Message from Program Director

Greetings and thank you for your interest in our new and innovative ACGME accredited Family Medicine Residency Training Program!  I am thrilled to offer residency training at the first Teaching Health Center in Philadelphia.  As a Federally Qualified Health Center, residents will be an integral part of the community caring for underserved patients and families. Our goal is to develop culturally competent and empathetic physicians through experiential learning in our community.  A trusting, supportive, and team based culture is what we will build here together at DVCH.

DVCH has been a pillar of safety net care in Philadelphia for over 50 years.  We operate 9 sites and two will be available for resident continuity hours: Maria de los Santos (primarily Spanish speaking) and Fairmount Primary Care Center (primarily English speaking).  However, residents will also spend time at many of our other sites to get a sense of the tapestry of safety net care necessary to care for the whole community.

In addition to the traditional training modalities and ACGME requirements of Family Medicine training including clinical care and didactics, residents will also be required to complete three longitudinal projects focused on 1) Community 2) Research and 3) Quality Improvement.  Residents will be paired with a faculty member to mentor on the various projects.  We are lucky to have a dedicated faculty with diverse interests including addiction medicine, pediatrics, women’s health, wellness, geriatrics, palliative medicine, HCV and HIV care.

No residency program evolves successfully without a strong voice from the residents.  Our residents will not only be heard but will be encouraged to lend their voice to various DVCH committees, workgroups, and initiatives so we can grow together.  Resident wellness is a priority to create a supportive, team-based, inclusive learning environment to optimize your residency training.

At DVCH, we have a passion for community based underserved care.  If you would like to be trained in such a setting and share our passion then I look forward to meeting you on the interview trail!  Feel free to email me directly with any questions:  [email protected].

Brent Simmons, MD, FAAFP

Program Director

Chief Graduate Medical Education Officer

Block Schedule/Curriculum

As seen on the above block schedule, the DVCH curriculum is in-line with the new 2023 ACGME program requirements and gives residents 6 blocks worth of elective time to pursue their clinical interests.  The geriatrics and community medicine curriculums are longitudinal and residents will get experiences in both throughout all three years of residency training including long-term care, medicare wellness visits, and community sites outside of DVCH.

DVCH FM Residency Program will have protected time one half day per week for weekly conference series.  This conference series will include traditional didactics, workshops, group activities and trainings, and monthly journal club.  In addition, the curriculum includes monthly Morbidity and Mortality conference, board prep/review, and case-based morning report.

DVCH Sites

Maria de los Santos Health Center (MDLS)

MDLS is our largest outpatient site and FMP for residency training.  All residents will spend time at MDLS and is one of two available options for resident continuity clinic.

Fairmount Primary Care Center (FPCC)

FPCC is our other FMP for residency training. All residents will spend time at FPCC and is one of two available options for resident continuity clinic.

Norristown Regional Health Center (NRHC)

NRHC is our third largest primary care center.

Girard Medical Center (GMC)

GMC is the home to our MAT clinic and main training site for HIV health.

Maria de los Santos Women’s Health Center (MDLSWH)

MDLSWH is fully staffed by board certified OBGYN providers and one of the sites for outpatient maternal health and GYN care.

Maria de los Santos Express Care (MDLSEC)

Residents will spend time at MDLSEC for urgent same-day visits.

Hospital Affiliates

Einstein Medical Center Philadelphia

DVCH has partnered with Einstein to create a Family Medicine Inpatient service combining residents and inpatient attendings from DVCH and Einstein Family Medicine.

All adult inpatient rotations will be done at Einstein including inpatient family medicine, emergency medicine, ICU, and radiology.  In addition, our residents will rotate through Einstein’s newborn nursery.

Cooper Children’s Regional Hospital

DVCH residents will rotation through Cooper Children’s Regional Hospital for their inpatient pediatrics.

Subspecialty Outpatient Rotations

DVCH residents will rotate through various community based subspecialty offices to round out their training including cardiology, palliative medicine, dermatology, sports medicine, and surgery.

Faculty

B. Brent Simmons, MD, FAAFP

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     Program Director
     Chief Graduate Medical Education Officer
     Specialty: Family Medicine, Geriatrics, Palliative Medicine
     Location: MDLS, FPCC, NRHC

Stephanie Chery, MD

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     Teaching Faculty
     Specialty: Med/Peds, Inpatient Medicine
     Location: NRHC

Daniel DeJoseph, MD

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     Teaching Faculty
     Specialty: Family Medicine, Geriatrics, Palliative Medicine, Addiction Medicine
     Location: GMC

Julia DeJoseph, MD, FAAFP

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     Teaching Faculty
     Chief Medical Officer
     Specialty: Family Medicine
     Location: MDLS

Evan Gooberman, DO, MPH

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     Teaching Faculty
     Specialty: Family Medicine
     Location: MDLS, MDLSEC

