University of Tennessee College of Medicine Nashville Program

Program Identity & Fit

This is a community-based, high-volume clinical training program anchored at Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital Midtown, the largest obstetric hospital in Tennessee (~7,000 deliveries/year) and in the national Ascension system, giving residents an unusually large procedural and delivery experience for a program of its size. The stated philosophy treats residents as "apprentice attending obstetrician-gynecologists," emphasizing hands-on surgical and obstetric decision-making autonomy, one-on-one subspecialty faculty teaching, and simulation-based training rather than a research-heavy academic identity. Graduate outcomes are overwhelmingly community and private practice placements in Tennessee and the surrounding region, with only occasional fellowship pursuits (MFM-adjacent global health, hospitalist fellowships), indicating the program is oriented toward producing generalist community OB/GYNs rather than subspecialists or academicians. The program draws heavily from DO and regional MD schools, reflecting a practice-oriented, high-volume service culture rather than a tertiary/quaternary academic referral identity.