For more information contact:
Marc Lemay – Communications Manager
Greater Lawrence Family Health Center
978-722-2869

Greater Lawrence Family Health Center, the supporting organization for the Lawrence Family Medicine Residency, is proud to announce a full, 10 physician match for the annual “Match Day”, as sponsored by the National Resident Matching Program. This will mark the first LFMR class that will be entering the residency program as part of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)’s four-year length of training national demonstration project which begins this July.

“We are proud to have successfully matched ten top candidates for the first year of this new and innovative 4 year curriculum,” states Joseph Gravel, MD, Chief Medical Officer and Residency Director. “The mission of the LFMR is to provide residents with the skills to provide medical care and medical leadership in the emerging new healthcare system, particularly in underserved communities. The addition of a fourth year of residency will allow us the opportunity to provide training in areas such as Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH), increased depth of experience in core clinical aspects of Family Medicine, as well as additional community experiences that can serve as a foundation for residents throughout their careers,” concludes Gravel.

“We commend the work that continues within the Lawrence Family Medicine Residency,” states Robert Ingala, GLFHC President & CEO. “Our patients and the community as a whole benefit from culturally sensitive patient care, superb medical education and an environment that is compassionate, understanding and open to continuous development. The physicians that join LFMR bring a fresh approach to community based health care. That is reflected in the care they provide and the accomplishments they experience at GLFHC, Lawrence General Hospital and in the communities we serve in the Merrimack Valley.”

Residents in each of the 15 selected residency programs will be expected to spend an extra year of training to meet an additional set of competencies that include practice-based learning and improvement that apply principles of patient safety to the care of individual patients; systems-based practice, such as the use of electronic health records and the elements necessary for coordinated care of patients with complex and chronic diseases; and management of the health of populations, including the ability to identify disparities across populations, as well as factors that place populations at risk for disease or injury.

The Lawrence Family Medicine Residency is unique because it is the first in the country for which the accredited institution is a community health center. The residency is accredited through GLFHC and is affiliated with Lawrence General Hospital. This relationship benefits both organizations and gives residents a comprehensive range of experiences from office practice to in-hospital training. The enthusiastic support and cooperation from staff and physicians at Lawrence General Hospital contributes tremendously to the residency’s success in producing needed primary care physicians.

Started in 1994, LFMR was the nation’s first accredited Community Health Center-sponsored Family Medicine Residency. In 2011, the residency was designated by HRSA as one of the nation’s first eleven Teaching Health Centers under the Affordable Care Act and last month received a full 5 year accreditation (highest possible) from the ACGME, given to only a minority of residency training programs.

The Lawrence Family Medicine Residency welcomes the following ten new resident physicians to our Health Center and family medicine residency program:

Erin Bassett – Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Zachary Bay – Northwestern University, The Feinberg School of Medicine
Whitney Beck – University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine
Elise Bognanno – University of Massachusetts Medical School
Lisa Koers – Indiana University School of Medicine
Azmina Lakhani – Northwestern University, The Feinberg School of Medicine
Nicholas LeFevre – University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine
Matteo Leveroni-Calvi – Boston University School of Medicine
William Martin – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine
Clark Van Den Berghe – Northwestern University, The Feinberg School of Medicine