Welcome Letter from Program Director
Dear potential applicant,
Thank you for taking the time to explore our rural residency! We are proud of the program we have built since our inception in 2014.
As the program director since 2017, the question I get asked the most by applicants is “what are you looking for in an applicant?” As with all programs, we are looking for residents that are humble, teachable, curious, and intelligent. But, most importantly in OUR program, we are looking for those special, rare individuals with a strong work ethic that relish the challenge of learning everything they possibly can in residency to become an outstanding rural physician. Our graduates are well-prepared to practice full-scope family medicine anywhere they choose. If this sounds like you, please consider applying to our program. I look forward to meeting you!
Sincerely,
Aron Rogers, DO
Program Director
Contact
Family & Community Medicine
Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV and Humboldt General Hospital
775-623-3554, ext. 3501
Program Overview
The Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine Rural Family Medicine Residency Program was created and thus given its first ACGME accreditation in 2014 to provide residents with the opportunity to provide primary care to residents in both underserved and rural communities. The three-year program meets all of the family medicine national accreditation requirements for medical education and training, where residents should expect to receive their training in both the large city (Las Vegas) and small town (Winnemucca) settings of Nevada.
Our goal is to produce residents who are competent in all aspects of care including trauma, comfortable with treating patients of all backgrounds from the well child to geriatrics, and knowledgeable with performing a wide variety of common as well as life-saving procedures. We hope to offer residents a glimpse into the daily lives of doctors working in rural areas and ultimately inspire them to continue to serve patients living in low income, rural regions of the state of Nevada, including Winnemucca.
Our program attracts and accepts strong medical students from all over the country and prospective residents with an interest in improving the health of low-income and underserved patients or experience working with rural communities are encouraged to apply to our program.
Why Practice Rural Medicine? Why Winnemucca?
- Winnemucca is primarily a mining town and a remnant of the old west. The hospital and clinic are pretty much the only game in town, so the patient population includes everyone from an approximately 100-mile radius. Reno is the nearest referral center, and that's a 2.5 hour drive, so you have the opportunity to see all kinds of pathology because you’ll be much more involved in all levels of a patient’s care. You'll be managing trauma, rheumatologic diseases, advanced heart failure, schizophrenia - the whole gamut!
- Wonderful opportunities to become involved in a vibrant rural community through recreational events, local athletic events, and school physicals
- You will receive hands on teaching in a quiet, beautiful rural community with great opportunities to be directly involved in multiple OB deliveries, be first assist on surgeries, and get plenty of hands on experience with procedures such as intubations and central line placement if you show interest in receiving that exposure
- Humboldt General Hospital is a newly renovated hospital with new clinical facilities such as an orthopedic clinic and a nursing home and memory care unit as well as state-of-the-art technology including a full service laboratory and imaging suite
- Opportunity to attend annual Nevada American Family Practice (AFP) Conference in Lake Tahoe
Strengths of the Program
- Fully accredited by ACGME
- Hands-on teaching in a quiet, beautiful, rural community
- Newly renovated hospital with new clinical facilities
- Opportunities for trauma, multiple OB deliveries, and first assist on surgeries including C-sections
- Community involvement including opportunities to work with paramedics at local athletic and recreational events
Curriculum
This family medicine program is a 1+2 program. Residents will spend their first year rotating at University Medical Center (UMC), a Level 1 Trauma Center, in Las Vegas. Afterward, they will spend their final two years of the program working with rural communities at the brand new, state-of-the-art Humboldt General Hospital located in Winnemucca, Nevada.
* = Two-week rotation. All other rotations are roughly a one-month duration.
** = May be completed in Las Vegas at UMC.
- Hospital Adult Medicine
- Hospital Adult Medicine*
- ICU
- Pediatrics Inpatient
- Pediatrics Outpatient
- Pediatrics Outpatient Senior
- Pediatrics ER*
- Nursery
- Psychiatry
- Obstetrics
- Sports Medicine
- Gynecology/Rheumatology/Endocrinology
- ENT/Ophthalmology/Neurology
- Elective**
- Community Medicine
- Hospital Adult Medicine
- Hospital Adult Medicine
- Hospital Adult Medicine
- Hospital Adult Medicine
- Surgery
- Obstetrics
- Orthopedics
- Emergency Medicine
- FRMC (Continuity Clinic + Specialty Interest month)
- Selective (EM, orthopedics, surgery, obstetrics)
- Elective**
- Health Systems Management
- Hospital Adult Medicine
- Hospital Adult Medicine
- Hospital Adult Medicine
- Emergency Medicine
- FRMC/Gynecology
- FRMC (Continuity Clinic + Specialty Interest month)
- FRMC (Continuity Clinic + Specialty Interest month)
- Selective (EM, orthopedics, surgery, obstetrics)
- Selective (EM, orthopedics, surgery, obstetrics)
- Elective**
- Elective**
Research
All residents are required to complete at least one scholarly project and one Qualitative Improvement (QI) project by the completion of their PGY-3 year. You will be paired with a faculty member as a mentor for your research. Many of our residents have been given the privilege of presenting their research at the Nevada AFP conference in Lake Tahoe as well as other conferences.
