Message from the Chair and Director of Preventive Medicine

Haq Nawaz, MD MPH

The importance of preventive and population-based principles in clinical practice is widely acknowledged. The challenge of imparting these skills in either undergraduate or postgraduate medical education has, however, not been fully met. Such skills are provided comprehensively by preventive medicine residency programs, but at the expense of clinical training. Sequential residencies in primary care and preventive medicine, the currently available means of obtaining thorough preparation in both clinical and population-based principles, represent an inefficient, generally unappealing, and non-integrated approach.

In response to these concerns, and in an effort to make preventive medicine training appeal to a wider audience, we have developed and implemented a residency program fully integrating internal and preventive medicine. The program meets, and generally exceeds, the requirements of both specialty boards over a 4-year period. The program provides extensive training in clinical, preventive, and public health skills, along with case management and cost-effective care, conferring the MPH degree and leading to dual board eligibility. The model program created is ideally wed to the demands of the modern health care environment in the US. We are proud to offer two tracks within our Combined Residency Program: (1) Cancer Prevention Track, (2) TRIUMPH Track (Training Residents to Improve Underserved & Minority Populations' Health).