Skip to Main Content
Internal Medicine
YSM Home

INFORMATION FOR

Mentorship

Mentorship abounds in the Yale Internal Medicine Residency, Traditional Program. General mentorship is available from the Program Director, Mark Siegel, MD, and Associate Program Directors (APDs), Drs. Matthew Grant, Paul Bernstein, Mahalia Desruisseaux, Isabel Bazan, Shaili Gupta, Benjamin Rodwin, and Cynthia Frary McNamara. While these members of program leadership are each available to provide mentorship to all residents, each resident is assigned to a particular APD mentor who specifically meets with and gets to know them. APD mentors help with goal setting, performance review, and feedback. They also help residents connect with research and clinical mentors and provide information and guidance about our many Distinction Pathways.

The MAC Program

A unique and more personal type of mentorship provide by the Yale Internal Medicine Residency is The Mentor/Advisor/Coach (MAC) Program developed by Dr. Cynthia Frary McNamara. At the beginning of the intern year, every resident in the Categorical or ABIM Physician-Scientist Track is assigned to a faculty MAC mentor with whom they will meet in a non-evaluative capacity for the entirety of their time in the Residency Program. The purpose of the MAC Program is to give our residents a special member of the faculty they can easily access to help with career decisions, to get advice about life and medicine, and to provide a safe space outside of the program leadership to discuss concerns, share ups and downs, and ponder goals and life choices.

The MAC Program has been extremely successful. Most of our residents have formed strong bonds with their MACs that have proven to be enormously helpful as they navigate their residencies. As a result, residents have felt supported, and MACS have had the opportunity experience the camaraderie and companionship found in working with trainees. MACS who have several resident mentees in different levels of training may occasionally augment their individual meetings by meeting in a group with all mentees, if all agree, providing a small community and support network for each mentee. Meetings usually take place when the residents are rotating through their clinic block, as they have fewer clinical responsibilities and more control over their time during that rotation.

Resident feedback about our MAC Program is as follows:

“I have lunch with my MAC on the first Monday of every clinic block. She's a terrific resource for unfiltered advice; she can tell me honestly, “I don't think this thing will help you” and will let me know if my expectations of things are unrealistic. Every time we meet, I have a clearer idea of how to get where I want to go. She's a great first line for any kind of question. If she can't help me with something, she's immediately emailing a friend who she thinks can. Not incidentally, she is also quite funny and unfailingly kind.”

“The MAC program has been incredibly valuable for me. Residency is a difficult time and often we get lost in the daily routines and forget to take time to reflect on our growth, personal wants, and long-term goals. The MAC program allows us to do just that, and my mentor has been invaluable in helping with that process. He takes a genuine interest to understand how things are progressing, is incredibly caring, and can ask insightful questions that help to establish a sense of direction for myself. Furthermore, he provides an honest perspective and always encourages me to follow my instincts when thinking about next steps. I have been fortunate to have him as my MAC and look forward to continue developing our relationship.”

MAC feedback about our MAC Program is as follows:

“I love getting to know my resident mentees. It gives me the opportunity to learn about what they are going through and share some experiences and insights that I have had during my training and afterwards. That kind of reflection often reinforces, but occasionally encourages me to revisit - my own choices and goals. I look forward to meeting my mentee one on one for coffee, lunch, or dinner and have even gotten all my mentees together to go to an “Escape Room”! We bonded as a team and not only were able to “escape the room”, but we were able to escape day to day challenges to gain fresh perspective and renewed mutual encouragement to pursue goals.“

"I have been a MAC for six years and it is one of the highlights of my time at Yale. Getting to know the residents, mentoring them, and watching as they mature into caring physicians is extremely fulfilling. It is truly an honor and a delight to be a mentor in this program!"