Welcome to the Cone Health Sports Medicine Fellowship. Our educational program emphasizes three goals.
We have trained more than 70 fellows in the skills necessary to begin the practice of sports medicine in any setting. Fellows gain clinical, academic and teaching skills to prepare them for their future career. Each Fellow follows his or her own collegiate and high school teams throughout the year. In addition, they attend at least two national conferences, The Advanced Team Physician Course and The American Medical Society of Sports Medicine annual meeting. Fellows are expected to present at the latter meeting and have had great success with having their research projects and case reports accepted for this meeting.
We encourage each of our patients to pursue physical activity and lifestyle changes that will move them to longer and fuller lives. Our philosophy is that all patients are athletes at some level.
Thank you for your interest in the Cone Health Sports Medicine Fellowship Program. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about our program. We look forward to hearing from you.
What are the strengths of your program?
Our program began in 1992 with our first fellow graduating in 1993. We were among the first programs to be fully accredited by the ACGME and have consistently received long reaccreditation periods.
The Program Director, Dr. Shane Hudnall has been active in the Greensboro sports medicine community since graduating from our program in 2011. He serves on regional and national sports medicine committees as a member of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine and the Southeastern division of the American College of Sports Medicine. He has covered several sporting events including the US Figure Skating Championships, USA Gymnastics Championships, USA Youth Soccer Regionals, North Carolina Marathon and many others. He serves as a team physician for Guilford College and the Greensboro Grasshoppers. Dr. Bert Fields is well known both nationally and internationally in the Sports Medicine Community and is a past-president of the AMSSM. He remains very active, presenting regularly at several meeting per year. Dr. Sara Neal has been Family Medicine Residency and Sports Medicine faculty for more than 15 years. All of our Primary Care Sports Medicine Faculty located in each of the participating orthopedic offices received their fellowship training at Cone Health.
Graduates of our program feel well trained no matter where they end up practicing. We have graduates who are sports medicine program directors and residency faculty, team physicians for major universities, who work in orthopedic offices, who work in primary care offices and who practice in solo, rural settings. No matter what your final destination, we can help tailor the program to fit your ultimate needs.
How has your program done in the match?
Our program began with a single position, expanded to two positions in 1997 and has successfully matched 2 to 3 fellows yearly. All of our fellows have been chosen through the match with the exception of additional positions sponsored by the U.S. Military.
What do you look for in an applicant?
We feel fortunate to receive many strong applications each year, but we are limited to interviewing 25 to 30 candidates, thus the strength of the application and outstanding performance in residency is very important. Specifically we look for an applicants' long-term interest in sports medicine. This will include rotations scheduled or completed, conferences attended, time spent as a team physician and/or at mass participation events.
What previous training do you need to apply to the program?
We consider candidates who have recent, successful completion of a Family Medicine or Meds/Peds residency program. We consider candidates from Emergency, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics and PM&R residencies if they had a strong ambulatory and sports medicine experience during training.
What major changes do you anticipate?
Health systems are continuing to expand to provide a new model of care. Within Cone Health Medical Group, we have multiple sports medicine physicians. We anticipate coordinating efforts to provide special services and coverage of major events with this network of physicians who are primarily graduates of our fellowship program.
Collaboration with local universities – particularly UNCG and Elon - in their health professions programs will continue to expand with collaborative research as well as teaching initiatives through a conjoint program of health systems and universities called the Union Square Campus.
Does your program have elective opportunities?
While the fellows’ curriculum is longitudinal, elective time is built into their schedules. Our medical community is very supportive of our teaching programs, thus lending itself to many elective opportunities, which can be tailored to the fellow's interest. Fellows have done additional time with hand surgeons, cardiologists, radiologists, PM&R, physical therapists, nutritionists, faculty at the kinesiology department at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
How does your program incorporate technology into education?
The office is fully electronic (no paper charts), using Cone HealthLink (EPIC) for scheduling, billing and EMR. Radiographs and other images are available electronically through the PACs system, which is integrated into EPIC. We have library services, with most journals available as well as full access to the AHEC digital library, which links to all resources in the UNC system.
We ensure that each fellow gets extensive experience in performance of ultrasound and become proficient in using extracorporeal focused shock wave therapy for MSK injury. We hope to incorporate any new innovations within this technology as they come to clinical use.
Where does fellow training take place?
Fellows' training takes place in several specific sites but primarily at The Cone Health Sports Medicine Center, an orthopedic office, the Student Health Center at UNCG, a primary care/urgent office and in the training room of their college.
Do your residents obtain board CAQ certification?
Every fellow who has graduated from the program has successfully passed the CAQ.
Is Greensboro a good place to live?
Greensboro is a city of 280,800 people. It is nestled between the Appalachian mountains and the Atlantic coast, in a region of gently rolling terrain called the Piedmont. With lengthy fall and spring seasons and generally mild winters, outdoor activities are popular among residents.
The city has several colleges and universities, including the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro College, Guilford College, Bennett College and Elon University - all within 20 minutes of the Moses Cone Hospital campus.
The cost of living is at the national average. The Guilford County Schools are well regarded. Most children of the residents and faculty attend public schools. Because Greensboro is such an attractive city, we have been able to recruit residents from all parts of the country. Most of them choose to stay in North Carolina once they graduate because it is such a great place to live.
A key experience for the primary care sports medicine fellow at The Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital is becoming a team physician for a local college and a high school. By assuming the primary role as team physician, the fellow gains extensive experience assisting on the sidelines and evaluating acute injuries while following multiple sports. During the course of the Fellowship, the fellow is exposed to a minimum of 2,000 encounters that involve sports injuries. This is accomplished by training the fellow in a variety of settings and under the supervision of faculty who have extensive experience in sports medicine.
The Fellowship is a fully accredited program affiliated with Cone Health Family Medicine Residency, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Greensboro Area Health Education Center. We accept two fellows per year through the NRMP Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship Match. We have trained additional fellows when needed by area colleges or by the US military.
