Internal Medicine/Pediatrics program offers continuum of family care

Monica and Patrick Lara with their daughter, Olivia

When UT Southwestern Administrative Associate Monica Lara was pregnant and searching for a pediatrician for her daughter, Olivia, she didn’t have to look further than her very own internist, UTSW’s Dr. Jaclyn Albin, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Internal Medicine.

“I learned that Dr. Albin split her practice between internal medicine and pediatrics. I asked about her seeing Olivia and it’s all worked out great,” Ms. Lara said. “The biggest benefit is that she knows our history – she knows my history, which makes it much easier to know Olivia’s history.”

Dr. Albin and Dr. Jason Newman, also Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, helped establish the Medical Center’s first combined Internal Medicine and Pediatrics (Med/Peds) clinical practice and residency program in 2016. Dr. Jennifer Walsh, Chief of the Division of Combined Internal Medicine and Pediatrics and founding Director of the Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Residency Program, leads the effort.

“Dr. Newman has a lot of medical experience running a large Med/Peds practice, so he is the Medical Director of the General Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Clinic, and I joined the team to help build the residency training program as the Associate Program Director,” Dr. Albin said.

Located on the eighth floor of Professional Office Building 2, the Med/Peds primary care practice provides comprehensive services to patients of all ages, from newborns to seniors. The clinic is unique in that parents and children can be seen at the same time. Combining specialties also naturally allows for a more open discussion of family dynamics as both children and adults age. 

“Being a new mom, you don’t really know that when a baby gets sick, you’re probably going to get sick too, but Dr. Albin explained all that,” Ms. Lara said. “She really explained how bringing a new baby into the family can change your routine.”

According to Dr. Newman, the clinic operates somewhat like a true primary care practice.

“We tend to look at things from a family aspect,” he said. “There could be something going on with one family member that impacts the health of another, and that may get overlooked if those family members are seeing an internist in one location and a pediatrician in another.”

In addition to offering care for the whole family, the clinic enables patients to see the same doctors throughout their lives, enhancing continuity of care and providing valuable historical information in more difficult patient cases.

“The expertise of a pediatrician sort of goes away after a child gets into young adulthood, and transitioning to a new doctor can be challenging,” Dr. Newman said. “We’re able to see all ages in our clinic, so we know the history of a patient. We’re also able to manage their conditions throughout different stages of life.”

The four-year Med/Peds residency program, which also began in 2016, enables residents to dive deep into more than one specialty and to tackle problems that affect all ages. They spend extra time in residency training in order to master both internal medicine and pediatrics, and at the end of the program they’re eligible to be board certified in both specialties, just like Dr. Albin and Dr. Newman.

“The people who are attracted to this specialty want to learn about everything,” Dr. Albin said. “There’s kind of this pioneer spirit that comes from working in this environment because you have to get creative. There is not much we consider to be outside our purview. We want to know everything about our patients and their families.”