Family Medicine Charlotte
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.
- Atrium Health Biddle Point, Urban Underserved Track
- Carolinas Medical Center - Elizabeth Family Medicine/Traditional Track
- Atrium Health Union Family Practice/Community Apprenticeship Track
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:
- Sports medicine
- Geriatrics
- Behavioral medicine
- Clinical research
- Integrative medicine
The residency program is fully approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).
Excellence in Teaching
Each of our residency sites were recognized by the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine for Excellence in Teaching for ensuring high quality care through a commitment to educate those who will provide primary care in America.
An Inside Look at the Family Medicine Residency Program
Learning and Growing: A Resident's Perspective
Where You Will Train
Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center
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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
What Residents are Saying About the Family Medicine Program
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‘’It is my promise to treat my patients as I would want my loved ones to be treated. The Hippocratic Oath that I swore by stated many things but the statement most important to me was, I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.”
Elim Chao, MD (4th Year Chief Resident)
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‘’My biggest goal for each patient encounter is for each patient to feel that they were truly heard and seen during their visit. Medical treatments and goals will always change, but human kindness and empathy will never become obsolete’’.
Katherine Brown (PGY3)
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"Service. Advocacy. Teaching. These are the values that reflect the essence of who I am and what I intend to carry forward as a Family Physician. My aim is to serve my patients well by providing the best care in the clinic as well as advocate for them outside of the clinic. Through compassion and humility, I hope to walk alongside my patients and help them navigate their own understanding of health. For me, my role as a physician is not to simply tell my patients what to do but I like to believe my patients are the driver of the car and I am holding the map as we work together to reach our destination. Overall, my goal is to stay true to my core values as I strive to be a trusted voice in the community."
Emmanuella Mensah (PGY3)
Meet the Faculty
“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
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Rebecca Hayes, MDInterim 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.
Program Curriculum
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 moreSalary and Benefits
In addition to the educational and career benefits of the Carolinas Medical Center Family Medicine Residency program, residents will receive many financial benefits.
Learn moreApplication Criteria
Applications 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.
Learn more