Shawn Chillag

Shawn Chillag, MD

Position: Professor, Medicine

Board Certification: ABIM

Medical School: WVU

Residency: Internal Medicine CAMC/WVU Charleston

Faculty Rank: Professor

Special Clinical/Research Interests: eclectic

Is there a particular population of students (e.g., ethnicity, spiritual, sexual orientation) that you would particularly like to advise?

What does a typical day in the life of an internist include?

Hugely variable with inpatient and/or outpatient as well as path to 10 or more sub-specialties with 1 to 6 years of fellowship. Largest plurality choose hospitalist medicine which is almost exclusively caring for inpatients that is done like shift work.

What is the biggest challenge of being an internist?

The large scope of diseases is frightening to many, but you learn patterns of thinking, care and evaluation that enable you protect patients until you figure it out or get help. It is intellectually easier to be a sub-specialist because you can know more of a smaller area with less uncertainty.

How do you foresee changing over the next 20 years?

More emphasis on standards of care, quality improvement, more health maintenance with less of it done by doctors, fewer hours of work, more systems of care, greater demand for internists with aging population and advances in keeping people functional longer

What advice would you give a student who is considering an internal residency?

“Try it on” early in your 4^th year working on inpatient or outpatient teams to make sure it is a good fit.