Mercy Health – Youngstown’s Graduate Medical Education Program will welcome 50 incoming residents across 10 residency and two fellowship programs on July 1.
This new class includes residents in the specialties of internal medicine, family medicine, general surgery, orthopedic surgery, general dentistry, emergency medicine, otolaryngology, transitional year and pharmacy.
The residents were paired with the various Mercy Health – Youngstown programs in March on Match Day, which is well known in the graduate medical education community as the day when graduating medical students get placed into residency and fellowship programs. It is also the day Mercy Health – Youngstown learned who will become the next class of physician residents.
Mercy Health is also introducing a new rural pathway to its GME program. This pathway will give family medicine residents interested in rural health care the opportunity to train in a rural setting and address the unique health disparities facing patients in these communities. It will operate out of Mercy Health – Columbiana Primary Care under the leadership of Dr. Thomas Macabobby and Dr. Alex Heintzelman.
“Mercy Health – Youngstown is committed to providing access to high-quality, compassionate health care and training the next generation of physicians to do the same,” said Dr. Jim Kravec, chief clinical officer for Mercy Health – Youngstown.
“We are excited to welcome these new physicians to the Youngstown community and grow the number of doctors we have to treat our patients. We are also excited to welcome Mercy Health graduate medical education to Columbiana County to further extend our mission and grow our existing presence in that county,” said Kravec.
“Not only will this rural pathway be integral in building a bench of family medicine physicians ready to provide care in our rural communities, but it will also be helpful in meeting the needs identified in the Columbiana Community Health Needs Assessment,” said Macabobby. “Chronic disease management, mental health care, obesity and nutrition, and substance use disorder are all priorities identified in the assessment. Adding this pathway will grow the number of physicians in our rural communities focused on addressing these priorities.”
“As a Columbiana County native, rural health care was always my calling and I’m excited to train the next generation in my hometown,” said Heintzelman. “Research in rural medicine training shows us that doctors who are trained in rural settings are more likely to stay, and we know access to care close to home can significantly impact health outcomes for patients. There’s no question that in order to grow access to care, we need doctors first. This pathway is a valuable addition to our GME program and will benefit our rural communities immensely.”
The introduction of the rural pathway comes on the heels of additional efforts by Mercy Health to expand rural health care access. Earlier this month, Mercy Health announced the opening of a new walk-in care location at Mercy Health – East Palestine Primary Care and the launch of virtual specialty care sites at Mercy Health – East Palestine Primary Care and Mercy Health – Sebring Primary Care, where patients can have virtual appointments with their specialty care providers.
Mercy Health – Youngstown has had a surgical residency program in place for more than 100 years and an internal medicine residency for nearly as long. To learn more about all Mercy Health – Youngstown’s residency programs, visit www.mercy.com….
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