About the Portland Residency

"The healthcare landscape is constantly changing and we need to have physicians with unique skills in leadership and population management. Our program is highly customizable, allowing learners to create an experience that's all about the provider they want to be in the future."

-Joe Skariah, D.O., M.P.H., Director, Portland Residency Program. 

Developing family physicians and fostering leaders and stewards of health

Mission

To train family medicine physicians to be leaders who provide full spectrum care for the needs of the communities they serve.  Thus, we train physicians in a rigorous academic environment with exposure to a wide breadth of care models including a Federally Qualified Health Center, Rural Health Center, Academic Health Center, Community Clinic, and a Vertically Integrated Health System.  At the culmination of their training, our graduates will be ready to successfully step into any environment their careers will lead them.

Aims

To broadly train residents to practice comprehensive, full scope Family Medicine, and to approach their practice with academic rigor.

To prepare residents to provide continuity of care across multiple settings, to improve equity and population health outcomes, and to advocate for their patients.

To be a leader in Family Medicine training by curricular innovation, including a 4-year training model and required capstone project. 

Education: Training residents for clinical excellence in generalist full-spectrum care in a wide array of settings, and a commitment to quality health education for students, residents, faculty and patients.

Quality care: Provision of premier-quality, comprehensive, compassionate care for individuals and families throughout the life cycle.

Care for the underserved: Dedication to optimizing health and its socioeconomic determinants for underserved, disadvantaged and vulnerable populations, and the empowerment of marginalized individuals and groups, with special attention to urban poor, mentally ill and geographically isolated segments of society.

Continuity of care: A cornerstone of patient health and resident education.

Resident wellbeing: Support for the needs of residents and their families, and fostering of a mutually supportive environment within OHSU Family Medicine as well as  between our department and the departments through which we rotate.

Adaptability: Flexibility in the training paradigm, allowing for timely and dynamic response to the rapidly evolving face of health care.

Community: Responsibility to the well-being of the broader community through community partnership and advocacy.

Diversity: Commitment to the promotion and support of diversity within the residency, and among faculty, students, staff and patients.

Leadership: Embracing a leadership role within the university with regard to patient care, student and resident education, and policy planning and development. Training and supporting residents to become leaders in the field of family medicine at local, state, regional, national and international levels.

Scholarship: Advancing the field of family medicine through support of original research, writing, program planning and other scholarly endeavors.

Wellness is priority for our program. In addition to the four “wellness” half days given to our residents per year, we also have wellness conferences, a resident wellness retreat, mentorship programs and our wellness resident committee.

Resident wellness is also programmed into our rotation schedules. Certain rotations include unscheduled time during business hours on weekdays. This time can be used for personal wellness or administrative time.

OHSU also offers access to the Resident and Faculty Wellness Center. Here OHSU provides an array of services to increase clinician wellness and reduce burnout and distress. These services include confidential counseling and coaching services for both professional and personal struggles. The Wellness Center offers early morning and evening hours to accommodate resident schedules. In addition, there is a wellness help line that is available 24 hours a day.