Nailah Adams, MD, has been named the new Director of the Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship, which is based in the UNC Department of Family Medicine, following the departure of Harry Stafford, MD.
Dr. Adams earned her undergraduate degrees in biology and sports medicine at Howard University, followed by a Master’s Degree in nutrition from Columbia University. She attended Duke University School of Medicine and completed her residency in family medicine at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital. Adams is a graduate of the Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship at UNC. Prior to returning to UNC in a faculty role, she served as medical director at a federally qualified health center in south Florida. Dr. Adams will assume her new position as director on April 1st.
Dr. Adams is committed to continuing the legacy of excellence set by Harry Stafford, MD, MBA, CAQSM, who is leaving the department to become Co-Director of the Sports Science Institute at Duke University. In his 12 years on faculty at UNC, Dr. Stafford created and built the sports medicine fellowship into a nationally recognized program. He has consistently recruited outstanding fellows and built the patient care, teaching, research, and community service missions of the program, including the establishment of the Human Performance Center at the Durham Family Medicine Center.
Family Medicine chair Dr. Margaret Helton stated “Though Dr. Stafford will be dearly missed, we wish him success in his new role and look forward to maintaining connections with him. We are excited that Dr. Adams will lead the program and work collaboratively with our outstanding sports medicine faculty to maintain the excellence of the program, which is a source of great pride in the department.”