July 8, 2019
The College of Community Health Sciences has created a Pediatric Fellowship for family medicine physicians that is believed to be the first such training program in the country. The fellowship will provide comprehensive instruction for family medicine physicians seeking additional skills in pediatric care.
Dr. Sara Phillips, fellowship director, said the year-long program offers a variety of experiences in both primary care and tertiary care settings, including at Children’s of Alabama, a Birmingham-based hospital that provides specialized medical care for ill and injured children. Fellows will also receive dedicated research time and financial support for continuing medical education activities.
Phillips said while the Pediatric Fellowship is grounded in a primary care setting, it also provides important exposure to pediatric care in hospitals and with specialists. “If you have primary care physicians with pediatrics experience, they can intubate, start lines on pediatric patients, whatever they might have to do.” She said there is a scarcity of pediatric care in rural areas, so equipping primary care physicians with pediatric care skills can help with the shortage of care that currently exists.
The Pediatric Fellowship currently has room for one fellow. Interviews will begin in fall with a start date of July 2020.
The addition of the Pediatrics Fellowship brings to eight the number of fellowships offered by CCHS, which include fellowships in behavioral health, emergency medicine, geriatric medicine, hospital medicine, obstetrics, rural public psychiatry and sports medicine.
CCHS operates The University of Alabama Family Medicine Residency, one of the oldest and largest family medicine residencies in the country, and it provides the clinical years of education for a portion of UA School of Medicine students.
