We will soon welcome new classes of medical students and resident physicians to the College of Community Health Sciences. Nearly three dozen third-year medical students will begin the first of two years of their clinical education with us, and 16 new medical school graduates will begin a three-year residency, as they work to become specialists in family medicine.
Forming the foundation of the College’s clinical teaching and education program is University Medical Center, which the College operates. There, medical students and residents will train with and work alongside skilled, experienced and dedicated physicians, staff and researchers in family medicine, pediatrics, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, geriatrics, neurology, behavioral health, social work, psychiatry and sports medicine.
As it cares for patients throughout West Alabama, UMC is also preparing the next generation of primary-care physicians, both for the state and for the region. But unlike in years past, that work now requires educating medical students and residents during the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s against this backdrop that they are beginning these years of their clinical studies and experiences.
We are well positioned to meet this challenge. The College has provided the third and fourth years of medical school for a portion of students from the University of Alabama School of Medicine since 1974. To date, more than 990 medical students have completed their clinical education with us.
The College’s residency, the Tuscaloosa Family Medicine Residency Program, is one of the largest and oldest family medicine residencies in the U.S. More than 500 physicians have graduated from the program since 1975, with approximately half practicing in Alabama and 85% in the Southeast. In fact, 1 in 7 family medicine physicians practicing in Alabama graduated from our residency.
There is no doubt that these will be challenging years for our medical students and resident physicians, made even more challenging by Covid-19. Together with our faculty physicians and with our patients, we will work to prepare them to provide high-quality, compassionate and patient-centered primary care, and to meet the challenges – known and unknown – that they will face in the future.
The College of Community Health Sciences operates University Medical Center