The Carolinas Medical Center Family Medicine Residency program provides an array of special training opportunities, including training in both academic and community environments, with diverse patient communities to become the most skilled, well-prepared family physicians. The residency program formally began in 1973, but its heritage dates to 1969 with its predecessor, a general practice training. We are 1 program with 1 curriculum delineated in 3 tracks; the tracks delineate the location of residency continuity clinics.
Residents have the advantage of departmental programs that include award-winning, primary-care-oriented clinical research, the teaching of medical students and community involvement via various initiatives. Family Medicine Residents will receive hands-on experience in the following:
The residency program is fully approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).
Family Medicine residents spend the majority of the first year at Carolinas Medical Center (CMC), a large, tertiary-care medical center, cementing relationship with residents in other specialties while preparing them to be in our community hospitals, Atrium health Mercy and Atrium Health Union. The maternal and pediatric Family Medicine inpatient service is located at CMC for the residents in the Biddle Point and Elizabeth Tracks.
CMC - Elizabeth Family Medicine
CMC - Elizabeth Family Medicine (EFM), the largest residency clinic is co-located with the Department of Family Medicine at Carolinas Medical Center at Atrium Health Mercy. Residents in the Elizabeth/Traditional Track care for a variety of patients including underserved patients. EFM serves as a referral clinic and provides quality care in integrative medicine, dermatology and minor office procedures for patients in the other community clinics within Atrium Health (CMC - Myers Park Pediatrics, Teen Health, CMC - Biddle Point Family Medicine, CMC - NorthPark Family Medicine and CMC - Myers Park Internal Medicine). EFM houses many of the specialty clinic that residents in all 3 tracks participate in- infectious disease, integrative medicine, geriatrics, sports medicine, dermatology, minor procedures, obstetrics and colposcopy clinics. EFM is located in midtown Charlotte. Learn more
Atrium Health Biddle Point
Our Biddle Point/Urban Underserved Track offers a novel family medicine training experience where residents work in an urban underserved area of Charlotte. As a community clinic, this location delivers innovative healthcare focusing on a team-based model of care with multiple resources located on-site – including a 503B pharmacy, imaging and laboratory services, social work, case management and food pharmacy. Learn more
Union Family Practice
Union/Community Apprenticeship Track residents have the opportunity to practice in Union Family Practice while experiencing the best of the city of Charlotte and the smaller town of Monroe, NC. This program was designed based on the “community apprenticeship” model in which residents train one-on-one with preceptors in a private practice setting in a small-town environment. Learn more
Atrium Health Union
Residents in the Union Track enjoy rotations and one-on-one learning environments in the second and third years at Atrium Health Union, a 175-bed hospital in Monroe, NC, providing comprehensive emergency services and specialty medical care. The campus offers a variety of medical services, including a day surgery center, cancer treatment center, long-term care facility, behavioral health center, specialty care clinics, a community wellness and outreach program, a women and children’s center, interventional heart program and physician practices. Our hospital has served the Monroe area for more than 15 years. We have worked to add new services and more specialized physicians and programs to meet the growing healthcare needs of our community. Learn more
Atrium Health Mercy
Residents in the Biddle Point and Elizabeth tracks complete inpatient rotations in second and third years at Atrium Health Mercy, a facility of Carolinas Medical Center. The adult portion of the Family Medicine Inpatient service is located at Atrium Health Mercy, which has treated patients with a combination of human compassion and leading-edge expertise for more than 100 years. As a full-service community hospital, Atrium Health Mercy manages the care of seniors and adult with complex medical conditions, complex foot and ankle surgery, hip and knee surgery, bariatric surgery and women’s pelvic health. Learn more
“CMC Family Medicine faculty, staff, and residents live and breathe passion for Family Medicine. I'm surrounded by sharp, hard-working residents with engaging and supportive faculty who I aspire to practice like. Intellectual curiosity abounds, from management questions on rounds or at clinic to scholarly projects and presentations.”
Vijay Venkatesan (PGY3)
“Learning and practicing medicine here at the Atrium Health Family Medicine program has taught me so much about myself as a person and as a future family physician. I'm glad to be continuing my training here, and I'm looking forward to what else is in store for me here!”
Daryl Singleton (PGY3)
“The faculty are incredibly supportive, our clinical experiences are top-notch, and the variety of training that we receive has been invaluable. Our residency program has become a second family over the past few years! I have grown into an experienced clinician, a life-long learner, and a better person during my time in residency.”
Kelly Hemmings (Inaugural 4th Year, Chief Resident)
“It is my pleasure to introduce you to our Family Medicine Residency program. Our residents and faculty enjoy collaborative, supportive, and collegial relationships with each other and our peers in other specialties both in the hospital and beyond. We welcome you to visit our ‘family’.”
Shala Sundaram, MD
Residency Program Director
Department Chair
With a nationally and internationally renowned team of family medicine physicians who serve as faculty, our residents have access to a breadth of experience and knowledge in the Carolinas Medical Center Family Medicine Residency program. View their bios here.
The Family Medicine Residency program is designed so each resident assumes increasing patient management responsibilities commensurate with his or her professional development and maturity. In our program, the family medicine resident (while serving on the medical, pediatric, emergency medicine or obstetrical services) enjoys all the privileges and responsibilities of comparable residents in these specialties.
Family Medicine residents receive hands-on experience in various procedures and examinations, including critical care, code blue management and other patient care interactions in our state-of-the-art Simulation Center on campus throughout the 3 years of residency.
Learn moreIn addition to the educational and career benefits of the Carolinas Medical Center Family Medicine Residency program, residents will receive many financial benefits.
Learn moreApplications will be accepted only from participants in the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS). If you wish to apply to the department’s residency program tracks (Elizabeth/Traditional, Biddle Point/Urban Underserved and Union/Community Apprenticeship), please indicate within ERAS what tracks you are interested in when you complete your application. Please note that you can apply to all three tracks or any combination that you prefer.
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