Celebrating
at the University of Michigan
Fall 2017
Celebrating the Growth of the Residency Program
Margaret L. Dobson, M.D.
In This Issue From the Chair 2 Clinical Mission 3 Education Mission 6 Research Mission 10 Alumni News 13 Faculty Activity 14
As the need for primary care continues to grow, the Family Medicine Residency Program expands.
In an effort led by Margaret L. Dobson, M.D., assistant professor and residency program director, the program will expand to 13 residents, up from 11 residents, per year. Recruitment is already well underway for the first 13-resident class and the residency leadership team is excited at the prospect of filling the spots from their outstanding candidate pool. The expansion of the program comes at a much-needed time. The need for primary care physicians has been well documented at the national, state and local levels. Expansions in Medicaid and insurance coverage allow more individuals access to primary care, which has created an increased demand for primary care physicians. Institutionally, Michigan Medicine has committed to double the number of primary care patients served by the year 2025 and the Department of Family Medicine will play a large part in achieving that goal. “In considering the need for an increased number of primary care and family physicians, the Department is well situated to support and justify the expansion of our residency program,” said Dr. Dobson. Internally, the Department is growing by leaps and bounds. The number of Department faculty has jumped from 65 members to 91 members in the last five years. A significant increase in patient care
matches this increase in faculty. The four inpatient services run by the Department including: medicine services at both University Hospital and St. Joseph Mercy – Chelsea and both obstetric and newborn services at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital, are steadily increasing in volume, at times by 19% per year. And, outpatient visits grew by 8.6% over the past two years. Additional residents will find no shortage of patients or opportunities to learn in this rising environment.
Drs. Erica Martin and Julie Blaszczak, both residents, attend the 2017 American Academy of Family Physicians conference to recruit for the first 13-resident class.
“This expansion is justified on multiple fronts, including the high demand for our graduates locally and nationally, the large number of highly-qualified
http://medicine.umich.edu/dept/family-medicine
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