We educate physicians to provide high-quality palliative and hospice care to those coping with serious illness. We focus on skilled communication, exemplary pain and symptom management, as well as culturally-sensitive, whole person care.
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“I was particularly drawn to the fellowship because of its focus on providing excellent and comprehensive palliative care for underserved populations, including Native Americans.” Rebecca Adler, MD Palliative Care Fellow
Become a palliative care fellow at UNM Hospital—the only academic medical center in New Mexico, and the only Level 1 Trauma Center in the region.
Train to assess and treat patients using a whole-person and trauma-informed approach to care, addressing physical, emotional, spiritual, cultural and existential causes of suffering. Special attention is placed on caring for the underserved and Native populations of New Mexico, given that UNM is a safety net institution in a rural and ethnically diverse state.
Our 12-month Hospital and Palliative Medicine (HPM) Fellowship is accredited through the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).
During your fellowship, you will train alongside experts in a range of patient care settings, including:
UNMH and the VA Medical Center are the largest teaching hospitals in the state. Both serve as referral centers for a geographic area that includes all of New Mexico, as well as western Texas, southern Colorado, and eastern Arizona.
Two fellowship positions are available starting in July of 2026, filled through the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP).
Applications are accepted through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) and follow national guidance regarding our application and interview timelines.
We will begin receiving applications on July 15, 2025 for the 2026-2027 fellowship year.
We are participating in program signaling through ERAS.
We accept applicants from a variety of primary specialities, with recent fellows from emergency medicine, family medicine, and internal medicine backgrounds. Eligible applicants must be board-eligible or board-certified in any of the following primary specialties:
Anesthesiology
Emergency medicine
Family medicine
Internal medicine
Neurology
Obstetrics and gynecology
Physical medicine and rehabilitation
Psychiatry
Radiology
Surgery
New Mexico is a majority-minority state with Hispanic persons and American Indians constituting the majority of the population in the state. We are committed to seeking and educating applicants from diverse backgrounds.
For more information about Hospice and Palliative Medicine Match, visit the AAHPM website.
Our program strives to foster clinical excellence, intellectual curiosity, cultural humility, critical reflection and compassion through clinical experience, evidence-based practice and mentorship, with a goal of developing palliative medicine physicians who have lifelong learning, teaching and self-care skills.
Curriculum
A partnership with Gallup Indian Medical Center in Gallup, New Mexico allows our fellows to rotate with the palliative medicine service at this critical access Indian Health Service hospital adjacent to the Navajo Nation.
Three weeks of vacation may be taken during any of the rotations; a maximum of two weeks can be taken at once. UNM GME has a generous leave package available for fellows. Please be aware, individual board organizations place limits on leave and training time that may be less than the generous support offered by UNM GME.
Train future teachers, innovators and leaders in palliative medicine by modeling use of evidence-based medicine and active learning and teaching in formal and informal settings. Advocacy for patient-centered care is a tenet in our program, with a focus on cross-specialty collaboration and professionalism.
The fellowship begins with a core educational “Boot Camp” series which covers key topics in palliative medicine.
The program trains physicians in interdisciplinary approaches to patient care through team teaching and exposure to a variety of hospice and palliative medicine environments at the University of New Mexico, the New Mexico Veterans Administration Medical Center and in the New Mexico community.
Fellows work with our board-certified palliative medicine physicians who have:
The team also includes palliative medicine-trained and experienced nurse practitioners, social workers, a spiritual care specialist and narrativist, registered nurses, the Director of UNM’s Art in Medicine program, and administrative support persons.
Our program strives to foster clinical excellence, intellectual curiosity, cultural humility, critical reflection and compassion through clinical experience, evidence-based practice and mentorship, with a goal of developing palliative medicine physicians who have lifelong learning, teaching and self-care skills.
Curriculum
A partnership with Gallup Indian Medical Center in Gallup, New Mexico allows our fellows to rotate with the palliative medicine service at this critical access Indian Health Service hospital adjacent to the Navajo Nation.
Three weeks of vacation may be taken during any of the rotations; a maximum of two weeks can be taken at once. UNM GME has a generous leave package available for fellows. Please be aware, individual board organizations place limits on leave and training time that may be less than the generous support offered by UNM GME.
Train future teachers, innovators and leaders in palliative medicine by modeling use of evidence-based medicine and active learning and teaching in formal and informal settings. Advocacy for patient-centered care is a tenet in our program, with a focus on cross-specialty collaboration and professionalism.
The fellowship begins with a core educational “Boot Camp” series which covers key topics in palliative medicine.
The program trains physicians in interdisciplinary approaches to patient care through team teaching and exposure to a variety of hospice and palliative medicine environments at the University of New Mexico, the New Mexico Veterans Administration Medical Center and in the New Mexico community.
Fellows work with our board-certified palliative medicine physicians who have:
The team also includes palliative medicine-trained and experienced nurse practitioners, social workers, a spiritual care specialist and narrativist, registered nurses, the Director of UNM’s Art in Medicine program, and administrative support persons.
L. Emily Cotter, MD
Fellowship Program Director
Division of Palliative Care
Department of Internal Medicine
1 University of New Mexico
MSC10-5550