Dr. Robert Baldor, founding Chair for the UMMS-Baystate Department of Family Medicine and Professor of Family Medicine, has recently received two grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) that will enhance medical education in the Pioneer Valley.
Supporting the New Family Medicine Residency in Franklin County
A $750,000 Heath Research and Services Administration grant will support a new Family Medicine residency program based at Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield, MA.
It will fund faculty development, an innovative curriculum, and training of family physicians in longitudinal and comprehensive primary care for people of all ages and genders with an emphasis on disease prevention and health promotion.
The three-year residency will be recruiting four residents in 2021 for a July 2022 start date.
Creating a Rural Area Health Education Center at Baystate Franklin Medical Center
Dr. Baldo's second grant, for $100,000, from the Area Health Education Center (AHEC) supports a new rural AHEC at Baystate Franklin Medical Center (BFMC). The statewide Massachusetts Area Health Education Center is based in the Department of Family Medicine & Community Health at the main UMass Medical School campus in Worcester under the direction of Linda Cragin, MS.
Led by Project Coordinator, Justin Ayala, the new AHEC will allow medical students in UMMS-Baystate’s PURCH program exposure to social determinants of health impacting local communities in urban and rural locations.
Experience in such environments has been shown to be a key factor in medical students’ choice to work in under-served areas upon completion of their training.
PURCH students will now have the opportunity to continue learning about, and delivering, rural health care during their graduate medical education in the Family Medicine residency.