Family Medicine Athens Residency Overview

The University of Texas at Tyler Health Science Center (HSC) Family Medical Residency in Athens offers an unopposed community based rural training experience in all aspects of family medicine. The residents interact daily with family medicine faculty with years of experience caring for the rural patient. In addition, residents will interact with freshly trained family physicians (fellowship graduates) who believe and are trained for our tradition of caring for the whole patient and the whole family in all phases of life. We strive for our graduates to have the skills, confidence, and ability to practice full scope family medicine in any circumstance or setting. Several of our faculty have experiences in international medicine to share as well. An important part of clinical competence is breadth of knowledge. The clinical experience in Athens will be coupled with an academic curriculum and adequate time for board preparation. Regularly scheduled feedback (formal and informal) is provided to the resident to allow them to measure progress and to formulate goals for continued improvement.

In addition to the family medicine faculty, our residency is supported by our specialty faculty. Our specialists are familiar working with competent family physicians and realize the value of training the future generation of primary care providers. Furthermore, our ancillary staff and administration look forward to contributing to your training experience.

We meet most all training requirements locally. There is no lack of patient volume or patient variety. Our hospital provides full service medical and surgical care including emergency and intensive care. The greatest strength in our program is our obstetrics experience. Our faculty includes four graduates of a family medicine obstetrics fellowship who will teach routine and operative obstetrics. Our faculty is also well trained and has a breadth of experience in both inpatient and outpatient procedural medicine. Additional clinical experience can be arranged off campus during elective rotations. There is a wealth of opportunity in our HSC system. UT Health East Texas has 10 hospitals and more than 50 clinics in which training can be obtained. Our residency has the support of the UT Tyler School of Medicine and the robust HSC Department of Graduate Medical Education. Research opportunities will be available locally and in coordination with HSC. Practice management and Quality Improvement will be learned from the knowledge base of someone who has done it for 30 plus years in private practice. Our faculty actively participates in organized medicine locally and on the state and national level and will encourage our residents to do the same.

Physician wellness and time with family is emphasized by both our faculty and our residents. I can vouch for our faculty’s dedication to family. The proof is shown in our record of successful families. Mentoring by our physicians comes naturally, but formal wellness activities will also be available. Upon successful completion of residency training in our program, I am confident that residents will be qualified to practice family medicine independently anywhere there is a need and will successfully pass the Family Medicine Board exam. Should you decide to stay in East Texas, there will undoubtedly be a place for you.