About the Program
Why Preventive Medicine?
The call for specialists in preventive medicine has perhaps never been more urgently apparent than at this moment in history. Specialists in preventive medicine pursue a variety of career opportunities. These include work within federal, state, and local public health agencies, academic positions in schools of public health and medicine, leadership roles in healthcare settings, or careers in other settings where population health and public health skills are required.
Changes in healthcare delivery, new payment models and innovations that promote health where people live, work and play have created opportunities and challenges. Preventive medicine training equips physicians with the tools to listen, observe, evaluate, communicate, put evidence and knowledge into practice and address these opportunities and challenges. Training provides the skills needed to improve health outcomes for clinical populations and address the growing health disparities in the US and globally. It also encompasses understanding the role of policy in improving the health of populations and identifying more comprehensive ways to serve the under-served in our midst. We are a community of physicians with shared expertise in clinical medicine and public health.
The UNC Preventive Medicine Residency trains physicians to lead practice and research in public health and clinical population health in communities and other defined populations. The UNC Preventive Medicine Residency has existed for more than 40 years and is headquartered in the Department of Family Medicine in the School of Medicine. UNC Hospitals is the sponsor of the Residency and directly supports the program by funding five resident positions per year. The Gillings School of Global Public Health is an active partner of the program. Check out our 2022 Informational Video here.
Message from Director
Thank you for your interest in the Preventive Medicine Residency Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
We are very fortunate to be housed in the UNC Department of Family Medicine which is regularly ranked as a top training program and department. Further, our residents benefit from education and rotations at the nationally recognized Gilling’s School of Public Health, UNC Hospitals, the National Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (NCP) at the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), and the NC Division of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS).
Our program maintains a strong connection to graduates for mentorship and networking. These connections offer insights into future career opportunities at the local, state, and federal public health levels, health care administration, research centers, and non-governmental organizations.
Finally, Chapel Hill offers a beautiful and culturally diverse location with an abundance of activities poised just a few hours from the NC coast and the Appalachian Mountains.
We invite you to take a look at our program website and reach out to us with questions. We look forward to hearing from you soon!
Shannon Aymes, MD, MPH
Program Director
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