Mission Statement
Our mission is to develop family physician leaders who will innovate change in local communities and who will help create solutions to national challenges, improving the health of the populations they serve.
Diversity and Inclusion
We know that diversity makes us stronger. Individuals and communities thrive when connected with physicians who understand, support, and advocate for them. We welcome and support people from all backgrounds. We aim to foster an environment of inclusion and respect for everyone.
Indigenous Land Acknowledgement
The University of Utah has both historical and contemporary relationships with Indigenous peoples. Given that the Salt Lake Valley has always been a gathering place for Indigenous peoples, we acknowledge that this land, which is named for the Ute Tribe, is the traditional and ancestral homelands of the Shoshone, Paiute, Goshute, and Ute Tribes and is a crossroad for Indigenous peoples. The University of Utah recognizes the enduring relationships between many Indigenous peoples and their traditional homelands. We are grateful for the territory upon which we gather today; we respect Utah’s Indigenous peoples, the original stewards of this land; and we value the sovereign relationships that exist between tribal governments, state governments, and the federal government. Today, approximately 60,000 American Indian and Alaska Native peoples live in Utah. As a state institution, the University of Utah is committed to serving Native communities throughout Utah in partnership with Native Nations and our Urban Indian communities through research, education, and community outreach activities.
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Kirsten Stoesser, MDProgram Director Welcome! We are a blended community-based and University-supported program in vibrant Salt Lake City, Utah, uniquely situated at the base of the Wasatch mountains. Our program is a 3-year, 10-10-10 residency, with especially strong training in sports medicine, obstetrics, and care of underserved populations. Our family medicine clinics are located within both urban and suburban settings, serving a broad range of patients and needs. Our core inpatient training is centered at a historic downtown community hospital, and further augmented by rotations at the University of Utah and the adjacent children’s hospital. Outstanding recreation is only minutes away from all hospital and clinic sites, with life outside of residency offering a multitude of opportunities to attend major league sporting events, theater, dance, and music performances, discover restaurants, parks, and festivals, and participate in limitless outdoor activities. I invite you to review additional information about our program detailed on our website. We look forward to welcoming you here at the University of Utah Family Medicine Residency! Kirsten Stoesser, MD |
Highlights of our Training include:
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- Service to unique clinic populations—former refugees, patients seeking gender affirming care, unhoused people, and care for patients needing HIV PrEP, chronic hepatitis C management, and medication assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder.
- Partnership with the Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) clinic system, where our residents can choose a longitudinal clinical experience, with the opportunity to speak primarily Spanish.
- Opportunity to pursue international language development elective during intern year; Spanish language development elective available throughout residency.
- A strong focus on obstetric training, with receipt of a recent 5-year HRSA (Health Resources and Services Administration) grant to help develop additional elective rotations in high-risk OB, and to augment training in women’s healthcare.
- Robust sports medicine and musculoskeletal training, including rotations with sports-medicine trained family physicians, in-office ultrasound exposure, and rotations at the acute injury clinics at local ski resorts.
- Ultrasound instruction during intern year, focusing on musculoskeletal and obstetric exam skills.
- At least one month spent in a rural community (housing provided), which includes the option to work with physicians on an Indian Health Services (IHS) site. Longitudinal rural experiences are an option.
- Received federal educational grant funding focused on enhancing residents’ training in providing mental health and trauma-informed care to children and vulnerable populations.
- Structured opportunities for research publications and journal article reviews.
- Additional training in adolescent health, advocacy, addiction medicine, and integrative health.
- Opportunities to teach sexual education classes to children from former refugee communities.
Populations in Salt Lake City
With a population of over 1,000,000 people in the greater Salt Lake area, the region is rapidly evolving:
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- One in five people speak a language at home other than English.
- Approximately 20% identify as Latinx.
- Over 10% identify as either Asian, Black, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, American Indian or Alaskan Native, or multi-racial.
- As a major refugee resettlement city, tens of thousands of former refugees have re-located to the Salt Lake area in recent years, including groups from Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Syria, Iraq, Vietnam, the former Soviet Union and Burma (Myanmar).
- Approximately 5% of Salt Lake City adults identify as LGBTQ+, one of the highest rates in the country.
- The area is religiously varied with well-established Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, Native American, Unitarian, and Interfaith communities.