Meet Our Team

What an honor it is for me to serve as East Alabama Health’s Designated Institutional Official (DIO) for our Internal Medicine (IM) Residency Program!

Coming from a community-based teaching hospital in the western Birmingham, Ala. market, I have been exposed to the positive benefits of academic-focused health care since I started my career in healthcare administration.  I have seen first-hand what it means to the rest of the medical and professional staff in a hospital to have residents in-house: there is a heightened focus on quality, processes, and professionalism that positively affects those involved in direct teaching as well as those not directly involved.  “Everyone elevates their game” is a phrase I’ve often heard in regard to becoming an academic training site for physicians.  That is what I have seen thus far at East Alabama Health, and that is our program’s focus going forward - that the collective health system is improved through the implementation and operationalization of our Internal Medicine Residency Program.

It is a true privilege to serve the community of East Alabama through my role as Chief Strategy and Business Development Officer at East Alabama Health, and now as DIO of the IM Residency Program.  At East Alabama Health, our first priority is our patients, and patient access to healthcare services is paramount to the collective health of our communities.  East Alabama Health aims to increase access to both primary care and specialty services through investment in new programs like the IM Residency Program.  The inpatient service of the residency team and the new outpatient continuity clinic that this team operates are both wonderful benefits for the citizens of our community.

As DIO, my door is always open for feedback on how our program can improve in our efforts to care for our community.  I am so proud of the Internal Medicine Residency team and their efforts thus far, and I am so hopeful for the bright future they offer to our local community and beyond. 

- Sarah Nunnelly; East Alabama Health Executive Vice President; Chief Strategy and Business Development Officer; Internal Medicine Residency Program Designated Institutional Official