A $2 million gift from Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s Nevada Medicaid business will help the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV train rheumatologists for years to come. The contribution establishes the Anthem Fellowship Endowment, which provides lasting support for the school’s rheumatology fellowship. For patients living with lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and other complex conditions, the investment offers the prospect of more specialists learning, practicing, and building careers in their community.

“Building a healthier future for Nevada means investing in solutions that strengthen access to care for generations to come,” said Joy Thomas, president and CEO, Government Business, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Nevada. “Through our partnership with UNLV, we’re helping develop the next generation of specialists.”

“My first reaction is gratitude,” said Dr. Kate Martin, senior associate dean for graduate medical education and designated institutional official. “This endowment will provide support for a rheumatology fellowship position in perpetuity.”

Meeting a Need for Specialists

Rheumatologists diagnose and manage diseases affecting the joints and immune system, and many of their patients need ongoing care from a dependable local physician.

Yet Nevada faces a substantial shortage. Patients can often wait six months or more for an appointment. A study published in Arthritis Care & Research projected that by 2037, the state would have enough rheumatologists to meet only 44.4% of its estimated need, the third-lowest level among states.

The school’s fellowship is helping close that gap. Launched in 2024 as Nevada’s first rheumatology fellowship, the accredited, two-year program admits two new fellows annually.

Dr. Winn Chatham joined the school in 2023 to help build its rheumatology clinical and training program. “I see real promise and opportunity with the new fellowship,” Chatham, professor and division chief of clinical immunology and rheumatology, said in a March 2025 school newsletter article. “And with a growing reputation for clinical research, it should attract additional talent in rheumatology. It’s something our patients here deserve.”

Fellows train in outpatient and hospital settings, including UNLV Health and University Medical Center of Southern Nevada. Their experience includes a weekly continuity clinic, where they follow patients over time and learn to guide care as a condition changes. The program also focuses on lupus and overlapping autoimmune disorders, which require careful evaluation and continuing follow-up.

Sustaining Training for the Future

Startup funding helped establish the program, and the endowment will help sustain the training already underway. An endowment invests the original gift and uses annual distributions to support its designated purpose.

Aaron Hanson, the medical school’s senior director of development, says donors look well beyond the initial gift to the growth it will produce over the years.

“A gift of this magnitude makes a lasting difference in graduate medical education, where we make multiyear commitments to the physicians we train,” Martin said. “We need a stable financial foundation to fulfill those commitments.”

Joann Strobbe, president and CEO of UNLV Health, notes that federal funding for many residency and fellowship positions flows through hospitals and is capped, which makes private support valuable. She describes UNLV Health’s clinics as the place where the school’s teaching mission comes to life: “Our clinical enterprise really becomes their classroom.”

A Partnership Rooted in Community

The gift grew from an established relationship between Anthem and UNLV Health. Hanson says the collaboration among UNLV Health, the medical school, and the UNLV Foundation was essential, and he hopes the investment will encourage other organizations to support physician training in additional specialties.

Training in Las Vegas also gives fellows time to build relationships with patients and colleagues, which helps the school recruit physicians who already understand the community’s needs. Strobbe will measure success by the fellows who choose to stay.

“For me, it’s being able to recruit these fellows to stay within Nevada and to give them a positive clinical experience here,” she said.

Each physician who stays can continue caring for local patients and help the next generation of doctors learn. Anthem’s gift gives the school a lasting resource to pursue that goal.

As we work to expand our team of physicians specializing in rheumatology, care is available with Dr. Winn Chatham. To schedule an appointment, please call 702-671-5060 or visit the UNLV Health website.