Angela Kang-Giaimo, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine (general medicine), was named director of the Internal Medicine Clerkship, effective July 1, 2023. Kang-Giaimo replaces Dana Dunne, MD, MHS, who served in the role since March 2011. Anna Zimmerman, MD, assistant professor of medicine (general medicine) was appointed as associate clerkship director, and will start on September 1, 2023.
Kang-Giaimo called her internal medicine clerkship experience one of the most formative in her life. “My own experience was both humbling and invigorating, foundational to my becoming a doctor. I look forward to being a mentor and leader to the Yale medical students as they take part in their own internal medicine clerkship experience, and hope it is as profound for them. I’ve known and admired Dana as a teacher, clinician, and leader in medical education since I was a trainee. Working under her leadership this year, and now being able to step into her enormous shoes, is an honor,” said Kang-Giaimo.
Kang-Giaimo came to Yale School of Medicine (YSM) after completing medical school at Tufts, in Boston. She completed her residency at the Yale Internal Medicine Primary Care Residency Program, and worked as chief resident from 2017 – 2018. She spent three years as a Clinician Educator at the Yale Waterbury Internal Medicine Residency Program from July 2018 – July 2021, during which she also served as an assistant professor at the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University from October 2020 to July 2021. She subsequently joined the YSM Section of General Medicine as an instructor in July 2021, and was promoted to assistant professor in July 2022. Kang-Giaimo was appointed as associate clerkship director in May 2022.
Kang-Giaimo believes the variety of YSM’s internal medicine clerkship opportunities set them apart. “The depth of opportunities at Yale in internal medicine from Klatskin to Cooney, as well as the variety in excellent general medicine experiences both at York Street and SRC as well as at the VA and Bridgeport are outstanding. Opportunity to diagnose and manage disease, everyone always finds exciting; but it’s the service to the whole patient, including their social determinants of health, which sets our field apart in breadth. Similarly, for the clerkship, our training is robust in its insistence to expose students to multiple types of patients and disease processes, but also its dedication to didactics that allow for comprehensive learning opportunities. Some of our most unique innovations have been trainee led, internal medicine boot camp, humanism in medicine, and POCUS training sessions, to name a few,” she said.
Dunne has known Kang-Giaimo since she was a chief resident and quickly “learned that she was a talented and dedicated educator.”
As Kang-Giaimo looks towards the future of the clerkship, she already knows an aspect that she would like to add. “One element I personally hope to add to our clerkship, is more deliberate structure around student development of professional identity. Teaching about how to transform into a physician and become a doctor, in addition to practicing skills and knowledge, is not straight forward, but hugely important. I’d like to develop more ideas on how to impact students’ professional identity formation during their clerkship years.”
Zimmerman was named associate clerkship director due “committed educator with interest in student education,” said Dunne.
She joined YSM in 2015 in the Internal Medicine Primary Care Residency Program, and served as a chief resident in 2018 – 2019. Concurrently, Zimmerman was appointed as an instructor in 2018 and promoted to assistant professor in 2022.
“I am looking forward to expanding my role in undergraduate medical education and getting to know the medical students. I am excited to work with the leadership team to find new ways to enhance medical student education while prioritizing their role in providing direct patient care,” said Zimmerman.
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