Director's Welcome

Thank you for your interest in the UC San Diego Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship Program. There is no better place to train than in beautiful San Diego, also known as America's Finest City. The San Diego area offers endless opportunities for both sports medicine coverage and participation. We are located minutes from some of the most beautiful beaches in all of North America. San Diego also offers endless cultural and entertainment experiences.

We are currently the only accredited civilian program in San Diego County. We work collaboratively with our colleagues at the San Diego Sports Medicine and Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton Sports Medicine Fellowships. We created a regional sports medicine consortium that convenes weekly for afternoon sports medicine lectures at our newly remodeled clinic in beautiful La Jolla.

We have developed a comprehensive one-year program for training CAQ-eligible Sports Medicine physicians. Each fellow will be expected to work as the team physician for a local high school as well as our University athletics. After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of the Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The fellows also participate in a variety of event coverage ranging from the Tri-Rock Triathlon to the San Diego Symphony, and serve as the Medical Directors of the Cal State Games and Medical Captains in the San Diego Rock n Roll Marathon.

In 2014/2015 we added a new combined fellow position in collaboration with our colleagues at San Diego Sports Medicine. This is an excellent position that combines the strengths of our University based program with our community based colleagues at San Diego Sports Medicine (SDSM). Athletic coverage includes San Diego State University athletics, a perennial D1 contender in the Mountain West Conference. The combined fellow will cover training room clinics at San Diego State and functions as one of the team physicians for the football, basketball, baseball and softball games. Additional athletics coverage includes the Olympic and Paralympic Training Site where the fellow works with Olympic athletes during events and training room clinics. Continuity primary care clinics are located at San Diego Sports Medicine and Family Health Center (SDSM). In addition, the combined fellow has continuity sports medicine clinics at both UCSD and SDSM as well as 3 months at 360 Pediatric Sports Medicine Clinic at Rady's Childrens Hospital.

The fellowship year has a great deal of flexibility but we expect each fellow to maintain experience and training in family medicine. Aside from a few core rotations the fellows have the freedom to choose and arrange many elective rotations, including coverage at the Olympic and Paralympic Training Site in Chula Vista. In addition, a scholarly project is required and we expect this to yield unique information that is worthy of publication or formal presentation at our national meetings.

Unfortunately due to our current funding structure we are only accepting family physician applicants. Applicants are required to be board eligible/certified in family medicine, and must be a graduate of an accredited Family Medicine Residency Program in the United States. You will need to apply for a California medical license if you are out of the State of California. We are a fully accredited training program. Fellows will be eligible to sit for the Certifying Examination (CAQ) in Sports Medicine.

If you wish to apply for the UCSD Primary Care Sports Medicine program, we utilize the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) administered by the AAMC (American Association of Medical Colleges). Written inquiries or correspondence for the fellowship should be sent to Melissa Wahl, fellowship program coordinator at mmwahl@health.ucsd.edu.

We request that the applications be submitted by October 1st the year prior to the start of the fellowship year. The fellowship year typically runs from the last week of July for one year and one week. We overlap fellows one week for training and orientation purposes. Melissa Wahl is the administrative contact for Sports Medicine and can be reached at (619) 543-2165 or via email mmwahl@health.ucsd.edu. For clinical or patient related matters​ please call UCSD La Jolla Family and Sports Medicine at (858) 657-8600.

You can find the application information and instructions at the AMSSM (American Medical Society for Sports Medicine) website

Please browse the additional links on our website for additional information, schedules and maps.