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Preventive medicine is a specialty that bridges clinical practice and public health. Specialists work in diverse settings and tap into a broad skill set to prevent disease and promote the health of individuals, communities and populations.
Physicians completing a preventive medicine 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. Preventive medicine physicians work in a variety of settings including state and local health departments, Fortune 100 companies, health systems and all levels of government.
Completion of residency training in preventive medicine is an essential step to become certified in one or more of the preventive medicine specialty areas: Public Health and General Preventive Medicine, Occupational Medicine, and Aerospace Medicine.
There are currently 67 accredited preventive medicine residency training programs in the United States. Programs are administered by schools of medicine, schools of public health, state or local health departments, or in federal government agencies or branches of the uniformed services. They take an individualized approach to training, with approximately 350 residents in training every year.
Residency program accreditation and ongoing compliance reviews are performed by the Preventive Medicine Residency Review Committee of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).
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.
Prior to an appointment in a preventive medicine residency program, applicants must have successfully completed at least 12 months of clinical education in a residency program accredited by the ACGME, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, or the College of Family Physicians of Canada.
Experience must include at least 11 months of direct patient care, in both inpatient and outpatient settings, where residents developed competency in the following clinical skills:
In addition to the base skills related to clinical practice, preventive medicine residency programs feature competencies in the following areas:
Two-year training programs include didactics, clinical training, research, public health and other population-based experiences. The didactic training includes both residency-lead seminars, as well as the acquisition of a Masters in Public Health or equivalent degree. Those residents entering with an appropriate degree can enhance their didactics with additional coursework. Whether through a Masters in Public Health or other equivalent degree, all residents must complete graduate level courses in epidemiology, biostatistics, health services management and administration, environmental health and the behavioral aspects of health.
Practicum experiences can take place across the two years of the residency and include acquisition of skills in clinical and population prevention medicine. Examples of practicum experiences include appointments in: local, state and federal health departments; health maintenance organizations; peer review organizations; community and migrant health centers; occupational health clinics; industrial sites; regulatory agencies; NASA; OSHA; research settings and many more. Reference the Examples of Preventive Medicine Training Opportunities for a comprehensive listing.
Combined residency training is designed to lead to board certification in two medical specialties. Combined programs may reduce the overall length of required training by as much as one year. Residencies that offer combined training programs must maintain their accreditation status through each specialty Residency Review Committee.
The ABPM and the American Board of Internal Medicine have formal guidelines for a combined 4-year residency training program, which leads to board certification in both Preventive Medicine and Internal Medicine.
Several institutions also offer 4-year programs with combined training in preventive medicine and family medicine. 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.
The above contact directory is maintained and updated by ACPM 1-2 times year. The information here is accessed from the ACGME website.
This database includes information on whether programs accept applications from medical students.
This database includes information on whether programs accept applications from medical students.
