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Boise Residency

Full Circle Health (Full Circle Health) offers excellent clinical training with superb patient volumes in all clinical areas. The vision of our program is to produce outstanding family physician leaders for their communities. The mission of our program is to train outstanding broad spectrum family medicine physicians to work in under-served and rural areas.  To serve the vulnerable populations of Idaho with high quality, affordable care provided in a collaborative work environment.

We believe the heart of healthcare education is service to others. Full Circle Health has an extremely talented faculty that consists of Family Medicine Physicians, Pediatricians, Obstetricians, Psychologists, Psychiatrists, Social Workers, Physician Assistants, a Nurse Practitioner and Pharm Ds to create the team environment needed to train a family medicine physician. We are also supported by three excellent training medical centers, a committed state legislature, and the backing of the Idaho Medical Association, the Idaho Hospital Association, the Idaho Academy of Family Physicians, and the Ada County Medical Society to ensure superb Family Medicine education. We hope that the information presented here stimulates your interest in our program and that you will want to know more about becoming a part of Full Circle Health.

Curriculum

The curriculum is designed to broadly prepare the physician for Family Medicine in a rural or underserved setting. Therefore, it includes a strong emphasis in medicine, obstetrics, pediatrics, emergency medicine, behavioral medicine and surgical procedures and assisting that is not found in many other programs. During their three years the residents have increasing responsibilities in patient care, management of their own continuing education, and participation in the management of the Full Circle Health. They also participate in organized medicine and various committee functions within the hospitals, the communities, the state, and the nation. The Residency strives to help our physicians develop a sustainable medical lifestyle that will provide them with long term satisfaction and deep meaning and inspiration in the practice of Family Medicine. Curriculum

PGY-1 Full Circle Health 1-2 half days per week, 4-6 patients per half day

RotationWeeksLocation
IM/FM Inpatient8/8Saint Alphonsus/VA
Inpatient Obstetrics 8St. Luke's
Inpatient Pediatrics 8St. Luke's
Geriatrics
Dermatology
2/2Office
Behavioral Health
Sports Medicine
2/2Office
Surgery4Local/Away
Gynecology4Office
Family Medicine Clinic
Rural Rotation
2/2Office/Away

PGY-2 Full Circle Health 2-3 half days per week, 7-9 patients per half day

RotationWeeksLocation
IM/FM Inpatient12Saint Alphonsus
Maternal Child Health - Inpatient12St. Luke's
Emergency Medicine4St. Luke's
NICU /
Peds Hospital
2/2St. Luke's
ICU4Saint Alphonsus
Procedures4Office
Rural Rotation4Away
Community Med
Behavioral Health
4Office
Elective4Office

PGY-3 Full Circle Health 2-4 half days per week, 10 patients per half day

RotationWeeksLocation
IM/FM Inpatient8Saint Alphonsus
Maternal Child Health - Inpatient4-8St. Luke's
Outpatient Peds4Office
Emergency Medicine6Saint Alphonsus /
St. Luke's
Rural Rotation4Away
Inpatient Selective0-4TBD
Pediatric Hospitalist2-4St. Luke's
Geriatrics / Cardiology2/2Office/Saint Alphonsus
Orthopedics4Office
Elective10Office
 

Highlighted Curricular Strengths

Inpatient Medicine
We feel strongly about preparing you for inpatient medicine. We give you two blocks of experience on a VA internal medicine team in the intern year.  But the core of our experience is on a busy inpatient family medicine service at St. Alphonsus. You will do 2 blocks here in your R1 year, 3 in the R2 year and 2 in your R3 year.  Our senior residents run this service.  We take care of a good mix of acuity and you will be in and out of the open ICU through all 3 years. We do give you an additional two weeks of ICU time in your R2 year to build your skill set working 1:1 with our critical care docs.  Our patient population is underserved and you will see a great mix of pathology.  Our consultants (pulm-critical care, cardiology, GI, nephrologists, and a variety of surgeons)  are dedicated teachers.
Pediatrics
You will spend eight weeks on pediatrics in your R1 year. This will be split between newborn nursery and pediatric hospitalist rotations with supervision from pediatric and FM faculty.  In your R2 year, you will do 2 weeks of NICU and 2 weeks of pediatric hospitalist.  In your R3 year, you will do 2-4 weeks of pediatric hospitalist, 2 weeks of pediatric ER experience, and 2 weeks pediatric evening float supervision (admitting new patients supervising an R1).  In addition, throughout your MCH (OB) rotations you will cover nighttime pediatric admissions.  Consistent exposure to peds inpatient care throughout residency will help prepare you for rural practice.  Our strong pediatric outpatient curriculum is built around our own pediatric focused clinics in Boise, Meridian and Nampa as well as pediatric subspecialty clinic time in Boise.  This outpatient experience is also spread across all three years.
Obstetrics
We provide a rich obstetrical training environment for our residents.  We provide  full-time or part-time L&D coverage at four local hospitals – St. Luke’s Boise, St. Luke’s Meridian, St. Alphonsus Boise and St. Alphonsus Nampa.  Our core maternal child health team is based out of St. Luke’s Boise and you will take advantage of relationships with local obstetricians here around labor management and delivery.  Additionally, our senior residents partner with the OB hospitalists and MFM consultant group to manage the high risk service.  C-section experience is gained here with all three groups of obstetricians and interested residents will get foundational experience in primary c-sections.  Our FQHC clinic system generates an average of 18-22 continuity deliveries per resident and you will manage these patients at one of the Boise / Meridian hospitals with a family medicine faculty doctor or a midwife.  We partner with Terry Reilly family medicine doctors for vaginal deliveries and c-section experience in Nampa in the R1 year and on inpatient selectives in the R2 or R3 year.  Two of our grads are doing c-sections at this hospital providing a model of FM with surgical OB here in the Treasure Valley.
Women’s Health
We are a RHEDI-funded resident training site. Residents have the opportunity to engage in full-spectrum women's health care training throughout their 3 years of residency. A one month gynecology rotation includes time spent with board-certified gynecologists who provide colposcopies, LEEPs, and other procedures at our Idaho Street Clinic. The RHEDI grant also allows us to provide free IUDs (Mirena, Paragard, and Liletta) and Nexplanons to patients. Those who qualify for our sliding fee scale pay a nominal insertion fee.
Ultrasound
Full Circle Health is dedicated to providing a broad skill set in obstetrical and point of care ultrasound training. We have ultrasound capabilities across all of our clinic sites and subsidize purchases of handheld ultrasounds (Butterfly). Specific training is offered in trans-abdominal and trans-vaginal obstetric ultrasounds for dating as well as limited training on fetal anatomy. Additionally we encourage point of care ultrasound use for joint injections, central line placement, CLUE, FAST, DVT, lung pneumo/ pneumonia, and amniotic fluid evaluation
ER
You will spend one month in the St. Luke’s ER as an R2 and one month in the Saint Alphonsus ER as an R3. The R2 rotation builds a foundation of ER medicine. The Saint Alphonsus R3 rotation is a Level 2 trauma center providing great preparation for rural practice.  Additionally, R3 residents will spend 2 weeks at St. Luke's ER taking care of pediatric patients. Most residents also spend significant time in the ER at rural sites throughout residency training.
Rural Medicine
You will spend two weeks in the R1 year and four weeks in both the R2 and R3 year at rural sites in Idaho.  You will work with our rural focused faculty and coordinator to select sites that fit your training goals.  Sites offer a variety of combinations of clinic, ER and hospital experiences that will help you understand the breadth of rural medicine.  Rural family physicians from 30 communities participate in our rural training so the offerings are extensive.   Housing is provided at sites distant from Boise.  Sites close to Boise allow residents with families to balance rural experience and the need to be home at night.
Integrative Medicine/Acupuncture
Our largest clinic and training site now offers an Integrative Medicine Clinic, where a full time faculty member offers IM consults and treatments.  Residents will have the opportunity to rotate through to learn about a variety of subjects including acupuncture, gua-sha (scraping), herbs/supplements, and mind-body medicine. In addition, we provide an annual Integrative Medicine half day, which is protected time for all residents to be exposed to the above subjects.  Additional lectures and exposure available on request.   We anticipate continued growth over the next few years in our Integrative Medicine curriculum and offerings for residents.
Procedures
Full Circle Health provides training to perform all office-based and inpatient procedures needed to feel comfortable in a broad-spectrum practice. In 2018, we will be focusing on expanding our bedside ultrasound curriculum. See the list below for examples of the procedures we are performing at all training sites.
SkinSimple lesion destruction, removal of epidermal inclusion cysts, lipoma, warts, simple and complex repairs anywhere (yes anywhere), foreign body removal, piercing removal, simple and complex biopsy, mucous membrane biopsy, plastics and flaps, fungal biopsy, nail plate and nail bed biopsy, BCC, SCC, melanoma, traumatic repair
Sports MedJoint injections and aspirations small and large (fingers to hips), ultrasound guided injections (hips/knees/ankles, etc), carpel tunnel injections, dislocated joints, nursemaid elbows, casting, fracture management
MSKTrigger point injection, osteopathic manipulation, fascial distortion model treatment, ganglion cysts drainage and tx
HospitalParacentesis, thoracentesis, lumbar Puncture, central lines, arterial lines, ultrasound guided +/-, airway management and intubations
Womens HealthIUD, nexplanon, sedated pap smears, vulvar biopsy, periurethral biopsies, colposcopy, leep, Bartholins abscess treatment, OB ultrasound 1,2,3 dating (not anatomy scan), STD screening,  rectal biopsy, vaginal and anal condyloma removal, miscarriage management, pessary placement, EMB, GYN ultrasound
Mens HealthVasectomy (can track for training), genital/ anal condyloma removal
NeuroMigraine treatment- posterior occipital nerve injections, c6 para cervical blocks, sphenopalentine ganglion blocks, sciatica, meralgia parasthetica
CVExercise treadmills, US guided IV/ central line placement, bedside US
PedsCircumcision, lingual frenotomy, umbilical artery catheterization, umbilical venous catheterization, neonatal resuscitations, lumbar punctures
ENTFlexible nasalpharengoscopy, anterior epistaxis cauterization, piercing removal and placement, hordeolum/chalazion tx simple and advanced, auricular hematoma drainage, peritonsilar access drainage, foreign body removal, mucocel, bite trauma
AnesthesiaConscious sedation, local nerve blocks (oral, peripheral), hematoma blocks
Wound CareUnna boots, wound debridement, long term management
GIColonoscopy, EGD (can track for scope training), pilonidal cyst management, anal skin tags, hemorrhoids internal and external, celiac biopsy, eosinophilic esophagitis biopsy, IBD r/o, anal fissure
POCUSPoint of Care Ultrasound is a growing curriculum.  Bedside based heart, lung, AAA screening, DVT exams, liver, gallbladder, skin mass/lipoma, access evaluation/cellulitis evaluation. IVC, kidney/bladder. FAST exams. Handheld ultrasound available for use on inpatient and bedside ultrasound available at all training sites.
Wilderness Medicine
Here at Full Circle Health, we acknowledge that many of our medical students, residents, faculty and graduates recreate throughout the state and seasons, so we feel it is important to develop proficiency in managing out of hospital emergencies. To achieve this goal we are incorporating Wilderness Medicine training into our curriculum. Currently, we have developed a 3 day course that is protected time during the R2 year at the remote and stunningly beautiful Burgdorf Hot Springs, near McCall, Idaho. This site is unique in that it is only accessible by snowmobile during the winter, is rustic yet comfortable with wood stove heated cabins and a large geothermal hot spring which we utilize both for water based training and relaxation. Our plan is to develop this course into a nationally recognized certification course such as AWLS (Advanced Wilderness Life Support) and to expand the curriculum to include a summer course as well.
Behavioral Health
Behavioral Health training is at the core of our residency training program.  We have integrated behavioral health faculty and LCSWs into our clinic system.  This allows for warm handoffs around behavioral issues (mental health, substance abuse, motivational interviewing, etc).  Our two behavioral health faculty spend time on rotation with all of our R1s and R2s to build foundational knowledge and clinical care skill sets.  We additionally have psychiatry residents who do primary care based continuity clinics at our Raymond site with psychiatry faculty oversight.  Formal psychiatry consult clinic occurs on Mondays.
Global Health Opportunities
Full Circle Health offers two away electives to interested residents – one in the R2 year and one in the R3 year. This allows time for a global health focused resident to explore two different sites. Although residents are free to set up their own electives, we also have a variety of sites in Central America, the Caribbean, and Africa that former residents have utilized and at which we can help facilitate rotations. We offer a $500 stipend per resident to support one such trip.  In addition, we have extra funding for residents who are seeking to improve their Spanish language skills locally or internationally.  Full Circle Health grads tend to apply their skills broadly and internationally; we currently have four graduates working in Africa in government jobs or for faith based organizations. In addition to away electives, we have ample opportunities for residents to gain global health skills and knowledge right here at home.  Boise has traditionally been one of the top five cities in the US for refugee resettlement per capita, and so we are fortunate to take care of patients with refugee status from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Our Emerald clinic does the bulk of this care, providing initial screening exams for all individuals with refugee status who are resettled to Boise, and then ongoing primary care for the majority of those individuals.  Our Emerald clinic also houses our HIV, TB, and viral hepatitis subspecialty clinics. Interested residents can choose Emerald as their continuity clinic site, and can participate in our Global Medicine Training Track, led by Abby Davids and Margaret Mortimer. Through a longitudinal curriculum as well as electives and online modules, residents gain experience in the spectrum of infectious disease, chronic disease, cultural issues, and behavioral health care needs that are essential to provide comprehensive care for our global populations.
Infectious Disease
Tied closely to our Global Medicine opportunities, residents at Full Circle Health gain extra experience in infectious disease management. The Full Circle Health Emerald Clinic houses the Wellness Center, a Ryan White funded HIV subspecialty clinic serving over 600 patients. All residents have basic exposure to the Wellness Center, and can do additional training either via elective rotations or by participating in our longitudinal curriculum and choosing Emerald as their continuity clinic site. Along with our HIV specialist faculty, our HIV & Viral Hepatitis Fellows are heavily involved in resident education. We provide all inpatient care for patients living with HIV on our family medicine service at St. Alphonsus, as well. We also train all residents in evaluating and providing patients with pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV. The Emerald Clinic also houses our TB clinic, via a partnership we have with the Central District Health Department. Providing care for individuals with both active and latent TB, the TB clinic is another great experience for residents wishing to gain skills applicable at both home and abroad. Finally, as hepatitis C becomes an increasingly primary-care focused disease, we are working towards having all Full Circle Health residents trained and comfortable in the management of chronic hepatitis C. Our hepatitis C clinic serves patients from both within the Full Circle Health system and on a referral basis from other community providers. We are currently providing viral hepatitis care for prisoners via a partnership with the Idaho Department of Corrections, as well. All residents rotate through the hepatitis C clinic, and can gain extra experience via elective rotations.
Addiction Medicine
Full Circle Health has an active curriculum in addiction medicine. All  residents get training and certification in  Buprenorphine/Suboxone prescribing and receive a waiver from the DEA. One of our family medicine faculty also has board certification in addiction medicine and our head of behavioral health has many years of experience working in addiction medicine. We have a well organized, multidisciplinary, best practice, screening clinic for all patients being considered for controlled substance prescriptions. Between this and a well organized Buprenorphine/Suboxone protocol, we believe that we provide a good model in the care of patients with chronic pain, anxiety,  or substance use disorders that serves our patients well and leaves our graduates with a good framework that they can use in their practices. The Full Circle Health follows the Centers for Disease Control Guideline for Prescribing Opioids. We try to use alternatives to opioid medications  and, if opioids are needed, prescribe the lowest effective dosage. We do not prescribe chronic high dose opioid therapy for patients other than cancer and hospice patients.
Osteopathic Manipulative Therapy
Full Circle Health is now recognized by the ACGME for Osteopathic Training; residents will now be able to choose to enter an osteopathic track after meeting certain criteria which will provide opportunities to expand their osteopathic knowledge in a longitudinal curriculum. Longitudinal training in Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine is offered to Resident Physicians who are interested in continuing to improve their pre-doctoral skills. This includes integrating osteopathic manipulative therapy (OMT) into a resident’s own continuity clinic, as well as an OMT-focused clinic. Further opportunities include Fascial Distortion Model, trigger point injections, quarterly osteopathic journal clubs, and OMT didactics during residency-wide conference days.  Three osteopathic faculty (Shepherdson / Colson / McCormick) provide oversight and mentoring.   Additionally, we work hard to teach osteopathic principles and practical skills to our allopathic residents.
Transgender Health Clinic
The Transgender Health Clinic at Full Circle Health is housed at the Emerald Clinic and run by faculty physician Dr. Marvin Alviso. Dr. Alviso and nursing staff create an accepting atmosphere in offering health services for patients 8 years old and up. Services include gender affirming hormones, puberty blocker options and assistance in navigating transition needs. Currently an integrated part of Dr. Alviso’s regular clinic schedule, the Transgender Health Clinic will become a dedicated 3rd Tuesday session beginning in January 2018. This scheduling will allow residents and students to spend time in a focused transgender clinic to gain subspecialty experience.
Electives
You will have 3.5 blocks (or 14 weeks) of time during residency on elective training to further your specific learning goals. You can do electives away from Boise (internationally or in other US locations), as well as locally. You will have control over your elective experiences with guidance available on how to schedule and create experiences that will suit your needs. We also have several longitudinal elective opportunities that you can participate in over the course of residency.  In addition to this, the three rural rotations give you the opportunity to select sites / preceptors that fit your interests.

