Department of Internal Medicine - Las Vegas

Message from the Chairman:

I would like to welcome you to the website for the University of Nevada School of Medicine (UNSOM) Department of Internal Medicine, Las Vegas. Our department has faculty members, residents, and staff dedicated to our missions of service, education, and research.

Our department is committed to providing quality patient care in the inpatient and outpatient settings. The majority of inpatient practice occurs together with the residency program at our affiliate hospital University Medical Center. The faculty ambulatory practice is located at our Patient Care Center. Our general internists provide primary care and operate a medically supervised weight loss clinic. The subspecialty faculty practice makes cutting edge care obtainable in the Las Vegas area. Our division of gastroenterology has an Inflammatory Bowel Disease clinic, and performs advanced endoscopic procedures including endoscopic ultrasound. The neurology division offers expertise in movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, neuromuscular care including the Muscular Dystrophy Association Clinic, and treatment of Multiple Sclerosis. The endocrine division manages an AADE certified Diabetes Center.  Our division of rheumatology cares for patients with lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, and other disorders. Our new division of pulmonary and critical care medicine provides ICU care and advanced diagnostic and therapeutic management of lung nodules and lung cancers.

Our department is dedicated to education. We have the largest, post-graduate training program in the state of Nevada with 59 residents and we have plans to further expand over the next two years.  Our mission is to provide quality training to physicians who will be practicing primary care, subspecialty internal medicine care, or completing a preliminary year prior to joining their specialty program. The residency boasts a 100% board pass rate over the last year and a 97% rate over the last three years.  The curriculum incorporates hands-on training at our state of the art Simulation Center.   Our residents are successful in matching into competitive fellowship programs. We train a number of medical students from UNSOM, in both general internal medicine and subspecialty electives.

Our clinical research has grown considerably over the last few years.  We are conducting clinical trials in the areas of inflammatory bowel disease, movement disorders, neuromuscular diseases, multiple sclerosis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, and medical education. Please see our research page for a listing of the trials and information about patient recruitment.  The federally funded Diabetes Center is a rich resource for the development of innovative research in Nevada. The residency also contributes to the annual Nevada American College of Physicians Conference and our residents and faculty present at many national conferences each year.  

Thank you for your interest in our department and I hope you find this site informative.

Sincerely,

John Varras, M.D., F.A.C.P.

Chairman

Department of Internal Medicine, Las Vegas

2040 W. Charleston Blvd., Ste. 300

Las Vegas, NV 89102

Faculty Roster