Core Curriculum Components

Photo: Friday Didactics. Communicating public health information is a major emphasis for our residents and fellows, who hone their competencies in scientific writing through interactive exercises such as revising an abstract from a paper published in a major medical journal and sharing their specific revisions.

The Emory Preventive Medicine Residency and Fellowship Program's overall educational goals are addressed by ensuring that residents and fellows graduate with all the credentials and knowledge necessary to succeed. With the ultimate aim of preparing Preventive Medicine residents and fellows to become board-certified in the specialty of Public Health and General Preventive Medicine (PH/GPM) and effective practitioners in public health, health care, and other fields, we strive to integrate each resident and fellow's interests and professional goals within the training curriculum framework.

Earn an MPH degree

The ACGME framework requires that each Preventive Medicine Resident earn an MPH degree from an accredited school of public health that provides a curriculum covering epidemiology, biostatistics, environmental health, health management, and social/behavioral sciences, and other essential topics. Since 2024, Emory residents meet this requirement by completing the online MPH program through the University of Georgia.

Note: Residents/fellows who have earned an MPH before beginning the Emory Preventive Medicine Residency Program may be eligible for advanced standing and a one-year appointment if they also previously have completed an accredited residency program in another specialty area such as internal medicine, family medicine, or pediatrics.

Provide direct patient care for an annual minimum of 2 months

Emory Preventive Medicine residents and fellows provide direct patient care primarily through rotations in areas including:

Infectious/tropical disease and travel medicine - Emory’s TravelWell Center
Internal medicine and preventive medicine - Emory Clinic
Primary care and preventive medicine - Emory Student Health Service
Primary care and preventive medicine - Atlanta VAMC’s Infectious Disease Clinic
- the main source of primary care for patients living with HIV infection and who are otherwise medically underserved
Telemedicine primary care - Veterans Affairs VISN7 Atlanta Hub
Women's Health - VA Women's Health Center
Preventive cardiology - Emory’s Preventive Cardiology Program
Occupational medicine - Emory’s Occupational Health and Occupational Injury Management programs
Cancer treatment/management - Winship Cancer Center of Emory University
Long-term care - Atlanta VAMC’s Community Living Center
For residents already board-certified in the specialty of Pediatrics, ambulatory pediatrics -Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta

Photo: Emory Clinic

Participate for a minimum of 2 months in activities in governmental public health settings

Emory Preventive Medicine residents and fellows participate in core public/community health programs and activities (e.g., surveillance, outbreak detection, disease prevention, and control, and emergency preparedness /response) in governmental public health agencies in different jurisdictional settings, including:

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), co-located with and proximate to Emory in Atlanta, that leads national-level, public sector disease and injury prevention efforts
The Georgia Department of Public Health
Local public health agencies in Georgia, including district health units and county boards of public health, such as the DeKalb County Board of Health.

Photo: CDC

Participate in research and other related activities

Emory Preventive Medicine residents and fellows participate in focal and longitudinal prevention/control research, policy development, program evaluation, and quality improvement initiatives in a variety of settings, including:

Photo: Friday morning didactic session: Carlos Del Rio MD, Executive Associate Dean for Emory School of Medicine at Grady Health System, meets with residents, fellows, and program faculty.

Participate in didactic and other learning imperatives

Emory Preventive Medicine residents and fellows participate in a curriculum of didactics, scholarly research, and other learning imperatives in Preventive Medicine, including, for example:

Presenting on critical appraisals of selected peer-review publications
Attending and presenting work at the annual meeting of the American College of Preventive Medicine
Engaging in a regularly-scheduled and systematically-structured series of review sessions for the Preventive Medicine board certification examination administered by the American Board of Preventive Medicine
Pursuing training and/or board certification in Lifestyle Medicine via the Lifestyle Medicine Residency Curriculum
Attending selected state and local public health meetings (e.g., the annual Georgia State of the Public’s Health Conference and the yearly Immunize Georgia Conference)
Engaging directly with leaders in preventive medicine, public health, and healthcare systems in federal, state, and local agencies and organizations.

Photo: Joel Shu, MD, MBA, Vice President, Wellstar Clinical Partners, teaching Preventive Medicine Residents

Interactive Learning Session Details

SHU presents to preventive med residents