Community Medicine Track
Our Community Medicine Track is an enhanced curriculum designed around serving patients that are uninsured or suffering from economic and structural disadvantages. Residents can join the track either at the start of their intern year or the start of their PGY-2 year. Participating residents will experience mentorship from leaders at UTMB and the wider Galveston community to enhance access to care and improve health outcomes. At its core is a continuity clinic experience in a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), where residents care for underserved patients over time and learn to address the medical, social, and structural factors that shape their health.
Residents also explore topics such as health policy and legislation, medical education, addiction medicine, carceral health and more, allowing each resident to tailor the track to their own goals. Taking advantage of UTMB's association with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) hospital, residents can experience carceral health in both the primary care setting and specialty clinics. In the spring, residents participate in First Tuesdays at the Capitol, an advocacy and lobbying event hosted by the Texas Medical Association (TMA) and meet with state representatives. 
As a culmination of the track, each resident completes a capstone project in partnership with a community organization. Guided by a faculty mentor, residents identify a local health need, design and carry out a project with a measurable aim and a focus on health equity. Residents are encouraged to share their findings at professional conferences and through scholarly publication. All trainees who successfully complete the track will receive a Certificate of Distinction upon graduation.
Medical Education Track
Our Medical Education Track is an optional, longitudinal pathway designed for those residents interested in honing their skills as clinician-educators. As clinician-educator careers in internal medicine continue to grow in popularity, we are very excited to offer this opportunity to our trainees! This track offers a mixture of didactic education, small-size discussion groups, personalized mentorship, and a variety of hands-on experiences in medical education during both PGY-2 & PGY-3. These activities go above and beyond the day-to-day teaching of students and interns during routine clinical work. Medical Education Track participants will have myriad opportunities to participate in teaching, feedback, curriculum development, simulation, and educational scholarship while working with learners across the full spectrum of medical education, from the first-year medical student to the independent practitioner.
Residents who are interested in joining the Medical Education Track will apply at the end of PGY-1 and subsequently join at the beginning of PGY-2. In addition to various longitudinal activities, all track participants will complete two dedicated elective months in Medical Education, one of which can be the Global Health / Education elective in Sapporo, Japan. Designed for significant flexibility, the Medical Education Track can be customized to the individual goals of each resident.
As a culmination of their participation in this track, residents will complete an educational capstone project with the goal of scholarly publication and/or presentation at a professional conference. All trainees who successfully complete this track will receive special recognition at residency graduation including a certificate of completion.
