Message from Our Director

Welcome to the Internal Medicine Residency Program at North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo, Mississippi. We became American Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accredited in 2020 and are based at the largest rural hospital in America. We are a new training site that combines state-of-the art facilities with experienced clinical and academic faculty. Our patients, staff, commitment to diversity and innovative learning make this an amazing place to train. Our goal is to ensure that residents achieve clinical competence in a supportive family environment. We do this by creating the perfect balance of autonomy and supervision as well as education and workload. Our structured didactics are engaging and complement the diverse pathology and patient care challenges we face daily. We listen to the input of staff and trainees to continually improve our program and ensure that everyone reaches his or her full potential. Our graduates will go on to a variety of careers in primary care, subspecialty medicine and hospitalist medicine. When you graduate from this program you will be able to competently enter fellowship or independently practice medicine.

On a personal note, I completed undergraduate studies at the University of Florida in Gainesville and medical school at NSU-COM in Fort Lauderdale. I then completed residency at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach. I ultimately came to north Mississippi through the National Health Service Core in 2005. I was the founding internal medicine program director at Magnolia Regional Health Center in 2008. In my 10-plus years as program director at MRHC, I was fortunate to be named the ACOI national “Teacher of the Year,” be selected to the ACGME Internal Medicine Resident Review Committee, and be named a member of the American Board of Internal Medicine Board of Trustees. In reflecting on my career as a medical educator, it has been the accomplishments of my trainees that has made me most proud. Our graduates had a more than 97% first time board pass rate, entered outstanding fellowship programs, and became competent attending physicians in a multitude of primary care and specialty practices.

We are also fortunate to call Tupelo, Mississippi, our home. Tupelo is a beautiful city that is famously known as the birthplace of Elvis Presley. Our city offers an excellent cost of living, growing economy, abundant restaurants and outdoor activities that blends our historic past and gives a glimpse into our bright future.

I hope you will come see what the program and north Mississippi have to offer. This is a place where you will learn, grow and truly make a difference!

David Pizzimenti, D.O.