Jennifer Swails
Overview
Jennifer Swails, MD, FACP, is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine and the Vice Chair for Education for the Department of Medicine.
Dr. Swails joined the Emory Department of Medicine in September 2024 from McGovern Medical School at UTHealth in Houston, where she served as Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program (2017-2024) and Associate Program Director (2012-2017). In these roles, she integrated assessment, quality improvement, and research efforts for all undergraduate and graduate medical trainees across the department and created the ambulatory curriculum for the medical residents. She also led the department through a successful 10-year ACGME accreditation site visit and designed emergency clinical responses for Hurricane Harvey and COVID-19. In addition to her work in graduate medical education, Dr. Swails was the Director of Interprofessional Collaboration at UTHealth (2018-2024), where she developed interprofessional simulations integrating over 3,000 student encounters annually, and received a Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation grant to support community engagement education in the Rio Grande Valley. In recognition of these contributions, Swails was named a Distinguished Teaching Professor and the recipient of multiple teaching awards, including the Regent’s Outstanding Teaching Award and the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award.
As a national leader in medical education, Dr. Swails currently serves as Treasurer of the Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine (APDIM), after joining the leadership Council in 2022. She has contributed to initiatives with the Coalition for Physician Accountability UME-GME Review Committee, ACGME Equity Matters, AAMC Core EPA Pilot, and the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine. Her scholarly work focuses on holistic review, the UME-GME transition, and interprofessional education, with publications in JAMA, Academic Medicine, and the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
After completing her undergraduate education at Davidson College, Dr. Swails received her medical degree at Weill Cornell Medical College and completed her internal medicine residency at the Brigham and Women's Hospital.
Research
Publications
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ICARE: development of an interprofessional telehealth curriculum to promote Care access and Equity.
J Interprof Care Page(s): 1 - 8
07/13/2025 Authors: Ramaswamy P; Swails JL; Gandhi P; Chandra S; Hu SL; Buske ST; Cardenas-Turanzas M; Gilder CL; Lucas S; Champagne-Langabeer T -
How Closely Does Internal Medicine Residency Program Director Protected Time Align with the Expected Amount?
Am J Med Volume: 138 Page(s): 1110 - 1114
07/01/2025 Authors: Finn KM; Berman RA; Choe JH; Swails JL; Zaas A; Kisielewski M -
Student Expectations and Outcomes in Virtual vs. In-Person Interprofessional Simulations: A Qualitative Analysis.
Nurs Rep Volume: 15
03/20/2025 Authors: Ramaswamy P; Bachmann AM; Champagne-Langabeer T; Gilder CL; Neher SE; Swails JL -
Rethinking the Internal Medicine Residency Application Process to Prioritize the Public Good: A Consensus Statement of the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine.
Am J Med Volume: 137 Page(s): 284 - 289
03/01/2024 Authors: Catalanotti JS; Abraham R; Choe JH; Corning KA; Fick L; Finn KM; Higgins S; Mechaber HF; Mohr T; Raj J -
Preference Signals in Residency Applications: a Potential Tool to Combat Application Inflation.
J Gen Intern Med Volume: 39 Page(s): 357 - 358
02/01/2024 Authors: Catalanotti JS; Swails JL -
Separate But Not Equal? A Cross-Sectional Study of Segregation by Payor Mix in Academic Primary Care Clinics.
J Gen Intern Med Volume: 38 Page(s): 2318 - 2325
08/01/2023 Authors: Hassan SF; Viscoli CM; O'Connor PG; Dugdale LS; Sofair AN; Fitz MM; Richards B; Feiereisel KB; Lee SY; Ost SR -
To err is divine?
Med Educ Volume: 57 Page(s): 389 - 391
05/01/2023 Authors: Swails JL; Bernstam EV -
The Undergraduate to Graduate Medical Education Transition as a Systems Problem: A Root Cause Analysis.
Acad Med Volume: 98 Page(s): 180 - 187
02/01/2023 Authors: Swails JL; Angus S; Barone MA; Bienstock J; Burk-Rafel J; Roett MA; Hauer KE -
Blue Skies With Clouds: Envisioning the Future Ideal State and Identifying Ongoing Tensions in the UME-GME Transition.
Acad Med Volume: 98 Page(s): 162 - 170
02/01/2023 Authors: Hauer KE; Williams PM; Byerley JS; Swails JL; Barone MA -
How the Quadruple Aim Widens the Lens on the Transition to Residency.
J Grad Med Educ Volume: 14 Page(s): 634 - 638
12/01/2022 Authors: Barone MA; Bienstock JL; Lovell E; Gimpel JR; Lin GL; Swails J; Mejicano GC