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Thomas Hospital Internal Medicine Residency

Creating physician leaders who serve the community with integrity and the highest standards of medical care.

Become part of an ACGME-accredited Internal Medicine Residency located in the renowned coastal community of Fairhope, Alabama along the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay. At Thomas Hospital, train in a resident-focused environment with exceptional bedside teaching, innovative technology, individualized mentorship, and a supportive resident culture that prepares physicians for successful careers in primary care, hospital medicine, fellowships, and academic medicine.

Why Choose Thomas Hospital?

The award-winning Thomas Hospital is located along Alabama’s beautiful Gulf coast in Fairhope, Alabama. The Internal Medicine Residency Program bolsters the best of both worlds – a close knit community program with educational resources and innovation and academic opportunities found at larger university based programs, allowing residents to prepare for their desired career pathways. Our internal medicine residents are the primary resident physicians and learners at Thomas Hospital, with no other residency programs sharing the training environment.

  • Exceptional access to faculty dedicated to resident training
  • Daily direct bedside teaching with faculty
  • Increased procedural opportunities
  • Earlier clinical autonomy
  • Leadership opportunities within the hospital
  • Opportunities to collaborate and learn from hospital administration
  • Complimentary food and drink while on duty at Thomas

Living on Alabama's Beautiful Gulf Coast

Thomas Hospital is located along the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay in Fairhope, Alabama, a charming community that carries the honor of being named one of Southern Living's best towns in the South. Fairhope is known for its safe and beautiful walkable downtown, locally owned restaurants and boutiques, and excellent public, private, and parochial schools. Fairhope offers an exceptional quality of life for our resident physicians and their families.

Locals of the Eastern Shore and their visitors enjoy the superb location – home to art, music, and film festivals, Mardi Gras, and biking, running, and triathlon events, with boating, fishing, golf, and pickle ball as popular sports in the area. Nothing beats the beautiful walking trails on the bluffs as the sun sets over Mobile Bay. The 45-minute drive to the white sandy beaches and turquoise waters of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach makes for a great weekend or evening adventure. Short commutes to Pensacola, Mobile, and New Orleans offer the advantages of metropolitan cities to explore, with convenient airports to travel anywhere in the world. While these features make Alabama’s Gulf Coast a desirable destination for vacation, our residents call it home while training in our residency program.

Learn more about location and lifestyle

Comprehensive Clinical Training

Our favorable resident-to-faculty ratio allows for optimal individualized learning, creating meaningful mentorship relationships and maximizing bedside teaching opportunities. Residents train in a collaborative, family-like culture where faculty are approachable, learning is individualized, and every patient encounter becomes a teaching opportunity.

Our residents treat a diverse patient population across Baldwin County and the Gulf Coast region, from Mississippi to Florida. Around 60% of residency training is dedicated to inpatient medicine with daily attending teaching rounds, multidisciplinary rounds, didactics, and training focused on progressive clinical autonomy. The outpatient experience includes providing care with continuity for patients at the Thomas Hospital Internal Medicine Clinic, which serves a unique gap in the need for primary care physicians across Baldwin County and the surrounding areas. Our residents rotate through several outpatient community subspecialty practices including newly developed state-of-the-art Infirmary Health locations.

DMC Daphne | DMC Mobile | DMC Northside

Residents receive hands-on innovative training to compliment traditional bedside medicine:

  • Point-of-care ultrasound
  • Advanced Epic optimization
  • Clinical informatics
  • Simulation-based training
  • Telemedicine

Our educational curriculum includes presenting and participating in:

  • Daily Noon Conferences
  • Faculty Didatics
  • Resident Teaching Conferences
  • Journal clubs
  • Board Review Sessions
  • Quality Review Conferences

Our residents are provided subscriptions to MKSAP and UWorld to prepare for the American Board of Internal Medicine and USMLE Step 3/COMLEX Level 3 exams, and to continuously expand and challenge their clinical knowledge. Residents play an active role during teaching rounds, including teaching medical students.

Beginning in PGY-2 or PGY-3, residents have the opportunity to streamline their educational experience through personalized career pathways that align with their professional goals. The Primary Care Track, led by Dr. Elizabeth Wood, and the Hospitalist Track, led by Dr. Wendell Erdman, provide excellent insight and additional experiences.

Learn more about Our Curriculum

Wellness, Culture & Community

Our program is committed to maintaining a healthy work-life balance through thoughtful scheduling, protected time off, and a culture that embodies resident well-being. Residents frequently spend time together outside the hospital, creating friendships that extend beyond residency. Residents feel supported as they care for their growing families during training. Faculty prioritize accessibility and individualized mentorship, fostering a close-knit environment where residents are valued both professionally and personally. Additional resources include a dedicated resident suite, complimentary food and drink at Thomas Hospital while on duty, and a designated lactation area for new mothers.

Residents participate in community health fairs and serve and speak at various events at the Senior Citizen Center, Rotary Clubs, and Ecumenical Ministry programs. Our residents also are involved as mentors in the newly established NextGen Docs - a high school student health career outreach program aimed to provide an immersive shadowing experience.

Research & Scholarly Activity

Residents are encouraged and supported to present their research at regional and national meetings across the country, having presented at the following conferences:

  • The Alabama Chapter of the American College of Physicians
  • The American College of Physicians
  • The American College of Cardiology
  • The American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST)
  • The American College of Gastroenterology
  • The American Society of Clinical Oncology
  • The American Thoracic Society
  • The Congress of Clinical Rheumatology
  • The Medical Association of the State of Alabama
  • The Society of General Internal Medicine
  • The Southern Medical Association

Learn more about our Research & Scholarly activities

Graduate Success

Since the graduation of our inaugural class in 2023, our graduates have gone on to pursue successful careers in hospital medicine, primary care, academic medicine, and fellowship training across a wide range of Internal Medicine subspecialties.
Learn more about our Fellowship Matches & Graduation Outcomes

Begin Your Journey at Thomas Hospital