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C L I N I C A L S E R V I C E S › C H I E F R E S I D E N T G R E G O R Y C O T E
 LEADERSHIP › How do you lead a team of residents effectively while also working side by side with them in the trenches? As one of four chief residents responsible for helping to supervise 130 residents in the Department of Medicine at Northwestern University’s Chicago campus, Gregory A. Cote, MD ’01, says the secret is simple. He uses the same high standards for others that he applies to his own work. › “I try to empower those looking for help to learn how to solve problems on their own,” says the New York native and recipient of several teaching awards from third- and fourth-year medical students. “I challenge them the same way I challenge myself.”
PURPLE LEGACY › Dr. Cote started as an Honors Program in Medical Education student in 1994 at the University and began his internal medicine residency at the McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University in 2001. In summer 2005 he will continue his graduate medical education at Northwestern Memorial Hospital (NMH) as a gastroenterology fellow,
with his ultimate goal being to help eradicate gastrointestinal cancer, a disease which has claimed members of his own family. Overall, his day-to-day goal as chief medical resident is to always put the patient first in his work at NMH and the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, an example that students and
residents can learn from, and in turn, emulate.
 TRACK RECORD › This type of dynamism is integral to the position of chief resident, says Sharon L. Dooley, MD, Albert B. Gerbie, MD, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and associate dean for graduate medical education at the Feinberg School of Medicine. “Medicine chief residents are unique in that they stay an extra year because of their superior qualities as internists,” she says. “Essentially, they are placed in this role
not only because of their clinical experience but also because of the important role they play in the education of residents and medical students.”
 ENERGY, ENTHUSIASM, AND INSPIRATION › Indeed, Dr. Cote emphasizes his love of the education component, which includes the design of daily morning reports where an
interesting clinical case is prepared and presented to residents, students, and faculty members. He tries to deliver the same enthusiasm he remembers from the best presentations of his first three years of residency and four years of medical school. › One continued inspiration for Dr. Cote is the frequent presence of Dean Lewis Landsberg, MD, who still attends morning reports once or twice a month. “To me,” Dr. Cote concludes, “that is what distinguishes the life of a clinician from so many other professions. You are surrounded by people who have done this for decades and who will continue to do this for no other reason than sheer love of medicine.”
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FIG. 1
Annually, about 1,000
residents and fellows rotate through McGaw’s 100 GME programs.
The chief residency year in the Department of Medicine is unique in that, unlike other GME programs (excluding pediatrics), the chief medical resident remains for an additional year of training beyond the traditional three-year span.
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FIG. 2
Dr. Gregory Cote leads “morning report” for about 70 residents, students, and faculty members. |
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FIG. 3
Chief residents are faced with the task of scheduling residents within new work hour standards. Dr. Cote’s schedule is devoted to three primary areas: administration, which includes scheduling residents within the limits of 80 duty hours per week (45 percent), medical education (40 percent), and clinical care (15 percent). |
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FIG. 4
Perfecting physical exam skills is vital to the education of residents and medical students and the quality of patient care. |
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