Baptist Health Program

Program Identity & Fit

Baptist Health's Transitional Year is a community-based, single intern-year program built around two distinct hospital sites—Baptist Health Princeton Hospital and Grandview Medical Center—designed to provide a broad clinical foundation with substantial elective flexibility before residents move into their designated PGY-2 specialty. Its identity is service-oriented rather than research-driven: residents are pre-matched into competitive specialties such as dermatology, diagnostic radiology, and radiation oncology, and use the year to build inpatient medicine skills and pursue targeted electives (e.g., dermatopathology) relevant to their eventual field. All residents participate in the institution-wide Research Week (case report, QI, or clinical research poster), so scholarly output is structured but not central to the program's mission. The program markets itself heavily on culture, faculty accessibility, and geographic continuity, with many residents being UAB-trained locals who value staying in Birmingham and describe the environment as "family"-like and supportive rather than academically intensive.