Karen Lazarus, DO, MPH

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     Teaching Faculty
     Specialty: Family Medicine
     Location: MDLS, MDLSEC

Henry Su, DO, FACOOG

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     Teaching Faculty
     Specialty: OB/GYN
     Location: MDLSWH

Lucia Tome, MD

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     Teaching Faculty
     Specialty: Family Medicine, Addiction Medicine
     Location: MDLS, GMC

How to Apply

DVCH recognizes that diversity in our work force is a valuable asset and strive to provide an inclusive work environment in which different ideas, perspectives, and beliefs are respected. We are proud to have a very diverse workforce reflecting the great diversity of our city of Philadelphia. We will continue this long-established practice at DVCH through our resident recruitment to continue promoting this work environment regardless of ethnicity, race, age, country of origin, religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity.

Application requirements

Applications must be submitted through ERAS (Electronic Residency Application Service) and need to include:

• Medical School Transcript and MSPE (Dean’s Letter)
• USMLE or COMLEX transcript
  • Applicants must have a passing score for Step 1 and a passing score for Step 2 prior to the Feb 1^st before the Match
• Minimum 3 Letters of Recommendation
• Personal Statement
• Curriculum Vitae
• ECFMG Certification (if applicable)

Eligibility

DVCH requires graduation from an accredited medical school.  Applicants must be a US citizen or hold a J-1 visa.

Resident Wellness

DVCH highly values resident well-being which involves not only identification and acknowledgement of the importance of self-care, but also the importance of supporting each member of the health care team and sharing the responsibility of each other’s well-being and self-care.  This team approach to well-being is an important component of professionalism as a residency competency, necessary to promote residency culture, and to prepare for burn out prevention throughout your career.

In addition to the ACGME Requirements for Well-being, DVCH Family Medicine Residency supplements Well-being with the following programs for residents:

Balint

Co-facilitated by a Behavioralist and a faculty member, Balint is a case-based discussion group to better understand the clinician-patient relationship with a focus on perceptions about the patient’s and physician’s feelings and their experiences with each other.  Balint group will meet monthly.

PGY Class-Specific Support Groups

The support groups are facilitated by a faculty member and is an open forum for residents to discuss challenges, concerns, and frustrations, whether they be logistical, personal, or clinical, with members of their PGY class.  Support groups will meet monthly.

Residency Retreats

Residency Retreats will occur semi-annually with faculty and resident participation to promote team building in a fun and low stress environment.

Wellness Half-Days

Each month residents receive a half-day free of all clinical responsibility to promote self-care.

Advisor System

Residents are assigned an advisor for the duration of their residency.  Quarterly meetings will be scheduled between each resident and advisor to create a safe space to discuss concerns, which can include work/career, emotional/spiritual, social/family, financial, or physical health.

Culture

At DVCH, we foster a culture of teamwork and willingness to help when needed.  This includes need for help covering when busy, when ill, or when on vacation.  Complaints, resistance, or attempts to make the person asking for help to feel guilty about that ask are a violation of professionalism and the antithesis to the culture we promote.  We are ONE TEAM and it takes all of us supporting each other to promote the culture we all value.

Diversity and Inclusion

Commitment to Diversity

Being an FQHC committed to care for the underserved populations within the Greater Philadelphia area brings with it an inherent need to demonstrate commitment to diverse patient populations, society, compassion and integrity, and responsiveness to patient needs.  At DVCH we not only welcome diversity among our residents, but we invite our residents to help steer our DEI initiatives by having a minimum of one resident per class on our institutional Inclusivity Council.

Inclusivity Council

The Delaware Valley Community Health Inclusivity Council serves in an advisory capacity to senior leadership, identifying challenges and opportunities regarding diversity, equity and inclusion and providing strategic recommendations to enhance the workforce and patient experience.  Residents will be important members of this advisory committee.

Non-discrimination

DVCH does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, national origin, age, disability, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation or preference, genetic information, ancestry, military status, sex, gender, family or marital status, domestic or sexual violence victim status, or any characteristic protected by law.

What is a Teaching Health Center?

Teaching Health Centers were created to increase primary care in underserved areas and train residents in community-based settings such as Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC).

DVCH as a Teaching Health Center

Under this model, DVCH as the FQHC is the Sponsoring Institution of the residency, unlike the traditional model of hospitals as Sponsoring Institutions.  Our expressed aims of teaching graduate medical education in this model are:

1) As a Federally Qualified Health Center, residents will be an integral part of the community caring for underserved patients and families.

2) Experiential learning and mentorship will promote interest in long term career caring for underserved.

3) Build and promote the physician workforce in underserved communities through recruitment and retention.

4) Develop culturally competent and empathetic physicians through our community and curriculum.

5) Promote diversity in Family Medicine training through recruitment and retention.