Director’s Welcome
I am so pleased that you are interested in learning about the Alaska Family Medicine Residency (AKFMR)! Our program was started more than 25 years ago to prepare family doctors for full-scope family medicine practice in rural Alaska. AKFMR has been remarkably successful, with the majority of our graduates working in rural Alaska. Our residents spend time in rural Alaska throughout their training while receiving a strong foundation in continuity clinic and the inpatient setting. Please take a look at our curriculum pages for more details on how we prepare our residents to practice in any environment, including resource-limited settings.
AKFMR is sponsored by Providence Alaska Medical Center and is part of the Providence Medical Group. Alaska is the “A” in the University of Washington’s WWAMI network. We are part of their Family Medicine Residency Network educational collaborative. Along with the primary support from Providence, we receive additional support from the state of Alaska, Southcentral Foundation, our tribal health partners in Bethel and Dillingham, and others around Alaska.
Most of our residents’ training takes place in Anchorage, which is an exceedingly diverse community. Over 100 languages are spoken in the school district with more than 80 spoken by our clinic’s patients. Importantly, Anchorage is Dena’ina homeland, the traditional ancestral land of the Dena’ina Athabascan. For thousands of years the Dena’ina have been and continue to be the stewards of this land. This is Dena’ina Ełnena.
Anchorage has unparalleled access to the Alaskan outdoors. The municipality has 250 miles of trails, over 120 miles of paved bike paths, and over 100 miles of maintained ski trails (with 25 miles being lighted) and 36 miles dedicated to dog mushing. It is common for residents to ride bikes to work year-round, with some even skiing to work in the winter. World class hiking trails are less than thirty minutes away. Plus, with Anchorage being the state’s largest city, there is so much to do here even if you don’t love the outdoors, including a vibrant arts and music community and diverse food options.
Many of our residents and faculty have deep ties to Alaska while many others first came to here for training or for teaching. We stay because we love the unique training and the special community that is AKFMR. We look forward to meeting you and sharing with you how training at the Alaska Family Medicine Residency will prepare you for your future practice.
Kim Thomas, MD MSPH
Program Director