Chief Residents
Chief Residents provide leadership and support to residents in the combined Internal Medicine-Pediatrics Residency program. They serve as mentors and advocates for the residents and set a positive tone for the program.
2019-2020 Chief Residents
Gloria Tran
I consider myself a sunny southern California girl, born and bred, who flagrantly defies the rules of sunscreen application. I went to undergrad at California Institute of Technology (yes, the one from Big Bang Theory) and med school at UC San Diego. So, since moving here to Indiana just over 3 years ago, people regularly ask me, “why here?” Answer: IU MED PEDS! This large group, comprised of a bunch of goofy, thoughtful, intelligent, collaborative and self-driven individuals is my family away from family. And I’m no stranger to large gatherings as I have a huge extended family back home! And it doesn’t stop there — we’re an integral part of the categorical families as well. Walking down the halls of any of our hospitals, it’s hard not to bump into another Med-Peds resident, fellow or faculty. The opportunities are endless and available mentors abound. I’ve been able to participate in our Global Health track, spending 2 months at a teaching hospital in Eldoret, Kenya as part of a 30-yr old international partnership; research in GI as well as with underserved, undocumented populations; and recruitment and outreach committees. My latest adventure is representing our program as one of the chief residents, for all the reasons listed above and more. As an aspiring Med-Peds hospitalist, my goal for this year is to provide more teaching on high value care-based medicine (look up the Choosing Wisely campaign) as well as practical medicine (i.e. bedside ultrasound and procedures).
My co-residents and I are extremely excited to meet you and hope you find yourselves at home within our Med-Peds family! Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!
Derek Pinkerton
Growing up in a rural town in North Carolina as the son of a Med-Peds physician, I quickly learned what a specialist for kids and adults could do. My father saw patients of all ages in clinic, from newborns to geriatric patients, and took care of pediatric and adult inpatients on both the general wards and the open ICU in our general hospital. My experiences way back then and all throughout my training have made me a firm believer that being a doctor for kids and adults makes you better at taking care of both. This has made me passionate about creating, teaching, and mentoring current and future Med-Peds physicians – and what better place to do that than at IU? Our large size and long history has created a strong Med-Peds presence, made us indispensable to this medical system, and opened a multitude of opportunities for our residents. I wanted to be chief in order to help teach, advocate for, and mentor our residents in their training, and to continue to establish our presence within the IU system and on the national scene. I’m honored that my co-residents chose me for the job. I also represent Med-Peds and IU on the national level – I’m the current past-president of the National Med-Peds Residents’ Association (NMPRA), working on such projects as creating a dedicated Med-Peds focused online journal, arranging regional NMPRA conferences, and working with various programs and organizations to develop Med-Peds combined subspecialty fellowships. Speaking of which, next year I plan to pursue my own combined Med-Peds Nephrology fellowship! I’m confident that you’ll not only find every opportunity to succeed academically and receive a well-rounded training here at IU, but also a group of caring, wonderful people in your co-residents and leadership team. We look forward to seeing you here – please reach out if you have questions about IU, educational opportunities here, Med-Peds careers/fellowships, or Med-Peds in general!
