Riverside Regional Medical Center has been a sponsor of graduate medical education, affiliated with the Medical College of Virginia (Virginia Commonwealth University) in Richmond, since 1968. At that time Riverside was selected from among 100 hospitals in the state to be the site of a two year general practice residency program. In February of 1969, the American Board of Family Practice was officially recognized as the 20th primary medical specialty, and the Riverside General Practice Residency Program became the Riverside Family Practice Residency Program. In January 2005, the American Board of Family Practice officially changed to the American Board of Family Medicine. In keeping with the ABFM name change we are now VCU/Riverside Family Medicine Residency.
In November 2007 Riverside Family Medicine received approval from the American Osteopathic Association to begin a dually accredited Osteopathic Family Medicine program. Riverside is affiliated with VCOM and OMNEE (Osteopathic Medical Network of Excellence in Education).
Riverside Family Medicine Residency moved from its original location at Riverside Hospital to rented space at the Newport News Health Department in 1972. At that time a "Model Unit Concept" was established, with the Riverside Family Medicine Center serving as the primary site for learning the art and skills of outpatient medical care. In January of 1989, the program moved to 316 Main Street. In April 2005 we moved to our current location at 10510 Jefferson Avenue, Suite A, which is at the corner of Hemlock Road and Jefferson Avenue. Our residency is part of the Riverside Brentwood Medical Center which also includes the Riverside Pediatric Center (Suite E) and the Riverside OB-GYN Residency Program (Suite D).
The practice has grown steadily over the years and provides medical care to a broad spectrum of patients from the community. We strongly believe that the best way for family medicine residents to learn the "full scope of family practice" is when their office serves a patient population that represents the community at large.
The inpatient portion of the family medicine residency occurs at Riverside Regional Medical Center, a 450-bed teaching hospital. RRMC offers a full range of specialty and sub-specialty physicians who actively participate in the training program. In addition to its strong hospital and office experience, the Family Medicine Residency Program residents are the primary physicians at The Gardens at Warwick Forest, which is a 190-bed teaching nursing home with 60 skilled beds. Under the supervision of Medical Director, Dr. Emeline Gasink, board certified geriatrician, the residents provide state of the art geriatric care to this population while having the unique experience of becoming part of an active medical staff while they are still residents.
Beth Klug, M.D. is the Director of the Family Medicine Residency. Joy N. Elliott, D.O. is the Director of the Osteopathic Family Medicine Program. The other full time faculty include Dr. Jacob Jones, Dr. Jon Kaminer, Dr. Mike Lustig, Dr. Bradley Touchet, Dr. Patricia Wessler and Dr. Verneeta Williams. In addition, Dr. Charles Frazier, former Director and currently the Director of Medical Informatics for Riverside Health System, continues to see patients here and also helps with the teaching and precepting of our residents.
Residents also enjoy the expertise of two affiliate faculty members: (graduates of Riverside), Saunora V. Prom, D.O. and Donald E. Soles, M.D. Dr. Soles provides the residents a unique perspective as a private physician in a more rural setting. Dr. Prom, who is fellowship trained in Sports Medicine and Neuromuscular Medicine augments our residents OMT experience in both the in-patient and out-patient settings.
The residency program in family medicine at Riverside Regional Medical Center is designed to provide a strong hospital experience combined with a state of the art private office setting for outpatient care. The program places a high priority on "individualizing" the residents' educational activities and learning experiences to prepare them as life long learners in the satisfying and enjoyable practice of family medicine. A high faculty to resident ratio with excellent faculty availability creates a close family atmosphere which has been the unique and remarkable trademark of the Riverside Family Medicine Residency Program. As of June 2021, we have 582 graduates located all over the world.
This program continues to be committed to producing the finest and best trained family medicine physicians in the nation.