Preventive Medicine Residency Columbia - Program Details

Fostering public health improvement

Congruent with our sponsoring institutions' missions, we will train residents to provide culturally competent care for a variety of populations, including vulnerable populations, and improve the health of our state through our clinical and academic affiliations.

The academic component of our program includes the completion of a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree at the UofSC Arnold School of Public Health (ASPH). In addition to the MPH coursework, there are weekly residency didactic seminars, monthly journal clubs, interdisciplinary conferences and educational activities, and opportunities to attend professional conferences.

Engaging learning opportunities

Our program’s affiliation with the University of South Carolina provides residents with numerous options for engaging in teaching, research and scholarly pursuits. Residents apply their academic training during clinical and practicum rotations. They learn about clinical preventive medicine, quality improvement, healthcare management and administration, community health initiatives and public health practice through rotations with our state and regional health departments, throughout the Prisma Health system and in other healthcare organizations in our community. Our location in the state capital enables residents to gain experience with health policy and public health practice at both the state and regional levels.

Resident and alumni highlights

Stephanie Lee, MD

Stephanie Lee, MD, is dual-board certified in both pediatrics and preventive medicine. She was inspired to train in preventive medicine while working as a pediatric resident in California, when there was an outbreak of measles at Disneyland. She witnessed firsthand the public health procedures and principles necessary to contain the outbreak, including contact tracing, quarantine and handwashing. She was also involved in the care of children with mycobacterium abscesses after undergoing pulpotomy, a procedure akin to root canal, in dental clinics. This outbreak ended up infecting 71 children, and she was involved with contacting the health department and assisting with their investigation. Both these experiences inspired her to pursue work in public health, since public policies and regulations has such an immense, direct impact on children’s health.

Currently, Dr. Lee works as a pediatrician at a community hospital in Pennsylvania. She was recently appointed Medical Director of Refugee Resettlement at her clinic in Berks County, coordinating care for unaccompanied immigrant children. She credits her work for her master's degree in public health, preventive medicine training and time spent with the Prisma Health Department of Infectious Disease and their refugee work for preparing her to assume this role. Lee is also a member of American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM) in the Young Physicians Section. In 2021, she participated in ACPM advocacy hill day, where she spoke to lawmakers from Pennsylvania about funding for preventive medicine residency programs.

Outside of clinic, she is an avid writer and recently published stories in the 3rd edition of The Chronicles of Women in White Coats. She loves exploring the outdoors with her husband and one-year-old German Shepard/Corgi mix, Latte.

Find out more at stephleemd.com.

Branham Tomarchio, MD

Branham Tomarchio, MD, grew up in Aiken, South Carolina, and earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from Furman University in Greenville. He completed a Doctor of Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston more ten years ago, but his education was far from over at that point.

“I have always loved people,” says Tomarchio, of his decision to practice medicine. “I wanted to be there to help them in ways that only a doctor could during their time of need.”

After his 2007 graduation from MUSC, Tomarchio completed a medicine internship at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and then served as the House Office of Internal Medicine at the University of Virginia, during which time he received the university medical center’s You Make a Difference Award (2010).

Dr. Tomarchio returned to South Carolina in 2011, serving as the medical director for the state’s Department of Corrections and then working as a private practice physician. In 2015, he enrolled at UofSC to begin a dual training opportunity: Master of Public Health (MPH) at the UofSC Arnold School and the Preventive Medicine Residency at Prisma Health. A year later, he added a third area of study by joining the Darla Moore School’s Master of Business Administration (MBA) program.

One of Tomarchio’s influential public health mentors is Dr. Linda Bell, the current State Epidemiologist at S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control. “Dr. Bell is a wonderful mentor and public health practitioner,” he says. “She manages to juggle a variety of vital roles and public health work with poise and grace under tremendous pressure. She definitely taught me the value of public health practice in a way that I had never understood previously.”

Tomarchio currently lives in Indian Shores, Florida, and is a vice president of medical services for Vital Core Health Services. In this position, he oversees health services and utilization management training for sites that provides jail and prison services.

When not working, he spends time with his two beautiful children and wife.