Alaska IM Residency Program Accredited
At its January meeting, the ACGME gave Initial Accreditation to a new Internal Medicine residency program based in the Department of Medicine.
This is the very first accredited rural residency training program in Internal Medicine in the country.
Known as the University of Washington-Alaska Internal Medicine Rural Residency Program (UW AK IM RRP), the program’s mission is to provide an intensive Alaska-based, rural primary care-focused training experience in internal medicine.
The goal is to place exceptional internists in high-need Alaskan communities, aligned with UW Medicine's mission to serve the WWAMI region and improve the health of the public.
The program will start small with two residents per year. The R1 year will be spent in Seattle acquiring the same strong foundation that all the Seattle R1’s receive at our core training sites.
The R2 and R3 years will be spent in Alaska, based primarily in Soldotna with some rotations in other rural sites and in Anchorage. We anticipate recruiting for the first class next fall with an anticipated start date of July 2024.
Dr. Ken Steinberg, IM residency program director, will serve as the initial program director but much credit goes to two other Department of Medicine faculty members: Dr. Gail Pokorney, clinical assistant professor, who will be the site director in Soldotna, and Dr. Megan Roosen-Runge, clinical instructor, who will be core faculty in Soldotna, for their hard work and leadership in developing this program.
“To be the first accredited IM rural residency in the country for this type of innovative training program is truly an accomplishment. I am so grateful for the support from the Department, UW Medicine, Central Peninsula Internal Medicine in Soldotna, and to everyone who worked on this project with us, especially Gail and Megan,” said Ken Steinberg.