Resident Testimonials

I am incredibly grateful for my experience in the Transitional Year Residency Program at Mercy Catholic Medical Center. The program provided me with a comprehensive foundation of medical experience far beyond my expectations. The program more than prepared me for my Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation program, equipping me with the skills and confidence to manage up to 88 rehabilitation patients with complex medical needs. Additionally, I felt more comfortable on day one of my PM&R residency than many of my co-residents who completed their Transitional Year at large university programs. The personal connections and mentorship I received at Mercy Fitzgerald also made a profound impact on me. There was an overwhelming sense of community in this community-based program. This was exhibited by the lasting friendships I developed with my coresidents and close working relationships I had with the hospitalists and specialists across all fields of medicine. All of the attending physicians, not just the program faculty, were consistently supportive, approachable, deeply invested in my education, and made an effort to get to know me more than as just another passing transitional year resident. I couldn’t have asked for a better foundation for my medical career, and I am proud to have trained at Mercy Catholic.

Daniel Hansen, DO
2024 Graduate

The osteopathic faculty at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital have been amazing to learn from. At this program we’re extremely fortunate to continue our osteopathic training from medical school. Here, we’re able to take what we’ve learned in the classroom and apply them to real world inpatient situations. The curriculum is strong and well-rounded including didactics and osteopathic rounds. We get a look into how we can begin incorporating our osteopathic principles to our daily practices. I found this useful for any specialty beyond primary care specialties. Not only are we able to continue our practice, but also our patients we treat feel better and have better outcomes, so it’s a win-win!

Jenna Lee, DO
2024 Graduate

Mercy Catholic Medical Center is a medium size community hospital that serves a loyal, resource-limited population. As an intern, I appreciated the collegial and friendly atmosphere fostered throughout the hospital and among the residents. Many of the attendings are indeed Mercy graduates themselves, likely a result of their respective positive experiences. The support and ancillary staff, which are available around the clock including weekends, could not be any more friendly and professional. The well-prepared noon lectures, the vast majority of which are delivered by fellowship trained attendings, were always the highlight of my day. But the greatest appeal of the program, in my view, is the unwavering support from its staff, leadership and program director.

Menachem Mendel Gurevitz, DO
2023 Graduate

Mercy transitional year program does a good job of providing the foundation of medicine that you need for any future specialty. I feel as a mid-sized hospital that was academic but not in a large academic institution residents got the opportunity to do procedures and manage patients with comfortable independence. There were plenty of opportunities to do lines or use ultrasound but as a TY there were no procedural requirements so it's whatever you wanted or felt comfortable doing. There is a great balance of both autonomy and also guidance. I never felt alone but also never felt like I was being overly managed.

Over the year you get good exposure to bread and butter internal medicine with CHF, COPD, sepsis and other common presentations which helps you feel comfortable with the basics. The attendings are approachable and in general all like to teach and are very open to questions. The case load per intern is comparable to any large academic institution but your senior residents work closely with you as interns to help guide any questions you have in the beginning of the year and then they allow for more autonomy as the year goes on. The patient population is underserved West Philly but this allows for better education. Overall, a good well rounded and friendly learning environment to get a foundation of general internal medicine and ICU level of care.

Erica Blanchard, DO
2022 Graduate

I feel incredibly fortunate and grateful for my diverse experiences at Mercy TYR. From the first day, I was given complete autonomy to grow in a resident-driven environment and to learn from the most passionate, inspiring, and exceptional faculty team. The elective rotations allowed me to explore different specialties while participating actively in patient care. The multiple didactic sessions, multidisciplinary rounds, and simulation classes helped me build a strong knowledge foundation and boosted my clinical confidence. The nursing, administrative, and ancillary staff were always on my side in every step I took during this unique year. Thank you.

Nikiforos Vasiniotis Kamarinos, MD
2022 Graduate

I was extremely happy with my experience of the Transitional Year program at MCMC. My favorite thing about the program was the people I got to work with from the attendings, other hospital staff, but most importantly, the other residents within the TY program and IM program.

Starting my intern year on ICU block I really got a good balance of supportive senior residents and learning through a busier block. The year had plenty of opportunity to grow my medical knowledge through hands on experience and but also being taught in a dedicated didactics format. On the other hand, I enjoyed my elective rotations to learn about other specialties and even being able to scrub into orthopedic OR cases to help with my future training in PM&R.

I had plenty of opportunities to learn ultrasound skills with ample opportunities to place difficult IVs and central lines if desired. Going into my next program I feel very confident in procedural skills. I would highly recommend the Transitional Year Program to anyone looking for a hands-on year who wants a strong medical base going into a specialty where it may be needed. You can really design the year into what you want and will have a great time meeting equally motivated and smart co-residents going into all fields of medicine.

Jonathan Lee, DO
2021 Graduate

I had no clue what to expect when I started my TY program at MCMC. My dad had completed his residency there many moons ago, so best-case scenario, I was hoping to make it out with funny stories about him as an intern. Instead, I learned valuable lessons from an amazing group of faculty and senior residents and made many great friendships along the way. One of my favorite moments was receiving what I expected to be a terrifying message from a certain ICU attending … which turned out to be the house staff poster from the 80s when my dad was a third-year resident! (All of the residents agreed that I was better looking).

