A Letter from Program Director, Manzoor Rather, MD

Warm greetings from your Internal Medicine Residency Program! We hope you are doing well and thriving in all your professional endeavors.

Through the years, our residency program has continued to advance in clinical training, scholarship, and educational innovation. We are excited to share some of our recent highlights with you.

Resident success & career placement

This past year, we celebrated the graduation of 21 outstanding residents. We had 8 residents matching into competitive fellowships, including Cardiology, Pulmonary & Critical Care, Hematology-Oncology, Endocrinology, Nephrology & Rheumatology. While the remainder have accepted positions in hospital medicine and primary care across the country. We are especially proud of our many IMG residents, who have secured fellowships at respected institutions like Dartmouth. Their success continues to strengthen our program’s reputation for rigorous clinical training and mentorship.

Academic & scholarly achievements

Resident scholarly activity continues to expand, with increasing footprints at regional and national conferences. We have a growing participation in quality improvement and patient safety initiatives. We have also strengthened our research mentorship structure through a formal research club, pairing dedicated residents and faculty advisors to foster academic productivity.

Clinical training enhancements

Recent improvements include enhanced POCUS training with strengthened simulation-based education. We continue to emphasize value-based care. Our residency continues to maintain a strong board pass rate and high clinical performance metrics. The board pass rate for 2025 is 95 percent.

Resident community outreach spotlight

Our residents continue to embody service, leadership and compassion. Each weekend, they continue to advance our mission of community-centered care through their work in Health Promoter Programs across Philadelphia. Recent outreach includes the African Health Promoter Program at St. Cyprian Church on Cobbs Creek Parkway, the Hispanic Health Promoter Program at the Consulate of Mexico, the Asian Health Promoter Program at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in South Philadelphia and the BIPOC Health Promoter Program at Mother of Mercy in Kensington.

Across all these initiatives, our residents consistently demonstrate exceptional commitment to health equity and community partnership.

Program growth & innovation

The program continues to grow through the recruitment of diverse, high-quality residents from around the world, expansion of core and subspecialty faculty, including addiction medicine, and improved wellness initiatives with an established committee. We are proud that our program remains a supportive, academically engaged and clinically rigorous training environment.

Stay connected

You are an essential part of our story. We would love to hear about your professional accomplishments, academic activities, leadership roles and other noteworthy milestones, both professional and personal.

In future newsletters, we hope to highlight alumni accomplishments and create stronger connections between current residents and our past graduates.

If you are interested in mentoring residents, offering elective rotations or job opportunities, or participating in alumni activities, we encourage you to reach out.

Thank you for representing our program with excellence, dedication and integrity. Your success remains an integral part of our legacy.

With warm regards,

Manzoor Rather, MD
Program Director
Internal Medicine Residency Program
Mercy Catholic Medical Center