GME Resources at UVA Health

GME Resources at UVA Health

Written by Bill Olmsted, Guardian disability insurance specialist with 25 years advising medical residents and fellows.

UVA Health trains approximately 850 residents and fellows across more than 85 ACGME-accredited programs in Charlottesville, Virginia. GME is centrally administered through a single GME office under the UVA School of Medicine, with training at UVA Medical Center as the primary site and an affiliated campus at UVA Health Inova.

This page maps official GME support resources available to UVA trainees. It also points to one separate planning issue — the GSI disability insurance path available to eligible trainees — that sits outside the institutional financial wellness curriculum.

This page is maintained by MDGSI as an independent educational resource. It is not produced by, endorsed by, sponsored by, or affiliated with UVA Health or the University of Virginia.

Official GME and wellbeing resources

UVA Health maintains a well-documented set of wellness and financial resources for trainees, organized across several offices. The resources below are maintained by UVA Health directly.

Resident wellness and mental health

  • GME Wellness Resources — the primary wellness hub for UVA GME trainees. Covers mental health, physical wellness, financial wellness, and community resources.
  • GME Mental Wellness — COACH program, TimelyCare (24/7 free mental health access for all trainees), and counseling resources.
  • FEAP (Faculty and Employee Assistance Program) — confidential EAP services including mental health counseling, financial counseling referrals, and the FEAP Substack newsletter for trainees.
  • Wisdom and Wellbeing Program — system-wide wellbeing program reaching residents, fellows, and all health system employees.
  • Hoos Well: employee wellness program covering health coaching, fitness, Teladoc, and Aetna One Advocate services.

Financial wellness

  • GME Financial Wellness — UVA’s dedicated financial wellness page for trainees. Includes individual counseling through the SOM Financial Aid office, loan management resources, and links to financial planning tools.
  • Financial Planning Core Lecture Series — GME curriculum session on physician financial planning.
  • MSV Foundation Thrive — volunteer CFP program providing pro bono financial planning for Virginia GME trainees. Referred directly from the UVA GME financial wellness page.

Benefits and compensation

GME office

  • GME Homepage — program listings, GME leadership, and institutional accreditation information.
  • GME Office Contacts — direct contacts for GME administration.

A well-resourced financial wellness environment

UVA Health is one of the more intentional programs when it comes to resident financial wellness. The GME financial wellness page is publicly maintained, a named SOM Financial Aid contact provides individual counseling for trainees, and the MSV Foundation Thrive program gives Virginia residents direct access to pro bono CFP guidance.

That infrastructure is genuinely useful. It also covers the financial topics that UVA has chosen to prioritize: loan management, financial planning, budgeting. It does not necessarily cover every planning decision a trainee may need to make during training.

Guardian GSI for Residents and Fellows Training at UVA Health

Guardian offers a Guaranteed Standard Issue (GSI) disability insurance policy to eligible residents and fellows training at UVA Health. It is a Guardian product, not an institutional benefit — individually owned, not employer-provided, and available only during the active training window.

Two things are worth understanding before graduation, not after:

First, eligibility closes at the end of training.

Second, Guardian must be the first individual disability insurance application a trainee submits. An application to another carrier filed first can permanently affect access to this option. Underwriting often surfaces medical history residents did not know would matter. A past prescription, a lab result, a condition considered minor. A rated or modified offer from another carrier closes the GSI path for good.

Guardian’s GSI offer for UVA Health trainees is available at disabilityquotes.com/gsi-uva, the dedicated resource for UVA Health residents and fellows.

The deeper explanation is in the MDGSI Buyer’s Guide.

Ready to apply?

Apply for the Guardian GSI offer at UVA Health →

MDGSI and Guardian are independent companies and not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by UVA Health or the University of Virginia. For authoritative information about your GME benefits, contact your program office or UVA Health HR directly.