Internal Medicine Residency
MAHEC (Mountain Area Health Education Center) was established in 1974 and serves a 16-county region in Western North Carolina. MAHEC is the largest Area Health Education Center in North Carolina and evolved to address national and state concerns with the supply, retention, and quality of healthcare professionals. MAHEC’s approach to caring for patients is based on an advanced care team model. MAHEC's Biltmore campus houses residency training programs in family medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, general surgery, pharmacy, and dentistry. The brand new internal medicine residency clinic is housed in the MAHEC Family Health Center building and includes 44 exam rooms, laboratory and radiology facilities, large spaces for precepting and teaching, a group visit space, and a resident workroom. The space has been designed to support a collaborative care model which includes behavioral health and pharmacy services.
MAHEC's Biltmore campus is also home to UNC Health Sciences at MAHEC, an academic health center in partnership with UNC-Chapel Hill that includes the UNC School of Medicine Asheville Campus, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy Asheville Campus, and innovative educational and research collaborations with UNC Adams School of Dentistry.
Mission Hospital is Western North Carolina’s only Level I Trauma Center and the region’s largest tertiary and quaternary referral center. Residents care for a high-volume, high-acuity patient population with a broad range of complex medical conditions, gaining extensive experience in inpatient medicine, critical care, and subspecialty services. As the referral hub for the Appalachian region, Mission provides exposure to advanced pathology, multidisciplinary care teams, and patients transferred from rural and community hospitals throughout Western North Carolina. Training at Mission prepares residents to confidently manage medically complex patients while developing the clinical judgment and leadership skills needed for any career path in internal medicine.
The Asheville VA Health Care System provides residents with the opportunity to care for Veterans within a nationally recognized, tertiary referral medical center serving Western North Carolina. Residents gain experience managing a broad range of acute and chronic medical conditions while developing skills in whole-person, patient-centered care. Training at the VA offers a unique emphasis on continuity, interdisciplinary teamwork, and management of complex conditions. The facility supports a large educational mission through its many academic affiliations and serves Veterans across a 23-county region.
Cherokee Indian Hospital Authority (CIHA) blends state-of-the-art healthcare within a system of inpatient and outpatient resources across the Qualla Boundary and its outlying clinics. It is a unique educational experience in health systems as the health system is tribal owned and in a rural setting. Residents will rotate 4 weeks during their PGY2 year in both the ambulatory and inpatient settings serving a wide variety of patients and disease states in Cherokee County. Clinical experiences will include inpatient care in a 16-bed hospital unit, ED care, primary care clinics, specialty clinics and addiction medicine experiences. Residents will also engage in a structured curriculum in cultural humility during this rotation. The site director has an extensive history of experience with education and enjoys innovative teaching methods.
Transylvania Regional Hospital provides residents with immersive, community-based training in the heart of Western North Carolina. Residents gain experience caring for a wide range of patients while developing broad clinical skills, meaningful patient relationships, and an appreciation for rural and community-focused healthcare.
McDowell Hospital provides residents with immersive, community hospital training in rural Western North Carolina. Residents gain broad clinical experience, work closely with faculty and care teams, and develop the skills needed to deliver high-quality, patient-centered care in rural communities.
Internal Medicine residents rotate at a variety of rural health sites in Western North Carolina over their three years of training, including both ambulatory and inpatient experiences.
