New Internal Medicine Residency Program

13 new physicians to be part of first-ever graduate medical education class at Harlingen Medical Center

HARLINGEN – A new Internal Medicine Residency Program at Harlingen Medical Center will help bring additional doctors to the Rio Grande Valley and represents a landmark expansion of medical education in South Texas.

The new program is historic as the first-ever graduate medical education program at Harlingen Medical Center.

During the first year of the program, 13 internal medicine residents will rotate through Harlingen Medical Center, significantly increasing medical coverage in the Harlingen area.

Once the Internal Medicine Program is fully staffed in the third year of the program (in 2026), there will be 39 internal medicine residents rotating through the community hospital.

The first class of physician residents will start their three-year residency this July.

The new residency program recently received accreditation with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, a national organization which accredits graduate medical training programs for physicians in the United States.

“Our mission will be to train excellent physicians to deliver healthcare services in a variety of settings — and to help a reduce shortages of physicians in our community,” said Candi Constantine-Castillo, CEO of Harlingen Medical Center.

“The educational and clinical components of this exciting project will be great assets for the entire Valley,” Constantine-Castillo added.

The program will provide a supportive and engaging educational environment that promotes research and scholarship — as well as increasing the assimilation of evidence-based medicine into patient care.

In addition, the program will seek to provide holistic healthcare, promoting wellness, healthy lifestyles, and the advancement of health equity, by supporting efforts to address various factors and needs in the community which affect health (the social determinants of health).

Harlingen Medical Center, a member of Prime Healthcare, has been serving the Valley for more than 20 years. The facility holds various distinctions as a leader in health care to include a Primary Stroke Center, a certified Chest Pain Center, a Level IV Trauma Center, a certified Joint Replacement Center, and a designated “Birthing- Friendly’ hospital for maternity care.

In addition, Harlingen Medical Center has received an “A” grade for patient safety six times in a row, according to the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade ratings. This national distinction recognizes the hospital’s achievements in the provision of patient safety.

Harlingen Medical Center has also won the “Gold” award for care of stroke patients from the American Heart Association — and received the “Best of the Best Reader’s Choice Award” for “Best Hospital”, according to readers of the Valley Morning Star.

For more information on the new internal medicine residency program, please contact Nikki Herrera, GME Coordinator for Harlingen Medical Center, at 956-365-1926 or at HMC-GME@primehealthcare.com, and visit www.HarlingenMedicalCenter.com.