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About the department. Training future leaders, advancing discoveries, caring compassionately.

A Message From the Chair

Ron Falk, MD with Welcome text on top of photo.

The Department of Medicine is the flagship practice of UNC Health, situated on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. We are committed to diversity and inclusion and take great pride in developing outstanding physician leaders. Championing transformative research that advances medical practice, we strive to provide expert, compassionate care to each person we see in our clinics, procedure units, inpatient facilities, and, increasingly, online.

The Department is comprised of 12 medicine subspecialty divisions, with 450-plus faculty who help to educate 230+ medical students and 200+ residents and fellows, while providing continuing medical education to countless physicians across North Carolina.

Here, teaching is a real priority. More than 70 faculty and trainees are elected members of the UNC Academy of Educators. If you are a prospective applicant to our residency program or one of our many fellowships, you will find a collegial, collaborative, and supportive community to learn and work within.

The Department conducts innovative basic, translational, and clinical research across 11 affiliated research centers. It ranks 14th in NIH funding with investigators receiving $109 million annually for research in areas as varied as cancer immunogenetics, the microbiome, HIV, diabetes therapies, and clotting disorders. The UNC Eastowne Medical Office Building, which opened in March 2021, features an integrated multi-disciplinary Clinical Investigation Unit that supports research on many levels.

We also offer 11 NIH-sponsored T32 research fellowship training programs, as well as formalized programs that enable trainees and junior faculty members to grow and succeed.

Our clinicians are compassionate and caring experts in their subspecialties. They are particularly skilled at serving individuals with complex, chronic diseases, such as cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, and vasculitis. Every year, we perform more than 350,000 clinical encounters at various locations in Chapel Hill, and across the Triangle and state. Our Value-Care Action Group takes a systems approach to enhancing the value of patient care, while ongoing initiatives aim to enhance multi-specialty collaboration.

Photo collage of UNC Hillsborough, surgery room and doctors.

Sincerely

Ron Falk, MD
Chair, Department of Medicine