WELCOME FROM THE DIRECTORS

Introduction to Colorado’s Family Medicine Residencies

Welcome to Colorado! Thank you for visiting the web site for Colorado’s family medicine residencies! Colorado boasts nine strong Family Medicine residencies across the state. Colorado offers 64 intern positions each year. We encourage you to visit and apply to all of our programs. Our residents come from all over the country--from Coast to Coast!

All the Colorado residencies offer training in the full scope of Family Medicine. Our graduates are skilled in caring for newborns to the very aged, caring for outpatients and for very ill inpatients, providing maternity care, emergency services, and a variety of procedures. While each of our programs offers robust training across the breadth of Family Medicine, we recognize that one of the strengths of Family Medicine is that it is a specialty with varying interests, skills and types of practices. Thus, we encourage you to explore each of the programs in depth by studying their websites. You will find quality and richness throughout Colorado’s nine Family Medicine residencies!

A Collaborative Model

Colorado is a magnificent and incredible place to train, live and practice. Colorado is a strong Family Medicine state with access to the full scope of practice. Our medical liability or malpractice environment is favorable to Family Medicine and other physicians. This climate allows family physicians to provide maternity care, emergency services and a variety of procedures, if they want to do so.

We, the residency directors, work collaboratively to develop curricula and a training environment that is on the cutting edge of Family Medicine. We are a state distinguished by strong legislative support for family medicine training. (Such state legislative support for residency training is rare.) We have crystallized this collaborative effort to create vibrant Family Medicine residencies under the auspices of the Colorado Association of Family Medicine Residencies, a formal organization that brings together our Family Medicine residencies to assure that we all offer outstanding residency training. In addition, we work cooperatively in promoting the benefits and value of Family Medicine and primary care. A recent example of this initiative is the Position Paper noted on the main page of this website. We encourage you to read this report: Framing the Medical Home: A Key to Accessibility, Affordability & Personal Responsibility in Health Care.

Clerkships/Sub-Internships

Our Family Medicine residencies all offer clerkships or sub-internships for fourth year medical students. Some of our programs have extended this experience to third year students, as well as provide housing for this rotation. You can arrange a clerkship or sub-internship by consulting the Schedule an Interview section of this website and contact the Residency Coordinator listed on the Schedule. The Residency Coordinator can also inform you about the availability of housing and whether the program accepts third year medical students for this opportunity. Also, you are more than welcome to come by any of our residencies if you happen to be visiting or vacationing in our colorful, bounteous state.

A Special Word to Students at Osteopathic Schools of Medicine

All of the Colorado Family Medicine Residencies accept osteopathic medical students. While you are a resident in one of our Family Medicine programs, there are additional resources available in the State to help with your osteopathic education and needs. For instance, we collaborate with our osteopathic colleagues, with the leadership and cooperation of the Colorado Springs Osteopathic Foundation (CSOF). Under the direction of CSOF, Colorado houses an unique AOA-approved program that allows our osteopathic residents to become either ACGME or AOA boarded?or both. This initiative evolved in Colorado because of the support for osteopathic medicine at all our Family Medicine residencies. Twenty-four percent of the residents in the Colorado Family Medicine residencies are osteopathic physicians. This exclusive initiative (www.csof.org)also allows our osteopathic residents to interact with their osteopathic colleagues and with practicing osteopathic Family Physicians, who serve both as mentors and preceptors. All our Family Medicine residencies accept both the COMLEX and USMLE.

Colorado and Family Medicine Residency Training: It’s Good for Your Career!

Join us in Colorado for excellent Family Medicine residency training. We are:

Good for your health!
Good for your heart rate!
Good for your soul!
Good for your brain!
Best wishes for an outstanding career in family medicine,

Griff Thompson, MD: Exempla Saint Joseph
Austin Bailey, MD: Ft. Collins
Mark Wallace, MD: North Colorado
Brian Bacak, MD: Rose
Ned Nixon, MD: St. Anthony
Dave West, MD: St. Mary's
Charlie Raye, MD: Southern Colorado
Brad Winslow, MD: Swedish
Dan Burke, MD: University