Academic Career Fellowship in Family Medicine

The Academic Career Fellowship is a 1-year fellowship program, with an optional second year, designed to prepare a physician for a successful career in academic medicine.

The guiding philosophy of the Academic Career Fellowship is to combine practical experience in patient care, teaching, scholarship, and service with exposure to the rich environment that the department, university and state provide in specific areas of clinical work, teaching and administrative activity. The curriculum is individually tailored to each fellow to address career goals.

Fellows spend 60% of their time in academic development. For the Fellow, their academic development will include graduate-level courses. Previous fellows have pursued a Masters in Public Health, Masters in Health Professions Education, Masters in Business Administration, or other certificate programs offered at UIC.

The Fellow academic development is focused on development of excellence in a particular area such as a specific clinical focus: HIV/AIDS; Maternity Care; Global Health; Reproductive Health; Medical Student Education; or Health Disparities for example.

The Fellow will also gain teaching experience in the Family Medicine Residency Program through Wednesday didactics.  They will also work with both pre-clinical medical students as well as medical students on their Family Medicine clerkship. Inpatient and maternity care services are optional but highly encouraged.

The remaining time (40%) is spent in clinical care. They provide clinical care in one of the Family Medicine clinical experiences- University Village or Mile Square Health Center.

Clinical Training

The Fellow will spend 4 half days per week in direct patient care at the Family Medicine University Village Clinic or Mile Square Health Center.

As schedules allow, the Fellow may also precept residents in clinic.

Teaching

The Fellow will teach in the didactic programs for the Family Medicine Residency and for the medical student Family Medicine clerkship.

Scholarly Activity

The Fellow will apply and be admitted to a graduate program. Tuition may be covered by standard employee tuition waiver program.

The Fellow will also participate and prepare a scholarly project to be disseminated (i.e. presented at a regional or national conference in addition to participation on Scholarship Day in the department of Family Medicine, or submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal).  If the fellow opts for a second year of fellowship, plans for further scholarly work will need to be discussed with program directors

Professional Development

Each Fellow meets regularly with the Program Directors to discuss career goals, and professional development strategies. Each Fellow will also be assigned a faculty mentor, who will meet regularly with the Fellow to assess professional development and provide support to the fellow.

Evaluation

Fellows will be evaluated by faculty on their individualized goals.

Fellows will make appropriate progress on a graduate or certificate program.

Fellows will be evaluated by students and residents during clinical sessions and didactics. Some of these sessions will also be observed by faculty. Fellows will also receive evaluation by Fellowship faculty according to ACGME Core Competencies.

Current Fellows

Nina Paroff, MD, MPH

Wala Tout, MD