McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University Program

Program Identity & Fit

NUEM is a four-year, university-based, quaternary-care emergency medicine program anchored at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Lurie Children's Hospital, two Level 1 trauma centers combining for over 150,000 annual ED visits, supplemented by rotations at Methodist Hospital (Gary, IN), Lake Forest Hospital and Stroger Hospital's trauma/toxicology services. The curriculum is deliberately built around high-acuity exposure with no general ward months, heavy ICU immersion (8.5 rotations), a distinctive junior-attending model for PGY3/4 residents managing 12-20 patient teams, and mandatory scholarly output (every resident produces a publishable manuscript). Research is institutionally robust, with a dedicated SAEM-certified two-year research fellowship, a Vice Chair of Research overseeing federally funded health services investigators, and the Starzl Academy supporting physician-scientist tracks. Graduates predominantly move into academic leadership, education, research, or ED directorship roles, and the program explicitly recruits candidates with demonstrated leadership, scholarship and service track records.