Print | Email Facts About Departments of Internal Medicine 

Accounting for approximately 200,000 of the nation’s 700,000 physicians, internal medicine is the largest, most diverse specialty in the United States.  Internal medicine includes the following subspecialties:

• Allergy and Immunology
• Cardiology
• Endocrinology
• Gastroenterology
• General Internal Medicine
• Geriatrics
• Hematology
• Infectious Diseases
• Nephrology
• Oncology
• Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
• Rheumatology

Departments of internal medicine are dedicated to a tripartite mission of:

• Educating the next generation of physicians (and other health care professionals)
• Conducting groundbreaking research
• Providing excellent clinical care

Academic internal medicine is the most dominant group of physicians contributing to these missions within US medical schools and teaching hospitals.

Training in academic internal medicine occurs in both the university and community settings.  Besides teaching the next generation of physicians, academic medicine conducts cutting-edge research, provides high-level care for patients, and employs millions of Americans.  Many academic centers provide care for indigent patients.  Often, medical schools and teaching hospitals are affiliated with programs for other health providers, such as nurses, public health officers, and allied health professionals.  This combination of medical schools, other providers, and teaching hospitals forms the foundation of American medicine.