Clinical Locations

Full Circle Health

The Full Circle Health is a Teaching Health Center and the foundation of our clinical work here in Boise. We have 9 different clinic sites within the Full Circle Health, including 4 where Boise residents have continuity clinic. Click below for a brief description of each clinic.

Hospital Sites

Boise has a sophisticated medical community with over 700 physicians. All of the medical, surgical, and surgical sub specialties are represented. Boise is the referral center for one-half million people in an area of approximately 10,000 square miles. Click below for a brief description of each clinic.

Full Circle Health Sites

Full Circle Health – Raymond Clinic

The Raymond clinic has been the home location of our residency since 1983. All interns spend their first year as Raymond providers, and 6 upper level residents in each class also stay there for their full 3 years of residency.  Raymond is divided into three clinical teams by hallway as part of our PCMH initiative and is our largest clinic.   Patient mix is broad and exciting.   Procedural support is strong at this clinic and it houses many specialty clinics including sports medicine, rheumatology, and dermatology.  All our colonoscopies and EGDs are done here. Although it is an older clinic, it underwent significant remodeling in the last few years. Attending support is a mix of core residency faculty and part-time community preceptors.  This clinic offers a vibrant mix of patients and learning options.

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Full Circle Health – Emerald Clinic

Our Emerald clinic is located across the street from our Raymond clinic. It offers a mix of broad primary care and multiple specialty clinics. In addition to faculty and resident Family Medicine clinics, Emerald houses our Wellness Center (a Ryan White funded HIV clinic), TB clinic, viral hepatitis clinic, PrEP clinic, transgender clinic, and refugee services including both refugee screening and primary care. Emerald Clinic additionally houses our 340b pharmacy which opened summer 2013. Two R2s and two R3s are empaneled at Emerald each year. Attending support is mainly by the family medicine faculty who see their own patients at Emerald. This clinic offers broad training in family medicine with a specialty/infectious disease bent.

Full Circle Health – Idaho Street

The Idaho Street location is our newest clinical space, having recently relocated to a new spot in downtown Boise. The patient mix has historically had emphasis on pediatrics, obstetrics and women’s health, but now has broad patient panel reflective of Full Circle Health patients, including rapidly increasing geriatrics and multiple languages.  In addition to the continuity clinics, there are dedicated OB clinics on Monday and Wednesdays, gynecology clinics on Mondays and a pediatrics clinic each day.  There is a musculoskeletal focus with OMT, FDM and Integrative medicine/acupuncture specialty clinics housed here.  All Full Circle Health residents are able to experience these clinics.  Two R2s and two R3s are empaneled at Idaho Street each year. Attending support is mainly by the family medicine faculty who see their own patients at Idaho St, but many other faculty members often rotate through.

Full Circle Health – Meridian Clinic

Our Meridian clinic is located approximately 8 miles west of Boise, near the St. Luke’s Meridian hospital. The patient population is varied and comes from both suburban (Meridian / Nampa area) and outlying rural towns.  Our Spanish speaking population is growing thanks to the work of our Promotora (community health worker) staff. We have a core Meridian OB patient panel that desires delivery at St. Luke’s Meridian giving residents an additional source of OB volume.  Our pediatric volume is high due to the demographics of the location in addition to the presence of a pediatrician on our staff.  Procedures are abundant and the clinic faculty embraces teaching. Two R2s and two R3s are empaneled at Meridian each year. The Meridian clinic offers residents the opportunity to practice on a single multidisciplinary team. We anticipate significant future growth in Meridian and Nampa and see this clinic as the center of our westward expansion efforts. In summer 2020, a second pharmacy location also opened in the Meridian clinic.

Full Circle Health – Meridian Schools Clinic (MSC)

The Meridian Schools clinic is a collaboration between the Full Circle Health and the West Ada school district. We are able to provide primary and acute care for children on site at school, thereby decreasing the time missed from school for medical appointments. No residents are empaneled at this site, but spend time there during some outpatient pediatrics rotations.

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Full Circle Health – Kuna Clinic

The Kuna clinic offers a broad spectrum primary care in the rural town of Kuna, Idaho. No residents are empaneled at this site, but several of our faculty see their own patients there. The Kuna clinic provides care for diverse patients in a supportive, patient-centered, clinically-excellent environment and strive to make healthcare accessible and equitable to the underserved and vulnerable populations in our community

Full Circle Health – Nampa South

Our Family Medicine Residency training program is dedicated to becoming your patient centered medical home.  We provide excellent patient care along with offering superb clinical training for medical residents who are becoming Family Medicine Physicians.  At Full Circle Health you will be cared for by a medical team consisting of a physician and a resident physician who will be your primary care providers in conjunction with a mid-level provider (PA, NP, and CNM), psychologist, dietician, clinical pharmacist, community health workers, and care managers.  We are a tight-knit team that enjoys teaching and caring for those that need us.

Location & Contact Info:

Full Circle Health – Nampa South
215 East Hawaii Avenue, Suite #260
Nampa, ID 83686
208-514-2529
Directions/Map

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Full Circle Health – Nampa North

Located in the campus of the St. Luke’s Nampa Medical Center, this clinic which opened in July 2020 will be where half of each residency class will experience their continuity panel. We will have access to the same inter-profession team as Nampa South.

St. Luke’s Nampa Medical Center demonstrates their commitment to the city of Nampa and the growing population of Canyon County. The new 87-bed hospital offers a fully equipped emergency department, family suites for new mothers and their babies, a newborn intensive care unit (NICU), children’s services with outpatient sub-specialists, additional heart and orthopedics services, and an intensive care unit.

Location & Contact Info:

Full Circle Health – Nampa North
9850 W St Lukes Dr., Suite #329
Nampa, ID 83687
Directions/Map

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Hospital Sites

St. Luke’s Medical Center Boise Campus

For more than 100 years, St. Luke’s Medical Center Boise Campus has been committed to serving the needs of a growing region. Founded in 1902 as a six-bed frontier hospital, St. Luke’s Boise is now Idaho’s largest health care provider, and the flagship hospital of St. Luke’s Health System.

St. Luke’s Boise is known for its centers of excellence in cancer, heart, and women’s and children’s care. Among our many services, we are home to St. Luke’s Heart, St. Luke’s Mountain States Tumor Institute’s largest clinic, St. Luke’s Center for Minimally Invasive Surgery, and St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital, the only children’s hospital in Idaho.

Known for its clinical excellence, St. Luke’s Boise has been nationally recognized for quality and patient safety, and is proud to be designated a Magnet hospital, the gold standard for nursing care.

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Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center

Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, Idaho, is part of Saint Alphonsus Health System. With four hospitals and a variety of medical clinics, we serve the full range of the healthcare and wellness needs of the people in southwestern Idaho, eastern Oregon and northern Nevada.

Saint Alphonsus is dedicated to delivering advanced medical services in a spiritual, healing environment throughout southwest Idaho, eastern Oregon and northern Nevada. Through innovative technologies, compassionate staff and warm, healing environments, Saint Alphonsus strives to provide care that is focused on patients.

Founded in 1894 by the Sisters of the Holy Cross, Saint Alphonsus was the first hospital established in Boise—bringing healthcare to the poor and underserved. Now referred to as Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, our licensed medical-surgical/acute care 381 bed facility serves as the center for advanced medicine and is poised to support the community well into the future.

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Boise VA Medical Center

Boise VAMC, with 87 active beds, provides general medical and surgical services to veterans. The hospital includes an inpatient medicine unit, a small psychiatric inpatient unit, and an outpatient health clinic. The VAMC also sponsors fellowships in geriatrics, pulmonary medicine, and infectious diseases. They also have an outstanding research program. First year residents from Full Circle Health rotate for 2 months on the inpatient internal medicine services, supervised by second year internal medicine residents from the University of Washington.

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St. Luke’s Meridian Medical Center

St. Luke’s Meridian has been meeting the needs of west Ada County families since 2001. From nationally-recognized nursing to state-of-the-art technology, you’ll find the high quality, compassionate care that’s been the hallmark of St. Luke’s for more than 100 years.

Conveniently located in the population center of our valley, St. Luke’s Meridian is a Magnet-designated hospital—the gold standard for nursing excellence. We’re home to Idaho’s busiest emergency department and offer advanced inpatient and outpatient surgery, mother-baby services, diagnostics from x-ray to MRI, state-of-the-art cancer treatment, critical care, a chest pain center, and more. The campus also includes a wide range of primary and specialty physician clinics and Idaho’s largest and most comprehensive cardiac rehab center.

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Faculty

Ted Epperly, MD

President and CEO

Dr. Epperly is the President and CEO of the Full Circle Health, a large Federally Qualified Teaching Health Center comprised of nine FQHC clinics, four ACGME family medicine residency programs, and five fellowships. He received an undergraduate degree in Biology and Anthropology from Utah State University in 1976. He Graduated from the University of Washington School of Medicine in 1980.  Dr. Epperly completed his residency in Family Medicine at Madigan Army Medical Center, Fort Lewis, Washington in 1983. He completed a faculty development fellowship at the University of North Carolina in 1986 and achieved an additional CAQ in Geriatrics.

Dr. Epperly retired July 2001 as Colonel after serving 21 years in the United States Army.  Dr. Epperly served as the past President and Board Chair of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP).  He is a past member of the ACGME Board of Directors that has responsibility of all residency and fellowship training for over 125,000 residents and fellows of all specialties in the United States and currently is the vice-chair of the ACGME Policy Committee.  He currently serves as the Co-Chairman of the Board for the Healthcare Transformation Council of Idaho that is in charge of helping transform healthcare for the State of Idaho.  Dr. Epperly is the Graduate Medical Education Coordinator for the State of Idaho and the author of the State of Idaho’s Ten Year GME Plan to build a vibrant and robust GME system for Idaho.

Dr. Epperly is a member of multiple other Boards of Directors and the President of several non-profit organizations.  He has published over 50 articles and book chapters and he is a staunch supporter of Family Medicine education, research, and both rural and underserved health care. His award-winning book Fractured: America’s Broken Health Care System and What Must Be Done to Heal It provides excellent insight to the U.S healthcare system and can be found on Amazon.com.

He and his wife Lindy celebrated their 46th wedding anniversary in September 2020 and have two sons. Outside of medicine, his interests include golf, skiing, fly-fishing, reading and sports memorabilia.

Todd Palmer, MD

Geriatric Fellowship Director

Graduated from the University of California at Davis. Dr. Palmer completed his residency at the Family Practice Residency of Idaho in 1989. He then completed a faculty development fellowship at the University of Washington and has achieved added qualifications in geriatric medicine through the American Board of Family Practice. His special interests are geriatrics, the use of computers and handhelds in clinical medicine and residency training, and substance abuse. Dr. Palmer joined Full Circle Health as family medicine faculty in 1998.

Justin Glass, MD

Program Director Boise

picture of resident

Graduated from the University of New Mexico School of Medicine in 1997, Dr. Glass completed his residency training through Providence – St. Peter Hospital Family Medicine Residency in Olympia, Washington in 2000. He subsequently went to work for the Navajo Area Indian Health Service in Shiprock, NM as a medical officer. In this capacity he provided broad spectrum family medicine care for five years. After a three year stint on the faculty of the Department of Family Medicine at Emory University in Atlanta, GA, he joined the faculty of Full Circle Health in October 2008. He served as the associate director before becoming the program director in 2013.

His passion is helping family medicine residents individualize their training within a broad scope of practice family medicine residency program. He assists Chelsea Carlson with the inpatient curriculum at St. Alphonsus Hospital and works with residents in multiple settings – inpatient floors, ICU, L&D, newborn nursery and clinic attending.  He sees his own patients for a ½ day a week in clinic.

picture of resident

He and his wife Marci (a Presbyterian minister) have a son who just graduated from law school and a son who just graduated from college with a geology degree.  In his free time he can often be found running the Boise foothills trails in training for his next ultra run or walking his cat around the North End neighborhood of Boise.

Adam Kipp, MD

Faculty

Dr. Kipp was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. After stints in New Hampshire, the Dominican Republic, and Georgia for work and school, he returned to Portland for medical school at Oregon Health and Science University. He chose to go into family medicine because of the holistic approach to care that it values. Dr. Kipp came to Full Circle Health to explore the possibility of a career in full spectrum family medicine. Recognizing that this path did not align with his interests and goals, he returned to Full Circle Health after two years at the VA and completed the fellowship in geriatrics in 2018.

Currently Dr. Kipp practices and teaches outpatient family medicine at Full Circle Health with an emphasis on geriatrics. His passions include his family (Kimi and Xavier), skiing, hiking and Buddhist meditation and mindfulness.

Suzanne Allen, MD

Vice Dean, Academic, Rural & Regional Affairs, UW SOM

As the Vice Dean for Academic, Rural and Regional Affairs at the University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSOM), Dr. Allen works broadly across academic affairs and regional affairs to enhance the excellence of medical education for the UWSOM and the five-state WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho) region. Dr. Allen grew up in Washington, attended the University of Washington as an undergraduate, and George Washington University for her medical education, before completing her Family Medicine Residency at Malcolm Grow Medical Center, Andrews AFB. Following four years of active duty practicing at Ellsworth AFB and Andrews AFB, she joined the Full Circle Health faculty. She enjoys reading, hiking, biking, traveling, and spending time with friends and family.

Marvin Alviso, MD

Family Medicine, HIV & Viral Hepatitis

Dr. Alviso was born and raised in Manila, Philippines. He completed his BS in Biology from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila Philippines. He then continued on to complete his medical degree at the same University. He moved to Saginaw, Michigan in 2008 for his residency in Family Medicine at Synergy Medical Education Alliance and concentrated on HIV care for most of his electives. Dr. Alviso became a board certified Family Physician in 2010. He then relocated to Boise, ID to complete a 4th year post graduate fellowship from Full Circle Health for HIV for Primary Care. He received AAHIVM certification in 2011 and continues to carry this certification. He is currently doing HIV Primary care, family practice, and Refugee Health Screening. Marvin is also passionate about providing primary care for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender population.

Elizabeth Atnip, MD

Family Medicine

Dr. Atnip was born and raised in Hershey, Pennsylvania (sweetest place on earth!).  She attended Penn State University for both undergraduate and medical school, and then headed west for broad spectrum residency training at Full Circle Health.  During her time here, she fell in love with Boise/Idaho and its people, so decided to stay on as faculty after graduating in 2018.   She completed a 2 year remote fellowship in Integrative Medicine in 2020 through the University of Arizona, and additionally has training in acupuncture. Outside of work she enjoys playing music and volleyball, cooking, traveling, and spending time with her husband Josh and their two pups.

Justin Bailey, MD

Family Medicine, Procedural Institute Director

Dr. Bailey currently teaches full spectrum family medicine for the Family Medicine Residency. He is a graduate of The Medical College of Wisconsin, Eglin Air Force Base Family Medicine Residency (Fort Walton Beach, Florida) and a teaching faculty development fellowship at UNC Chapel Hill.  While active duty Air Force he taught full spectrum family medicine at David Grant Medical Center and was deployed to Iraq during the gulf war and to Haiti after the earthquake in 2010. 

Over the last 11 years he has served as the director of the Procedures Institute at Full Circle Health, leading resident training in any and all procedures (focus on endoscopy, procedural MSK medicine, headache management & skin surgeries).  He frequently lectures at national & international conferences for the American Academy of Family Physicians and other primary care groups around GI & procedural related topics and using manual and alternative therapies to treat pain and reduce opioid use.  He has published multiple textbook chapters, journal articles and research articles. 

Additional interests include hospital medicine, POCUS, health benefits of relationships, and providing care of vulnerable populations.  Outside of work Dr. Bailey spends all of his free time running semi-dangerous science experiments with his children, trail running, and constantly justifying the need for more garage band instruments to jam with his rock star wife, Holly, and his 5 amazing kids.

