Family Medicine Residency

Sylvia Shellenberger, PhD

Dr. Shellenberger received her Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education at Millersville University and her Master of Science in Clinical Psychology, Millersville University. She received her Ph.D. in Educational and School Psychology, University of Georgia. Dr. Shellenberger completed Postgraduate Coursework in Marriage and Family Therapy, Mercer University School of Medicine, Macon, Georgia. Dr. Shellenberger is the Director of Psychology and Education at the Atrium Health Navicent Primary Care West Macon, a Facility of Atrium Health Navicent The Medical Center. Her special interests are - doctor-patient communication, the family in family medicine, substance use in families, international collaborative projects.

Personal Quote

I'm the veteran of our faculty, having taught here for 22 years. It has been a great pleasure and welcome challenge to apply my skills and experience in psychology to the primary care discipline of family medicine. Every patient I meet with the residents has his or her own unique issues for us to address including medical, psychological, familial, occupational or social. We truly attempt to treat the whole person of the patient and routinely take into consideration the context of the patient's life, including the family. A benefit to this physician-psychologist collaboration is that residents observe and learn basic skills they can use to counsel patients about their psychosocial issues. Our department is forward thinking and open to new ideas. I recently had the opportunity to participate in a 4-month Fulbright teaching and research project in Argentina and have been pleased about the curiosity colleagues here in Macon have shown about family medicine in another part of the world.