Specialty-Specific Advisors/Resources

The Office of Student Affairs and heads of advisory houses support students throughout the residency application process, including answering general questions. However, each specialty also has individuals designated to provide students with specialty-specific information, such as how many programs to apply to, how many letters are needed, and from whom. Most departments have a director of medical education, residency director, associate residency director(s), and residency program coordinator. Below is a description of each of their roles, to help students navigate who to reach out to for various questions.

Director of medical education (DME): The DMEs oversee medical education across the four-year MD curriculum in their departments. The DMEs are the initial point-of-contact for medical students interested in their specialty. In some cases, a DME is also the residency program director or involved in the residency selection process; in these situations, they have identified alternative specialty-specific advisors in their department for students who prefer advice from a faculty member who is not involved in the residency selection process. On this page, we refer to the alternative advisors as “specialty-specific advisors.”

Residency program director (PD): The PD is responsible for overseeing the educational, clinical, and administrative components of the residency program. PDs are connected with Yale’s residency selection process and are an excellent resource for providing students with specialty-specific advice about the application process at Yale and elsewhere.

Associate residency program director (APD): The APD supports the PD in the day-to-day operations of the residency program, such as curriculum implementation, resident assessment, recruitment, and faculty development. As with the PDs, students can reach out to APDs for specialty-specific advice about the application process at Yale and elsewhere.

Residency program coordinator (PC): The residency coordinator is responsible for the administrative and logistical support of the residency program, including the recruitment process. The coordinators are good contacts for students applying to a Yale program because, for example, they schedule interviews.