Mary Barinaga, MD

Assistant Dean, University of Washington

Dr. Barinaga grew up in a sheep ranching family in Cambridge, Idaho and is a graduate of The College of Idaho and the University of Washington School of Medicine. After completing residency at Full Circle Health in 1998, she spent the next 12 years practicing rural family medicine on the Coeur d’ Alene Indian Reservation in Plummer. In 2010, she returned to Boise as faculty for Full Circle Health and also works as Assistant Dean for Regional Affairs for the University of Washington School of Medicine. Dr. Barinaga is active in organized medicine and is passionate about teaching. When she is not working, you can find Dr. Barinaga with her husband Doug playing in the mountains or rafting Idaho’s whitewater.

Allison Bastian, MD

Family Medicine

Dr. Bastian grew up just north of Dallas, TX. She graduated from Westminster College in Salt Lake City, UT with a degree in philosophy. She then got a Masters in liberal arts from St. John’s College in Annapolis, MD. After completing a post-bacc at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, she went on to medical school at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, ND, graduating in 2013. After completing residency here in 2016, she stayed on to join the faculty.  She absolutely loves the residency and wants to care for her panel of patients here forever.

Penny Beach, MD

Chief Medical Officer

picture of resident

Dr. Beach grew up in Ohio and Maryland before moving to New England, where she attended Williams College and worked for 7 years as a newspaper reporter. She then attended Dartmouth Medical School and did her family medicine residency at Full Circle Health, graduating in 2001. She spent over eight years working with mostly uninsured patients and Spanish-speaking seasonal farm workers in Nampa, Idaho before joining Full Circle Health in 2010. She is married with two children. In her spare time she loves backpacking, playing the piano, nordic skiing, watching Boston Red Sox games, and travelling. Dr. Beach’s curricular interests include hepatology, hepatitis C, rheumatology, practice management and obstetrics.

Amanda Berbert, MD

Family Medicine

Dr. Berbert grew up in Hawaii and Utah.  She attended Brigham Young University for her undergraduate education and went to University of Utah for medical school.  She then completed her residency at Valley Family Medicine in Washington, where she was Chief Resident during her last year.  Upon completion of her residency training, she happily joined the faculty at Full Circle Health in 2018.  Dr. Berbert loves taking care of entire families, including a special interest in pediatrics and obstetrics.  Outside of medicine, she loves eating, traveling, doing pilates, kayaking, playing the piano, and hanging out with her husband and baby girl.

Susan Bradford, MD

Pediatrics

Dr. Susan Bradford grew up in Alabama and worked as a chemist in Kalamazoo, MI, prior to deciding she preferred people to test tubes. She then attended Medical School at University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. Bradford completed her residency at Seattle Children’s Hospital at University of Washington, where she played an active role in the WWAMI Program and spent two months at the Pocatello Children’s Clinic as part of her residency. After residency, Dr. Bradford returned back to Alabama to be close to family.  However, she missed the West and returned to Pocatello for 12 years prior to relocating to Boise to work with Meridian Pediatrics in 2010.

Soon after arriving in Pocatello, Dr. Bradford became disheartened by the number of women who used substances during pregnancy and saddened by the fact that there was little treatment available to these women even when they wanted it.  Through an AAP CATCH grant, she was able to work with other concerned members of the community to investigate the scope of the problem. As a result of this community effort, a day treatment program for parenting women was developed in Pocatello. Many of these women shared that their drug abuse resulted from sexual abuse that occurred in their childhood or adolescence. As a result, Dr. Bradford became interested in doing what she could to break the cycle of this very pervasive problem in pediatric patients.  She was fortunate to be able to spend sabbatical time with the Safe and Healthy Families Team at Primary Children’s Medical Center in Salt Lake City, learning how to evaluate and treat children who have been victimized by sexual and physical abuse. While she enjoys all aspects of pediatric practice, working with abused children was an arena that allowed her to feel that she made a difference by helping healing to occur in a child’s life.

Dr. Bradford was Idaho Pediatrician of the Year for 2006. She currently serves as a board member for the Perinatal Project and is on the Governor’s Children At Risk Task Force and Idaho’s Child Fatality Review Team.

Dr. Bradford enjoys hiking, cycling, Cross country skiing and just being outdoors in the beautiful state of Idaho. She also enjoys gardening and when she has time she likes to read and decorate cakes and cookies.

Dr. Bradford is Board Certified in Pediatrics.

Perry Brown, MD

Pediatrics

Graduated from the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine in 1995, Dr. Brown completed his Pediatric Residency at the Children’s Hospital/University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver, CO in June of 1998. After completing residency Dr. Brown was a general pediatrician for seven years at the Saltzer Medical Group in Nampa and Meridian, ID. Additionally, he has served as Co-Director of the Cystic Fibrosis Center of Idaho since January, 2001. Dr. Brown joined the Full Circle Health in May of 2004. Since that time he has made continuous improvement of the Full Circle Health’s Pediatric curriculum his highest professional goal. He is active in public advocacy for children’s health and serves on several Idaho Medicaid committees and state commissions.

Kara Cadwallader, MD

Chief Medical Officer of Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest/Hawaiian Islands

After graduating from The University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine in 1995, Dr. Cadwallader completed her residency at Tacoma Family Medicine, Tacoma, Washington in 1998. Prior to joining Full Circle Health in 2001, Dr. Cadwallader was an assistant clinical professor and primary care provider in Santa Rosa, California. She completed a Faculty Development Fellowship at The University of Washington, with a focus on teaching application of evidence –based medicine. In addition to her faculty role, she is Chief Medical Officer of Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands, which encompasses Idaho, Alaska, Washington, Indiana, Kentucky, and Hawaii. Medical interests include women’s health and family planning, behavioral sciences, and academic writing. She enjoys water and snow skiing, cycling, reading fiction and short stories and travel. She has three children.

Chelsea Carlson, MD

Family Medicine

Dr. Carlson grew up in SW Michigan. She fell in love with the Pacific Northwest and traveled to Pacific Lutheran University for her undergraduate studies. She split her time between the chemistry lab and the cross country course and studied abroad in French-speaking places as often as possible.

She studied gender, health and development in Mali and worked with the Mali Rural Water Project, which sparked her interest in rural health delivery. She returned to the US and started working for Northwestern University in Chicago in translational research and then continued her medical school career there. At Northwestern she was drawn to high-acuity, whole person care, but it was in her husband Justin’s hometown of Sitka, Alaska that she fell in love with the breadth and depth of family medicine.

She loved training at Full Circle Health and was offered her dream job as faculty where she focuses on the inpatient family medicine and critical care rotations. Working with and supporting residents and medical students at this intense time of their training is her favorite part of the job. She loves her clinic home base at Emerald where she cares for a truly global community. Justin works as a chemical engineer at Micron, and together with their daughters Tove and Marit, they can be found hiking in the Idaho wilderness, cooking from their garden, and laughing at the girls’ latest antics.

Loren Colson, DO

Family Medicine

Dr. Colson grew up just outside of Portland, Oregon in the town of Lake Oswego. He moved to the Los Angeles area to complete his undergraduate education at Azusa Pacific University and ended up staying there for the next 10 years. He went on medical missions to India and Bangladesh during his undergraduate years, and with his newfound interest in global health, attended the University of Southern California upon graduation where he earned a Masters of Science in Global Medicine. There he met his wife Kristin who now works for the American Heart Association.

Dr. Colson earned his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California and upon graduating set his sights back on the Northwest.

He managed to convince his born-and-raised LA wife to move with him to Boise, Idaho, and they couldn’t be happier. He completed his residency at the Full Circle Health in 2018, and stayed on as faculty. Dr. Colson is a National Health Service Corps scholar and is committed to providing healthcare to the underserved. He has specific interests in women’s healthcare, global medicine, and Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine. He practices full spectrum Family Medicine including inpatient, OB, and outpatient care at his home clinic on Emerald Street. He is also adjunct faculty at the new Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine where he teaches Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine. In their free time, he and Kristin can most likely be found at a local brewery or out in the wilderness playing with their dog-child Indy.

Jennifer Cook, MD

Associate Program Director - Boise / OB Fellowship Director

Dr. Jennifer Cook grew up in Boise, Idaho, and then moved east for schooling, attending Johns Hopkins University for undergraduate and Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina for medical school. After a quick consideration of going into Orthopedics, she regained her senses and matched into the Family Medicine Residency at Phoenix Baptist Hospital in Phoenix, AZ, where she served as Chief Resident from 2003-04. She then moved closer to home, completing an OB Fellowship at Swedish Hospital in Seattle, WA. After joining the faculty at Swedish Family Medicine, Cherry Hill for a short time, she headed down to New Zealand, where she practiced as a GP in a nationalized health care system, traveled as much of the sheep laden countryside as possible, and picked up a wonderful kiwi souvenir, her husband, Jason.

After three years she decided it was time to come home to Boise and joined the Full Circle Health in January of 2009. Her curricular area of interest is the obstetrics experience, inclusive of directing the OB Fellowship. She moved into the Associate Program Director role in February 2017, assisting  Dr. Abby Davids and Dr. Justin Glass oversee the educational experience as a whole for the residency. During her free time she enjoys going to the park with her three kids, political disputes with her husband, aerobic exhaustion of many varieties, and knitting anything possible.

Jaclyn Cooperrider, MD

Sports Medicine Associate Fellowship Director

Dr. Cooperrider was born and raised in Idaho. She graduated from Eagle High School in 2006 and went on to attend the University of Redlands where she played two years of varsity soccer, worked as an athletic training aide, and graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in Biology. She attended medical school at University of Washington, graduating in 2014 and returned to Idaho to complete a residency in family medicine and a fellowship in sports medicine. Dr. Cooperrider left the states to move to New Zealand where she was a rural locums physician for 1 year, after which she returned to Idaho to begin her current practice. She is also passionate about women’s health. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, running, mountain biking, backpacking, practicing her Spanish, teaching yoga, and spending time with her husband, daughter, and dog. 

  • Undergrad: University of Redlands – Redlands, CA
  • Medical School: University of Washington, Seattle, WA
  • Residency: Full Circle Health, Boise, ID
  • Fellowship: Idaho Sports Medicine Institute, Boise, ID

Abby Davids, MD, MPH, AAHIVS

Associate Program Director, HIV & Viral Hepatitis Fellowship Director

picture of resident

Born and raised in a small town in Ohio, Dr. Davids is a Buckeye at heart. She has a background in public health and social justice, and graduated from The Ohio State University with a dual MD/MPH after undergraduate studies in political science and international relations.  She subsequently completed family medicine residency at the Greater Lawrence Family Health Center near Boston, MA, serving a predominantly immigrant population.

After her HIV fellowship, Dr. Davids joined the faculty at Full Circle Health, with clinical interests focused on the care of migrants and refugees, global medicine, and the intersection of infectious disease and primary care. Based in the Emerald Clinic, she provides HIV, viral hepatitis, TB, and refugee care while teaching residents and practicing full spectrum family medicine. She became the HIV & Viral Hepatitis Fellowship Director in 2016, and maintains AAHIVM accreditation as an HIV specialist. She also leads the Global Medicine Training Track with Margaret Mortimer, NP, and joined Dr. Jennifer Cook as an Associate Program Director in 2019.

Since March of 2020, Dr. Davids has helped to lead Full Circle Health’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She speaks English and Spanish, and in her free time she loves to explore Idaho’s beautiful outdoor spaces with her dog, Juniper.

Tim DeBlieck, MD

Family Medicine

Dr. DeBlieck grew up in Boise, and graduated from the University of Idaho in 1986 with a degree in chemistry. He attended Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, graduating in 1990. Dr. DeBlieck completed his Family Medicine residency in 1993 at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, where he served as chief resident. He joined the Full Circle Health faculty in 1996. His curricular area is Dermatology. He and his wife Jan have two adult sons. Jan is a dermatologist, and teaches Full Circle Health residents.

Jeff Edwards, MD

Family Medicine, Clinic Director Raymond

Dr. Edwards is originally from Alaska and is a graduate of the University of Washington, School of Medicine and the residency at Full Circle Health. He then went on to work at St. Mary’s Hospital in Cottonwood, Idaho for 12 years, providing full-spectrum family medicine. From 2005-2012, Dr. Edwards worked in rural Texas and completed a Master’s in Public Health degree at Johns Hopkins University.

In 2013, he joined Doctors Without Borders and worked in various countries including Kenya, Ethiopia, Liberia, Zimbabwe, Ukraine and Afghanistan doing a combination of emergent global health response and public health-related research. Dr. Edwards is still actively working with Doctors Without Borders as well as the World Health Organization (WHO) approximately three months per year doing monitoring/evaluation and public health research.

In 2015, Dr. Edwards joined the Department of International Health at Johns Hopkins University, School of Public Health and completed his post-doctoral fellowship in 2017. He continues to work as an associate at John Hopkins University, teaching intermittently within the Department of International Health.

In 2016, he returned to Full Circle Health to work as faculty. In his spare time Dr. Edwards enjoys his passions of backcountry skiing, biking, climbing, and traveling.

Andrea Esplin, MD

Family Medicine, Clinic Director Emerald

Dr. Esplin was born and raised in Idaho. She attended the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, receiving a Bachelors degree in Natural Science Biology with a Minor in Chemistry. She went on to the University of Utah School of Medicine for her medical Doctorate and returned to Idaho for residency at the Full Circle Health, staying on as faculty after completing the residency program. Dr. Esplin currently practices full spectrum family medicine and has a focus on procedural skills and endoscopy.

She married her high school sweetheart, who is a nurse at Saint Alphonsus and realtor. They have a wild toddler and chocolate lab. She has numerous interests, which include any outdoor activities.

Julie Gendler, MD

Family Medicine

Dr. Julie Gendler grew up in Kalispell, Montana. She received her BA from Dartmouth College in 1998 and a MS degree from Montana State University in Child Development in 2000. After graduating from University of Nevada School of Medicine in 2004 she completed her Family Medicine training at Full Circle Health in 2007. She then spent the next 4 years practicing full spectrum family medicine in Madison, WI. After taking some time off to be a full time mom to her 3 kids she returned to Full Circle Health as part time faculty in 2012. Outside of work and her normal duties as a personal assistant/chauffeur/chef/event coordinator for her three wonderful children, she enjoys baking, reading, knitting, and participating in triathlons.

Sarah Galinato Gerrish, MD

Clinic Director - Kuna / JEDI Chairperson

She/They

Dr. Gerrish is a health curator who tries to recognize that health identities are non-binary, intersectional and take time to cultivate. She is committed to the mission of the Full Circle Health, where she graduated in 2012, to address health disparities in meaningful and progressive ways. In this teaching environment, her joy is developing a longitudinal anti-racism health equity curriculum, creating clear pathways for those underrepresented in medicine and helping to create safe and brave spaces for difficult conversations. Another joy is mentoring early career physicians, especially those with marginalized identities, and cultivating the women in medicine interest group for Full Circle Health-Boise.

Living and traveling abroad has given her a special interest in refugee care, child and maternal health including obstetrics, and social and global health advocacy. During medical school at the University of Washington, she had an emphasis in global and underserved health care. As a co-facilitator for the Idaho Health Equity Collective and member of the IAFP Equity Taskforce, she believes advocating for justice, inclusion, equity and cultural humility in all settings is a priority. As a Boise native, she Ioves everything about the outdoors especially trail running, climbing and skiing. Being a physician mom to two sports forward hilarious boys, she understands the importance of mentorship and changing gender bias within healthcare. As a partner to an innovative clinical health psychologist, she understands the importance of wellness, empowering others, and making room for joy.

Winslow Gerrish, PhD

Behavioral Science Director

Dr. Winslow Gerrish is the Director of Behavioral Sciences, Research and Grants at Full Circle Health. He received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Seattle Pacific University and completed an internship at the VA Medical Center in Portland, Oregon. Before coming to Full Circle Health, he acted as director of the PTSD clinic at the Boise VAMC and served as faculty in their Center of Excellence in Primary Care Education. Dr. Gerrish grew up the son of a rural, full-spectrum, family doc in a small dairy town in Washington State. This upbringing laid the foundation of his life-long passion for family medicine and caring for the underserved.

If you ask, he will tell you that Family Medicine is the cure to this country’s healthcare woes. And he believes this with true passion. Dr. Gerrish’s primary career goal is to train future Family Physicians to better understand and provide whole-person care to their patients. Dr. Gerrish is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Family Medicine and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He is author to multiple publications and presentations related to Family Medicine and primary care including the book, Interprofessional Education in the Patient-Centered Medical Home: Implications from Complex Adaptive Systems Theory. Dr. Gerrish loves being outdoors. When not at work, you will find him with his family trying to get lost in the mountains or engaged in some type of crazy outdoor activity.

