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Want to be part of a medical specialty that save lives, creates healthier communities and transforms our healthcare system? Become a Preventive Medicine physician!
Healthcare in the United States has traditionally been focused on treatment rather than prevention or health promotion, but this approach is not working; despite having the highest healthcare costs in the world, America ranks last in health outcomes amongst developed nations.
Preventive medicine is the practice of improving the health and quality of life of individuals, families, communities, and populations through disease prevention and health promotion. The goal is to ultimately prevent disease, disability and death.
Preventive Medicine (PM) is one of 24 recognized medical specialties by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS). Having been founded in 1954, Preventive Medicine is the third oldest board-certified specialty in the United States.
Preventive medicine specialists are licensed physicians with either a Medical doctors (MD) or Doctors of osteopathy (DO) degree. Preventive Medicine’s three specialty areas share common core competencies, but emphasize different populations, environments or practice settings:
Preventive medicine is a specialty that bridges clinical practice and public health. Physicians completing a PM residency gain a breadth of skills that opens many potential career paths in population health system management, public health and epidemiology, clinical care, health informatics, public health policy development and much more.
Physicians who are board certified in Preventive Medicine hold a variety of positions from chief medical officers of private corporations, directors of state/local health departments, policymakers within governmental agencies including military branches, to program developers for multi-national non-governmental organizations, etc.
These positions are in Fortune 100 Companies, all levels of government, educational institutions, organized medical care programs in industry, as well as voluntary health agencies and professional health organizations.
Given this wide variety of career pathways, it is advisable to intentionally reflect on your career goals early on and seek out opportunities proactively.
Completion of residency training in preventive medicine is an essential step to become board-certified in one or more of the preventive medicine specialty areas of Public Health and General Preventive Medicine, Occupational Medicine and Aerospace Medicine. There are currently 65 accredited residency programs in the United States, each taking an individualized approach to training.
Currently, there are 40 Public Health & General Preventive Medicine (PH & GPM) programs, 21 Occupational & Environmental Medicine (OEM) Programs, and 4 Aerospace Medicine (AM) Programs. PH & GPM programs focus on general populations, OEM programs focus on workers and workplaces, and AM programs focus on the health and the environment involved in air and space travel.
All PM residency programs are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).
Preventive Medicine residencies are typically composed of fully-funded Masters in Public Health (MPH) or related coursework and Preventive Medicine practicum rotations. Some programs have one year for each component, and others integrate them across two years. Practicum rotations include rotations in local public health departments, research agencies, quality improvement organizations, and direct patient care (lifestyle, occupational, and aerospace medicine).
There are three main ways to begin your Preventive Medicine residency training:
Estimated time: 3 Years
Estimated time: 5+ years
Estimated time: 4-5 years
This depends on your goals. If you are completing a PH/GPM residency and would like to devote a significant portion of your career to individual patient care, it is advisable to become board-certified in another specialty, or you can also complete a clinical fellowship. If you want to focus primarily on treating populations, a board-certification in Preventive Medicine alone is advisable.
Currently there are seven combined residency programs: 4 in Internal Medicine/PM, 1 in Family Medicine/PM, 1 in Internal Medicine/AM, and 1 in AM/OEM.
Most Preventive Medicine residency programs use the Electronic Residency Application Service. Some programs accept applications directly.
Here are the list of PH/GPM programs participating in ERAS. Refer to the Residency Directory above to contact programs and confirm their application process.
Beginning in 2025, PH/GPM programs and OEM programs have joined the NRMP Residency Match (a.k.a. “The Match”). Most eligible PH/GPM programs are participating in the Match. Refer to the directory above to contact programs and confirm their match/selection process.
September 3 – Residency applicants may begin submitting MyERAS® applications to programs at 9 a.m. ET. For those programs not participating in ERAS, contact the program’s directly for timeline.
September 15 – NRMP Match Registration Opens. For programs not participating in the match, contact the program directly for process and timeline.
September 24 – Residency programs may begin reviewing MyERAS® applications at 9 a.m. ET.
January 30 – NRMP Registration Deadline
February 2 – NRMP Ranking Opens
March 4 – NRMP Rank Order List Certification Deadline
March 16 – 20 – Match Week
March 20 – Match Day
Maintained and updated by ACPM 1-2 times year. The information here is accessed from the ACGME website.
This guide outlines specialty-level guidance and policies for applicants to Public Health and General Preventive Medicine programs.
This database includes information on whether programs accept applications from medical students.
A wide variety of one-to-two-year fellowships are available for physicians looking to further their specialization.
The following are a list of five fellowships under the American Board of Preventive Medicine.
Additionally, a number of preventive medicine residents pursue fellowship training in other areas such as lifestyle medicine.
Any current medical student can join the College for a membership fee of $30 per year.
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Looking for Preventive Medicine Colleagues in Medical School?
If you are in a medical school affiliated with a PM residency program, reach out to the program to see if they have any 4th year elective rotations for medical students.
Ask around to start/join a Preventive Medicine Interest Group at your school. If there already is one, contact ACPM so we can connect you with our Medical Student Section.
For more information, contact Anita Balan, Director, Residency Engagement and Development.
