Physical Medicine & 
Rehabilitation Residency
Program

The Residency Program in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) at the Montefiore Einstein Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation was established in 1946 and has a long history of leadership in the field. It was a founding department of Albert Einstein School of Medicine and had a significant early impact on the development of PM&R as a specialty.

Our Program offers comprehensive training that prepares physicians to fulfill the duties and responsibilities of a physiatrist. The Department is committed to providing excellent didactic and clinical education in a multi-institutional setting. This commitment has resulted in a comprehensive program exceeding both the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (ABPMR) requirements. The program has consistently received full accreditation from the ACGME.

Residents will be assigned an attending physician as a mentor to guide their residency and encourage them to actively explore innovation in our field. Outside of this more formal relationship, Montefiore Einstein thrives on a collegial, multidisciplinary culture that champions collaboration on many levels. With that in mind, all our attending physicians are eager to work with you so that you can optimize your potential, pursue your unique interests and build a broad portfolio of compassionate expertise.

The Montefiore Einstein Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation’s Residency Program is dedicated to providing residents with excellent clinical and didactic education requisite for the practice of PM&R. This medical specialty focuses on the diagnosis, evaluation and management of persons of all ages with physical and/or cognitive impairments, disabilities and functional limitations.

The Program is also dedicated to the personal development and well-being of each resident. We recognize that excellent physiatrists require both knowledge and skill in order to render the best possible patient care in a caring, respectful manner. The Program is committed to faculty and program development and to providing every opportunity for each resident to excel in academic and clinical physiatry.

The educational goal of the Residency Program is to prepare residents for unsupervised practice of PM&R through the acquisition of all general and PM&R-specific core competencies in a thoughtful, developmental sequence as guided by the physiatric milestones. The Program is dedicated to providing an education that is practical and relevant to community needs and resident interests, leading to competent practice in all PM&R domains. We strive to train residents to work in an interdisciplinary context in the most positive, cost-effective manner possible. The Program fosters resident innovation, service and a sense of mission. PM&R residents are encouraged to seek innovative ways to improve health, minimize the impact of disabilities, identify and reduce healthcare disparities and maximize the quality of life in local and global communities.

The program values health and independent function, compassion, integrity and honesty and emphasizes quality in all activities (patient care, research, education) and recognition and respect for all individuals.

Our program matches nine residents per year, with a typical program size of 27 residents. By the end of all three years of residency, all residents will have completed:

• Twelve months of acute inpatient rehabilitation, including dedicated months for spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury
• Twelve months of outpatient services
• Four months of electromyography (EMG)
• One month of interventional pain medicine
• Two months of pediatric rehab
• Two-month elective
• Three months of clinical concentration in an area of resident interest

Our strong didactic program consists of a core three hours per week of protected weekly didactic time, Grand Rounds typically correlated to the weekly didactic topic, supplemental didactics and eLearning modules.

• Twenty vacation days, 12 sick days, eight hospital holidays
• Educational resource allowance of $500 per year ($600 for those on Jacobi payroll), which can be used toward purchasing textbooks, software, PDA devices, mobile phones, tablets, e-readers, payment of course or examination fees, etc.
• Subsidized housing in the Montefiore Einstein apartment buildings (Note: demand currently exceeds supply, and housing cannot be guaranteed.)
• Comprehensive medical and dental coverage, with a variety of program choices
• Annual dues for the American Academy of PM&R and the New York Society of PM&R
• Residents have full use of Montefiore Einstein and Albert Einstein College of Medicine libraries, including free interlibrary loan and online access to full-text journals and e-books.
• Conference time is awarded to PGY-2 residents once per year and PGY-3 and PGY-4 residents twice per year when that resident is a presenting first author (poster, platform session, lecture) or participating faculty in a workshop at a national or international conference. PGY-4 residents are granted one additional week of conference time and a $500 stipend, with no research or presentation requirement.

The PM&R Residency Program includes more than 30 full-time physiatrists who are committed to resident education, yielding a very favorable faculty-to-resident ratio. The faculty includes many prominent physicians with expertise across a comprehensive range of PM&R and physiatric subspecialties. Physical and occupational therapists, speech and language pathologists and exercise physiologists also contribute to the teaching effort. Residents also interact with and learn from a full interdisciplinary team of physicians, nurses, psychologists, social workers and PhD staff in a large university hospital setting.

All faculty are ABPMR-certified. Pediatric rehabilitation medicine faculty members are ABPMR-certified. All faculty training residents in electrodiagnosis are American Board of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine (ABNEM)-certified, and several are also neuromuscular-board certified. The Pain Medicine faculty are ACGME-certified in pain medicine. The Sports Medicine faculty is certified in sports medicine. Faculty training residents in cardiopulmonary rehabilitation are also board certified in internal medicine.

The affiliated Clinical Chair is Dr. Michelle Stern (NYC Health + Hospitals/North Central Bronx and Jacobi).

Residents will be assigned an attending physician as a mentor to guide their residency and encourage them to actively explore innovation in our field. Outside of this more formal relationship, Montefiore Einstein thrives on a collegial, multidisciplinary culture that champions collaboration on many levels.

With that in mind, all of our attending physicians are eager to work with you so that you can optimize your potential, pursue your unique interests and build a wide portfolio of compassionate expertise.

All applicants must submit documentation through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) and be enrolled in the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP). No positions are offered outside the NRMP.

Applicants must meet one of the following criteria:

• Be a graduate of a Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME)-accredited medical school in the United States or Canada
• Be a graduate of an American Osteopathic Association-accredited medical school
• Be a graduate of an international medical school and meet one of the following criteria:
  • hold a valid Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) certificate
  • have a full and unrestricted U.S. license to practice medicine
  • be a graduate of an LCME-approved Fifth Pathway program

Candidates are ranked based on the interview, medical school transcript, dean’s letter, United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) scores, letters of recommendation, research experience and publications in peer-reviewed journals. Screening thresholds are revised each year and approved by the Admissions Committee.

Montefiore Einstein sponsors J1 and H1 visas.

For more information, please email our Residency Training Manager, Marivell Viruet, at mviruet@montefiore.org

We are proud of the fact that our residents have gone on to highly successful and fulfilling careers in our field. We like to attribute this success, at least in part, to the well-rounded, in-depth education that you can receive here in a dynamic, exciting department committed to the highest level of teaching and patient care.

We invite you to explore our Department’s full site and learn more about our Residency Program, as well as the many therapies and services that we offer our patients.