Residency Program graduates from the 2018 class include (front row from left) Brianna Moyer, MD; and Laura Leaman, MD; (second row from left) Elyse Goveia, MD; Cindy Martinez, MD, MS; Steven Aussenberg, MD; Chevon Alderson, MD; Lara Kobrin, MD; Kristina Zimmerman, MD; Jenna Fox, MD; Tiara Heisey James, MD; Katherine Allport, DO; Laura Urbanski, MD; and Phebe Matsen, MD.Lancaster General Hospital offered one of the first family medicine residency programs in the country nearly 50 years ago.
Each spring, the three-year program welcomes up to 13 new residents from across the country. “The incoming 2018 class is the 13th year in a row that LG Health has completely filled the class,” said Stephen D. Ratcliffe, MD, Family Medicine Residency Program director.
“It is difficult to even put into words the excitement I felt when I opened my letter and learned that I was heading to Lancaster General,” said Kelly Phillips, MD, a first-year resident who joined the program in early June. “As a medical student, I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to complete several rotations here, and I fell in love with the culture of LG Health.”
Ratcliffe credits LG Health’s primary-care network as one of the core strengths of the program. “The LGH Family Medicine Residency Program is the only program in the country to have both rural- and urban- training sites where they practice,” he said, referring to Walter L. Aument Health Center and Family Medicine Downtown.
“Since Nikitas Zervanos, MD, started the program in 1969, more than 500 family medicine residents have completed our program – including our most recent class of 13,” Ratcliffe added.
On June 30, as 13 new physicians, including Phillips, were joining the program, 13 residents graduated. Seven will practice or begin fellowships locally, while others will continue their careers in other parts of the country.
“Many times physicians will choose to stay within the system. They bond with the local community and decide to make Lancaster their home,” Ratcliffe said.
He reflected that many LG Health physician leaders have graduated from the residency program, including Christine Stabler, MD, vice president, Academic Affairs; John Wood, MD, medical director of LG Health Physicians and LG Health Community Care Collaborative; and Michael Ripchinski, MD, chief clinical officer, just to name a few.
“The LGH Family Practice Residency Program is an important component in helping the health system fulfill its mission and vision, while continuing to promote that the family practice physician is essential to holistic, compassionate health,” Ratcliffe added.