Cyndi Hayes, MD

Obstetrics and Gynecology

Dr. Hayes grew up in Meridian, Idaho and then attended Stanford University, majoring in Human Biology.  She went to the University of Washington School of Medicine as an Idaho WWAMI student and then completed her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Union Memorial Hospital and Franklin Square Hospital Center in Baltimore, Maryland before returning to Boise.  She was in private practice in Meridian before joining the Full Circle Health faculty in 2008.  In 2013, she became an OB Hospitalist for St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center where she enjoys teaching the residents and high-risk obstetrics.

Roger Hefflinger, PharmD

Pharmacology

Graduated from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, College of Pharmacy in Omaha and the clinical pharmacy training program at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Dr. Hefflinger joined the Full Circle Health faculty in 1987 and as you can see from this devilishly handsome picture, he is a fun loving and easy going gentleman that occasionally needs to straighten his tie. His responsibilities include teaching residents, pharmacy residents, and pharmacy students from Idaho State University, pharmacology and therapeutics in the hospital and ambulatory care setting. He loves coming to work every day because of the great people.

Derek Jackson, MD

Family Medicine

Dr. Jackson is a native Idahoan.  He was raised on a dairy farm in Ada County.  He graduated from Meridian High School in 1998 and received a BA in Latin American Studies from Stanford University in 2003.  He entered the University of Washington School of Medicine as a WWAMI student and graduated in 2008.  He was a resident and chief resident at Full Circle Health from 2008-2011.

After graduating as a Family Physician, Dr. Jackson relocated to South Africa to work at a public hospital in Cape Town, enabling him to cultivate special interests in HIV/TB, emergency medicine, endoscopy, cardiology, and diagnostic dilemmas.

Dr. Jackson now divides his time between South Africa and Idaho.  When in his home state, he attends at Full Circle Health.  He enjoys teaching and learning from its enthusiastic residents.

Julie Kikuchi, MD

Pediatrics

Graduated from the University of Washington School of Medicine in 2001, Dr. Kikuchi completed her Pediatric Residency at the University of New Mexico in 2004. She subsequently worked in the Pediatric Urgent Care Clinic of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, prior to joining the Full Circle Health in October 2005 as a part-time Pediatric attending.

Janae Krahn, MD

Family Medicine 2018

Dr. Krahn grew up in the “Land of Enchantment” and returned there for medical school after a hiatus in Colorado for undergraduate studies in Biomedical Sciences at Colorado State University (and lots of skiing.) She found her love for family and community medicine while back home at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. She and her husband (a rural Idaho native) were thrilled to move back to Idaho for further training at Full Circle Health.

After graduating in 2018, she stayed on as faculty where her main interests lie in maternal child health, women’s reproductive health, taking care of her broad spectrum clinic patients, and teaching (and learning from!) residents and medical students. She obtained additional training for lactation certification, and also offers support for mother-baby dyads in clinic as an IBCLC. In her spare time, she enjoys anything and everything the outdoors of Idaho has to offer with her husband, family, and friends.

Christopher Link, MD, AAHIVS

Dr. Link grew up in Southwest Washington and graduated from Washington State University with a degree in Microbiology. He attended University of Washington School of Medicine (Moscow/Pullman WWAMI) before completing his residency training at Kootenai Clinic Family Medicine Residency in Coeur d’Alene, ID in 2019. He relocated to Boise to complete a post-graduate fellowship in HIV & Viral Hepatitis the following year, subsequently obtaining AAHIVM certification as an HIV specialist.

Dr. Link joined the Full Circle Health faculty following fellowship, primarily providing HIV care at the Wellness Center and treating viral hepatitis through the Idaho Department of Corrections. Outside of medicine, he enjoys reading, recreating outdoors, harassing his two cats and learning about astronomy & space exploration.

Susan Martin, PsyD

Associate Director of Behavioral Sciences - Boise

Dr. Martin became part of the Full Circle Health family in 2015. She received her PsyD in clinical psychology from Florida Institute of Technology and completed her internship at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. She completed her fellowship in health psychology in primary care at Michigan State University where she met her husband, Derek. Their son, Cameron, loves baseball and basketball.

After 9 years of teaching behavioral medicine in a large, urban setting in AZ, Susan moved to Boise to pursue teaching family medicine residents in Idaho. Susan’s special areas of interest include promoting the profession of psychology in rural settings, medical education and health psychology in primary care. Dr. Martin is also the Program Director of the Idaho Psychology Internship Consortium (https://idaho-pic.org/) Outside of work, the family spends time hiking, biking, kayaking, camping, and cooking meals together.

Molly McCormick, DO

Family Medicine

Dr. McCormick was born and raised in Nampa, Idaho. She attended undergrad at the University of Idaho where she met and married a handsome redhead named Sean. While pursuing a degree in Biological Sciences, she worked for the Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival thus instilling in her a love of jazz, improv, chaos and rhythm. She attended medical school at Western University of Health Sciences where she earned a doctorate in Osteopathic Medicine. While completing her training, she was awarded the opportunity to pursue a pre-doctoral teaching fellowship in Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine. She is a firm believer in the core tenants of Osteopathic medicine including the body’s innate ability to heal itself and that a person is not a disease but a unit of body, mind and spirit.

During her time in medical school she and her husband, and eventually their newborn daughter, traveled and lived throughout the pacific coast. They were finally able to return to Boise to start and complete her residency in Family Medicine. She now has her dream job working part time at a small clinic in Kuna, Idaho surrounded by the very best co-workers and staff.

For the residency, she leads the faculty wellness committee and helps coordinate the osteopathic curriculum. Additionally, she occasionally acts as assistant professor at the Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine and sits on the board of the Idaho Osteopathic Physician’s Association. In her “free” time, she is home with her three children playing dress up, working in the garden, chasing chickens, or out exploring Boise with her family.

Margaret Mortimer, FNP, MPH

Nurse Practitioner

Margaret Mortimer joined Full Circle Health in 2011. In addition to providing family practice to diverse populations across the lifespan, she is a clinical program coordinator for refugee arrival screening exams. She works at the Emerald office doing new arrival screening exams, family practice, TB and PrEP.  She is passionate about providing equitable care to diverse populations from all around the world. Margaret has been providing primary care as a board certified, Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP), in Idaho, since 1997.

Prior to joining Full Circle Health, work experiences include St Luke’s Internal Medicine, rural health care at a FQHC in Southwestern Idaho and service in the National Health Service Corps. Her education includes degrees of a Masters in Public Health (MPH) , Masters of Science in Nursing (MSN), Registered Nurse (RN), Bachelors of Arts (BA) in Philosophy and French. She is a returned Peace Corps Volunteer where she served as a community health educator in Cote d’Ivoire, West Africa.

Outside of work, she likes to explore the beauty of Idaho by trail running, mountain biking and seeks oceans or lakes to expand her current kiteboarding obsession.

Sandy Mudge, MD, MPH

Family Medicine, Clinic Director Idaho Street

Dr. Mudge was raised in Colorado, and then went exploring the world, living in many different states and countries. She is a former Peace Corps Volunteer in Gabon, Africa, where she discovered her love of medicine and public health. She graduated with an MD/MPHTM from Tulane University in New Orleans, and then completed residency at Full Circle Health, where she is now faculty. Together with her husband, she likes to enjoy the variety of outdoor adventures available in Idaho.

Heather Nichols, MD

Family Medicine

Dr. Nichols, raised in small town Anaconda, MT but with a sense of adventure, ventured off to Gonzaga University for undergrad to pursue degrees in Biology and Psychology. Afterwards, she set out on a new adventure to Miami, Florida to complete medical school. Despite the lures of the Florida Keys and warm water she returned to the mountain west to complete residency at Full Circle Health and be closer to the mountains and outdoors. In Boise she took up whitewater kayaking and has now traveled around the world (as well as the state of Idaho) to enjoy this extreme sport, even living in New Zealand for awhile. She enjoys the full scope of practice at the residency as well as the opportunity to teach and learn from the great residents we have. When not kayaking or working, she likes to mountain bike, hike, snowboard, or sit in an Idaho hotspring and enjoy the scenery.

Thomas Patterson, MD

Pediatrics

Dr. Patterson grew up in Arizona and attended the University of Arizona for Undergraduate, Medical School and Pediatric Residency. He decided on Pediatrics early in his fourth year of medical school as he kept being pulled towards the care of children. He met his wife, who was from Idaho, while she attended college in Tucson. On completion of his residency, the two returned to Idaho and he started private practice at Medical Center Physicians where his wife was a pediatric patient growing up. MCP changed it’s name to honor the founding physician, and thus, became Saltzer Medical Group. Dr. Patterson held many leadership roles in his 18 years at Saltzer. He started teaching for the University of Washington School of Medicine in 2009 and this proved to be a passion he wanted to develop. Moving to Full Circle Health allows him to enjoy the mix of seeing his own patients as well as teaching the next generation of doctors.  Dr. Patterson has served both the local and national chapters of the American Academy of Pediatrics, where he has held several leadership roles throughout his tenure. He thrives in caring for the underserved and has a longstanding passion for the interface of mental illness and pediatrics.

His efforts around immunization improvement has provided tremendous benefits to many Idahoans. Dr. Patterson was previously the Medical Director of the St Luke’s Children’s Performance Improvement Workgroup and has served on the Idaho Immunization Coalition (which he co-founded in 2009). He is now currently involved with work surrounding Adverse Childhood Experiences and Resilience as well as 2CKidsSucceed, the Idaho Children’s Trust Fund, and the Idaho Resilience Project.  He enjoys weight training/fitness, hiking, swimming and the outdoors. He is happiest when he is spending time with his wife and three boys!

Heather Quinn, MD

Family Medicine

Dr. Quinn joined Full Circle Health in 2009 and works concurrently as Medical Director for Healthwise with committed work in reproductive health care. Dr. Quinn was trained at UCSD and Santa Rosa and has special interests in women’s medicine and vasectomy provision. She loves mountain biking, climbing, and hiking as well as baking cakes.

Kevin Rich, MD

Vice President of Medical Affairs

Dr. Rich graduated from the University of California School of Medicine at Los Angeles in 1992. He completed his residency training at the Santa Monica Medical Center Family Medicine Residency Program in 1995; where he was Chief Resident 1994-1995. Dr. Rich joined the Full Circle Health in 1995. He has served as president of the Ada County Medical Society as well as President of the Idaho Academy of Family Physicians. Dr. Rich currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer of Full Circle Health.  He is the faculty champion for Full Circle Health’s Patient Centered Medical Home transformation. He also serves as Chair of the Practice Transformation Committee of the Idaho Medical Home Collaborative. His curricular interests are quality improvement, prevention, and outpatient procedures.

Melissa Roop, MD

Family Medicine

Dr. Roop is an Idaho native who has lived and worked all over this beautiful state. She attended University of Washington School of Medicine and completed her residency training here at that Full Circle Health. She joined the residency as clinical faculty in 2019.

Within medicine, Dr. Roop has a passion for preserving health and joy with preventive care and has special interests in women’s health, reproductive care and addiction medicine.  She also speaks Spanish and loves working in service to the Hispanic community.

Most of her non-work time is spent outside tending her garden, running local trails and climbing mountains, but she does come indoors to knit and cook plant based foods.

Clay Roscoe, MD, MSc (public health)

Family Medicine, HIV

Dr. Roscoe grew up in Montana and graduated from Gonzaga University with degrees in Biology and English Literature/Creative Writing. He attended University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and completed residency training at Full Circle Health. Clay also has a masters in public health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and is AAHIVM certified (since 2007). He has worked extensively in Namibia, Southern Africa, focusing on HIV and tuberculosis, including tours with the University of Washington Department of Global Health (ITECH) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Roscoe is the Chief Medical Officer for Sedia Biosciences, a biotechnology company based in Beaverton, Oregon that develops and manufactures rapid diagnostic testing technologies for HIV and other communicable and non-communicable disease conditions in resource-limited settings.

Vincent Serio, MD

Family Medicine, Clinic Director - Meridian

Dr. Serio grew up in Virginia, and graduated from the Medical College of Virginia. After he completed residency at Full Circle Health he stayed in Idaho and worked at Terry Reilly Health Services, and Saint Alphonsus Medical Group. In 2004, he became Director of Medical Services at Boise State University Health Services, a position he held for 13 years. During his tenure at Boise State, Dr. Serio also served as the ship’s physician for the Semester at Sea program, traveling to 17 cities in 13 countries on 5 continents in 100 days. He joined Full Circle Health in 2017 to further his passion for teaching the next generation of family medicine specialists. He now serves as the Clinic Director at Full Circle Health’s Meridian clinic site. His clinical interests include colposcopy, office-based procedures, travel and wilderness medicine, urgent care medicine, and clinic operations. In his spare time, Dr. Serio enjoys spending time with his wife and twin daughters, fly fishing, sailing and tinkering in his workshop.

Ryan Shackelford, MD

Psychiatry

Dr. Shackelford grew up in Boise and attended Boise High School.  He went to medical school at the Medical College of Wisconsin, completed a combined Family Medicine and Psychiatry residency at UC San Diego and a Public Psychiatry Fellowship at UC San Francisco.  He has completed core training in Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy.  He is committed to helping resident physicians become excellent mental health clinicians as well as providing high-quality mental health care to all Idahoans.

Nikole Shepherdson, DO

Osteopathic Education Program Director

Dr. Shepherdson grew up predominantly in Idaho. She graduated from Boise State University with a degree in Radiological Sciences and worked for several years before attending medical school. She completed her medical school training at  Western University of Health Sciences Pacific  and returned home to Boise to attend residency at Full Circle Health. She has been faculty since 2012 and has worked to grow the osteopathic education, primary care endoscopy,  and in office procedure training for the residents along with practicing primary care in our Meridian office.  When Full Circle Health obtained ACGME recognition for Osteopathic training she became the Director of Osteopathic Education in 2019. 

When she is not at work, you can find her running around with her two amazing, energetic and hilarious young boys and husband. She can often be found baiting fish hooks, buckling motorcycle, skiing or bike helmets, playing in the water, reading, fly fishing, camping or gardening when time allows.

Kelly Showalter, MD

Pediatrics

Graduated from University of Texas Southwestern School of Medicine in May of 1988, Dr. Showalter completed her Pediatric Residency at the University of Utah in May of 1991. After Residency Dr. Showalter spent a year at Emory University in Atlanta, GA as a Pediatric staff physician and then three years with the Pediatric and Adolescent Center doing private practice in Boise, ID. She joined the Full Circle Health as a part-time Pediatric attending in April of 1998. Her husband is an orthopedic physician who works with the residents on their Orthopedic rotation as well as on some electives.

Hannah Underdahl, CNM

Women's Health

I was raised on the coast of Maine, but got the mountain bug early in my teens on a backpacking trip to the Sawtooths in Stanley, ID. After college in Colorado and graduate school in Washington, DC, I settled in Boise with my husband. I worked for 3 years at a birth center and home birth practice, then moved into my faculty role at Full Circle Health in 2016. My faculty role is focuses on precepting OB clinics, heading the OB/GYN Women’s Prison program, organizing Maternal Child Health didactics and participating in a number of hands on trainings at the residency. My own practice is comprised mostly of gynecology and female sexual dysfunction.

Outside of work, I try to stay active in the  professional organizations and advocacy groups I find important. These include the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health, The American College of Nurse-Midwives and as the leader of the Idaho cluster for the Reproductive Health Access Project.

I am married with 2 (almost 3) children and a dog. We spend most of our time in the Sprinter van we built out in 2016 traveling the Mountain West and Canada to mountain bike, ski and trail run. I love to cook delicious vegan food, garden, and learn new skills like canning and making kimchi. Thanks to Full Circle Health, I’ve got a great work-life balance!

John Williams, MD

Asst. Program Dir., RTTs

While growing up in Pocatello, the young Dr. Williams took to exploring the mountains of Idaho and fostering a love of the outdoors. After graduating from University of Nevada SOM in 2003 and following his residency completion in 2006 from Idaho State University Family Medicine Residency, he ventured to the Flathead Lake area of Montana. There he worked for a rural hospital doing full spectrum family medicine for the next 10 years. He participated in several organizations, including President of the Montana Academy of Family Physicians, board member of Montana Medical Association, and he served one year on Montana State Governor’s Council on Healthcare Innovation. With a desire to share his experiences and move closer to family, he joined Full Circle Health in the fall 2016. Here he is continuing his full spectrum practice by teaching new family physicians to broaden their skills and confidence. He is helping with the rural programs and developing a wilderness medicine curriculum. Free time is one of his favorite things and he can be found hiking the hills with his two boys, looking for mountains to climb and photos to take, sitting with a good book, contemplating the stars, laughing often and has been known to dabble in zymurgy.

