The Rural Training Track of the Duke Family Medicine Residency strives to deliver excellent medical education through the integration of outstanding patient care, education, research, and community partnerships—all through a lens to increase equity. The program helps residents achieve mastery of clinical medicine with intimate connections to the community and launches them toward a rewarding career in rural family medicine.
Residents in the Duke Family Medicine Residency Program's Rural Training Track spend the first year immersed in the world-class training at Duke Health, and then transition to a rich rural health center and community hospital for the second two years of training and embrace full-spectrum family medicine. This 1+2 training track was born out of a commitment to health equity and aims to meet the needs of underserved rural populations.
For more information about the Rural Training Track, click here.
The Learning Environment
The Rural Training Track of the Duke Family Medicine Residency Program offers a collegial and diverse environment that fosters the development of clinical skills, as well as strong and enduring relationships with colleagues, mentors, and patients. Duke University is committed to the personal and professional needs of each resident and cultivates an environment of mutual respect and professionalism for a rich and rewarding educational experience.
The Rural Training Track aims to allow budding family medicine providers to fully “spread their wings” as physicians to perform procedures and take care of medical diagnoses that might be referred to a specialist in a more urban environment. The training track offers an intimate setting where residents will get to know the community and learn to identify and serve its unique needs, while providing care to diverse populations.
Faculty
Thomas F. Koinis, MD, MSE, program director
Eric M. Buenviaje, MD, associate program director
Training Site Year 1: Duke Family Medicine Center
For Year 1, residents in the Rural Training Track are part of the Duke Family Medicine Residency and remain connected with that program through shared didactics and programming throughout the entire training. Home base is the Duke Family Medicine Center in Durham, North Carolina.
Learn More About Duke Family Medicine Center
Training Site Years 2 and 3: Duke Primary Care Oxford
Duke Primary Care Oxford serves as the main training site for residents in the Rural Training Track for Years 2 and 3. Located in Granville County, North Carolina, Oxford is located about 30 miles northeast of Durham. The health care team at Duke Primary Care Oxford includes family medicine physicians along with physician assistants and nurse practitioners who specialize in providing medical care for children, teens and adults.
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Training Site Years 2 and 3: Maria Parham Health
Located in Henderson, North Carolina, Maria Parham Health is the main hospital training site for the Rural Training Track during Years 2 and 3. Maria Parham Health, a Duke LifePoint Hospital, is the region’s health care leader. Fully accredited by The Joint Commission and the College of American Pathologists, Maria Parham has combined the qualities necessary to offer the best in community medicine—physicians representing a wide range of specialties, highly trained nurses and clinical specialists, and the latest technology.
Learn More About Maria Parham Health
About the Area
Oxford and Henderson are located in neighboring counties, about 15 miles apart. Both are roughly 30-40 miles north of Durham and the Research Triangle area of North Carolina, and close to the Virginia border in rural North Carolina. Oxford is the county seat of Granville County and has a population of about 8,800 people. Henderson is the county seat of Vance County, and has a population of about 15,000 people.