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THMEP training the community’s future physicians
Last year, TMC Health Medical Education Program underwent an organization overhaul, graduated its first class of pediatric residents, received approval to bring back its internal medicine residency and trained its first structural heart fellow.
Originally named Tucson Hospital Medical Education Program, the graduate medical education program was founded in 1963 when Tucson’s three local hospitals — TMC, St. Mary’s and the Pima County Hospital — banded together to train newly-minted physicians. The program has grown and changed over the years, and last year it was folded under the umbrella of TMC Health. Now called TMC Health Medical Education Program, it retains its original acronym and its program for graduate training and continuing education of the medical community.
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As THMEP enters its 60th year of operation, it counts hundreds of physicians who graduated from its residencies, many of whom remain in the region.
“THMEP has been good for patients, good for the hospital and good for the community,” explained Robert Aaronson, M.D., executive director of THMEP, adding that the mission of the program is to produce well-educated and community-minded physicians who deliver effective, high-value and compassionate care, while promoting individual and community wellness.
In 2022, THMEP’s first cohort of pediatricians graduated from the program. The THMEP Pediatric Residency Program is a three-year program designed to train outstanding primary care pediatricians.
THMEP also received approval last year to begin an internal medicine residency. The first residents come on board in June 2023. Last year, THMEP’s first fellow completed the Structural Heart Fellowship. Created under the leadership of Dr. Thomas Waggoner, the clinical fellowship provides a oneyear program to prepare an interventional cardiologist with the proficiencies required to perform structural health procedures.
THMEP also sponsors a transitional-year residency, a pharmacy residency and a podiatry residency. One of the strengths of the program is the collaborations with other health care organizations, including the University of Arizona, A.T. Still University, Midwestern University, TMCOne, El Rio Health and MHC Healthcare.
Through these partnerships and its continuing education offerings, Aaronson explained, THMEP has had a hand in the education of thousands of physicians.