Current Residents

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Carson Barnes, MD

Boise Program 2022

Carson was born and raised in South Carolina running cross country, participating in Boy Scouts, and working high school summers for a general contractor. The experience and relationships with his construction crew first planted the dream of doing rural medicine. Through his college years at Duke, this interest grew as he spent summers in farming communities of northwest Arkansas and in mountain towns of southeast Kentucky learning how healthcare is delivered in remote and under-resourced areas. He returned to Charleston, South Carolina for medical school where he was able to see the practice of healthcare in the rural areas that he grew up in – just from the other side of the waiting room.  Carson and his wife were drawn to Full Circle Health for residency because of the awesome opportunity to take care of people from all stages of life, people with a diverse set of backgrounds, and because of the care that the other residents and physicians showed for the community they served.

In his free time, Carson loves hiking in the foothills, camping, and skiing with his wife Emily.

Emily Barnes, MD

Boise Program 2022

Emily is originally from Arkansas (the state with the diamond mine, worth a trip), and she attended Duke University for undergrad then the University of Chicago for medical school. Between college and medical school, she took a year off to complete a fellowship at the Comprehensive Rural Health Project in rural Jamkhed, India which inspired her choice of family medicine as her specialty. This organization’s life-changing work integrates the root causes of poor health (education, sanitation, economic development, social equity, etc) with providing a broad scope of medical care in a rural and under-resourced location.

She couple’s matched to Full Circle Health Boise with her husband, Carson Barnes. Her particular medical interests include global health, obstetric care including surgical obstetrics, and procedures. In residency, Emily has enjoyed the breadth of training and community environment’s Full Circle Health has to offer as well as the diverse outdoor playground that Boise and Idaho have to offer. In her free time, Emily enjoys traveling around the PNW and Mountain West on backpacking trips with her husband, running the Boise trails, and hanging out at local breweries and wineries.

Caroline Beyer, MD

Boise Program 2022

Caroline grew up in Seattle, Washington, but she comes to Boise after 10 years spent on the East Coast. She attended Boston College, where she majored in International Studies. With a particular interest in global heath and health policy, she then moved down to Manhattan to go to the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. During medical school, she spent time in Uganda, Rwanda, Nepal, Senegal, and Guatemala doing health research. This encouraged her to pursue broad-spectrum family medicine training with an emphasis on underserved communities, social justice, and physician activism. As well, she has a particular interest in reproductive health.

She is thrilled to be a part of the community at Full Circle Health and to make Boise her home! In her free time, she loves to run, hike, and discover the myriad activities and events Boise has to offer.

Patrick Bloecher, MD

Boise Program 2022

Patrick grew up in the “booming metropolis” of Elderon, Wisconsin: population 179. He is the first in his family to graduate from college. He earned a B.S. in Environmental Public Health from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and studied Spanish in Costa Rica and Spain.  As an intern at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Patrick worked with family medicine trained, public health doctors and developed an interest in preventive medicine and the U.S. Public Health Service. After graduating, he went to work with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and became a Commissioned Officer in the U.S. Public Health Service. He travelled to more than 35 rural Alaska Native villages spanning a geographic range of over 800 miles. His experiences improving air quality, drinking water, and sanitation in some of the most remote and underserved communities of North America led him to the University of Washington – Alaska WWAMI Program.

While in medical school, Patrick’s interests in primary care, global health, and public service continued. He worked in indigenous communities of Peru’s Sacred Valley, met with legislators at our nation’s Capitol in Washington D.C., and served on the wards in northern Uganda.

In his free-time, Patrick likes spending time with family, outdoor recreation, playing music, and travel. Above all, he enjoys all of these things with his beautiful, caring, and fun-loving wife, Michelle.

Matthew Harrison, MD

Boise Program 2022

Hello! I am from Montana where I was born and raised in Missoula. I attended undergrad at Carroll College in Helena, and then spent a year teaching middle school science on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, which sparked a desire to further work with underserved populations in medicine. I attended medical school through the Montana WWAMI program at the University of Washington and developed a love for the relationships and full-scope that is found in Family Medicine. My wife, Whitney, and I feel blessed to be here in Idaho with all the great outdoor opportunities and down-to-earth people. We enjoy weekend hikes, camping, coffee shops, being involved in our church, swing dancing and finding a good local brew! I look forward to meeting you in person.

Emily Jack, MD

Boise Program 2022

Emily Jack was born and raised in a small town in Eastern Oregon. She attended Oregon State University (Go Beavs!) and spent her summers doing genetics research and working on her family’s cattle and hay ranch. She graduated from Oregon Health and Science University with her medical degree in 2019 and made the long journey east on I84 to settle in the Treasure Valley for residency. She can’t wait to become a rural Family Physician and to take care of her patients and their families throughout their lives. Her special interests include women’s health and pregnancy care, pediatrics, and emergency medicine.

In her free time, Emily spends time exploring the great outdoors with her husband, camping and travelling with her family, reading fiction, making a mess in her kitchen, and learning how to garden. She appreciates any and all recommendations on the best secret fishing holes around Boise.

Ann Jennings, MD

Boise Program 2022

Hi Boise! I’m Ann, I grew up in Alaska, went to the UW in Seattle for medical school and now I’m coming to Full Circle Health for residency. I’m moving to Boise with my husband, Joe and our two spoiled cats, and we’re excited to be here! In our down time, we like learning new hobbies – currently the science behind fermentation, and the art of fly fishing.  I’m passionate about Family Medicine, especially women’s health, access to care, and preventative medicine. I was a high school exchange student to Chile, and speak conversational Spanish, but am hoping to improve my medical Spanish in residency. I was drawn to Full Circle Health because of the broad spectrum of training, excellent faculty and the outdoor recreation that Idaho offers.

Jason Johnston, MD

Boise Program 2022

Howdy! My name is Jason and I was born in Virginia and raised in Georgia before beginning my journey west. For undergrad, I attended The University of Alabama where I received my Bachelor’s in Physics, discovered a love for Family Medicine, and learned to cheer on the Tide. I then moved to Houston, TX to attend McGovern Medical School where I took part in rural preceptorships and served as the Student Chair for the Texas Academy of Family Physicians. While there, I married my beautiful wife, Gracie.

When I’m not in clinic or on the wards, you’ll find us outside on a trail, a river, or spending time with our pups, Cedar and Olive. We couldn’t be more thrilled to be training in Boise while exploring the incredible state of Idaho!

Victoria Kent, DO

Boise Program 2022

I lived all over the country, but consider my home in both Washington and Minnesota. I went to the University of Wisconsin – Madison where I met partner Joe Pendleton (whom I couple’s matched with!) and majored in Biology and Spanish. A few highlights before med school include hiking the entire Applachain Trail and living abroad in Lima, Peru. I went to PNWU in Yakima, WA. I did my clinical rotations rural western Washington.

I hope to work in a rural community when I graduate, focusing on inpatient, ER, and clinic. I’ve really enjoyed the opportunities I’ve had at Full Circle Health – both in medicine and through the outdoors! I love the endoscopy and reproductive health training available at Full Circle Health, the amount of OMT I integrate into my clinic, our amazing rural rotations, and how I’ve been able to grow a large Spanish speaking panel.

When I’m not working with the incredibly supportive faculty and stellar residents of our program, Joe and I like to run in the 120 miles of groomed foot hill trails in the backyard of Boise, backpack in the many mountains close by (we’ve never done the same trail twice since moving here), gravel grind, fly fish, cook/bake, read, and spend time with friends. I’m excited to see where the next adventure takes Joe and I!

Joseph Pendleton, MD

Boise Program 2022

I grew up in Milwaukee as a true Wisconsin boy (fish boils, polka, and floating on lakes). I went to UW Madison for undergrad where I studied Microbiology. At the UW I met my partner and co-resident Victoria Kent. I went UW-Madison for medical school where I fostered my interest in rural medicine by rotating at a new location every month during my 3rd and 4th years. I am excited to continue to develop my wide interests in family medicine through the broad scope of medicine offered at Full Circle Health.

Outside of medicine I enjoy running, xc-skiing, and hiking.

Erin Renfrew, MD

Boise Program 2022

Erin was born and raised in the beautiful city of Colorado Springs, Colorado. She eventually left to move two hours north to Fort Collins and attend Colorado State University. While there, she received a degree in biochemistry and played more rugby than was probably healthy. She returned to Colorado Springs to work as a chemist at a contract laboratory for FDA/EPA studies and then at the Colorado Springs Fire Department in the Community and Public Health Division, which sparked her love for community medicine and primary care. She finally left Colorado for the flatlands of Iowa City, where she attended medical school at the University of Iowa. While there, she developed a passion for serving vulnerable populations and discovering ways to alleviate the effects of health inequities on her patients. Within Family Medicine she is most passionate about women’s health, family planning and non-surgical obstetrics. After graduation, she currently plans to practice full spectrum rural family medicine with non-surgical obstetrics in the Four Corners region.

When not working, Erin enjoys biking, skiing, hiking, backpacking and testing out the new beers at local breweries. Her favorite part of Full Circle Health is her amazing co-residents and supportive faculty.

When not working, Erin enjoys biking, skiing, hiking, backpacking and testing out the new beers at local breweries.

Maximilian Taylor, DO

Boise Program 2022

Max was born and raised in Gold Beach, Oregon, a small rural town on the southern coast. His father was the local family physician and his mother was the town midwife. It was here where he got his first exposure to full spectrum family medicine in rural communities. Max attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, CA where he majored in field and wildlife biology, and minored in ethnic and indigenous studies. In college, he ran a volunteer organization that connects university students with volunteer opportunities in several underserved populations. He also worked as a CNA during this time, and found out that he enjoyed forming personal relationships with his patients.

It was an easy decision for Max to attend Western University in Oregon and pursue a career in family medicine. In residency, Max hopes to gain all the skills to practice as a full spectrum family doctor and one day return to a rural community, much like the one he grew up in. Outside of work, Max enjoys surfing, kayaking, rafting, SUPing, birdwatching, working on his bonsai plants, and spending time with his wife, family, and dog.

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Phebe Alley, MD

Boise Program 2023

Phebe grew up on a small family farm just west of Syracuse, New York. She grew up raising Romney and Horned Dorset sheep and Red Angus cattle. She has had a lifetime exposure of family medicine with her father who continues to serve as a community family medicine doctor in Upstate NY. She completed her undergraduate studies in cell biology/biochemistry at Bucknell University. During her time at Bucknell, she became involved with a peer advocacy organization surrounding interpartner violence and sexual assault. Her work with this group, love of science, and desire to work in a rural community inspired her to pursue a career in medicine. She returned to upstate NY to attend University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry with the intention to pursue a career in rural, primary care. Within family medicine, her interests include addiction medicine, sports medicine, outpatient procedures, and reproductive health. She is thrilled to move west to join the Full Circle Health community!

Outside of medicine, Phebe enjoys hiking, running, trying new exercise classes, cooking, making friends with any dog she can, watching sports, and riding/attempting to pursue dressage with her off the track thoroughbred, Frenchonionsoup.

 

 

Amanda Aman, MD

Boise Program 2023

Amanda Aman (pronounced like “Awh-man”) was born in Wiesbaden, Germany while her parents were abroad serving in the Air Force. Her family moved to the Boise area when she was in kindergarten and eventually settled down in Emmett, Idaho. She attended Boise State University (Go Broncos!) for undergrad where she studied Biology. She knew she wanted to become a doctor at a young age after her rural family physician provided her efficient, well-rounded care that ultimately saved her life. She attended the University of Washington for medical school and was able to participate in the WWAMI program. During those four years she was able to learn more about the medical needs of Idaho and worked within local communities. Her special interests include women’s and children’s health, obstetrics/reproductive health, LGTBQ and community leadership. 

When she is not working, she enjoys spending time outside with her partner, Nathan, and their two dogs, Appa (corgi) and Winston (labradoodle). She enjoys taking in all that Idaho has to offer by hiking, backpacking, camping, paddle boarding, rafting and mountain biking. In the winter, her and Nathan can be found up on the slopes at Tamarack or Bogus. (Snowboarding not skiing – sorry!) Most recently, she is starting to get into rock climbing. When it is too hot or cold outside (as Idaho likes to get) she resorts to baking and reading.

She is very excited to continue her education  and service in the state that she has called home for many years! 

Angela Bangs, MD

Boise Program 2023

Angela was born in Texas and led a nomadic life throughout her childhood. She completed her undergraduate studies in public health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Go Heels!) with a desire to serve vulnerable populations. After working for several years in Raleigh, North Carolina on behalf of the NC Medicaid program, she married her high school sweetheart and moved to her husband’s hometown of Bozeman, Montana to work at the MT Office of Rural Health/AHEC. Her travels throughout rural Montana and her work with the critical access hospitals led her to complete a post-baccalaureate pre-medical program with the intention of becoming a rural, primary care physician. She attended the University of Washington’s Montana WWAMI program as a TRUST scholar given her interest in rural and underserved populations. Her professional interests are in rural/underserved populations, behavioral health, reproductive health, and advocacy. She is thrilled to be a part of the Full Circle Health community!

Angela and her husband, Tyler, love the outdoors and exploring the Boise area. They spend their free time hiking, biking, trail running (slow jogging in Angela’s case), swimming, paddle boarding, skiing, discovering and experimenting with new recipes, and attempting to keep all their plants alive.

Zara Bowden, MD

Boise Program 2023

Howdy, I’m Zara! Growing up in Fort Worth, TX, my first introduction to medicine was through my grandfather, who was also a Family Physician. I was struck by the way he made a bustling metropolis feel like a small-town neighborhood, and it was his interactions with his patients that initially inspired me to pursue a career in medicine. Leaving the Lone Star State for some cooler weather, I journeyed East to the coast of Maine for undergrad where I attended Bowdoin College, studying Biochemistry and Sociology.

After graduating, I spent several years living in Boston working as a Clinical Research Coordinator at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute with patients undergoing novel treatments for prostate cancer. While I enjoyed city life, I found myself longing for wild, open spaces which ultimately drew me to The University of Vermont College of Medicine. None of my clinical rotations left me feeling more connected to the heart of medicine than Family Medicine, so choosing a specialty was a no-brainer! The opportunity to provide longitudinal and holistic care to patients and their families, particularly in underserved communities is intrinsic to the specialty’s core and aligned strongly with what drew me to medicine from the start. Additionally, I was energized by Family Medicine’s unique breadth of training and the dynamism this imparts. This feels particularly relevant in more rural settings which was what promoted me to apply to full-spectrum, rural training programs like Full Circle Health.

After spending a decade on the East Coast (and never fully acclimating to the icy slopes), looking Westward for residency felt like the next big adventure! I could not have been more excited to match at such an amazing program.

In my free time, I enjoy camping, hiking/backpacking, attempting water sports, hosting potlucks, crocheting while listening to podcasts, and spending time with my family and friends!

Jeffrey Chase, DO

Boise Program 2023

Jeff was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. While playing baseball in college, he attended school in Arizona and Georgia completing a Bachelors degree in Chemistry. He lived in Philadelphia for a year while his wife, Whitney, completed her training as a Nurse Practitioner in Pediatric Critical Care. They moved to the Fort Worth area where they had three children Dean, Conway, and Luella. Jeff completed his Masters in Anatomy and Doctorate of Osteopathic Medicine at the University of North Texas Health Science Center (TCOM). Jeff has been visiting Idaho since he was little and was excited to find broad spectrum Family Medicine training in the area he has always wanted to live. His mother is from the Boise area and his dad is from Eastern Idaho, and he is excited to be living closer to family. He enjoys river rafting, hiking, fishing and spending time with his family.

Rachel Chisausky, DO

Boise Program 2023

Born and raised in a small town in Illinois, Rachel’s childhood experiences in Girl Scouting led her on many adventures that taught her the joy of oceans, mountains, and service to others. With a longtime dream of becoming a Doctors without Borders physician, she attended the University of Notre Dame where she studied biochemistry with a minor in peace studies. She had the good fortune to participate in some truly community-based service experiences, which opened her eyes to the impact of social determinants on patient’s lives, and sparked a passion for primary care. Taking some time to not be in school after undergrad, she joined the Peace Corps, where she spent two years as a health education volunteer in rural Cambodia. Though resources at the health center were minimal, the power of community was incredible, and the experience solidified a desire to become a full spectrum, community-based family doctor! This goal in hand, she chose to attend ATSU SOMA in order to train in FQHCs across the northwest (and maybe to have an excuse to live in the vegan-donut-wonderland that is Portland Oregon).

