Our Med-Peds clinic is the focal point and home base of our residency program. We see patients across the spectrum of age, from newborns to elderly patients, teenagers, school-age children, and adults all in the same day. What makes our clinic feel like home is much more than the physical space—the shelves lined with Reach Out and Read books given to each pediatric patient, the walls cluttered with patient resources on topics of food insecurity, legal services, safe housing, addiction medicine, and trauma-informed car, the snacks that fuel us during long clinic days—our clinic is a home because of the people.

We have an incredible nurse, Mirthala, who goes above and beyond to follow up with our patients and make sure they are heard and Monica, our outstanding Medical Assistant who helps our patients get all of the services and supplies they need. Our knowledgeable Med-Peds faculty precept in clinic each week, offering residents the opportunity to learn from a variety of providers with unique areas of expertise, including healthcare bioinformatics (Sachin Shah), global health (Claudia Leung), clinical research and quality improvement (Valerie Press), sickle cell anemia (Nabil Abou Baker), women’s health and evidence based medicine (Anna Volerman-Beaser), and adult disability (honorary med peds, Kamala Cotts).

The most special aspect of our clinic is the incredible patient population we have the honor of serving. Our patients hail from neighborhoods on the South Side of Chicago including Woodlawn, Englewood, Chatham, Hyde Park, and South Deering. About one-third of our patients are on Medicaid and one-third on Medicare. Our patients are 55% female and 45% male. About 70% of our patients are African American, 22% white, 5% Asian, and 5% unknown or undisclosed. Our patients range in age from newborn to greater than 100 yrs, about a quarter being younger than 18 yrs, a quarter are adolescents and young adults, and about an eighth of our patients are greater than the age of 75.

Residents maintain continuity with patients throughout the 4 years of residency with half-day clinics scheduled during their “+2 blocks”. During ambulatory blocks, residents fully immerse in primary care with more frequent clinics and opportunities to learn in the adult disability clinic, gender-based care clinic, adolescent health, and anticoagulation clinic, among other unique experiences in primary care. Having our Med-Peds clinic serve as a home-base provides residents with the skills and knowledge necessary to become leaders in primary care and navigate the complexities of caring for underserved patients.