Name: T. Jason Meredith, MD
Medical school attended: The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis
Location of your residency/fellowship training:
- UNMC/Offutt Air Force Base Family Medicine Residency
- Allegheny Health Network-St. Vincent Hospital Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship
- University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Department of Family Medicine Faculty Development Fellowship
What residency/fellowship program at UNMC are you serving as program director for?
Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship
Number of trainees: Currently one.
How long have you been the program director? Two years
What made you choose to become the program director?
I have always had a passion for teaching. One of the reasons I came to UNMC after leaving the United States Air Force was the opportunity to build a Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship.
What challenges do you foresee in graduate medical education in the future?
Funding for additional training spots and room to train more learners as we already struggle with learner saturation in our teaching clinics.
What are the strengths of your training program?
- Our program provides a true multidisciplinary learning experience, with dedicated faculty from the UNMC College of Allied Health Professions, emergency medicine, family medicine, orthopaedics, pediatrics and physical medicine and rehabilitation.
- Our sideline/training room opportunities with local high schools, NSAA state championships, Union Omaha soccer, Omaha Lancers hockey, RAGBRAI, and Creighton University athletics provide our fellow the full spectrum of training situations to apply their skills in a progressive autonomy learning environment.
- My partners in crime, Dr. Ross Mathiasen (associate program director) and Kassidy Drazkowski (program coordinator). A program director is only as good as the people they have around them to support them, and I will put mine up against any other program in the country.
List some accomplishments that you are proud of:
- Creating a sports medicine fellowship; watching the journey from a dream to graduating our first fellow this year has been surreal.
- Watching the graduates of our family medicine residency program go out and provide amazing care throughout the world.
- Being named Family Medicine Faculty of the Year in 2020. This award is selected by the residents and having them appreciate the teaching, advising and mentorship is the most rewarding accomplishment in my professional career.
Tell us three things about you that others may not know:
- My twin sister and I were the first people in our family to go to college.
- In the last three years, my wife and I have hiked throughout the Grand Canyon (both rims), Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Capitol Reef, Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Glacier National Parks. Our next goal is to hike Olympic, North Cascades, and Mt. Rainier National Parks or The Wave in the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument (Arizona/Utah).
- During medical school, I moonlighted as a high school science teacher and wrestling coach.