She was ecstatic to head east along the Oregon trail to Boise for residency. She appreciates the strong reproductive health, gender affirming care, and refugee health opportunities at Full Circle Health. Outside of work, she enjoys just about anything in the great outdoors, a good book in a coffee shop or brewery, and making friends with everyone else’s puppies. Besides becoming an excellent family physician and public health advocate, she aspires to master the art of sourdough bread, have a garden with plants that aren’t dead, and out rock-climb her partner Kirill in the wonderful Idaho wilderness.

Lange Clancy, DO

Boise Program 2023

Lange grew up in Healdsburg, CA, a small town in the middle of wine country. The first 23 years of her life were spent with no intention of going into medicine or even a science related field. She completed her undergraduate education at Tufts University with a major in international relations and economics. While at Tufts she also competed on the crew team. After college her plan was to eventually work in international development but before doing that she decided to work in the outdoor industry. After a year leading backpacking trips and working at a ski resort she decided to try working as an EMT in Seattle. Witnessing the hardships of life for many Americans sparked a desire to make an impact on communities at home rather than abroad. From the EMT experience she was hooked on medicine and decided to change tracks and go to medical school. Lange attended medical school at ATSU SOMA at the Seattle campus. She was drawn to family medicine for the opportunity to provide full spectrum care in rural areas while also developing long lasting relationships with patients.

Lange is excited to move to the sunshine of Idaho and to take advantage of all the great opportunities Full Circle Health has to offer. Outside of medicine she enjoys rock climbing, backpacking, epic hikes, cooking – especially desserts, and reading the New Yorker. She is moving to Idaho with her partner Tom and they are excited to trade living situations from a 38 foot sailboat to a cavernous garage with endless opportunities for working on projects and building a home climbing gym.

Paige Ely, DO

Boise Program 2023

Paige grew up in San Diego, California.  Receiving an academic scholarship, she moved to Missoula to attend University of Montana, where she fell in love with her husband and the Northwest. She majored in Sociology with an emphasis in Inequality and Social Justice, conducting research at the local homeless shelter, Head Start, and WIC programs. After college, she served at Missoula Food Bank as an AmeriCorps VISTA, working on community education, coalition building, and research on food insecurity.

Through community development work in Panama and Paraguay and volunteering on medical missions in Honduras and India, she has seen the gross discrepancies in health outcomes and access.  In addition to working individually with patients, she feels passionately about system-level work through health policy and effective altruism.

Seeing how osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) could significantly improve some patients’ pain and range of motion, Paige attended an osteopathic (or DO) school to gain this extra tool.  She dedicated an extra year during medical school as junior faculty, helping teach first and second year students how to do OMT, as well as significant time at the free clinic providing OMT for migrant and farmworkers.  During medical school she also served on the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Commission of Public Health and Science and then later on the AAFP Commission of Governmental Advocacy. She loves how family medicine cares for patients as a whole, in addition to the community and the world at large.

As a National Health Service Corps Scholar, Paige is excited to serve in an underserved area after residency.  For fun, she enjoys playing board games, cooking, hiking, and playing guitar.

She is so excited to join the Full Circle Health family and train to become the best family doctor she can be!

 

Kelsey Harding, MD

Boise Program 2023

Kelsey grew up in Toutle, WA – a tiny logging town in the foothills of Mt. St. Helens. She graduated from University of Washington with a degree in biology and returned to her hometown to work with elementary students as an AmeriCorps Washington Reading Corps member. It was this experience that sparked the interest in primary care, especially rural family practice. Kelsey attended University of Washington School of Medicine as a TRUST Scholar (Targeted Rural UnderServed Track). Within family medicine Kelsey is passionate about community leadership, rural health, female reproduction, addiction, and mental health. She is excited to join the Full Circle Health family and get the fantastic, broad-spectrum training that Full Circle Health is known for.

Outside of medicine Kelsey and her husband Nathan enjoy anything and everything the outdoors has to offer – running, hiking, backpacking, skiing, and rock climbing. They have loved exploring Boise and Idaho!

Kim McGrath, MD

Boise Program 2023

Kim is originally from Melbourne, Australia. Kim became interested in healthcare at an early age and graduated with an undergraduate degree in Physical Therapy in Australia. She also trained as a clinical Pilates instructor and completed training in dry needling. During her undergraduate studies, Kim took a gap year working in London and traveling in Europe. Following graduation, Kim worked in rehabilitation and acute hospital settings for 3 years but found herself more interested in the medical management of her patients. The idea of returning to study medicine was reinforced during her work with lung transplant recipients. She was fascinated by the complex physiology and critical care medicine.

Kim attended Deakin University School of Medicine in Geelong, Australia, while continuing work as a PT. At the end of first-year medical studies, Kim met her husband, Colin, while visiting a friend in Boise. They married in 2016 at their favorite place to ski and hike, Bogus Basin.

With a keen interest in people, a desire to form longitudinal working partnerships with her patients, and an inability to choose between specialties (endocrinology, rheumatology, and gynecology procedures are all interest areas) Family Medicine was a wonderful fit.

With growing businesses, family, and friends in Boise, Kim and Colin are excited to keep giving back to the city they love. When she isn’t working, Kim enjoys running the Greenbelt and hiking in the foothills and at Bogus Basin, downhill or cross country skiing, camping, or hanging out in her kitchen trying out another recipe.

Kevin McNamee, MD

Boise Program 2023

Kevin was born and raised in Spokane Washington. Interested in medicine from an early age, he set off as a pre-med to Carroll College in Helena, Montana. There, his work as a home health aide, and experiences observing family physicians in Eureka, Montana piqued his interest in a career in rural family medicine. After graduating with a degree in Biology, he returned to Spokane where he worked as an emergency room technician, confirming his desire to start the medical school journey. He was fortunate to remain in the Spokane area for most of his medical school years at the University of Washington. He was a TRUST Scholar (Targeted Rural Underserved Track), with longitudinal work in the rural community of Newport, Washington. For residency, he left his beloved hometown for Boise. He was drawn to Full Circle Health by the rigorous, full-spectrum training and collegial atmosphere, as well as Idaho’s abundant opportunities for outdoor recreation. He is particularly interested in the fields of mental health, addiction, obstetrics, and preventative medicine.

Outside of medicine he enjoys hiking, camping, fishing, reading, travel, and downhill skiing.  He frequently attempts to cook new recipes, with mixed results.

Nathan Ord, MD

Boise Program 2023

I grew up in Juneau AK bouncing between a beached float-house in a remote site and town, playing sports, playing outside, and working on my dad’s crabbing boat. I went to college at Whitman, in Walla Walla WA, where I ski raced, played soccer and studied sometimes. Initially, I planned to go into research, but after pipetting all summer in a lab, decided I preferred working with people and changed course towards medical school.

Along the way, I worked as a teach/coach with a ski academy in Vermont, a medical assistant with a clinic in Juneau, an X-ray tech, started a CNC fabrication business with some friends mostly making 3-d wooden maps, and had lots of adventures.

I’m now status post UW WWAMI in AK. I decided to specialize in Family Medicine because of the long-term patient relationships and breath of training. My plan is to return to AK after residency and practice full-spectrum family medicine.

But until then, my partner Emily Fitzgerald and our dog Tikka and I are having fun exploring Idaho; mountain biking, skiing, paddling, hunting, and trying to get outside as much as possible.

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Abigail Allman, MD

Boise Program 2024

University of Kansas School of Medicine

Abby is a born and bred Midwesterner, growing up in Kansas before hopping over the state border to attend the University of Missouri- Kansas City where she majored in Biology. Her two highlights of college are studying Art History abroad in Florence, Italy and volunteering at JayDoc Free Clinic as a social services intern. As an undergraduate volunteer, she assisted patients with connecting to community resources focused on addressing social determinants of health. She was directly exposed to the health inequities facing underserved communities and realized this is the population of patients she wished to serve in her future practice. Abby then remained in Kansas City to attend the University of Kansas School of Medicine where she continued to serve at JayDoc, but now on the executive board.

Her experience with free clinics helped her decide to pursue full-spectrum family medicine to not only care for individuals, but whole communities. She loves family medicine for the opportunity to foster long-term relationships, provide holistic care in any setting, and create safe environments for people to share sacred health information. Her professional interests are in women’s and children’s health, obstetrics, advocacy, and public health. She is supremely joyful to be joining the Full Circle Health family!

Abby and her husband, Sam, love to be outdoors so they are thrilled to be in Boise to explore, hike, camp, bike, ski, and adventure in Idaho-at-large. Individually, she is continually adding new hobbies to her repertoire, but steadfast favorites include reading, crocheting, cooking, baking, and convincing her cats to snuggle with her.

Alexandra Beattie, MD

Boise Program 2024

University of Queensland

Hey! I’m Alex. I grew up in the Green Mountain State with my four younger siblings and attended the University of Vermont for my undergraduate and master’s degrees.   I then moved out to Jackson, WY, and travelled around India for a bit before heading back to Vermont to work as a medical assistant in a Dermatology office. After working with an amazing dermatology team for a couple years, I decided to hop across the pond(s) to study medicine at the University of Queensland. 

My first two years of school were completed in Brisbane, Queensland, a growing city in Eastern Australia, about an hour inland from some glorious beaches and national parks. My third and fourth years of med school brought me back to the States, to complete clinical rotations in New Orleans, LA.  As much as I will miss those INCREDIBLE, salty, buttery, southern biscuits, I am so excited to be back in the western mountains for my family medicine training with the Full Circle Health.  

I’m interested in full-spectrum rural/underserved medicine, with a particular interest in public health, social justice, teaching, and mentoring.  Outside medicine, I cherish time with my loved ones and enjoy getting after some skiing, hiking, running, biking, camping, traveling, or painting when I get the chance! 

Emily Dickerson, MD

Boise Program 2024

University of Washington School of Medicine

Emily has deep Idaho roots, born and raised in Nampa, Idaho, attending high school and college in Caldwell. She played soccer for the College of Idaho (Go Yotes!), where she fell in love with the sciences, majored in Biology, and spoke a lot of Spanish. She spent two summers working as a pre-med intern at the Salmon River Clinic in Stanley, ID, an experience that impressed upon her the importance of rural medicine and the joy of family practice. A passion for nutrition and foundational health led her to pursue her doctorate in naturopathic medicine at Bastyr University in Seattle, WA. After a handful of years in practice as a naturopathic physician, Emily sought out conventional medical school with the intent of reaching a broader patient population and being part of the answer to the physician shortage in the state of Idaho.

She did her medical education with the University of Washington School of Medicine through the Idaho WWAMI program, which sent her throughout Idaho and the greater WWAMI region to train. All of her clinical rotations were exciting, interesting and fun, though she found the most fulfillment in family medicine. Emily finds great satisfaction in the diversity of practice and the longitudinal relationships of family medicine. She believes that good medicine is not only in the knowledge that a physician offers, but also in the relationships, the ability to connect, counsel, educate, and collaborate.

Emily is thrilled to be joining Full Circle Health as a resident physician. Within medicine, Emily has many interests, which makes family medicine a perfect fit! She looks forward to gaining full-spectrum training including strong obstetrics, procedures, pediatrics and inpatient medicine, and building upon her knowledge of integrative medicine and nutrition. She is passionate about reaching medically underserved populations, addressing food insecurity, and connecting patients to available community resources.

In November 2020, Emily and her husband Dusty welcomed their first child, a baby boy named Sage. Emily loves being a mom and finds joy in teaching baby Sage about the many simple wonders of the world. Her free time is spent exploring local mountains and rivers with Dusty, Sage and their three crazy dogs. Together she and Dusty whitewater kayak, ski, trail run and mountain bike, among the many other outdoor activities they may be interested in at any given time. They live in Boise, Idaho, where they are currently getting into bikes and growing an urban garden.

Emily Fitzgerald, MD

Boise Program 2024

University of Washington School of Medicine

Hi! I’m Emily.
I grew up on an island in Southeast Alaska in a town called Ketchikan with the Pacific Ocean and the Tongass National Rainforest in my backyard. For perspective, we measured our annual precipitation not in inches a year but in feet. For those of you that have read Dune, Boise in comparison feels like Arrakis. My partner, Nathan Ord, teases me that I must be part Fremen. During my undergraduate years I split my time studying philosophy at the University of Washington and commercial fishing for Salmon off the coast of Southeast Alaska. I traded cell phone coverage for wild mountains and waterways, grocery store produce for salmon and fern tips, and the easy access to services urban Seattle life afforded me with closely knit communities of small fishing towns. I loved every minute of it.

In small town Alaska, medicine is no different. Family doctors are the clinicians, hospitalists, ER docs, laborists, proceduralists, and intensivists. During my family medicine rotation in Sitka, I assisted on a c-section, assessed the neonate still covered in amniotic fluid and then returned to help sew up the mother. I diagnosed a patient with Grave’s Disease, set fractures, and med-evac’d a patient with ascending cholangitis to Anchorage. On a typical day we prescribed immunomodulators and vasopressors in the ER, discussed meditation apps and intermittent fasting, cared for young and old. Conversations on lifestyle, healthy movement and nutrition were given equal importance as the emergencies that neglecting them can lead to. It is this appreciation for preventive medicine, ability to provide truly comprehensive care, and establishing deep patient connections that drew me to family medicine. 

I am excited to be training at a program that will provide me with the full spectrum training practicing family medicine in Alaska requires so that I can give back to the wild places and the salt of the earth kind of people I have found there. In the meantime, Nathan and I are enjoying meeting new friends in Boise and exploring all the wilds places Idaho has to offer with our eight-month-old Australian Shepard puppy Tikka!

Sarah Hershman, MD

Boise Program 2024

University of Colorado School of Medicine

Sarah Hershman was born and raised in Colorado—she grew up in the small rural town of Elizabeth. She attended the University of Colorado in Boulder, where she received a bachelor’s degree in Integrative Physiology. Between college and medical school, Sarah worked as a medical assistant at a Dermatology clinic in Boulder.  

Sarah earned her Medical and Master of Public Health degrees as a combined MD/MPH student at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Sarah is passionate about behavioral health, suicide prevention, advocacy, and working with rural and underserved communities. She is thrilled to join Full Circle Health—a program where the broad-spectrum training is excellent, and the people are even better.  

In her free time, you can find Sarah exploring the outdoors with her scruffy trail buddy Mack (a crotchety corgi mix with a heart of gold). Be it hiking, skiing, biking, snowshoeing, or climbing—as long as she is outside, she’s happy. 

Neil Liotta, MD

Boise Program 2024

University of Washington School of Medicine

Howdy! I hail from the big city of Anchorage, AK where I grew up roaming the hills, fly fishing, and trying to make it as a competitive Nordic ski racer. I did my undergraduate work at Montana State University in Bozeman, MT. There, the drive for ski racing transitioned to a love for the mountains and the Intermountain West. Later, while working as a commercial salmon fisherman in Dillingham, AK, I fell in love with the unique lifestyle that exists in rural Alaska.

This experience also led to an interest and concern in the healthcare disparities that exist in rural Alaska and inspired a career in rural medicine via the University of Washington. My time at UW further cemented my interest in rural medicine and especially Family Medicine. Family docs have a varied skillset and broad training that allows them to be plopped down almost anywhere in the world to meet the needs of their community.

I am very excited to join Full Circle Health to pursue my passion for Family Medicine. I will be joined by my amazing partner, Alli. She is an RN in the ICU and ER with her own interest in rural medicine as well! Outside of the hospital, we are excited to explore Idaho via ski, bike, and foot.

Sarah Maze, MD

Boise Program 2024

University of Washington School of Medicine

Howdy, I’m Sarah! I grew up in rural Wyoming in the foothills of the Big Horn Mountains. There I developed a love of living things in all forms and experienced the beauty and value of strong community relationships.

For my undergraduate education, I attended the University of Wyoming (go Pokes!) where I earned degrees in Physiology and Spanish, worked as a campus tour guide, explored the Snowy Range Mountains, and worked with my first patients—Bengalese finches—while conducting neuroscience research. I had the opportunity to study abroad in Argentina and fuel my passion for service of rural communities in remote Honduras and Panama.

I completed my medical training at the University of Washington in the Wyoming WWAMI cohort, during which I spent time in Laramie, WY; Seattle, WA; and everywhere in between. Working in the Wind River Indian Reservation and Lander, WY during my clinical training solidified my desire to create lasting therapeutic relationships with my future patients through the pursuit of full-spectrum family medicine. I also spent two months in Dhulikhel, Nepal partnering with community members and healthcare workers to create and implement a gestational diabetes education program in their local community hospital and remote outreach clinics.

