a rare and rich combination of educational resources. 

doctors and trainees performing rounds on patient floor

Education is a core mission of Mass General Brigham

Mass General Brigham continues a long tradition of educating the next generation of physicians. We have nearly 2,500 residents and fellows in 300 programs. Mass General Brigham hospitals sponsor residency and fellowship programs in nearly all specialties and sub-specialties where they receive a rare and rich educational experience. Some of the Graduate Medical Education (GME) programs at Mass General Brigham are sponsored by a single hospital and offer comprehensive training within that institution. Other programs are jointly sponsored by two or more Mass General Brigham and/or other Harvard hospitals, utilizing complementary resources from the participating sites.

Across Mass General Brigham’s integrated health care system, trainees have access to high-ranking residency and fellowship programs in nearly all specialties—and many subspecialties—of medicine. We have a long track record of training expert clinicians and leaders in all areas of health care. The extensive graduate medical education resources at Mass General Brigham help facilitate a world-class experience for all trainees.

> 2,500 trainees preparing to be the healers of tomorrow

Additional information

We offer resources to facilitate a world-class experience that considers the challenges of this high level of training and the diversity of our trainees.

The Mass General Brigham academic medical centers, specialty hospitals, community hospitals, and health centers provide outstanding resources for those considering training here.

We provide:

We also provide mental health and wellness resources to help ensure a successful experience during your training at Mass General Brigham.

Examples of resources and areas of focus include:

  • Disability and accommodations support

  • Diversity, equity, and inclusion 

  • Education committee membership  

  • Events and town meetings  

    • Trainee retreats 

  • Grand Rounds 

  • Harassment reporting  

  • International trainee resources 

  • Mental health resources 

    • Trainee Assistance Program (TAP) 

    • Well-being council  

    • Fatigue management 

  • Parenting resources 

  • Salary, contract, and benefits 

  • Staying physically healthy  

  • Technology and library services 

Guidelines and policies applicable to GME programs including:  

  • Backup and coverage policy 

  • Closure and reduction policy 

  • Disaster policy  

  • Eligibility and selection of clinical trainees 

  • Medical staff bylaws 

  • Pre-employment drug screening policy 

  • Program integration guidelines 

  • Remedial action guidelines, trainee non-disciplinary 

  • Resident/fellow transfer guidelines 

  • Resident salaries policy 

  • Trainee contract policy  

  • Trainee evaluation policies  

    • Trainees in ACGME-accredited training programs 

    • Trainees in non-ACGME accredited training programs 

    • Resident/fellow access to evaluations  

  • Transportation Safety Program for trainees 

  • Vacation/leave policy FAQs for residents and clinical fellows only 

  • Vaccine policy 

  • Work hours monitoring standards 

Training program directors and program coordinators play a pivotal role in the educational mission of the Mass General Brigham hospitals. Today’s program director is a true educator as well as a caring clinician and a skilled manager and administrator. 

Program directors (PD) must possess wide-ranging skills to optimize the quality of resident/fellow education while complying with increasingly complex institutional and accreditation requirements. Mentoring trainees, communicating with faculty and administration, navigating evolving data systems, delivering a competencies-based curriculum, and understanding regulations and policy implementation are just some aspects of the program director role. 

Program coordinators (PC) conversely play a critical role in operating and optimizing GME programs. Coordinators work closely with program directors, trainees, and faculty while juggling a number of activities, including managing people, time and data. The position requires a wide range of skills—from excellent verbal/written communications and interpersonal skills to technical/computer expertise—along with knowledge of increasingly complex educational and regulatory requirements. 

The GME Office provides support to both program directors and coordinators in a number of ways, including hosting regularly scheduled professional development workshops, annual program director and program coordinator retreats, biweekly PD/PC meetings, and by providing guidelines and templates to facilitate GME tasks and responsibilities. 

We offer resources to assist and guide both the new and seasoned program directors and coordinators in various administrative responsibilities: 

  • Coordinator resources 

  • Curriculum resources 

  • Evaluation and remediation 

  • Faculty development 

  • Other resources 

    • New innovations program director handbook 

    • Program director retreat presentations 

  • New program director resources 

  • Physician wellness 

  • Program administration 

  • Virtual recruitment support  

The COEs provide: 

  • Evening dinner sessions in each center on relevant topics and career development 

  • Funded opportunities to support trainee research, medical travel, conference registration, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion grants, and GME director’s discretionary fund 

  • Courses to enhance and complement trainees' roles as excellent clinicians 

  • Access to faculty who are leaders in these areas for advice and mentoring 

  • A community of colleagues from different specialties and hospitals with shared interests

Our Centers of Expertise are: 

Global and Community Health 

Addressing the needs of vulnerable and underserved populations, the Global and Community Health Center encompasses research and care delivery in varied resource-poor settings. Faculty bring expertise from many aspects of this complex domain. 

Health Policy and Management

The Center of Expertise in Health Policy and Management connects trainees with senior leadership and policy experts within Mass General Brigham and the Harvard community to offer opportunities to understand the range of leadership roles and complexity of decision making in academic health care management, as well as the impact that political and economic forces that shape the future of the health care market. 

Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety

The Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety Center focuses on aspects of safety and quality of care working and facilitates work with senior leaders in areas including just culture, patient-centered care, timeliness, efficiency, and equity. 

Medical Education

Encompassing clinical teaching, medical education scholarship, and education administration and leadership, the Center in Medical Education creates high-impact opportunities for trainees.

The Mass General Brigham Education Committee (MGB EC) works closely with the Brigham and Women’s Education Committee (BWH GMEC) and the Massachusetts General Hospital Graduate Medical Education Committee (MGH GMEC) and the Executive Committees on Teaching and Education (ECOTEs) to support and oversee the teaching mission.

MGB EC's responsibilities include cross-institutional activities and strategic initiatives, education policy development, and—via the GME Office—approval of new training programs. MGB EC also considers issues related to trainee salary and benefits, system-wide educational resources, and other matters. 

The hospital-based committees (BWH GMEC and MGH GMEC) support the quality of GME through oversight of internal program reviews, input related to ACGME accreditation, the learning environment, educational infrastructure and other matters. The committees also oversee the educational infrastructure and opportunities for innovation across the spectrum of clinical education. 

The Office of Graduate Medical Education (GME) at Mass General Brigham: 

  • Provides core educational programming through workshops and retreats for trainees, program directors, and program staff 

  • Supports GME program improvement through internal reviews, accreditation-related activities, and the involvement of education specialists 

  • Addresses issues related to resident and fellow quality of life, directly and via support of the Mass General Brigham Resident/Fellow Well-Being Council  

  • Supports the work of hospital and Mass General Brigham education committees 

  • Provides forums for communication with internal constituencies and serves as the liaison to national organizations 

  • Collects, tracks, and reports a variety of health system, hospital, and program-level GME data 

  • Works to optimize the infrastructure for education  

  • Implements strategic initiatives to enhance educational quality and support trainees’ career development, such as the Mass General Brigham Centers of Expertise for Residents and Fellows  

Featured Program: Clinical Informatics Fellowship

The Clinical Informatics Fellowship at Mass General Brigham is an ACGME-accredited program designed to train physicians as future leaders in clinical informatics.  

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