Christopher D. Jackson, MD
Associate Program Director
UTHSC Internal Medicine Residency Program
Memphis, TN

I am a board-certified academic general internist in Memphis, TN. Additionally, I am an associate program director for curriculum for the UTHSC Internal Medicine Residency Program. My connection with SMA started in 2016. I presented an oral abstract presentation on statin-induced necrotizing autoimmune myopathy. This moment changed my academic trajectory in multiple ways. I realized how much I enjoyed attending conferences and presenting my findings from research. Moreover, I connected with a welcoming organization that continues to provide professional development opportunities that have enhanced my academic general internal medicine career.

As a clinician-educator, I enjoy the opportunity to provide high-quality care to patients and train the next generation of internal medicine physicians. For my efforts, I’ve been fortunate to win our Educator of the Year award at UTHSC after my first year on faculty. This award would not be possible without the seed planted at my first SMA conference in October 2016. At present, I serve as an assistant editor for the SMJ, and I work alongside outstanding colleagues on the SMA Education Committee. Over the past five years, the SMA continues to expand its educational offerings to be at the forefront of cutting-edge digital education.

His Vision:
My vision as President-Elect Designate is to enhance SMA’s development of the four pillars: relevance, collaboration, engaging academia, and youth strategy. To increase SMA’s relevance, I will champion social media efforts through varied content offerings and chats to keep SMA in the conversation of what’s essential in healthcare. For collaboration and engaging academia, I’ll use my connections to allow SMA to support multiple abstract competitions that enable medical students and early career physicians additional opportunities to showcase their research. For our youth strategy, I will partner with our Physicians in Training program to create more networking opportunities with our more seasoned SMA members.