As a family medicine resident at Saint Joseph Hospital, you can focus on a specialty area of medicine with our several opportunities and tracks, such as global health, integrative medicine, obstetrics, osteopathic manipulation, or sports medicine.

Global Health

As a family medicine resident in our program, you’ll have global opportunities to care for socially disadvantaged populations.

Through several immersive elective experiences, you’ll develop skills to deliver healthcare in resource-limited settings. In addition to growing your clinical knowledge, you’ll walk away with an enhanced sense of idealism, enthusiasm, and interest in cross-cultural care that lasts well beyond training.

You may participate in global health electives for up to two months if you meet residency time and patient care requirements.

Global Health Partners

Broadleaf Health & Education Alliance

Broadleaf exists to empower vibrant communities through health and education so that unrealized human potential can thrive. Broadleaf accomplishes this by delivering comprehensive school health and child mental healthcare to rural primary schools in the Eastern Himalayas.

Residents have traveled to India to experience first-hand the healthcare system and implement public health programs. Locally, residents can gain experience in non-profit leadership and global health research under the mentorship of a faculty member.

Project C.U.R.E.

Project C.U.R.E. is the largest provider of donated medical supplies and equipment to developing countries around the world. Residents have the opportunity to travel on 1-2 week multi-disciplinary medical missions, train community health workers in management of diarrheal illness, and provide volunteer support at their Denver-based global headquarters.

DB Peru

DB Peru brings primary and emergency healthcare to villages along the Napo River in the Peruvian Amazon jungle. Prior residents have trained community health workers, practiced clinical medicine, and conducted community outreach.

Global Health Faculty

  • Michael Matergia, MD: For the past decade, Mike has been working to bring quality healthcare to children in the rural Eastern Himalayas. Currently, he is focused on scaling a lay fieldworker-led school health program and conducting a feasibility study of a child mental health intervention. Mike travels frequently to India and looks forward to having residents join on future trips.
  • Huy Ly, MD: Huy has worked with various organizations since medical school in countries that include Guatemala, Bolivia, Peru, Cameroon, Cambodia, and Myanmar. He continues to be involved with Global Refuge International, a small, Colorado-based organization that focuses on providing medical aid and medic training to internally displaced people groups around the world. In 2015, he went with Saint Joseph's residents to the Napo River Valley and worked with a team that trained local health workers and administered women's health surveys. Huy enjoys encouraging and helping residents to plan and execute their international rotations.
  • Katie Seitz, MD: Katie does medical mission trips with organizations that focus on sustainable interventions and that meet the needs identified by local communities. Since 2007, she has worked and traveled with DB Peru. With DB Peru, Katie has delivered medical care to remote villages only accessible by boat along the Napo River. She has also provided vital education to local promotores and parteras.
  • Michael DaRosa, DO: Mike decided to become a physician after the first of many medical trips to Nicaragua. Since then he has returned to Nicaragua multiple times to provide specialized musculoskeletal care to the hardworking and loving people of Ometepe Island. Residents are invited to join this annual trip where they have the opportunity work with local Nicaraguan physicians, practice medical Spanish, and teach and mentor the pre-health students.

Integrative Medicine

Integrative Medicine is healing-oriented medicine that takes account of the whole person, including all aspects of lifestyle. It emphasizes the therapeutic relationship between practitioner and patient, is informed by evidence, and makes use of all appropriate therapies.

Here at Saint Joe’s, we established an IM curricular focus in the effort to improve knowledge, expand resources, and increase provider comfort with utilizing integrative modalities. Our Integrative Medicine (IM) Curriculum is a longitudinal curriculum open to a select number of passionate residents each year. The curriculum centers around evidence-based online modules created by the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine (AZCIM), which is updated annually and used in FM, IM and pediatrics programs around the country.

In addition to self-study, residents in the curriculum add to their integrative medicine knowledge by teaching or organizing IM lectures for the residency and participating in quarterly IM group meetings. Additionally, curriculum residents are required to use four total weeks of elective time for IM.

Many of our IM residents choose an IM topic for their journal club, another way of deepening our understanding and evaluating integrative options for our patients. Some residents also utilize integrative medicine projects for their ACGME-required scholarly projects.

If you are interested in learning more, please contact Becky Hainz or Katie Seitz.

