Alexis Acernese, MD
Welcome to the RUSH Copley Family Medicine Residency Program! My name is Alexis Acernese, and I am the Chief Resident for the 2023-2024 academic year. I am truly honored to represent this program and work alongside such talented residents and faculty members. I am very excited to tell you more about our great program and family!
We are a well-rounded, unopposed program comprised of 4 residents per year totaling 12 residents. In our relatively small program, you quickly become an integral part of our team and our family. As the only residents in our hospital, we closely work with attendings in both the inpatient and outpatient settings in all disciplines. Our specialists are among one our program’s greatest assets, and we are lucky to have the opportunity to work with them directly, which undoubtably elevates our educational experience during our time in residency.
Accompanying our robust clinical exposure, our residency fosters a friendly, compassionate, and intellectually curious environment composed of residents, faculty, and other significant parts of our team which we take pride in. Our attendings are a group of diverse, well-rounded clinicians who are deeply invested in our learning and professional development. One of the greatest strengths of this program is the camaraderie and close-knit relationships we develop with the residency and community faculty. Although we spend so much time together at the hospital, we genuinely enjoy each other’s company and think of ourselves as truly a family within family medicine. Some activities we enjoy off shift include attending sporting events (watching and competing), day trips to the city, enjoying new restaurants, holiday celebrations, exploring local parks and enjoying the many activities in the Chicagoland area!
We are invested in promoting wellness within our program through the incorporation of mentorship, monthly resident wellness events, annual residency retreats, and the addition of a PGY-3 wellness representative. This year Dr. Joseph Rojas will take on this role and is excited to bring new ideas and activities to continue to foster this culture.
We are also very devoted to achieving academic success. We have formulated a didactic schedule with lectures that assist in expanding our knowledge with hands training sessions, journal club, guest lectures, MNM’s and much more. We have an academic representative from the PGY-3 class this year, Dr. Hiba Mohiuddin, who is passionate about continuously refining and introducing new and evolving topics in medicine.
Another one of our program’s greatest strengths lies in the training site itself. Even though we are a community program, we are strongly affiliated with RUSH University, which creates a “best of both worlds” environment. We have the opportunity to rotate at the RUSH downtown campus, have access to the RUSH University Medical Center’s online library, which is extremely helpful for research and are able to participate in may combined opportunities from education to social events. RUSH University Medical Center was named one of the world’s best hospitals, ranking it 18th in the U.S. and 54th in the world in Newsweek magazine in 2023 which is just one of many awards granted this year.
Our hospital is located on the east side of Aurora, IL, which is the second most populous city in Illinois. It borders Naperville, where many of our residents live, which constantly ranks as one of the safest and most enjoyable places to live in the country. We also have easy access to downtown Chicago for those who like to experience the city life from time to time.
We are a group of passionate individuals in Family Medicine hope this information gave you a good sense of our program. Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any additional questions about our program or the application process. My email is Alexis_Acernese@rush.edu. We look forward to meeting you!
Alexis Acernese, MD, PGY-3
Chief Resident, 2023-2024