My clinical interests include women’s health and obstetrics, full-spectrum rural family medicine, preventative medicine, and global health. I am thrilled to join the Full Circle Health team!

Outside of medicine, I enjoy fly fishing and backpacking with my husband, Ian, pick up volleyball games, playing piano, and exploring our new home of Boise by sampling local food and biking.

Tyler McChane, MD

Boise Program 2024

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Tyler comes to us from Louisville, Kentucky. He studied economics at the University of Louisville, then went to Baku to study Azerbaijan on a Critical Language Scholarship. Before attending Mount Sinai, Tyler worked in Direct Support for individuals with intellectual disabilities and helped to establish the Family Community Clinic, a free clinic in Louisville where he served six years as the volunteer coordinator.

Working at the clinic changed Tyler’s perspective on medicine and convinced him to return to school. After finishing Louisville’s post-bacc pre-med program, he moved on to Mount Sinai. Here at Mount Sinai, Tyler has participated in the Primary Care Scholars Program and InterACT primary care clerkship, Students for a National Health Program, and the New York State Academy of Family Physicians. His research interests include disparities in health and healthcare delivery experienced by homeless individuals.

He would like to thank his family and his partner Lindsey (and two precious dogs) for their endless support over the last 7 years, as well as his PBPMP, FCC, DWW, and PCSP families – you know who you are! He is thrilled to be continuing his residency training at the Full Circle Health in Boise. Initial impressions of Full Circle Health and life in Boise: hands down without a doubt the coolest, most inspirational bunch of people that Tyler’s ever met!

Michaela Merrill, MD

Boise Program 2024

Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine

Michaela is a proud Oregonian, born in Portland and raised in Bend. Since childhood, it has been Michaela’s goal to become a family physician serving rural communities. She studied bioengineering at Oregon State University and completed medical school at Oregon Health & Sciences University (OHSU). In her undergraduate years, Michaela became a public advocate for Indigenous health and Native peoples in higher education. At OHSU, she founded and served as president of the OHSU chapter of the Association of Native American Medical Students (ANAMS) in addition to mentoring Indigenous youth about pursuing careers in medicine. Michaela’s training as an Oregon Area Health Education Centers Rural Scholar has helped build her knowledge base regarding rural health care. She is particularly passionate about behavioral health, obstetric care, and Integrative Medicine. A descendent of the Choctaw and Mojave tribes, she is also invested in the holistic health of Indigenous and underserved populations.

In her free time, Michaela is an outdoor enthusiast and is always excited for a new adventure. She can be found hiking, camping, hunting, riding horses (or Harleys), and skiing, usually with her husband Randy. She is also surprisingly good at cornhole. On inside days, she enjoys playing cello and cooking. She is grateful for the opportunity to join the Full Circle Health in Boise and excited for the adventure ahead!

Megan Schwehr, MD

Boise Program 2024

University of Washington School of Medicine

Megan Schwehr was born in Boise and raised in Star, Idaho. She loved growing up in a small rural town and came to appreciate the sense of community it fostered. When she wasn’t playing soccer, she spent her weekends camping, boating, hiking, snow skiing, and exploring the beautiful Idaho backcountry. During high school Megan participated in the sports medicine program and realized she had a passion for human anatomy and medicine. She went on to complete her undergraduate studies in biochemistry and molecular biology at Linfield College (now Linfield University) in McMinnville, OR, knowing that her ultimate goal was medical school. While at Linfield she helped start a research lab that used zebrafish as a model for human anatomy, and has enjoyed watching this project grow and progress over the years.

Given her passion for medicine and love of rural communities, Megan attended the University of Washington School of Medicine as a TRUST (Targeted Rural and Underserved Track) scholar. Through this program she completed a longitudinal training experience in McCall, Idaho, and gained a greater appreciation for rural medicine. Her experiences with the family physicians there inspired Megan to pursue a career in full-scope family medicine which will include ED shifts, inpatient coverage, and surgical obstetrics. She decided to return to Boise for her residency training and give back to the community that helped support her, and is thrilled to become a part of the Full Circle Health family. Her professional interests include rural/underserved populations, healthcare advocacy, obstetrics, and behavioral health.

When she isn’t working Megan enjoys spending time outdoors with her parents (Patty and Ed), brothers (Trevor and Devin) and other family friends in the area. She can often be found camping in McCall, hiking in the Sawtooths, boating on Lake Cascade, or skiing at Bogus Basin or Brundage. She also enjoys lazy mornings spent watching the Great British Baking Show with her cat, Ember.

Miranda Smith, MD

Boise Program 2024

University of Oklahoma College of Medicine

Miranda grew up in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain. During college she studied abroad in Costa Rica where she took part in field research and learned about their universal health system. This experience sparked an interest in public health, particularly topics surrounding the social determinants of health and reproductive health. She then attended the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine completing a certificate in public health while attending medical school. 

She hopes to combine her interests by practicing broad spectrum family medicine while working toward changing systems impacting her patient’s health on a broader level. In her free time she enjoys hiking, trying new outdoor activities, and spending time with her dog (Tucker) and spouse (Gentry). She is excited to join the Full Circle Health family

Summer Szumski, DO

Boise Program 2024

Pacific Northwest University College of Osteopathic Medicine

Summer Szumski was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but is a small-town Eastern Oregon girl at heart after moving to Pendleton, Oregon when she was 8 years old. She spent most of her childhood exploring the outdoors with her three younger brothers. She attended college at Western Oregon University studying public health while working as a CNA and EMT. While working in the hospitals of South Africa during a study abroad experience her passion for medicine was solidified. She attended medical school at Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences in Yakima, Washington. After completing her clinical rotations in rural communities at critical access hospitals she couldn’t see herself doing anything but broad-spectrum rural family medicine. Summer is particularly interested in women’s health, addiction medicine, office-based procedures, and hospice care.

When not working, she spends her time with her husband, James, and their two dogs. They enjoy hiking, riding ATVs, camping, and spending time with family. They are excited to learn more about Boise and all that it has to offer.

Resident Life

We are absolutely THRILLED to welcome our class of 2025 to FMRI Boise!! We can’t wait to see you all in June! ...

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An apple a day does not keep the doctor away for R3/Chief Tori Kent and R3 Joe Pendleton, but a sunny day picking apples in Idaho does chase the COVID scaries away!

Idaho is full of many wonderful outdoor activities every season of the year! Stay tuned for more posts with our residents doing fun outdoor activities in their free time!
#idahome #fmriboise #familymedicineresidency #docintraining #familymedicine
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Happy start of residency application season! In honor of ERAS opening for application review, we give you current R2 Jeff Chase’s ERAS photo. We are so excited to meet the amazing people applying this year! ...

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🎉Happy graduation to our amazing R3s! We are so proud of this group of brilliant, thoughtful, passionate docs. FMRI won’t quite be the same without them, but we are excited for their upcoming adventures.

Stay tuned for new interns starting tomorrow!
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Celebrating Dr. Klippenstein with his own bobblehead for graduation! 🎉

A HUGE THANKS to his nurse Sulamita in Meridian for this wonderful gift!!
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"The mission of the Wellness program is to support and promote the physical, psychological, social, and professional well-being of Family Medicine residents, provide them with the tools they will need to make healthy lifestyle choices and empower them to seek work-life balance in their own lives."

The program is run by residents under the guidance and support of faculty. A committee is elected who act as a liaison between the residents and faculty as a whole. There is also dedicated funding and didactic time provided by the residency.

PSYCHOLOGICAL

  • Employee Assistance Program
  • ACMS Programs: Physician Vitality Program, free confidential counseling services, several free hosted events throughout the year
  • Free wellness and career coaching with Dr. Schneider leader of St. Luke's Physician Wellness Program
  • Narrative medicine: longitudinal didactic and extracurricular experiences supporting resident reflection on stories of illness and the training process
  • Memorial Service: offered annually at the end of the academic year to honor deaths within our community and space to grieve
  • Art of Family Medicine curriculum throughout residency

SOCIAL

  • Mentoring: all residents are paired with a faculty member throughout residency for professional guidance. Interns are paired with senior residents during their first year to help with the transition into residency and a new city.
  • Retreats: There is an annual retreat in August to McCall, Idaho which includes the entire residency. Additionally, protected time each year is provided for individual class retreats.
  • Events: several organized family friendly social events throughout the year, often paired with ACMS. Regular book club gatherings. Multiple informal gatherings (mountain bike lessons, cross country ski lessons, trivia nights, relay teams, rec sports teams).
  • Opportunities to connect with local medical advocacy groups.
  • Cultural offerings at large in Boise: Boise Art Museum, Music (Knitting Factory, Neurolux, Treefort Music Fest) Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Ballet Idaho, Boise Philharmonic, The Morrison Center, Idaho Steelheads Hockey team, Boise State college athletics, grab a pint at one of the many breweries or sip at one of the many local wineries, and enjoy more dining, shopping, and art in Downtown Boise.

PHYSICAL

  • Funding for $75.00 per resident, per year, for purchase of wellness equipment (skis, shoes, dinner, childcare, etc.)
  • FMREI: An ever-expanding collection of rentable gear that Full Circle Health owns that is free to all residents (snowshoes, paddleboards, tubes, yard games, coolers, etc.).
  • Protected time for medical, behavioral, and dental appointments
  • Outdoor recreation is an important part of the Boise lifestyle. The Boise River courses through the heart of town, bordered by the Greenbelt path. The Ridge to Rivers Trail System boasts over 85 miles of maintained trails for biking/hiking/running. Excellent nordic and downhill skiing can be experienced at Bogus Basin, just 18 miles from town. Additional skiing at Brundage Mountain, Tamarack Resort, and Sun Valley is less than three hours away. Hiking, camping, and backcountry skiing are popular in the nearby Sawtooth, White Cloud, Smoky, and Boulder Mountains. Kayaking, rafting and fishing opportunities also abound with the city in close proximity to the Boise, Payette, Salmon, and Snake Rivers. Rock-climbing and mountaineering opportunities await at the City of Rocks and Sawtooths.

Community

Community Ada County Medical Society (ACMS) is a local group who provides various opportunities to connect with the greater medical community and beyond. Click here for education and recreational opportunities.

Recreation Outdoor recreation is an important part of the Boise lifestyle. The Boise River courses through the heart of the city and is bordered by the Greenbelt bike and walking path that runs from Lucky Peak Reservoir to Eagle Island State Park. Boise was voted the “#1 mountain biking town” by Bike and Mountain Bike magazines. The Ridge to Rivers Trail System boasts over 85 miles of maintained trails for walking and riding. Excellent nordic and downhill skiing can be experienced at Bogus Basin, just 18 miles from the center of town and very popular with the locals for its inexpensive season pass (under $250). Additional skiing at Brundage Mountain, Tamarack Resort, and Sun Valley is less than three hours away. Hiking, camping, and backcountry skiing are popular in the nearby Sawtooth, White Cloud, Smoky, and Boulder Mountains

Kayaking, rafting and fishing opportunities also abound with the city in close proximity to the Boise, Payette, Salmon, and Snake Rivers. Idaho in general has many premier whitewater rafting and kayaking river systems, with the Payette River system less than one hour from town. The Payette offers everything from beginner runs to Class 5 whitewater. The several forks of world famous Salmon River and the Hell’s Canyon section of the Snake River are popular for multi-day trips, as are the stunning desert gorges of the Bruneau, Jarbridge and Owyhee Rivers south of Boise.

Rock-climbing enthusiasts can easily access the local basalt crag known as the Black Cliffs just east of town. Amazing granite routes in the City of Rocks and the Sawtooth Mountains are both less than four hours by car. Mountaineering opportunities also abound in the state, with many excellent routes in the Seven Devils, Sawtooths, White Clouds, Boulders, and Lost River ranges, to name a few.

But you don't need to leave town to find something fun to do. Boise has a vital city center that offers musical entertainment, theatre, opera, good food and shopping. Tubing the cool Boise River during the hot summer months is a popular pastime. The extensive park system, including the Boise Greenbelt, is home to multiple city sports leagues and festivals. The parks and river provide refuge without ever leaving the city.

Applicants

 

COVID Vaccination Required

At Full Circle Health, we follow CDC guidelines to help keep our patients and staff safe. We enforce masking protocols for everyone over the age of 2, encourage COVID vaccination for all eligible patients, and have protocols in place to keep our patients and staff safe. 

We require COVID vaccination for all staff, faculty, students and residents. 

To keep access to care open for all of our patients and the community, we have enacted the use of virtual appointments and respiratory clinics to ensure all patients can be seen. We follow CDC and NIH guidelines for the treatment of COVID-19. These treatments are always evolving and we stay up to date with all official and evidence-based recommendations as they come, with the support of local infectious disease specialists. At Full Circle Health, we do not offer prescriptions for therapies that are not evidence based nor recommended. 

We are proud of the contribution Full Circle Health faculty and residents have made over the course of the pandemic to help support even our most vulnerable community members. This program has and will continue to advocate for evidence-based medicine, healthcare access for all, and the continuation of preventative health care even in the face of a pandemic.

 

Application Process

The application process allows the faculty and residents of the Full Circle Health to thoroughly review each applicant’s credentials prior to extending an invitation to interview. Applications will only be accepted through the ERAS system and we follow the guidelines of the National Resident Matching Program. The deadline for receiving applications is October 22, 2021. Interviews will be scheduled during the fall/winter. The interview allows the applicant an opportunity to discuss the program with the faculty and residents.

We will be offering virtual interviews only this year. We will offer optional, informal, virtual interview socials with our residents on Tuesday evenings. Whether you interview on a Tuesday or a Friday, you may attend that week’s social, or a different week’s social if that works better for your schedule.  

Criteria

  • Only ERAS applications are accepted: applicant must contact their medical school.
  • Our deadline is October 22 but we highly encourage you to apply as close to September 29 as possible.
  • International medical graduates must have a passing score on USMLE Step 1 and Step 2.
  • Applicant should not be more than two years out of medical school.
  • Three letters of recommendation are required. One must be a letter from a Family Medicine physician with whom you have worked.
  • International medical graduates must be fluent in both written and oral English. Our Residency does not support or sponsor VISA’s of any kind.
  • For international medical graduates, please contact the Idaho State Board of Medicine to make sure your medical school is an approved school for licensure in Idaho, (208) 327-7000. If not approved, we cannot accept your application.

SALARY
R1 | $57,528.00
R2 | $60,690.00
R3 | $63,240.00

Interview Dates (all times are Mountain Standard). All activities are virtual, on Zoom.

  • Friday 10/29/21: 8am-1:30pm; optional informal time to chat with a resident 1:30-2:30pm
  • Tuesday 11/02/21: 8am-1:30pm; optional informal time to chat with a resident 1:30-2:30pm. Social 6:30pm 
  • Friday 11/05/21: 8am-1:30pm; optional informal time to chat with a resident 1:30-2:30pm
  • Tuesday 11/9/21: 8am-1:30pm; optional informal time to chat with a resident 1:30-2:30pm. Social 6:30pm
  • Friday 11/12/21: 8am-1:30pm; optional informal time to chat with a resident 1:30-2:30pm
  • Tuesday 11/16/21: 8am-1:30pm; optional informal time to chat with a resident 1:30-2:30pm. Social 6:30pm
  • Friday 11/19/21: 8am-1:30pm; optional informal time to chat with a resident 1:30-2:30pm
  • Tuesday 11/30/21: 8am-1:30pm; optional informal time to chat with a resident 1:30-2:30pm. Social 6:30pm
  • Tuesday 12/7/20: 8am-1:30pm; optional informal time to chat with a resident 1:30-2:30pm. Social 6:30pm
  • Friday 12/10/21: 8am-1:30pm; optional informal time to chat with a resident 1:30-2:30pm
  • Tuesday 12/14/21: 8am-1:30pm; optional informal time to chat with a resident 1:30-2:30pm. Social 6:30pm
  • Friday 12/17/21: 8am-1:30pm; optional informal time to chat with a resident 1:30-2:30pm
  • Tuesday 12/21/21: 8am-1:30pm; optional informal time to chat with a resident 1:30-2:30pm. Social 6:30pm
  • Friday 1/7/22: 8am-1:30pm; optional informal time to chat with a resident 1:30-2:30pm
  • Friday 1/14/22: 8am-1:30pm; optional informal time to chat with a resident 1:30-2:30pm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Direct Inquiries:
Jamie McDonald
Boise Residency Program Coordinator
P: (208) 954-8740
JamieMcDonald@Full Circle Healthdaho.org
777 N Raymond Street Boise, ID 83704

Scholarly Activity

Select Faculty Publications

Amanda Weidner, Marcia McGuire, Kim Stutzman, Justin Glass, Nancy Gray Stevens (2021) “The Interests of Family Medicine Residents in Future Faculty Positions Across the Senior Year” Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development, Vol. 8, https://doi.org/10.1177/23821205211059667.