Obstetrics Emphasis

The obstetrics emphasis track enables a select group of family medicine residents with demonstrated commitment to and aptitude for obstetrics to care for additional obstetric patients, gain experience in high-risk case management, and make progress toward competency in operative OB procedures.

Opportunities Provided Through Track Participation

  • Coverage on Labor and Delivery Unit on Fridays, when OB/GYN residents are absent
  • Additional night coverage on Labor and Delivery Unit during R2 year
  • Longitudinal clinic experience caring for obstetric patients at a local FQHC
  • Serve as continuity provider for high risk obstetric patients
  • Increased volume of obstetrics procedures
    • Vaginal Deliveries: 60-80+
    • Continuity Deliveries: 15+
    • C-Section Assist: 10+, highly dependent on resident interest
    • Primary C-Section: 5-10+, highly dependent on resident interest
  • Management of high risk/medically complex obstetric patients, including preeclampsia with and without severe features, preterm labor/PPROM, vaginal bleeding in pregnancy, TOLAC, GDM
  • Dedicated educational sessions on advanced obstetric topics and hands on practice of surgical skills in the simulation lab
  • Delivery of didactic lectures to fellow residents on obstetric topics
  • Access to additional obstetric or women’s health electives during residency (ultrasound, MFM, Title X/Family Planning Clinic, additional GYN clinic)
  • Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics (ALSO) Certification and Teaching Opportunities

Osteopathic Medicine

Saint Joseph Family Medicine Residency offers an optional osteopathic medicine track for residents interested in additional opportunities to further their knowledge and skills in osteopathic manipulation.

All allopathic and osteopathic residents in our program will have the opportunity to rotate through our OMT clinic at Bruner Family Medicine during their surgical procedures rotation in the PGY-2 year. Additionally, all osteopathic residents have a dedicated appointment slot to provide OMT for patients in their regularly scheduled clinic sessions.

The goal of the osteopathic track is to provide residents with a structured approach to learning and improvement in their OMT skills as well as evaluation of their skills beyond the above opportunities. Experiences include running the OMT clinic when other residents are not scheduled, attending regular meetings with focused teaching with DO faculty mentors, presenting OMT didactics, and leading at least one osteopathic related journal club.

Optional experiences include rotating with outside preceptors who provide OMT in their offices, membership in local or national organizations, and mentorship of students from Rocky Vista University (a local osteopathic medical school). OMT board preparation and NMM fellowship preparation are available if desired.

Sports Medicine

Saint Joseph Hospital Family Medicine Residency offers an optional sports medicine track for residents interested in pursuing a sports medicine fellowship after graduation. The sports medicine track follows the official American Medical Society of Sports Medicine's (AMSSM) Fellowship Preparation Track to give our residents the best chance of successfully matching into a sports medicine fellowship at the end of their residency.

The goal is to provide additional education, training, and exposure to residents on top of the required core education provided at the residency. The track is a longitudinal experience optimally starting early in the intern year. With successful completion of the sports medicine fellowship preparation track, a formal letter signed by the sports medicine faculty and program director will be placed in the resident's permanent file to document the additional training and skills achieved. This summary letter will include a listing of the following activities related to musculoskeletal medicine and sports medicine training: elective rotations, journal club article(s) presented, didactic and case conference(s) presented, sports medicine related scholarly activity, CME conference(s) attended, and procedure log.

Faculty

  • Dr. Deborah Jacobson M.D.
  • Dr. Michael DaRosa D.O.

Participation

  • The sports medicine track will be available to interested 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year residents.
  • Ideally the sports medicine track should be started in the first half of the intern year, but the track may be started later in training up until the 3rd year.

Requirements

  • Four weeks of dedicated elective time in musculoskeletal and/or sports medicine (within home program or as an away elective).
  • At least one year of longitudinal team physician experience with an area high school team (e.g. football).
  • Participation in medical coverage of at least one mass participation sporting event.
  • Presentation at two sports medicine conferences (e.g. AMSSM annual conference, Noon conference at residency).
  • Critical appraisal and presentation of at least one journal club article related to sports medicine.
  • Design and completion of a scholarly project relevant to sports medicine (e.g. original research, clinical quality improvement project, educational quality improvement project, case podium presentation, case poster presentation, systematic review article, FPIN project related to sports medicine topic) and presentation and/or publication of the project within the residency and/or other appropriate local, regional, national forum.
  • Attendance at one national sports medicine CME conference such as AMSSM, ACSM, AOASM.