Message from the Program Director
Thank you for your interest in the Pediatric Residency Programs at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. We are excited to meet you and welcome your interest! We are very proud of our residents and our program which has been training amazing pediatricians since1920. We strive to provide our residents a rewarding educational experience by providing a rich and diverse hands- on clinical experience, supplemented with excellent didactics and educational bootcamps, and offering structured mentorship and opportunities for research, quality improvement and advocacy. We take pride in creating a culture of mutual respect and camaraderie so that there is a psychological safe learning environment with a focus on wellbeing.
Our mantra is for our residents to thrive, and not just survive, in residency. We know residency is challenging, and we support the residents by a strong mentoring and wellbeing program. We are responsive to the needs of the residents and encourage them to be part of the change they want to see. We have a meaningful longitudinal wellbeing program with scheduled debriefs, and optional after hour resident wellbeing committee-led social gatherings.
Our residents spend most of their time during residency at our free-standing children’s hospital, Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital. We are fortunate to be able to provide our residents outstanding HemeOnc training at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Our residents get their neonatology and newborn nursery experience at the Regional One Health level III NICU, with additional experience in neonatology at LeBonheur’s level IV NICU. These hospitals are all within a short distance of each other and together provided a comprehensive educational milieu. We use the principles of experiential learning and provide residents ample opportunities for autonomy based on their level of experience, which leads to our residents being well prepared for independent practice or continued training in subspecialty fellowship.
I believe that the biggest strengths of our program are the unique patient population we have the honor to serve and the people we work with! Our faculty and our residents truly make our program! There is a family feel and a bond here that comes from a sense of shared value and team spirit! Our residents work hard but
also have a lot of fun! There is always a dress up day or ice cream rounds going on - we all truly embrace the kid within us in the true pediatrician spirit! Lastly, the city of Memphis is truly a unique place to live. Many of our residents come here for residency and end up making Memphis their home! I too came here for an ID fellowship in 2008 and this became my work family, and Memphis became home. I wish you luck in your interview journey and hope you visit us. I would be thrilled to welcome you in our residency family next year!
Bindiya Bagga, MD
Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Infectious Diseases
Pediatric Residency Program Director
Le Bonheur Profile: Bindiya Bagga
