Sports Medicine Fellowship
PRIMARY CARE SPORTS MEDICINE FELLOWSHIP
We host the National Capital Consortium-Fort Belvoir Community Hospital Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship.
The National Capital Consortium's Military Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship has a prestigious history of training military primary care physicians in the non-surgical care and education of recreational and competitive athletes at all levels of fitness. It is an intense one-year training program that equips fellows with the skills and knowledge needed to provide expert musculoskeletal and exercise-related medical care for active persons of all ages and skill levels. The Fellowship began in 1994, and is now one of the largest Sports Medicine fellowships in the country graduating eight fellows each year. The program has over 100 graduates including numerous leaders and academic scholars in sports medicine from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard, and two adjunct civilian fellows. All fellows who have taken the American Board of Family Medicine examination in Sports Medicine have a 100% pass rate, earning them a Certificate of Added Qualifications in Sports Medicine.
The Military fellowship is based at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital in conjunction with the Family Medicine Residency, with support from USU Department of Family Medicine in Bethesda, MD. The fellowship has an academic collaboration with Fairfax Family Medicine Residency and Sports Medicine Fellowship, MedStar Georgetown Emergency Medicine Sports Medicine Fellowship, and MedStar Nation Rehabilitation Hospital PM&R Sports Fellowship. The military fellows, plus six civilian fellows, share didactic lectures, hands-on ultrasound teaching, pre-participation physicals, and event coverage. The multi-disciplinary faculty collaborate to provide world-class instruction across a broad and diverse formal and informal curriculum. Curriculum highlights include: more than 100 hours of hands-on instruction in musculoskeletal ultrasound, 7+ hours of didactic sports lectures and small groups each week, two-day ultrasound guided injection cadaver course, a two day orthobiologic course with national and international speakers, and weekly full-spectrum sports medicine practice with access to orthobiologic medicine techniques, including platelet rich plasma, prolotherapy, nerve hydrodissection, and percutaneous ultrasonic tenotomy procedures.
CURRICULUM OVERVIEW
Eight major areas of training that occur simultaneously:
- Ambulatory sports medicine clinic
- Team physician responsibilities
- Sports medicine didactics
- Interventional and diagnostic musculoskeletal ultrasound
- Clinical and operative orthopedics
- Scholarly activities & faculty development
- Orthobiologic medicine techniques
- Leadership & operational readiness
TEAM PHYSICIAN OPPORTUNITIES
Fellows serve as a high school football team physician AND assume team physician responsibilities at one of five NCAA schools:
- Naval Academy
- American University
- George Mason University
- Catholic University
- Bowie State University
- Howard University
SCHOLARLY ACTIVITIES AND FACULTY DEVELOPMENT
Fellows have weekly didactic sessions and meet regularly with research mentors. Fellows are required to complete an experience in each of the following areas:
- Publication (publish a book chapter, review article, or research paper)
- Presentation (present a poster, case, or research presentation at national meeting)
- Teaching (teach at a regional or national meeting)
- Research (create ‘shovel-ready’ project for next duty station or perform ongoing research)
ADDITIONAL TRAINING EVENTS
Marine Corps Marathon
Virginia Special Olympics
Naval Academy Boxing Championships
NCAA Sports Physicals at the US Military Academy (West Point, NY)
Warrior Games
APPLICATIONS
Application instructions:
- Email the Sports Fellowship Program Director (below)
- Speak with your respective specialty consultant
- Submit an application to the service-specific Graduate Medical Education (GME) coordinator
- Coordinate a phone or in-person interview with the Program Director
Applications are usually submitted in August and September. The Tri-Service GME Selection Board meets in late November, and applicants are typically notified of results by mid-December.
CHAD HULSOPPLE, DO, LTC, MC, USA
Program Director and Professor, Department of Family Medicine
(571)-231-2195 or chad.d.hulsopple.mil@health.mil