Rural health at the center of new family medicine residency program
With the applications underway and the first class of residents beginning in July 2024, the new VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program will train primary care physicians to meet the health needs of rural Virginians.
During the second and third years of the program, residents will train at VCU Health’s Community Memorial Hospital in South Hill, Va.
The VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program, VCU’s newest residency, is officially accepting applications.
For years, the Department of Family Medicine and Population Health has offered residency training programs in affiliation with family medicine practices and hospitals throughout the commonwealth, working closely with each program and class of residents to support robust training. But this new residency, which will welcome its first cohort of trainees in July 2024, is the first family medicine program fully sponsored by VCU School of Medicine and VCU Health.
“With VCU’s mission, this rural residency program will train family medicine physicians directly within the communities that need them most,” said Lori Landes, M.D., Ph.D., residency program director and School of Medicine alumna. “Our curriculum will respond to the health challenges facing our nation and create leaders in health care that will transform systems to realize meaningful progress.”
Alongside fellow alumna Sandra Balmoria, M.D., Landes will co-lead the program, which is designed to train adaptable family physicians who come away from residency with a broad range of skills and the confidence to meet the needs of their communities. Residents will spend their first year in the Richmond area, caring for patients at Hayes E. Willis Health Center and rotating throughout the VCU Health hospitals and clinics. The second and third years of training will take place at VCU Health’s Community Memorial Hospital in South Hill, a small town in rural Virginia about 80 miles southwest of Richmond. In South Hill, residents will see patients in their family medicine clinic and rotate throughout the various specialties in the hospital and outpatient clinics.
“We’re making sure that our program is training physicians to meet the broad needs of rural and underserved patients, and that we are recognizing the specific health needs of our communities in South Hill and Richmond,” Landes said.
The program participates in the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), and prospective residents can apply using the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) offered by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).