Hugh-Chatham Memorial Hospital and Campbell University’s Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine have established a Rural Track residency program. This program, accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, is a first for Campbell University. It aims to give residents both urban and rural experience. The partnership began with a discussion and was confirmed after a visit by Campbell President Dr. Bradley Creed to the hospital and community. The first residency class at Hugh-Chatham will start in the summer of 2025.
Dr. Patrick Stevens, a family physician in the Hugh-Chatham healthcare network, is the chief of family medicine for Hugh-Chatham and the associate program director for the new residency program. Stevens, a graduate of the Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine, relocated to the Elkin area with his family in 2022. He praises the community and its residents.
The residency program’s goal aligns with the Medical School’s mission to serve and retain physicians in North Carolina’s rural communities. This is viewed as a strategy to integrate healthcare providers into the community and to help reduce the financial burden of medical students, who often graduate with substantial loan debt.