The Kennamer Fellowship Program in General Internal Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA is collaborating with the UCLA Center for East-West Medicine (CEWM) in training future leaders in general internal medicine and integrative medicine.

In keeping with the goals and objectives of the Kennamer Fellowship, the Primary Care Integrative East-West Medicine Fellowship would meet perceived needs of participants for additional training with primary goal of enhancing clinical effectiveness; strengthen generalism by developing a cadre of intensively trained internists; produce superb teachers and clinicians; help revitalize interest in and improve recruitment of high caliber individuals into general internal medicine; and eventually establish a working model for other comprehensive primary care clinical programs.

This Fellowship will be open and marketed to individuals who have completed training three years at an accredited internal medicine residency program and have special interest in integrative East-West medicine – an approach to health care developed here at UCLA comprising judicious incorporation of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) into conventional care, emphasis on a biopsychosocial approach to health and disease and a sharp focus on disease prevention and health promotion – especially as relevant to the provision of high-quality ambulatory continuity care.  Applicants would be selected based upon appropriateness of career goals to the objectives of the Fellowship, excellence of performance as medical student and house officer and the strength of recommendation by residency program director and two other references.

This Fellowship would be ONE to TWO years in duration, with major curricular content to include:

1. Basic theory and practice of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and other CAM disciplines;
2. Interpretation of CAM research findings;
3. Soft tissue dysfunction and its prominent role in health and disease;
4. Biopsychosocial approach to health and disease; and
5. Other germane areas including rational pharmacotherapy, geriatrics, clinical nutrition, preventive medicine, behavioral medicine

Content would be delivered primarily via clinical training but didactic and self-study components would play important roles as well.  Core curriculum of the Kennamer Fellowship is in the form of formal teaching sessions 1/2 day per week.  These sessions consist of lecture, demonstrations and discussion groups.  Examples of topics to be covered include principles of health maintenance, alternative medical therapies, clinical epidemiology, introduction to computers and their use in clinical practice, medical complications of pregnancy, cultural medicine, substance abuse, pre- and perioperative consultations, career options, teaching techniques and discussions on how physicians fit into modern society.

Clinical training would include 3-4 half days/wk in the CEWM referral/continuity clinic with exposure to other clinics as appropriate and 2-3 half days/wk in a general internal medicine/primary care clinic.  Four to six weeks a year would be devoted to inpatient general medicine as a junior ward attending.  Didactic and self-study components in the realm of integrative East-West Medicine would be directed primarily by CEWM and Collaborative Center for Integrative Medicine (CCIM) faculty.  Other opportunities for fellows include participation in and presentation at relevant meetings and conferences as well as prominent roles in teaching of medical students, residents, etc.