New Emergency Medicine Fellows Kick-Off First Rotations of Year-Long Fellowship

July 31, 2017

The newest addition to graduate medical education at the College of Community Health Sciences kicked off in July with the appointments of Dr. Michelle Pike and Dr. Owen Ulmer to its Emergency Medicine Fellowship. Both family medicine physicians have begun rotations, based primarily at Rush Foundation Hospital in Meridian, MS. Each has come with a unique background and broad set of skills to provide support to a rural community facing a critical shortage in emergency medicine professionals and to which they each have personal ties. Pike is a native of rural Missouri. While completing her undergraduate degree at Truman State University, Pike paralleled training to earn a NREMT Paramedic license. She additionally worked on an Advanced Life Support Unit as a paramedic on critical care and emergency patient transports before entering medical school, and has logged more than one thousand hours of combined medical shadowing and ambulance experience through Missouri’s PRIMO/ACES Medical Mentoring Program. Pike attended medical school at the American University of the Caribbean, St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilies. Subsequently, she completed her residency training at The University of Alabama Family Medicine Residency, operated by CCHS, graduating as a Board-Certified Family Medicine Resident Physician in June 2017. Her research has been published in the West London Medical Journal. Pike has served as an Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and Basic Life Support (BLS) instructor for medical and Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) students throughout her medical studies. As an AmeriCorps member, she has worked with rural health care programs to further health education for her community.

Ulmer is a family medicine physician, originally from Columbia, MD, who returned to his military parents’ native Mississippi to attend medical school and to practice. Ulmer received his undergraduate degree in Biology from Delta State University, and his graduate degree in Biomedical Sciences through the University of Mississippi Medical Center. A recent graduate of William Carey University, Ulmer served as chief resident and was a member of several committees both within his program and at the national level. Ulmer is a member of the United States Navy Reserve and provides community services through his local free clinic. Throughout his career, he has maintained an overarching interest in general medicine within both outpatient and emergency health care. Pike and Ulmer are the first fellows to take part in the new Emergency Medicine Fellowship, which the College is providing in conjunction with Rush Foundation Hospital in Meridian, MS. The fellowship is part of the College’s efforts to provide needed health care professionals for many Alabama communities—particularly to those rural communities with limited access to major medical facilities and services. Find out more about the Emergency Medicine Fellowship