Greater Lawrence Family Health Center (GLFHC) has been awarded a grant that will allow it to expand its Lawrence Family Medicine Residency program to 48 doctors, up from the current capacity of 40.

GLFHC was the first federally-qualified community health center in the United States to host a teaching residency program. Started in 1994, the residency is accredited through GLFHC and is affiliated with Lawrence General Hospital.

“The Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Award from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) allows Lawrence Family Medicine Residency (LFMR) to further its mission to train full-spectrum family physicians to work in underserved and vulnerable communities,” said Dr. Wendy Barr, LFMR Director and Vice President of Clinical Education at GLFHC.

“The last two years have clearly shown us the need for increasing the number of comprehensively trained family physicians who can flexibly meet the needs of their communities,” Barr said. “We are proud to be able to further innovate and train physicians to serve Lawrence and other similar communities.”

While most family medicine residency programs are three years in length, LFMR is a four-year training program that is part of a national pilot looking at training innovation. Residents spend an extra year of training to further expand their scope of practice, particularly in an area of concentration, and to develop further expertise in population health, health systems management and leadership, and integrating that care into communities. Resident physicians also participate in a nationally recognized curriculum where they learn to speak and provide medical care in Spanish. The goal of the training program is to train family physicians who provide comprehensive primary care to vulnerable populations and can improve the health and health equity of these communities.

Barr said the class size for incoming LFMR residents will increase from 10 to 12 physicians, and the program is currently interviewing for the Class of 2026. With this funding and expansion, from 2009 to 2025 there will be double the number of residents training at GLFHC and 50% more family physicians graduating from the program per year.

HRSA is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.