About the Integrated Residency

Thank you for your interest in the Cahaba+UAB Integrated Family Medicine Residency Program, which is designed as a mechanism to provide medical students with enhanced training in family medicine. Each year, we will select two high-quality fourth-year medical students who will have the opportunity to become part of our residency program offered jointly with Cahaba Medical Care. Through the Cahaba+UAB Integrated Residency, we are seeking to better prepare students for a future in family medicine, particularly those who wish to serve in rural, deep rural, urban underserved and urban academic locations after graduation.

Students who are accepted into the integrated residency program are not required to join the Cahaba+UAB Family Medicine Residency, but they will be offered positions and welcomed into the residency family provided that they maintain professionalism standards and successfully complete the integrated residency program. Often, residents who complete an integrated residency program report being happier with their residency choice, are more likely to be chief residents, perform better on standardized tests and are more likely to practice in-state after graduation.

Cahaba+UAB Training Programs

The Cahaba+UAB Family Medicine Residency has four programmatic locations. Integrated residency students will be able to choose which program for their experience: 

• Urban: The Urban program is based at Cahaba Medical Care’s location in Birmingham’s West End and focuses on serving urban underserved communities.
• Rural: The Rural program is based at Cahaba Medical Care’s location in Centreville, AL, a rural community in Bibb County with a population of 2,800
• Frontier: The Frontier program is based in Alabama’s Black Belt and places residents in Marion and Camden, two rural and medically underserved communities. 
• Highlands: The Highlands program places residents at UAB Hospital – Highlands Family Medicine clinic on Birmingham’s Southside, where residents receive training in academic and lifestyle medicine while serving a broad base of patients in an urban setting.

Program Details

Accepted students will engage in a rigorous fourth year curriculum that will prepare them for further residency training and develop them as leaders in family medicine. Rotations will include:

• On average, at least a half day per week of outpatient family medicine using our Clinic First model where students will be given their own panel of patients
• Cardiology
• Nephrology
• Critical Care
• Emergency Medicine
• Immersion within our leadership in medicine curriculum
• Engagement with our Lifestyle/Exercise Medicine program 

Students are also expected to attend > 50% of resident didactics/grand rounds and complete a scholarly project in family medicine

Students selected will receive a $20,000 stipend for this integrated residency year, and will be eligible – and highly competitive – for primary care scholarships.

Application Process

University of Alabama Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine Birmingham campus students who are in good academic standing may apply for the program in the Spring of their third year.

Invited candidates will undergo an interview process that is similar to any fourth-year applicant to our residency program.

The Integrated Residency program does not require the student to apply to the Cahaba+UAB program. All applicants must still fill out an ERAS application.  Either party may cancel the agreement prior to the NRMP Match Day.

If you are interested in applying, please complete this application form and email all required materials to Kayla Bagwell  at kbbagwell@uabmc.edu by Feb. 19, 2024.

Kayla Bagwell

Program Manager
Department of Family and Community Medicine
UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine
kbbagwell@uabmc.edu 

Earl B. Salser, Jr., M.D.

Program Director, Highlands Track, Cahaba-UAB Family Medicine Residency
Director, Medical Student Education 
Associate Professor
UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine

John B. Waits, M.D., FAAFP

CEO, Cahaba Medical Care Foundation
Program Director, Cahaba Family Medicine Residency

Irfan Asif, M.D.

Professor and Chair, Department of Family and Community Medicine
Associate Dean, Primary Care and Rural Health
Director, UAB Primary Care Service Line
Heersink Endowed Professorship in Sports and Exercise Medicine
UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine