Prepared for Residency and Fellowship, CI MED Alum Reflects

When Dr. Yusi Gong walked into the Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital as a new resident three years ago, she felt ready on day one. She credits her medical school training at Carle Illinois College of Medicine.

“CI MED prepared me for residency by creating all of these hands-on experiences, between the problem-based learning curriculum and our really, really early clinical exposure, I felt so ready going into intern year. I felt like I have done this before through all of my years here [at CI MED],” Gong said. 

Now, she's taking her accumulated knowledge, experience, and medical career to the next level after being selected for a cardiology fellowship at the University of California, San Diego, starting this fall, following the completion of her internal medicine residency in Boston. She chose cardiology based on the breadth of experiences available in the specialty, including seeing patients in the office and ICU on some days and performing imaging studies and electrocardiograms (EKGs) on others.

“Every time I'm on a cardiology rotation, whether it's heart failure or CCU (coronary care unit), I just think that ‘oh my gosh, I want to do this,’” Gong said, noting that she sees a future for herself that involves both general cardiology practice and a deep-dive into health-related study. “I think that I want to have a big portion of my career be focused on research, but I definitely want to keep an open mind and see what I end up liking.”

Students at CI MED interact with patients as early as the second week of medical school, far earlier than in most M.D. training programs. As a member of CI MED’s inaugural class, Gong was among the first to train under the school’s unique curriculum that combines immersive clinical experience with research and an engineering-based approach to clinical problem-solving.

“We had a lot of opportunities to think about how we can change what is already being done in medicine and think about ways that we can make it better, safer, more equitable. The curriculum did such a good job teaching us to think in a different mindset than what a lot of med schools do,” she said.

Gong was invited back to speak at the CI MED Class of 2025 Convocation in May, where she reflected on the relationships she formed at the world’s first engineering-based college of medicine.

“I'm so grateful for everything that the school has given me in terms of opportunities and friendships, and lifelong mentors, and I think it's just a great place to learn,” Gong said. “I would definitely not be here today, where I am, without them. Their curiosity and their intellect, and I just have learned so much from everyone here.”