Blogs

AAIM Member Spotlight

Frances Collichio, MD

Professor of Medicine
Director of Education, Division Hematology Oncology
University of North Carolina School of Medicine

How long have you been a member of AAIM?

I discovered the Alliance about three and a half years ago when I was nominated to be on the ASP Council. I joined the Council and then realized my department was a member of AAIM. We now have an ambassador who communicates with us. I consider it home as an internal medicine educator.

Describe your typical day.

If I am the “On-service” attending a typical day would involve overseeing resident physicians on the inpatient oncology ward. If I am not on the ward, I have a couple days each week that I am in clinic with a resident or fellow. Other days I am working on educational endeavors and research.

What is your favorite part of the job?

Everything! It’s a wonderful job and exciting profession. I am working with young physicians who are enthusiastic, very smart colleagues and patients who are going through difficult times in their lives.

How has the AAIM membership been of value to you and your career?

The Alliance provides the opportunity for everyone to see how the parts of internal medicine fit together. You can see how students become residents, residents become fellows and fellows become faculty. How the Alliance lined up all the Councils was quite brilliant! It helps me a lot and I’m at a stage in my career where I can work on interesting projects. I am currently working on an Alliance committee focused on the family leave policy for residents and fellows. I am working on a white paper on the topic and will be presenting it at AIMW18 in March.

What's your favorite moment of your career so far?

It was being part of the Internal Medicine Subspecialty Milestones Project, a Joint Initiative of The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and the American Board of Internal Medicine. The Alliance organized the work and made sure that all of the stakeholders were represented. I was impressed and proud to see what we were able to accomplish together.

What was your childhood dream job?

I always wanted to be a doctor. My dad was a professor and he let me learn things in his laboratory at a very young age. I learned from him to be curious and kind.

How do you spend your free time?

I love to spend time with my husband and our adult children. Our daughter recently was married and lives close to us, and our son is at the University of North Carolina—Asheville. I keep fit and when I am strong, I compete in running events or mini triathlons.

What’s one thing people would be surprised to know about you?

I like to take junk and turn it into art. You name it. It can be candy wrappers, CDs, computer parts. I will take anything that sparkles and makes people smile.