For Immediate Release

 

Chattanooga, Tenn. (January 29, 2009) – Hospice of Chattanooga, Inc., and the University of Tennessee College of Medicine Chattanooga, take great pride in announcing that on January 24 the jointly developed Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program was granted “accredited” status by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.  The one-year-old Hospice and Palliative Care Fellowship Program is among the first hospice fellowships to receive accreditation in the nation and one of only two to be accredited in Tennessee.  The fellowship program allows physicians who choose to become certified in Hospice and Palliative Medicine to show a commitment to providing quality care when patients and their families are managing the physical, psychological, and spiritual issues associated with life-limiting illnesses.  

 

The accreditation will open dialogue for improving how hospices, hospitals and nursing homes care for patients with chronic progressive illnesses, as well as end-of-life issues.  The UT College of Medicine Chattanooga’s Department of Internal Medicine has been instrumental in sponsoring the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship, which began in July 2008.  Valencia Clay, MD, serves as Fellowship Program Director, and Terry Melvin, MD, is Associate Program Director for the fellowship.  Dr. Melvin is also Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for Hospice of Chattanooga, Inc.

 

The program’s first fellow, Musharraf Navaid, MD, from Laurinburg, NC, is a physician in Internal Medicine who began his training in July 2008.

Dr. Navaid has elected to gain additional experience in Hospice and Palliative Medicine that he will later utilize in his home state.     

 

To acknowledge the newly accredited fellowship, David Seaberg, MD, Dean of the UT College of Medicine Chattanooga, enthusiastically stated, “The University fully appreciates the efforts of those leading the fellowship program, as well as the multiple levels of support provided by Hospice of Chattanooga.  We are thrilled to have one of the first accredited hospice fellowships in the country and one of two accredited in Tennessee!”

 

For further information about the hospice fellowship, contact Gigi Ellis, Fellowship Program Coordinator, Hospice of Chattanooga, at (423) 553-1815 or Pamela Scott, Director, Graduate and Medical Student Education at the UT College of Medicine Chattanooga, by calling (423) 778-7442.  Also, visit www.utcomchatt.org for fellowship information.

 

As the flagship statewide academic health system, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center is focused on a four-tier mission of education, research, clinical care and public service, all in support of a single goal: to improve the health of Tennesseans.  Offering a broad range of postgraduate training opportunities, the main campus is located in Memphis and includes six colleges: Allied Health Sciences, Dentistry, Graduate Health Sciences, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy.  UTHSC has additional College of Medicine and College of Pharmacy campuses in Knoxville, and a College of Medicine campus in Chattanooga.

 

# # #