Because many residents want to attain focused expertise in a specific discipline during their residency training, the UPMC St. Margaret Family Medicine Residency has developed Areas of Concentration (AOC). There is an exciting selection of AOC disciplines listed below, and some residents may create a new AOC with faculty mentorship. Each AOC requires an elective time commitment, a longitudinal project, a scholarly presentation, and CME attendance. Residents completing an AOC program receive a Certificate of Recognition at graduation.
Current Areas of Concentration are available in the following subjects (tracks):
- Sports Medicine
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An Area of Concentration (AOC) in Sports Medicine is available to residents irrespective of future plans for sports medicine fellowship.
Requirements for the Sports Medicine AOC include the following:
Designate elective time in sports medicine beyond the core MSK residency rotations in sports medicine (PGY2) and orthopedics (PGY3)
Assist in coverage at a mass sporting event
Participate in additional sports medicine clinical experience to include high school football sideline coverage and preparticipation sports physicals for scholastic youth sports
Critically appraise an article during residency didactics (such as MDM, CCS, or progress rounds)
Complete a scholarly presentation in sports medicine separate from the resident's senior lecture, ideally at the county, state, regional, or national level. Most typical example is a poster or podium case presentation at AMSSM.
Attend one academic conference in Sports Medicine—ideally the national meeting for the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM), which occurs each spring
- Global Health
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UPMC St. Margaret offers a Global Health Area of Concentration (GH AOC), a 2–3-year program designed for residents with a strong interest in international and limited-resource setting healthcare. This track allows residents to engage early in global health work through structured international clinical experiences, academic enrichment, and community-focused projects. Participants complete four weeks of international elective time, the INMED Certificate Course in International Medicine and Public Health, and a longitudinal project with a global or health disparity focus. Residents also attend a global health conference, present scholarly work, and participate in monthly dinner seminars. The GH AOC provides a unique opportunity to develop clinical and cultural competencies in low-resource settings, preparing residents for impactful careers in global and community health.
- OB/Women's Health
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The Women’s Health/OB area of concentration is designed for any resident looking to gain a concentrated experience in either women’s health/ gyne or OB related topics. It would be recommended for anyone who wants to pursue an OB fellowship post-graduation from residency.
The area of concentration should be declared ideally by the end of the first year (when schedules for 2nd year are being created), but at the latest by the Fall of the 2nd year so that we can try to organize the 2nd and 3rd year rotation schedules and elective time.
As part of the AOC one must have a written proposal for their AOC longitudinal goals and objectives and 8 weeks of elective time in women’s health, OB or gyne or a combination of those areas. The resident must attend a CME conference in the AOC (examples would be the Family Centered Maternity Care course or one of the ASCCP colposcopy courses). Typically the senior presentation and the required journal article review (for MDM) would be in the topic area of the AOC. In addition, a presentation at the county, state or regional level is encouraged. Many residents choose to work on the IMPLICIT or 4th Trimester Care projects, or group prenatal visits or a QI project within the health center like the cervical cancer screening tool to satisfy their scholarly presentation but an original progect is certainly accepted.
- Hospitalist Medicine
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More information to come!
- Lifestyle Medicine
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UPMC St. Margaret offers a Lifestyle Medicine Area of Concentration, as a 2–3-year program in which a resident completes the American College of Lifestyle Medicine Residency Curriculum (LMRC). The LMRC is a comprehensive, applicable, and flexible curriculum designed for integrated implementation into medical residency programs. Upon completion of both the educational and practicum components of the curriculum, residents will be qualified for the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine certification exam.
Each LM-AOC resident will be sponsored by the designated faculty lead to ensure the resident achieves their personal learning goals and those of the LMRC-AOC. Meetings occur quarterly.
- Geriatric Medicine
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UPMC St. Margaret offers a Geriatric Area of Concentration, as a 2–3-year program in which a resident completes additional work in geriatrics. This would permit those with strong interest in geriatrics an opportunity to start early in their geriatrics work. The resident would work with the geriatrics AOC director to craft a program that provides early post-acute care comfort as well as outpatient geriatric management expertise. This program would highlight geriatrics earlier in the resident's career.
- Academic Medicine
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UPMC St. Margaret offers an Academic Medicine Area of Concentration as a 1–2-year program designed for residents with a strong interest in academic medicine at the undergraduate or graduate level. Residents in the AM-AOC work with the Faculty Development Fellowship (FDF) to develop areas of expertise in the domains of 1) Teaching & Learning, 2) Research & Scholarship, 3) Professional and Leadership Development and 4) Administrative and Management. Each resident will participate in FDF sessions (including a 4-week elective in August as well as other optional sessions) and present their academic project at regional and national conferences. Each AM-AOC resident will be sponsored by the designated faculty lead to ensure the resident achieves their personal learning goals.
- Behavioral Health
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The Behavioral Health Area of Concentration is available for residents interested in gaining skills in behavioral health diagnosis and treatment at the primary care level.
This AOC provides structured learning opportunities develop a deeper understanding by using elective time to increase experiences and a goals and objective plan to augment clinic work.
It provides focused training in integrating behavioral health principles into primary care.
This AOC helps residents develop skills in identifying, diagnosing, and managing mental health and substance use disorders, as well as understanding the psychosocial aspects of health and illness.
Components of the Behavioral Health Area of Concentration:
Biopsychosocial approach
Mental Health diagnosis and treatments
Substance use disorders and treatments
Therapeutic interventions and counseling skills
Navigating the mental health system and levels of care
Managing psychiatric emergencies
Implementation of care models: Integrated behavioral health and Collaborative Care
- Addiction Medicine
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More information to come!
The following are the requirements to be met for resident completion of an AOC:
Declaration
The AOC should be selected by the end of the PGY2 training year. Prior to AOC declaration, the resident must meet with the program director and their faculty advisor to discuss the AOC. At the time of declaration, residents must be in good academic standing including performing at the expected level of competency in order to be eligible for AOC participation.
Sponsorship
The resident must have an AOC faculty sponsor. Often a specific discipline (e.g.- geriatrics) will have a designated faculty sponsor. Meetings with the sponsor should occur at least three times per year.
Elective Time
A minimum of 8 weeks of elective time will be spent in the AOC, with all experiences pre-approved by the faculty sponsor. The additional training should be sufficient to achieve and demonstrate the desired competencies in the AOC.
CME Attendance
One academic conference in the AOC must be attended during residency, with the pre-approval of the faculty sponsor. The resident will be expected to disseminate clinically useful, evidence-based information to resident and faculty colleagues. Funding for conference attendance will come from the resident’s CME budget, and time to travel must come from time already allocated for CME.
Scholarly Presentation
Separate from the required senior presentation, there must be a scholarly presentation in the AOC. The resident will be strongly encouraged to have such a presentation made at the county, state, regional, or national level. A copy of the presentation will be available for the resident’s permanent file.
Critical Appraisal
The resident will present a critical appraisal of an article in the AOC. Such presentations can be made in the journal club or at UPMC St. Margaret MDM rounds.
Competency Based
A proposal of academic study and clinical activity, designed by the resident with faculty input, should be completed with the inclusion of competency-based goals and objectives. The proposal will outline the additional competencies that have been achieved.
Summary Letter
A letter summarizing the AOC completion, written by the faculty sponsor or residency director, will be placed in the resident’s file at the completion of training.