Rutgers health jersey city medical center program internal medicine residency

Our Residents

Our Residency Program Is Comprised of Extremely High Caliber Physicians With Diverse Interests And Backgrounds.

NJMS has a tradition of commitment to diversity and has fostered a spirit of inclusiveness for its highly diverse community, faculty, staff, residents and students. We recognize the impact that diversity has on the educational experience of all students and on the delivery of culturally competent quality healthcare, especially in a community as culturally diverse as Newark is.

Explore some of the activities organized by the NJMS Office of Diversity at:
http://njms.rutgers.edu/education/odace/heritage.cfm
and
http://njms.rutgers.edu/education/odace/lgbt/heritage.cfm

We also invite you to meet some of our current housestaff!

Click here for a list of all 2022-2023 Medicine & Medicine-Pediatrics residents:

Benjamin Simmons, MD (PGY-III)

I was born and raised in Queens, NY and have always considered myself a city kid at heart. I grew up observing how our country systemically undervalued many of its own communities, and knew I wanted to be part of the force that shifts this ideology. My passion for medicine came from the merging of my interest in scientific conversations and my interest in engaging with the community. As for my love of research, I remember being young and feeling unsettled in seeing people make decisions about their health based on opinions and rumors; I felt that there had to be a way to come up with objective data that we could make shared decisions based on. Rutgers NJMS is a great place for me because a large part of the patient population are from communities that have been taken advantage of and need the most empathy and compassion, and the faculty is amazing at being direct in confronting these issues. The fellowship-match strength of a program is also very important to me, as many of the amazing aspects of internal medicine fall under one of its many subspecialties. NJMS has an excellent track record of matching its residents into the most competitive of subspecialties.

Monica Abreu Diaz, MD (Class of 2022)

Two of my biggest passions are practicing medicine and cooking, both of which involve a delicate balance of science and art. Additionally, both medicine and cooking bring people together, whether it is family and friends around the dinner table or attendings and residents around a table for rounds.

I was drawn to internal medicine because it requires us to see the medical and social aspects of an individual as a whole. NJMS and the city of Newark gave me the possibility of learning in an environment with endless pathology from all socioeconomic backgrounds. Because I was born and raised in Puerto Rico, I always wanted to explore the world of medicine and other cultures beyond the island’s beautiful horizons and coming to this program with its abundance of diversity in its residents and patient population was the right choice for me.

Lawrence Benedict, MD (PGY-III)

Growing up in Southern New Jersey, I knew I was going to be an engineer. From The Academy of Engineering Sciences for high school to a degree from Drexel’s Biomedical Engineering, to 6 years working in medical devices, I was an engineer through and through (I even fit the old adage of the extroverted engineer, I would look at your shoes when I was talking). But by a chance assignment at work, I was put in charge of making phone calls to patients to determine the potential risks and injuries they experienced using medical devices. Almost instantly the patients became more interesting to me than the devices; the complexity, emotions, impact, medicine had it all. Initially, I felt lost but after completing a post-bacc, I found myself back at Drexel University for medical school and didn’t have another doubt.

I chose Rutgers NJMS because I felt a kinship to the approach to medicine, an interdisciplinary team working together to improve the institution as a whole and achieve the greatest care possible. The program also offers countless opportunities to broaden your expertise including several possible built in tracks as well as a chance to take business classes while completing residency.

Hyein Jeon, MD (Class of 2022)

I chose Internal Medicine for its ability to intricately tie together intellectual rigor and form in-depth relationships with my patients. NJMS has provided amazing opportunities to be challenged academically: even after a full year, still, nothing beats the thrill of finally being able to explain all of the patient’s symptoms, after endlessly inquiring and probing into secondary, tertiary, and even superimposing causes. I have also found it fulfilling to serve an incredibly diverse patient population. In this way, NJMS has reaffirmed my choice to pursue Internal Medicine.

But what truly strikes me is the extremely supportive and diverse community of residents, staff, and faculty at NJMS. I have benefited so much from their camaraderie, excellent teaching and mentorship generously offered in both my clinical and research pursuits. I constantly strive to emulate the ways they have taught me, by example, to be a better clinician, mentor, and educator. I was thrilled to be accepted in the Clinician Educator track!

