History of Medical Education in Chattanooga

From an historical prospective, medical education programs have existed at Erlanger since 1899
(then known as Baroness Erlanger Hospital). 
The Chattanooga Medical College, part of Grant
College (later re-named the University of
Chattanooga), was opened in 1899 near the
hospital in downtown Chattanooga and

immediately formed an amiable relationship
with Erlanger.  The first intern at Erlanger was a
graduate of the Chattanooga Medical College,
Dr. German Haymore.  The American Medical
Association officially approved Erlanger's

internship program in 1915.  Other residency
programs offered at Erlanger over the next few
decades included:  Flexible Internship,
Anesthesiology, Internal Medicine, OB/GYN,
Ophthalmology, Oral Surgery, Orthopaedic
Surgery, Pathology, Pediatrics, Plastic Surgery,
Radiology, and Surgery.

In the early 1970's, due to stringent accreditation standards, Erlanger faced considerable difficulty in maintaining quality programs as a stand-alone community hospital without the involvement of a major medical school.  The Oral Surgery and Anesthesiology programs had voluntarily closed.

In 1973, as a result of a grassroots effort organized by citizens concerned with the
quality of local health care, the Tennessee State Legislature established a Chattanooga Clinical Education Center of the University of Tennessee College of Medicine. Erlanger Medical Center was selected

as the primary training site and included T.C. Thompson Children's Hospital and the Willie D. Miller Eye Center.  An
affiliation agreement was signed between the hospital and the University. Under this agreement the University assumed educational responsibility for all medical education programs at these facilities.

The three major areas of responsibility of the Chattanooga Unit were defined as:

• the training of medical students electing to participate in clinical clerkships and electives

• graduate training of residents and

• training physicians and allied health personnel in continuing medical education opportunities

Today, the Chattanooga campus, now called the UT College of Medicine Chattanooga, remains a viable part of a statewide network
of Graduate Medical Education and is a component of the main medical school campus in Memphis. Our primary clinical training site is The Erlanger Health System , specifically the Erlanger Baroness Campus shown above, as well as other Erlanger campuses: 

T.C. Thompson Children's Hospital (located adjacent to the Baroness campus), Erlanger East, Erlanger North, and the UT Family Practice Center.  Erlanger is the region’s only tertiary care center and major teaching hospital and is licensed for 818 acute beds and 50 long-term care beds serving patients from 50 counties within a 150 mile radius.

Sponsored programs as of July 1, 2012 provide training for approximately 170 residents and fellows in the following programs:

• Colon and Rectal Surgery Fellowship (sponsored by the Department of Surgery)

• Emergency Medicine Residency

• Family Medicine Residency

• Hospice/Palliative Care Fellowship (sponsored by the Department of Medicine)

• Internal Medicine Residencys

• Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery Fellowship (MIGS) (Non-Accredited Fellowship sponsored by the Department of OB/GYN)

• OB/GYN Residency

• Orthopaedic Surgery Residency

• Orthopaedic Trauma Fellowship (Non-Accredited Fellowship sponsored by Orthopaedic Surgery)

• Pediatrics Residency

• Plastic Surgery Residency

• Surgery Residency

• Surgical Critical Care Fellowship (sponsored by the Department of Surgery)

• Transitional Year Residency

• Vascular Surgery Fellowship (sponsored by the Department of Surgery)