Sports Medicine Fellowship
The National Capital Consortium's Tri-Service Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship is an intense one-year training program that equips active duty family physicians with the skills and knowledge needed to provide expert musculoskeletal and exercise-related medical care for active persons of all ages and skill levels.
Fellowship History
The Fellowship is based at DeWitt Army Community Hospital at Ft. Belvoir, VA in conjunction with the Family Medicine Residency, with strong support from the Department of Family Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) in Bethesda, MD.
The Fellowship began in 1993, and the program's 47 graduates include officers from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard, and two adjunct civilian fellows. In addition to being one of the largest Sports Medicine fellowships in the country with four fellows each year, it is one of the most prestigious. All fellows who have taken the American Board of Family Medicine examination in Sports Medicine have passed and earned Certificates of Added Qualification. Since 2001 the Program's fellows have averaged in the 85th percentile nationwide on the certification examination. The fellowship was first accredited by the ACGME in Sept. 1997 and most recently received the maximum five-year ACGME re-accreditation in 2005.
Curriculum Overview
The Sports Medicine Fellowship consists of seven major areas of training that occur simultaneously: (1) ambulatory sports medicine clinic; (2) team physician responsibilities; (3) sports medicine didactics; (4) operative and clinical orthopedics; (5) scholarly activities; (6) faculty development; and (7) continuity clinics in Family Medicine. In order to accomplish its goals the fellowship utilizes two "tracks," each with two fellows: the DeWitt Track and the Maryland Track.
Team Physician Opportunities
The Maryland Track fellows have team physician responsibility at the Naval Academy or American University/Montgomery College, while the DeWitt Track fellows function as team physicians at George Mason or Georgetown University. Each fellow additionally serves as a high school football team physician.
Didactics
Each week there are approximately four hours of lectures and small group discussions. This is supplemented by an anatomy curriculum utilizing anatomy texts, Virtual Dissector and Primal software, and cadavers.
The fellows receive formal instruction in musculoskeletal (Msk) ultrasound, including hands-on practice using cadavers. They attend the Advanced Team Physician Course, where they get an intense exposure to advanced topics in sports medicine. They also attend an annual meeting of the ACSM, AMSSM, or AOASSM, and the Marine Corps Marathon Medical Symposium.
Scholarly Activities and Faculty Development
The fellows have weekly didactic sessions and meet periodically with a research mentor. Each fellow is involved in a new or ongoing research project and is encouraged to write a review article or textbook chapter and present a clinical case or research study at a national meeting. Fellows also fine-tune their teaching skills by instructing medical students, residents, and other professionals.
Other Training Events
Several other events give the fellows excellent training opportunities, e.g. Marine Corps Marathon, Virginia Special Olympics, and the Army 10-Miler. Available electives include Event Physician duties at USA Boxing National Championships, USA Wrestling National Championships, or an Armed Forces Sports competition.
APPLICATIONS: Applications are usually submitted in August and September (see respective service GME websites for more information). In addition to submitting an application to their service-specific Graduate Medical Education (GME) coordinator and speaking with their respective specialty consultant, all applicants must interview with the Program Director by telephone or in person. The Tri-Service GME Selection Board meets in late November, and applicants are typically notified of the board results by mid-December.
Program Director:
LTC Kevin deWeber, MD, FAAFP
Director, Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship
Department of Family Medicine
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
4301 Jones Bridge Road
Bethesda, MD 20814-4799
Phone: 301 295-9466
FAX: 301-295-3100
Email: kdeweber@usuhs.mil
For detailed Fellowship information see the Fellowship Manual:
Sports Medicine Links:
- American College of Sports Medicine
- American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM)
- American Osteopathic Academy of Sports Medicine (AOASM)
- Biomedical Informatics- Sports Medicine Fellowship Databases
- Consortium for Health and Military Performance (CHAMP)
- National Athletic Trainers Association
- American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine
- Institute for Preventative Sports Medicine