Sarah Bentil-Owusu, MD (Class of 2022)

I was born in Ghana, West Africa, and my family moved to the United States when I was 8 years of age. I spent the majority of my formative years in North Carolina. It was there that I completed my professional graduate career at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. During my time in medical school, I found profound enjoyment in the complete care of patients as well as working on a team to solve the puzzle that was their diagnosis. The rotations that brought the most joy were cardiology and the medical intensive care unit. It was important to me during my application for residency that I chose a place that was not only diverse in population but also in pathology. I can say that I have found that in the internal medicine program at Rutgers NJMS. Not only am I surrounded by colleagues who come from unique backgrounds, I have also been surrounded by diagnoses and illnesses only heard of in textbooks. It is both a challenge and a reward treating a unique population such as ours and I am humbled at the opportunity to do so. The camaraderie with my fellow residents combined with the population and unique pathology has made training at this program an invaluable experience.

Sana Rashid, DO (Class of 2022)

At the age of eight, I emigrated from Pakistan to the United States with my family. New Jersey quickly became my new home. I attended Monmouth University as an undergraduate where I studied Chemistry and Political Science. Ultimately, I decided to pursue a career in medicine at Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine. During my time there, I discovered that I loved medicine as a whole and internal medicine would be perfect fit. NJMS has allowed me to work with a culturally diverse group of extremely driven and accomplished colleagues who constantly motivate me. Equally, I have made some lifelong friends in the short time I have been here. It is humbling and rewarding to serve the patients of Newark and learn from the incredibly complex pathology. I am glad to have joined the Urban Health track, as it adds to my understanding of the psycho-socio-economic dimension that accompanies individual pathologies and I think it will help me tremendously in my future practice of Cardiology for the underserved.

Radhika Malhotra, MD (PGY-I)

As a student at Rutgers NJMS, I quickly gained appreciation for the diversity in patient population as well as house staff, allowing for a wide range of learning opportunities. However, I quickly also realized that disparities in healthcare and outcomes were extreme in our Newark population due to differences in race and socioeconomic status. As someone who was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome as a teenager, I have always been interested in women’s health and its implications on morbidity and mortality. The IM/PM program is a great opportunity for exposure to a wide variety of clinical experiences inside and outside of the hospital. The focus in women’s health and connections with the OB/GYN department allow for an increased breadth of primary care and unique experiences for research and advocacy for women. Through education and exposure to the preventive medicine world, we learn how to affect larger-scale change outside of the patient room, hopefully decreasing disparities and improving access to care.

Juan Bello Duverge, MD (PGY-II)

Diversity provides opportunities for personal and professional growth, as well as the chance to expand your knowledge while diving into the wonders of the yet unknown. Coming to Rutgers NJMS Internal Medicine residency program has allowed me to engage in a supportive and academic work environment where exposure to complex cases promotes a constant drive to strive and learn. In addition, the camaraderie and mentoring support provided by peers and faculty have been of invaluable importance for clinical and research endeavors. Lastly, the chance of working in three different healthcare systems across distinct and diverse communities propels a comprehensive understanding of the socio-economic aspects of healthcare.

Jane Zhou, MD (PGY-III)

I was born in Shanghai but spent my childhood living in Singapore, Canada, and the United States. Through these moves, I was able to interact with people from various backgrounds and experience the unique cultures in each of these countries. Part of my motivation to pursue medicine stems from the human interactions innate to the field which is what gives life to the diseases that we learn from textbooks. When it came time to select an IM residency program, it was important to me to train at a university with a diverse patient population, a wide assortment of pathologies, and opportunities to learn medicine in the framework of different cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds. Rutgers NJMS provided this diversity in addition to camaraderie with my co-residents, supportive mentorship from the faculty, and so much more! All of this has made my residency experience both invaluable and memorable!

Paul Lee, MD (PGY-II)

The most striking thing about Rutgers is its diversity. Coming from Alabama, I found it refreshing to be working alongside people from different walks of life. Being in New Jersey has amazing perks, which include: its amazing diversity, being a short train ride from NYC and few hours drive from Philly, DC, and Boston, access to an international airport (I used to drive hours to get to an airport), and its great food scene (Korean BBQ everywhere). Besides its great location, the program has truly amazing residents who are always willing to support each other. This is in full display in the busy continuity clinics, where no matter how busy you may get, there are always co-residents willing to help and see some of your patients when they have free time. Though the hours in residency may be long, being with co-residents I enjoy working alongside has made the time fly by. If I had to choose a residency again, I would definitely choose Rutgers NJMS!!!