Institute for Family Health Receives Teaching Health Center Funding to Launch Family Medicine Residency in Harlem

Institute for Family Health Receives Teaching Health Center Funding to Launch Family Medicine Residency in Harlem

New York, NY (November 29, 2011) — The Institute for Family Health announced today that it has received federal funding from HRSA to open a second Teaching Health Center program in New York State, this one to be located at its Family Health Center at North General, in the historic neighborhood of Harlem. The Institute’s program will seek to address the critical shortage of primary care physicians across the state by training 24 physicians in the next five years. The first class of eight family medicine residents will begin training in June 2012.

The Teaching Health Center grant will allow the Institute to create and sponsor the Harlem Residency in Family Medicine, one of only a handful of health center-led residencies in the country. The program will train physicians to provide outstanding care to patients of all ages using the community health center model of service delivery.

“The Institute’s Family Health Center at North General in Harlem offers an unparalleled opportunity to train residents and students to provide patient-focused care to the Harlem community,” said Dr. Neil Calman, President and CEO of the Institute for Family Health. “The Institute has a strong track record of training family medicine residents who continue to practice in high-need communities, and the addition of a Harlem-based residency program will allow us to attract more committed family physicians, many of whom will choose to stay here once their training is complete.”

The Institute, the only agency in New York State to receive inaugural Teaching Health Centers funding from HRSA in 2011, used the original award to expand its Mid-Hudson Family Medicine Residency Program from 18 to 30 residents. The Institute also operates the Beth Israel Residency in Urban Family Practice, a residency program based in Manhattan and sponsored by the Beth Israel Medical Center. The Harlem program will draw on the faculty expertise and curricula of these existing programs when it opens in June 2012. Since the residency in family medicine is community based, the largest portion of the residents’ time will be spent in outpatient care. Inpatient experiences are currently in development at area hospitals.

“There is such high demand for effective primary care and preventive services in this community. Last year, we provided over 45,000 visits to patients from Harlem,” said Dr. Eric Gayle, the Institute’s regional medical director for the Bronx and Harlem, “This is a community that values good physicians – it’s ideal for a new residency training program.”

Dr. Robert Schiller, the Institute’s senior vice president for medical affairs and chair of the Institute’s graduate medical education committee, added, “HRSA’s Teaching Health Centers program is a big step forward in making primary care a focus of graduate medical education funding. We are grateful to HRSA and our partners in Harlem for giving us the opportunity to train new family physicians in this diverse and proud neighborhood.”

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The Institute for Family Health is a federally qualified health center network that operates 26 practices in New York State. The centers offer primary care, dental care and mental health care for children and adults. In 2002, the Institute became the first health center network in the state to have an electronic health record and practice management system. In 2009 all Institute centers received the highest recognition from the National Committee for Quality Assurance as Patient Centered Medical Homes.