Saratoga Hospital and Hudson Headwaters, in collaboration with Albany Medical Center, have developed the Saratoga Family Medicine Residency Program, an innovative residency designed for “physicians of the future.”

Ephraim Back, M.D., MPH, FAAFP, chief of clinical initiatives at Hudson Headwaters, is the founding program director. Colleen Quinn, M.D., Hudson Headwaters’ chief of medical education and wellness, serves as the residency’s associate director, and Kristin L. Mack, D.O., M.S., leads the program’s rural health rotation at Ticonderoga Health Center. Saratoga Hospital’s lead faculty include Renee Rodriguez-Goodmote, M.D., FAAFP, director of the Saratoga Community Health Center and chair of the Saratoga Hospital Department of Ambulatory Medicine, overseeing the community medicine curriculum and Timothy Reed, M.D. who will be directing the inpatient medicine training.

The 3-year curriculum is created on the pillars of being community-focused, teaching innovative medicine and practicing integrated care. The education maximizes broad-spectrum clinical competence in both hospital and ambulatory medicine, with a special emphasis on training in behavioral health, addiction treatment, population health, rural health and state-of-the-art technology.

Hudson Headwaters’ Glens Falls Family Health serves as a continuity site for two of six residents in each class. Designed with special attention to integrated team care, the health center offers family medicine residents collaborative learning opportunities with the Advanced Practice Clinician fellowship, an advanced training program for recently graduated FNPs and PAs.

The Saratoga program is the second family medicine residency program collaborating with Hudson Headwaters, with the first being the Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital (CVPH) Family Residency at Champlain Family Health. The inaugural class of the Saratoga Family Medicine Residency Program started in July 2023.

Each year, six family medicine residents from the CVPH Family Medicine Residency have their continuity practices at Champlain Family Health. Over the course of their 3-year residency, each resident performs more than 1,650 patient encounters, supervised and precepted by Champlain Family Health attending family physicians. Reviews of the experience by both residents and attendings have been excellent. The current residents are:

• Adam Lacayo, M.D. 3rd Year Resident
• Alyssa Sethi, D.O. 3rd Year Resident
• Eric King, M.D. 2nd Year Resident
• Jeffrey Klotz, M.D. 2nd Year Resident
• Nicholas Rzepski, M.D. 1st Year Resident
• Yanbo Yang, M.D. 1st Year Resident

For more than 20 years, under the direction of Dr. Frances Bollinger, Hudson Headwaters has been working with Albany Medical College to educate third-year medical students in outpatient internal medicine. Three students at a time are placed here for a two-week rotation.

In addition, Hudson Headwaters has hosted 4th-year medical students from different medical schools for a 1-month elective rotation in rural medicine.

Pharmacy student rotations are offered through Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Students in their final year of pharmacy school can complete advanced practice pharmacy experience (APPE) rotations in ambulatory care with Ryan Armstrong, PharmD, clinical pharmacist. Rotations focus on the pharmacist’s role on the extended care team and working directly with patients in the primary care setting.

Nursing student rotations are currently through either the SUNY Plattsburgh RN to BSN program or the WSWHE BOCES LPN Program. The RN program is a 40-hour clinical rotation ending in a project based on their experiences. The LPN program pairs students with health center LPNs. Both programs serve as a way for nursing students to get a sense of the work environment.

Student Rotations
Hudson Headwaters has a long history of providing clinical rotations for APC students. Demand for these rotations increased dramatically in the last several years, necessitating a more formal application process that prioritizes employees, their families, and local students. During the calendar year 2019, we placed six students providing about 1,140 hours of precepted clinical time. Click here to apply.

Shadow or Observation Experience
In the current health care environment, we need to balance the value of having local learners get a first-hand clinical experience with the potential exposure to unexpected illness and impactful clinical situations. For this reason, we no longer allow shadow experiences for individuals under 16, Students and people seeking shadow experience must be completely COVID vaccinated and provide documentation. Click here to apply.

Email completed Medical Tuition Assistance Program application to Jennifer Leszyk at jleszyk@hhhn.org.