Health System (Carilion)
The Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine’s health system partner is Carilion Clinic, a not-for-profit health system headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia. The medical school is within a half-mile of the system’s flagship hospital, Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. Carilion cares for nearly 1 million Virginians and West Virginians in an approximately 20-county region in central and southwestern Virginia and southern West Virginia. The health system is the region’s largest private employer, with more than 13,000 employees, including more than 700 physicians.
Learning and working at Carilion
Carilion Clinic has a rich history in graduate medical education, which has been expanded since the founding of the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine over a decade ago.
Learn more about the experience of learning and working at Carilion through the eyes of some of their current and former residents and fellows:
[Rashad Ramkissoon, MD]: The preparation has been second to none. I couldn't imagine training at a better place.
[Narrator]: As the region's only level one trauma center and pediatric trauma center, Carilion Clinic sees more than 80,000 patients in Roanoke Memorial Hospital's emergency department yearly, which leads to more than 20,000 patient admissions from a service area of 1.5 million people, coming from urban suburban and rural communities.
[Tomer Pelleg, DO]: When it comes to medical training the most important thing is just sheer volume.
[Josh Eikenberg, MD]: With that large group of patients we really see some some very interesting things.
[Rashad]: Things that you read about and you never think you'd see, you actually see it here.
[Lauren Cantrell, MD]: I think that's set me up really well for taking care of critically ill patients.
[Narrator]: More than 3,000 babies are delivered each year at Roanoke Memorial Hospital. Our 60 bed NICU provides comprehensive care to our tiniest patients when they need it.
Hundreds of trainees from various medical education programs help meet the needs of patients of all ages.
[Adrienne Gentry, DO]: It doesn't matter where you come from the opportunity is there if you look for it.
[Matt Cauchi, DO]: One of the things that really drew me to Carilion was the commitment to education.
[Tomer]: Teaching at Carilion occurs at every level: it occurs at the bedside when we interact with patients; it occurs on morning rounds when we interact with medical students, interns.
[Narrator]: Carilion's partnership with Virginia Tech continues to expand, through the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute and Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. Carilion also has a 13,000 square foot technology driven simulation center with a trauma bay, OR, and other specialized training.
[Chris Reed, MD]: In addition to the fact that I have gotten good broad-based general surgery training, I've also been able to tailor my experience.
[Brad Icard, DO]: Each attending that you work with also comes from a different background and also has a different take on how they would approach these kind of situations.
[Travis Nelson, MD]: You're not fighting to get experience. These attendings want to teach you. They want to give you every opportunity to learn and grow when you're on that rotation.
[Lauren]: You're really incorporated early and have good mentorship. I think our early operative experience is great. We get an operating room from day one.
[Moses Lopez-Twumasi, MD]: It helps to have great supportive residents and faculty who are not only local, and know the area and can give you advice, but also people that are also sharing your same experience from different parts of the country.
[Matt]: I didn't know much about Carilion coming from New York because I was originally born in Long Island.
[Rashad]: I'm from a big city. I'm from Houston Texas.
[Ashley Gerrish, MD]: For someone who moves 16 times growing up, this is somewhat become home for me. You're here every day you want to like the people you're working with and enjoy being able to commiserate over rough days and celebrate good times together.
[Various unidentified voices]:
[1] We really do function as a as a family. We all hang out together outside the hospital.
[2] And I really like the people that I work with even on my officer rotations.
[3] The program has definitely been excellent at trying to navigate that and help me throughout the years to maintain that work-life balance.
[4] It's kind of like the best of both worlds: you've got this kind of big city in the small town feel.
[Narrator]: As a Magnet Accredited hospital, expect a compassionate approach to learning and patient centered care.
[Lauren]: I think a lot of us gripe a little bit about it like intern year and second year: "Oh there is so much we have to do," but then we come out of it third year and we're like: "Oh wow, we've done a lot! Wow our CVs look pretty good."
[Rashad]: The preparation has been second to none. I couldn't imagine training at a better place.
[Narrator]: A beautiful backdrop with immense support to help you find your place in the future of medicine.
Learn more about Carilion’s impact on the region
A new study from the acclaimed Weldon Cooper Center in Charlottesville shows Carilion Clinic provides more than 3.2 billion dollars and nearly 24,000 jobs annually to Virginia's economy.
The study spotlights Carilion's vital role not only in the community's health but the economy's health as well. Thanks to its strong economic standing, Carilion is able to commit to projects like their 1 billion dollar regional capital improvement project over the next 7 years.
Over the last 15 years, Carilion's job numbers have grown 39 percent to 13,317 employees. In addition, the study finds for every 10 jobs at Carilion, another 8 are created, leading to more than 900 million dollars in service areas like education entertainment and real estate, and more than 155 million in retail and wholesale business.
A margin that supports the mission to improve the health of the communities it serves. Karen McNew, for Carilion Clinic.
