College of Medicine Residency and Fellowship Accreditation

October 27, 2021

Faculty, Staff, and Students,

An article in the Daily Memphian called attention to a recent unfortunate event – in late September, the UTHSC College of Medicine oversight function of the Memphis-based residency and fellowship programs was placed on probationary accreditation by the Accrediting Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The UTHSC Chattanooga- and Knoxville-based residencies and fellowships are independently accredited and unaffected by this action.

There are two levels of ACGME accreditation. First, the 70+ individual specialty training programs based in Memphis hold their unique individual ACGME accreditation and remain fully accredited, with the exception of the pediatric hematology/oncology fellowship operated with St. Jude Children's Hospital, which is on probationary accreditation status. Second, UTHSC is accredited to provide oversight of each of these individual programs. It is the UTHSC oversight of these programs that has been found to have deficiencies.

This probationary accreditation status prevents UTHSC from adding any new Memphis-based residency programs or growing the size of current Memphis-administered programs until the probationary accreditation is resolved.

Dean Strome informed the College of Medicine of this event in a general letter sent in early October. In this letter, he pledged rapid corrective actions of these oversight responsibilities. Core to this, and a key element identified, is a need for detailed documentation of oversight provided by UTHSC of the fully-accredited individual specialty training programs.

We take this very seriously and are moving rapidly to correct the cited deficiencies with the aid of a national consultant, so that the probationary accreditation status is removed as quickly as possible. 

Steve J. Schwab, MD, FACP, FASN
Chancellor