UT Health Science Center welcomes 53 new residents
July 2, 2020
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler welcomed 53 new residents to
East Texas this past week. UT Health Science Center at Tyler is one of only a few
university medical centers in Texas that provides graduate medical education and the
only one in this part of the state. It currently offers seven residency programs:
Occupational Medicine, Internal Medicine at Christus Good Shepard, Internal Medicine
at UT Health Tyler, Family Medicine, Rural Family Medicine, General Surgery and Psychiatry.
Dr. Emmanuel Elueze, vice president for medical education and professional development
at UT Health Science Center at Tyler, said “We are excited to welcome 54 new residents
into our seven respective residency programs. We are particularly pleased to welcome
the inaugural class into our new Internal Medicine and General Surgery programs housed
at UT Health Tyler.”
In September 2019, the hospital began accepting its first applications to the Internal
Medicine and General Surgery programs. General Surgery is a five-year residency with
three available positions each year and Internal Medicine is a three-year residency
with 20 positions available each year. Both programs are housed at the system’s flagship
hospital in Tyler.
“These 53 new residents will join others as they continue to provide excellent healthcare
in East Texas and help improve the region’s health outcomes. In addition, we look
forward to a significant number of these residents remaining in East Texas after their
training to grow our region’s healthcare workforce,” said Dr. Elueze.
Completing a residency is a requirement to obtain a no restrictions license to practice
medicine. Residency is the post-graduate training of those who complete medical school.
During this time — three to seven years depending on the program — doctors are trained
in a specialized area of care under supervision of an attending physician or consultant.
“The upcoming period of rapid expansion of graduate medical education is an essential
component of the platform to host a medical school in order to train the next generation
of physicians who will provide high-level care,” said Dr. Jeff Levin, senior vice
president for academic affairs and provost.
The health science center also plans to launch two new residency programs in 2021.
Family Medicine will be based out of its hospital and clinics in Athens and a Rural
Psychiatry program will be based in Pittsburg. As the residency programs continue
to expand, more doctors throughout the health system will be taking on teaching roles.
With the recent announcement of the medical school, Dr. Kirk A. Calhoun, President
of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler notes, “We are extremely
excited to see the rapid expansion of our physician training programs. This puts us
further down the road to the new medical school and will benefit our community by
ensuring we meet our future healthcare needs. I thank all those who helped us bring
this about.”
About The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler
As part of the world-renowned University of Texas System, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler serves East Texas and beyond through excellent patient care and community health, comprehensive education and innovative research. With the leadership of Dr. Kirk A. Calhoun, president, UT Health Science Center at Tyler provides graduate students, medical residents and other medical professionals-in-training with the unique opportunity to learn alongside scientists, physicians and other healthcare experts. UT Health Science Center at Tyler offers graduate degrees in biotechnology, public health and health administration, training tomorrow’s leaders in these fields of advanced study, providing them with marketable skills and the qualifications to excel in today’s workforce. The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler is a proud component of UT Health East Texas, which comprises UT Health Science Center and a 10-hospital health system throughout East Texas.