Click Here to Read a Message from the Director
Richard J. Fogler, MD, FACS  
Director of Medical Education

The Teaching Hospital

As a teaching hospital, Brookdale is dedicated to training new physicians.  Experienced full-time and voluntary attending physicians, in turn, must keep completely up to date with the expanding body of medical knowledge in order to properly train our House Staff.

Brookdale's House Staff is comprised of graduate doctors, physicians who already have their medical degrees and are receiving further training in a specialty. Residents are in the initial phase of postgraduate training, and fellows in the process of obtaining more advanced specialty training.

Residents and fellows gradually increase their responsibility consistent with their experience but, always with the proper level of supervision.  With residents present around the clock, patients at Brookdale have quality medical care available on a full-time basis.

Another benefit in seeking a teaching hospital is the research that takes place.  Because research plays an important role in Brookdale, all of the hospital's physicians keep abreast of the most current methods, and initiate the discovery process themselves.

Patients who live in the Brookdale community gain yet another advantage by living near a teaching hospital.  Most of Brookdale's graduating residents and fellows go into practice in our area, adding to the medical resources the community can draw on.  And much of Brookdale's research focuses on the serious medical issues the community faces, such as heart disease, hypertension or breast cancer.