General Internal Medicine Fellowship

The General Internal Medicine Fellowship aims to prepare internists for careers in academic medicine. Over two years, fellows practice independently and lead academic projects with faculty mentorship.

UT Southwestern offers a diverse clinical and academic environment, including one of the largest safety-net health systems in the U.S. and the nation's second largest Veterans Administration hospital by patient volume. The Division of General Internal Medicine also has robust research and training collaborations with the Peter O’Donnell Jr. School of Public Health.

Fellows access resources through the Program on GIM Research and Educational Scholarship (PROGRESS), including data tools, project support, and a network of mentors. Faculty lead research and educational projects to improve patient and population health.

The fellowship combines core experiences and mentorship with flexibility and customization, with the goal of supporting fellows to become competitive candidates

Program Years

Up to Four Fellows Accepted

Available Training Programs

Application Process
Application Process

Applicants can contact the GIM Fellowship Program Director Michael Bowen, M.D., M.P.H., and GIM Fellowship Coordinator Traci Child, to learn more about our fellowship program and opportunities at UT Southwestern.

Interested applicants should Email the following to Traci Child:
1. Curriculum vitae
2. Letter of Interest
3. Two letters of recommendation
Formal written offers of a training position are extended on a rolling basis beginning in September for the July 1 start date in the following academic year.
Tracks
Under the guidance of their mentors, fellows will choose to focus either on research or education:
- Research
- Medical Education
Research

The research track prepares fellows to become scholars with expertise in generating and/or synthesizing evidence. In turn, training through the research track prepares fellows well for a range of careers, including as clinician-investigators in academic Divisions of GIM or other academic units (e.g., Schools of Public Health, Policy, or Business), as well as scholars in other settings (e.g., thinktanks, health care consultancies, biomedical and life science companies).

To do so, the research track combines didactic and experiential project experiences that support fellows’ career goals (e.g., for fellows desiring academic faculty positions as clinician-investigators, support transitioning to a mentored career development award).

Didactics

These occur through a combination of formal coursework and longitudinal mentored teaching. Fellows will have the opportunity to complete coursework through UT Southwestern, up to and including completion of a Master of Public Health or Master of Science in Clinical Investigation.

The Master of Public Health includes three tracks:

Quantitative Data Sciences

Health Promotion, Structure, and Agency

Health Systems Science

The Master of Science in Clinical Investigation includes three pathways:

Precision Medicine

Interventional Studies

Population Health

Longitudinal mentored teaching occurs through a series of educational offerings provided through GIM.

Experiential Projects

Fellows identify a mentorship committee, led by a primary mentor, to support their research and career development across all phases of training. Together with these mentors and the fellowship director, fellows lead at least one mentored, hypothesis-driven primary research project – one that fellows lead from conception to dissemination (presentation at a national meeting, submission for peer-reviewed publication). Projects span topical domains and can involve different methodologies, including observational studies, pragmatic clinical trials, and mixed methods analyses.

In addition to their primary project, fellows have the opportunity to participate in other research projects led or involving collaborators across GIM and other units at UT Southwestern For examples, fellows are encouraged to attend research seminars organized through the Peter J. O’Donnell School of Public Health.
Medical Education

The medical education track prepares fellows to become scholars with expertise in educational research or leadership. In turn, training through the medical education track prepares fellows for a range of careers, including as clinician-educators or educational leaders (e.g., undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate) in academic institutions.

To do so, the medical education track combines didactic and experiential learning experiences that support fellows’ career goals.

Didactics

These occur through a combination of formal coursework and longitudinal mentored teaching. Fellows have the opportunity to complete coursework, up to and including completion of a Master of Health Professions Education. This degree provides foundational training in education theory, curriculum design and implementation, and evaluation skills to support to support education leadership and scholarship. The online training program affords learners flexibility and connects fellows with a diverse network of learners and educators to collaborate with and learn from. Longitudinal mentored teaching occurs through a series of educational offerings provided through GIM.

Experiential Projects

Fellows identify a mentorship committee, led by a primary mentor, to support their educational and career development across all phases of fellowship. Together with these mentors and the fellowship director, fellows participate in mentored teaching opportunities. These include opportunities for clinical and non-clinical teaching at the undergraduate and graduate medical education settings in a diversity of settings, including ambulatory and inpatient teaching of medical students and residents in university and safety net health systems; leading lectures and team-based learning activities; morning report; morbidity and mortality conferences. These experiential learning settings provide fellows opportunities to practice and implement key learning strategies such as giving and receiving feedback, teach-back techniques, learning theories, and learner assessment and evaluation. Mentors and institutional leaders in medical education provide observational feedback for fellows to further hone and develop their teaching skills.

Together with these mentors and the fellowship director, fellows lead at least one mentored primary project – one that fellows lead from conception to dissemination (presentation at a national meeting, submission for peer-reviewed publication or curriculum platforms).

Fellows in the medical education track also have the opportunity to interface with the Southwestern Academy of Teachers (SWAT), which encompasses an elite group UT Southwestern educators who strive to stimulate innovation and teaching excellence. Such opportunities include participation in the Effective Teacher Series and small group discussions on academic medicine and career development.
Division Support through PROGRESS
Division Support through PROGRESS

Fellows have full access to scholarly infrastructure and supports provided by the Division through the Program on GIM Research and Educational ScholarShip (PROGRESS). PROGRESS support includes mentorship and input from faculty with expertise in research and evaluation (e.g., study design; survey development; data acquisition, management, and analysis), as well as support from research staff.

For fellows in both the research and medical education tracks, longitudinal mentored teaching is organized through PROGRESS. Such offerings include scholarship-in-progress meetings and a curriculum organized through the fellowship director. Curricular topics include:
- Professional Development and Career Advancement
- Academic Medicine 101
- Wellness and Self Care
- Scholarly Writing and Presentations
- Mentorship and Sponsorship
- Preparing for Career Beyond Fellowship
- Observational Studies and Analysis
- Health Systems Science
- Population Health
- Implementation Science
- Quality Improvement
Clinical Practice

Clinical Practice

Fellows are credentialed as Assistant Instructors at UT Southwestern and spend approximately 30 percent of their fellowship time in independent clinical practice. Clinical duties range from outpatient primary care managing a panel of patients and precepting residents in teaching clinics to inpatient internal medicine wards. Fellows practice within the UT Southwestern Health System and Clements University Hospital and at Parkland Health, one of the largest, integrated safety-net health systems in the U.S. The nature of clinical practice will be determined in conjunction with Fellowship and Division leaders, in alignment with fellows' career goals.
Salaries and Benefits

Salaries and Benefits

Fellowship salaries align with local post-graduate year graduate medical education salaries and increase with each year of training. All fellows receive faculty-level benefits including health insurance, paid time off, and retirement planning.

Fellowship Year Program Year Salary

Fellowship Year 1 PGY4 $76,493

Fellowship Year 2 PGY5 $80,521

UT Southwestern HR Resources