Program Faculty
Resident Life
Each year we accept two residents per class making a total of six in the program. Residents enjoy a great work-life balance, and they will learn to be comfortable with working with complex patients and performing procedures in both urban and rural settings. Since Humboldt General Hospital in Winnemucca, Nevada, is a solo and unopposed facility, residents have great autonomy to tailor their residency training and experience how they want it. We also take pride in the vast opportunities for leadership we provide, including the chief resident positions available for residents as PGY-3s.
Life After Residency
- Matt Evans, MD: Hospitalist in Soldotna, AK
- Mich Gehrig, DO: Rural Family Medicine in Molalla, OR
- Trenton Argyle, DO: Faculty Physician, Humboldt General Hospital, Winnemucca, NV
- Samuel Gong, DO: Outpatient practice with the Dignity Health System, California
- Yatin Dhir, DO: Occupational Medicine Physician at Kaiser Permanente Napa in Napa, CA
- Joseph Ricioli, DO: Rural Family Medicine Physician at Sutter Health in Turlock, CA
- Dave Masuck, MD: Clinical Assistant Professor, East Carolina University
- Hind Elsanousy, MD: UMC Quick Care in Las Vegas, NV
- David Cummings, DO: Rural family medicine doctor in Van Horn, TX
- James Denisar-Green, MD: Rural Site Director at Community Health of Central Washington in Ellensburg, WA
- Chris Vlasek, DO: Carson Tahoe Medical Group in Carson City, NV
- Rod Scholty, MD: Founded Zia Rural Physicians LLC in Las Vegas, NV
- Samaan Sattarzadeh, MD: Hoag Urgent Care in Newport Beach, CA
How to Apply
Please note that due to the advent of and restrictions placed by the COVID-19 virus, aspects of the selection and interview process are subject to change. Please refer to your interview invitation for the most up to date details.
All first-year candidates are accepted via the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP). Applications are accepted through the Electronic Residency Application Services (ERAS) only. Look up Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV Rural Program 1203100700 Specialty Family Medicine.
Please note: Although connected to the main Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine family medicine program, the rural program is its own separate program to apply for on ERAS. The official name is the Family Medicine Rural Residency Program, Department of Family and Community Medicine, Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV. It is fully-accredited by the ACGME.
Selection and Interview Process
- To be eligible, candidates must have graduated from an accredited MD or DO school by the time of their proposed residency start date. At this time, we are not accepting international medical graduate (IMG) candidates.
- Applicants must be a U.S. Citizen or Green Card holder.
- We will not consider applications where an applicant has failed any STEP or COMLEX more than twice.
- We require either USMLE or COMLEX, Steps 1 and 2 (both parts) be passed before we will review an application.
- We will only consider applicants that have graduated from medical school or held a license to practice medicine in the U.S. within the last three years.
- A complete application packet must include the following items posted to ERAS before we will review the application:
- ERAS application
- Personal statement
- Curriculum vitae
- Medical school transcript
- USMLE/COMLEX Scores (Step 1 and 2)
- Photograph
- Three letters of reference (at least one letter must be from a family physician)
- ECFMG Certificate (if applicable)
- For interview consideration, we review applications on a first-come, first-served basis. We stop reviewing applications when we run out of interview slots, which is usually by the end of December or early January.
Selection Process
- All candidates are reviewed through ERAS. Documents sent through email are not considered part of the application.
- An Application Review Committee considers ERAS applications for interview selection. They decide suitability of applicants for interview by ranking them based upon academic, personal, and reference credentials.
- Selected candidates are interviewed by the program director, department chair, faculty and program residents. Candidates will have "separate time" with residents throughout the course of their interview day.
- When all interviews are complete, the faculty and residents meet to rank all applicants with final approval by the program director. Critical determinants for selection are academic accomplishments, attitude, personal and communication qualities, enthusiasm, interest and knowledge about the program, and experiences and interests outside of medicine.
- The program utilizes the NRMP exclusively.
Other
- Applicants will be interviewed virtually via Zoom. Login information will be sent by our residency coordinator once you are scheduled to interview.
- Interviews are typically in November and December and run from 1 p.m. - 5p.m. Lunch will be provided at the end of day one of the interview in Las Vegas. Breakfast will typically be provided prior to the start of day two of the interview in Winnemucca.
- The program observes the affirmative action/equal opportunity and anti-discrimination policies of UNLV in the selection process.