DEPARTMENT OF INTERNAL MEDICINE

Message from the Chair

Clifford Wang, MD, MPH, FACP portrait

Welcome to the Department of Medicine​

Founded in 1876 as a county hospital, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (SCVMC) is located in the heart of Silicon Valley, an international hub of innovation, and serves one of the most diverse patient populations in the country.  We are part of the County of Santa Clara’s enterprise health system which includes SCVMC, O’Connor Hospital, and Saint Louise Regional Hospital.   The department of medicine is the largest academic department with 13 divisions and over 200 faculty in primary care, hospital medicine, and specialty care.   It is home to our internal medicine and transitional residency programs and collaborates with the Stanford medicine and specialty fellowship programs.  We are a primary clerkship site for internal medicine for both Stanford University medical students and Geisel Dartmouth medical students.  

Our mission is to deliver unparalleled comprehensive and integrated care with compassion for everyone in our diverse community.  We were one of the first academic hospitalist programs in California, have one of the longest running HIV clinics in the nation, have a nationally recognized homeless healthcare program, and recently started a new Transgender Medicine clinic.   Our vision is leading healthcare through compassion, education, and innovation.  Our faculty have won awards for basic science research in human mycology, development of a robust e-consult service, and creation of a post-acute care model that has reduced readmissions and improved hospital flow.  We continue to pioneer educational models from the development of a web-based medicine curriculum called Professor EBM to faculty coaching.  We have participated in advocacy work nationally and statewide for health care policy reform that impacts our patients and practice including the Affordable Care Act, 340B prescription pricing, and opiate substance use. 

We are deeply committed to teaching, leadership development, physician well-being, research and innovation, and quality and operational systems improvement.   We pride ourselves on having and recruiting a diverse faculty.  My goal as chair is to inspire, foster, harness, and connect the collective intelligence and heart of the faculty to achieve the best health for our patients and train the next generation of students, residents, fellows, and faculty.  The future of medicine is here, and I invite you to explore our site for more information.   

Warm regards,

Clifford Wang, MD, MPH, FACP

Chair, Department of Medicine 
Santa Clara Valley Medical Center 
Clinical Associate Professor (Affiliate), Stanford University School of Medicine 
Clinical Associate Professor, Geisel Dartmouth School of Medicine