While it was a challenging year at times and the noon conference cuisine was digestible in theory, there were plenty of moments to catch my breath and fully appreciate the weight of my newfound responsibilities as a freshly minted MD. I am still amazed by how much I had grown as a physician after just one year. At Mercy you will have all of the guidance, didactic sessions, and elective time that you need to make your internship worthwhile. To the future TY travelers of these wards, take advantage of the diverse specialties at Mercy, broaden your medical knowledge, and build a strong foundation for your future career. And pro tip: even if you just finished a tiring shift, go to that social hour with your colleagues. I’ll only have fond memories of MCMC and I’m grateful I was given the opportunity to train here for my transitional year.

Christian Albornoz, MD
2019 Graduate

I cannot say enough about how great Mercy Catholic’s Transitional Year program was for me. I was able to start building a solid foundation of medicine, while also having multiple opportunities for elective time. My time on floors and in the ICU at Mercy really helped me feel comfortable now that I have started PM&R (and frequently have to manage the rehab hospital as the only doctor in house overnight). additionally, time on neurology, cardiology, radiology and anesthesia have certainly made me a more well-rounded resident. I highly recommend the Mercy Catholic Transitional Year program to anyone looking to solidify their medical knowledge before starting an advanced program.

Roger H. Liu, DO
2019 Graduate

My time during the Transitional Year Program at Mercy Catholic Medical Center was absolutely phenomenal. It gave me the infrastructure to learn a tremendous amount of medicine and patient management while also lending flexibility to choose electives that would tailor my education forwards my career in radiology. All of the residents were incredibly brilliant, kind, and exhibited a level of camaraderie that allowed me to not only feel comfortable during my first year out of medical school but excel. The leadership in the transitional year program from top to bottom was professional, accountable, and most importantly, reliable. This made the entire year very smooth and allowed the movement from one program to another seamless. Overall, the transitional year program at Mercy is a wonderful place with great and diverse peers to work with!

Kush Shah, DO
2019 Graduate

Doing my transitional year (TYR) at MCMC provided me with a strong foundation for my Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PM&R) residency at Johns Hopkins. I felt the program was well balanced and provided a comprehensive internal medicine backbone for my education. Five blocks of medicine wards and two blocks of ICU gave me an in-depth medicine experience. In particular, the ICU blocks provided the opportunity to perform procedures such as central line placement and ultrasound guided peripheral line placement and reinforced the ACLS algorithm and management of critically ill patients. The variety of patients on the medicine wards between Mercy Fitzgerald and Mercy Philadelphia prepared me for the breadth of patients that I now see in the inpatient PM&R setting. On medicine wards, the attendings made sure that as interns we took responsibility for our patients and got to make medical decisions.

A few things that stood out about MCMC were the commitment to ethics (including weekly ethics rounds while on ICU, and monthly ethics rounds on medicine wards) and the variety of elective options which I was able to tailor specifically to my educational needs. I completed electives in anesthesia, PM&R, radiation oncology, and palliative care. I felt that each of these had aspects that applied to PM&R and gave me insights and perspectives I otherwise would not have gained.

Ultimately, what made my TYR at MCMC such a memorable experience was the people in the program—my fellow TYRs, preliminary medicine interns, and categorical medicine residents. Our cohort formed a cohesive unit of physicians that I truly enjoyed working with. I found our attendings to be very attentive to ensuring that our experience was educational and that our time was used efficiently. If I was choosing an intern year program again, I would certainly choose MCMC.

Christine Hluchan, MD
2018 Graduate

My time spent at Mercy Catholic Medical Center taught me two important facets of a career in medicine—education and patient care. The transitional year residency gives you the opportunity to transform from a learner to a practicing physician. You will be an integral part of the team, not just the “intern who is going into ophthalmology, radiology, dermatology, etc.” My clinical experience provided me the skillset of decision making, accountability, performing sterile procedures, becoming a diagnostician, and being an advocate for patients to name a few.

Aside from your clinical experience, Mercy provides a breadth of diversity in a suburban setting. You’ll learn how to respect patient’s values without compromising quality care and learn to effectively communicate your findings with team members from various medical training backgrounds. I keep in touch with a number of interns/residents I worked alongside whom I consider to be great physicians, friends and individuals.

If you come to this program with the right attitude and work hard, I guarantee you will leave with a good education and sense of accomplishment. Lastly, please note that the program did not sacrifice any of my personal goals outside of work. My wife and I welcomed our first child during this time and everyone was wonderfully supportive.

William Ensor, DO
2017 Graduate

I was extremely satisfied with TYR at Mercy Catholic Medical Center. As a medical student, I had spent a few months during my clinical years, so I was already aware of the potential my TYR had. During my TYR year, I was able to gain beyond sufficient knowledge and familiarity with treating a variety of medical conditions. This was crucial for me as I prepared for my next venture in physical medicine and rehabilitation. This residency is unique in that we receive patient after numerous pathological insults, including medical, surgical, and even traumatic. My time spent at Mercy allowed me to feel confident managing medical co-morbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, heart failure exacerbations, and managing anticoagulation. Throughout the extensive elective time, I was able to become proficient in other skills that would be required of me while managing patients in an inpatient rehabilitation center, such as troubleshooting PEG tube malfunctions, placing Dobhoff tubes, intubating in emergent situations, running a code, managing a wound vac, and managing ventilator dependent patients.

The attending physicians at Mercy are very much invested in teaching the next generation of physicians and this is evident on a day-to-day basis. I enjoyed the daily noon lectures, as well as the monthly osteopathic medicine lectures. Having an opportunity to present a lecture during the osteopathic conference was important in developing public speaking proficiency. I am grateful to everyone at Mercy for making my TYR year here worthwhile.

Jessie Mulhern, DO
2017 Graduate