Rajat Duggirala, Sunil Khushalani, Todd Palmer, Nicole Brandt, Abhilash Desai (2021) "Screening for and Management of Opioid Use Disorder in Older Adults in Primary Care" Clinical Geriatric Medicine, 38 (2022) 23-38.

Allen, Suzanne (2021) "Learning from Implementation of Milestones" Fam Med 2021 53(7): 593-4

Allen Suzanne (2021) "Learning from Implementation of Milestones" Fam Med 2021 53(7): 593-4

Kristine E. Calhoun, Laura A. Yale, Mark E. Whipple, Suzanne M. Allen, Douglas E. Wood, Roger P. Tatum   (2020) "The Impact of COVID-10 on medical student surgical education: Implementing extreme pandemic response measures in a widely distributed surgical clerkship experience" The American Journal of Surgery, Vol. 220, Issue 1, pg. 44-47.

Bailey, Justin and Katzman, Rebecca (2020) “Palpitations, Conn’s Current Therapy” Bope/Kellerman, [Philadelphia] Sunders  Page 41-44.

Berbert, Amanda (2020) "Do group visits improve HbA1c more than individual visits in patients with T2DM?  J Fam Pract 69(1):E21-E22; PMID 32017839

Davids, Abby (2021) "Rural Populations and HIV" Fundamentals of Medicine, 2021 Edition, Chapter 11 PP. 121-123; Oxford University Press

Zambrano, L. D., Jentes, E., Phares, C., Weinberg … Davids, A., Mortimer, M. … Stauffer, W., & Marano, N. (2020). Clinical Sequelae Associated with Unresolved Tropical Splenomegaly in a Cohort of Recently Resettled Congolese Refugees in the United States—Multiple States, 2015–2018, The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 103(1), 485-493.

Edwards, Jeff (2021) How complete were maternal death reviews in Central Kenya 2015-2018? Afr J Reprod Health. Dec;24(4):122-131. DOI: 10.29063/ajrh2020/v24i4.13

Chimwaza, A.N., Tweya, H., Mugurungi, O. … Edwards, J.K. … et al. (2021) Early retention among pregnant women on ‘Option B + ’ in urban and rural Zimbabwe. AIDS Res Ther 18, 10 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12981-021-00333-3

Noory B, Hassan S, Edwards JK, et al. (2020) “Perceived consequences of healthcare service decentralization on access, affordability and quality of care in Khartoum, Sudan” PLOS One

Feng, N., Edwards, J.K. (2021) Owiti, P.O. et al. “Operational research capacity building through the Structured Operational Research Training Initiative (SORT-IT) in China: implementation, outcomes and challenges” Infectious Disease Poverty 10, 80 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40249-021-00865-w

Gerrish, Sarah (2021) “Music and Stories” Connections in the Clinic: Relational Narratives from Primary Care, Springer International Publishing

Roscoe, C., Lockhart, C., de Klerk, M. et al. Evaluation of the uptake of tuberculosis preventative therapy for people living with HIV in Namibia: a multiple methods analysis. BMC Public Health 20, 1838 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09902-z

 

Select Faculty Presentations

Alviso, M (2020) “Clinical Care of the Transgender Individual” Paper presented at the Idaho ACP Hindson Winter Conference, McCall ID

Bailey, J (2020) "The Diabetic Foot" Paper presented at the Emirates Society Family Medicine Congress, Dubai, UAE

Bailey, J (2020) "10 Steps for writing a Clinical Review"  Paper presented at the Emirates Society Family Medicine Congress, Dubai, UAE

Bailey, J (2020) "Troubling Tendone"  Paper presented at the Emirates Society Family Medicine Congress, Dubai, UAE

Bailey, J (2020) "Advance Topics - Non Opioid Manual Treatment of Back Pain" Paper presented at the Emirates Society Family Medicine Congress, Dubai, UAE

Bailey, J (2020) "Diverticulitis Update" Paper presented at the FMX, Emirates Society Family Medicine Congress, Dubai, UAE

Beach, A.P. (2020) "Autoimmune Disease:  Hiding in Plain Sight" Paper presented at the Idaho Academy of Family Physician Annual Conference, Boise, ID

Brown, P. (2020) "A Review of 2019:  Top Developments in Pediatrics" Children's Hospital Grand Rounds, St. Luke's Regional Medical Center, Boise ID

Davids, A and Duncan, J. (2021, Feb) "Treating patients Experiencing Homelessness"  ACMS Winter Clinics Virtual Conference

Davids, A and Mortimer, M (2020, Sept) "Obstetrical Care for Newly Arrived Refugees:  Continuity is Key” Poster Presentation at the North American Refugee Health Conference

Davids, A and Mortimer, M (2020, Sept) "Factors that affect engagement in primary care of refugees with chronic conditions in Boise ID:  A retrospective case control study of secondary electronic health record data from 2014-2017” Paper presented at the North American Refugee Health Conference

Gerrish, S., Waters, T., Richardson, E., and Baker, R. (2020) "Assessing Implicit Bias in a Rural Family Medicine Residency and Creating a Diversity Curriculum" STFM Poster presented at the STFM Virtual Annual Conference

Gerrish, S., Martin, S., Reed, A., and Gerrish, W. (2020) “Art of Family Medicine 2” Paper accepted for presentation at the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine’s 41st Annual Conference

Glass, J. (2020) "Helping Others, Helping Ourselves.  Lessons Learned in New Jersey" Idaho Covid-19 ECHO Project, Boise ID

 

Select Resident Publications:

Baker, Eli Adashi, Barak Richman (2020) “The New State Medical Board: Life in the Antitrust Shadow.” Health Affairs Blog (online www.healthaffairs.org)

Collins, CJ Scallan, J Hayes, LA Ho, M Bairwa, P Bloecher, C Spada, C Mikacenic, M Mayo, G Raghu (2020) “Factors Influencing Patients' Preferred Choice of Approved Antifibrotic Drugs for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis,” American Thoracic Society. A1503-A1503. A37.ILD Therapy

Klippenstein, Kade (2020) “Management of Pre-term Peripartum Ventricular Tachycardia Due to Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia Complicated by Severe Pre-Eclampsia” Journal of American College of Cardiology

 

Select Resident Presentations

Baker, R. and Richardson, E. (2020, Aug) “Moving Towards Racial Equity within Medical Thought” Webinar presented to Idaho Academy of Family Physicians

Hirschhorn, L., Sayinzoga, F., Donahoe, K., Beyer, C., and Binagwaho, A. (2020) "Using Implementation Science to Understand Rwanda's Success in Dropping Under-5 Mortality". Paper presented to the Academy Health Annual Research Meeting.

Davids, A and Duncan, J. (2021, Feb) "Treating patients Experiencing Homelessness"  ACMS Winter Clinics Virtual Conference

Gerrish, S., Waters, T., Richardson, E., and Baker, R. (2020) "Assessing Implicit Bias in a Rural Family Medicine Residency and Creating a Diversity Curriculum" STFM Poster presented at the STFM Virtual Annual Conference

McChane, J.T. (2021) "Key Attributes of Hospitalizations for Homeless Patients in an Urban, Multihospital Health System” Paper presented at the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine

Merrill, M., Brodt, E., Craig Rushing, S., (2021, March) “Building Momentum through We Are Healers: A Digital Media Enrichment Initiative to Inspire American Indian and Alaska Native Youth to Pursue Careers in Medicine” Paper presented at the Oregon Health Sciences University Virtual Scholarly Projects Capstone, Portland, OR, United States.

 

View Scholarly Activity Archive

JEDI — Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion


JEDI Mission

  • Address the need to internalize the concepts of equity, justice and inclusion into the policies, programs, and strategies at Full Circle Health- Boise
  • Reduce biases and increase inclusivity through education and facilitated discussion with Full Circle Health-Boise residents and faculty
  • Increase diversity and inclusion awareness in residency recruitment and provide relevant feedback to Full Circle Health-Boise leadership
  • Facilitate a resident reporting process and mechanism to address incidents related to bias, injustice, or discrimination that occur within residency training experiences

Mission Pillars: Advocacy, Education, Research, Recruitment, Pathways, Reporting (see below)

Foundational Beliefs:

  • Acknowledging racism and implicit bias improves the health of our communities/patients.
  • Racism doesn’t just happen in medicine, but everywhere and racism significantly impacts the health of communities.
  • We have an obligation to increase representation for underrepresented groups in medicine.
  • Institutional racism is not our fault but it is our responsibility to eradicate.
  • Challenging racism and white privilege is everyone’s work.
  • Diversity is a benefit to both people of color and white people.
  • Anti-racist work often defaults to centering whiteness and we are committed to questioning this response.
  • Implicit bias and racism were taught to all of us without consent.
  • Institutional racism can be addressed through continual and intentional community work.
  • It takes sustained effort to change systems. We will not naturally evolve towards greater equity.
  • Building relationships across differences is not the same as confronting systems of oppression.
  • Race both means everything and nothing at the same time.
  • Language matters when discussing racism and other inequities and time and care should be paid to minimizing the negative impacts of our words.

Community Agreements

 We are all responsible to learn about our implicit bias, recognize it and name it. We commit to conducting self-assessments, like the Harvard Implicit Association Test (https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/selectatest.html).

We pledge to:

  • Center the voices of marginalized groups in medicine.
  • Be present and participate in antiracism work.
  • Model what we learn about antiracism concepts in our work and everyday life.
  • Be curious, respectful and open about issues surrounding equity topics including anti-oppression ideas and policies.
  • Take care of ourselves by making wellness a priority and modeling this for others.
  • Take care of each other by committing to making wellness accessible to everyone and supporting community members of color that don’t ever get to step away from equity work.
  • Become comfortable with discomfort. Learn to sit with your discomfort and learn from it.
  • To do uncomfortable hard work, while still creating a safe and respectful space for collaboration.
  • Strive to create an environment where everyone feels safe and a sense of belonging.
  • Maintain privacy of those that feel comfortable enough to share in the space.
  • Let others make mistakes. We are in different spaces of learning and experience. Assume positive intent.
  • Be humble. Validate your colleague’s experience.
  • Be brave. Speak up. Make mistakes.

JEDI Pillars

Advocacy

JEDI strives to identify and collaborate with community healthcare advocacy organizations, the Idaho Residency Advocacy 101 course, RHEDI (to promote reproductive health justice) and the Idaho American Family Physicians.

Education (See Full Circle Health Boise Curriculum)

JEDI strives to imbed a longitudinal Equity in Medicine Curriculum in residency education and faculty Development

Research

JEDI strives to incorporate equity, justice and antiracism concepts into our scholarly activities and in our developing social determinants of health research.  

Recruitment

JEDI strives to increase diversity in resident and faculty recruitment with implicit bias awareness training and remodeling resident recruitment to account of inequities in the current and standard systems.

Pathway 

JEDI strives to help develop stronger programs for Underrepresented in Medicine youth  in Idaho interested in going into Healthcare by collaborating with:

  • SW Idaho AHEC (https://www.idahoahec.org) to develop mentoring relationships with URiM Youth Interested in Medicine in Idaho.
  • SW Idaho AHEC to reach out to groups of URiM youth in local schools
  • Expand University of Washington’s Doctor for a Day program.

Reporting

JEDI strives to create safe and brave spaces to discuss experiences of race and gender discrimination, minority identity discrimination and finding a way to incorporate more inclusion principles . (See Reporting)

Reporting

What

Inappropriate language, aggression, harassment, discrimination, gender bias, overt prejudice (e.g., racism, sexism, homophobia,ethnocentrism), unintentional expressions of bias)

How

  1. Submit an anonymous New Innovations complaint (https://www.new-innov.com/login/Login.aspx)
  2. Submit directly to JEDI@fmridaho.org
  3. In-person complaint to anyone

Who gets involved

All complaints will go to directly to JEDI Committee Chair and Wellness Committee Chair

What happens next

  1. Initial Discovery: What happened? Who was involved? What are the reporter’s wishes?
    • Initially completed conjointly by JEDI and Wellness Chairs alone
    • De-identified and discussed at JEDI Committee meeting
    • Any further follow-up or escalation of action takes into account
      • Reporter’s preferences
      • Severity and/or chronicity
      • Safety

  1. Tracking: All complaints are tracked
    • Three in any single area triggers formal complaint processes
    • JEDI committee chair will attend PEC quarterly to provide updates

  2. Formal or Urgent complaint: Additional follow-up becomes necessary
    • Involvement of the following leadership for decision making:
      • Faculty/Resident Physicians → Program Director (PD)
      • Outside attendings → Program Director
      • Patients → Chief Medical Officer (CMO) & Full Circle Health Risk Manager
      • Staff (Full Circle Health clinic/residency) → PD & CMO & Full Circle Health Human Resources (HR)
      • Admin →  CMO & HR
      • Medical students → PD & MedEd Faculty Leads

  3. Additional actions may include
    • Formal education of staff, residents, faculty
    • Formal complaint to HR (CMO & PD made aware))
    • Disciplinary action, up to termination (definition in process)
    • Mediation

  4. Debriefing: completed with all relevant parties
    • Coordinated by JEDI Committee Chair

View our Mission & Reporting

Curriculum

JEDI strives to continue the development of a longitudinal Equity in Medicine Curriculum for resident education and faculty development:

Topics include:

  • Implicit Bias, Bystander training, Privilege
  • Healthcare inequities in health delivery systems
  • Unlearning and Striving toward Race Conscious Medicine in Outpatient Teaching
  • Health Equity Rounds
  • Social Determinants of Health
  • Reproductive Health Justive
  • Disability Health Justice
  • Transgender care
  • Trauma informed care
  • Inclusive language
  • Microaggressions, Microaffirmations
  • Intersectionality
  • LGBTQ+ Health Disparities
  • Religious Tolerance
  • Cultural Competence vs Cultural humility
  • Health Disparities Affecting patient diagnosed with morbid obesity
  • Rural Health disparities

R1

  • JEDI Orientation
  • Introduction to Social and Structural Determinants of Health
  • Implicit Bias and Bystander training

R2

  • Implicit Bias, Privilege, and Intersectionality
  • Identifying Unconscious Bias and Bystander Training
  • Pathways Development Project in Collaboration with AHEC, recruiting Underrepresented in Medicine youth into Health Careers

R3

  • JEDI professional development

JEDI Curriculum 2020-2021

RotationBlocksLocation
R1 Orientation:
1 hour Implicit Bias/Bystander Training, Reporting
1 (July)TBD
Resident Retreat:
1-2 hours Residents and Faculty
-Unconscious Bias and Privilege
-Needs Assessment
-Bystander training
2 (August)TBD
Faculty Rotating JEDI Topic Meeting
R2 Professional Development: 1 hour engagement
3 (September)TBD
R3 Professional Development: 1 hour engagement5 (October)TBD
Faculty Meeting:
Inclusion Language for Resident Interviews, 30-45 minutes

Resident Meeting:
Inclusion language for resident interview, 30-45 minutes
6 (November)TBD
R1 Balint:
1h Microagressions and Micoraffirmations
7 (December)TBD
R2 AFM2: ½ conference unconscious bias and privilege

R2 AFM2: JEDI OSCE

Faculty OSCE
8 (January)TBD
R3 Practice Management:
Identifying Unconscious Bias in their Practices
11 (April)TBD
R3 Practice Management:
Identifying Unconscious Bias in their Practices
11 (April)TBD
R2 Professional Development:
Fostering Inclusive Climates
12 (May)TBD
R3 Professional Development:
Diversity and Inclusion and Work

Faculty
-OSCE
-Fostering inclusion
-Bystander training
13 (June)TBD
Didactics:
Cultural humility plus 3, 1 hour additional sessions
-Diversity definitions/Unconscious Bias
-Bystander training
-Microaggressions
-Role playing
-Promoting Inclusive Climates
-Critical Race Theory
4x / YearTBD
COW/Journal Article
-Health equity
-Race in Medicine
TBDTBD

Self Education

Implicit Bias Reduction

We are all responsible to call out bias and be mindful of our own Implicit Bias.

Implicit bias affects the way we interact with our peers, colleagues, supervisors, staff and patients. It can affect the way we practice medicine and directly impacts how we learn. With female medical students and residents now increasing in numbers to more than fifty percent, residents face a new challenge of discussing how to manage gender bias within training. Racial bias within a rural residency program can also pose a significant challenge. Discussing bias and increasing diversity within a rural training site is an important step in changing the cultural bias in medicine

 

The most important thing: self-awareness

 

Assessing Implicit Bias in a Rural FM Residency and Creating a Diversity Curriculum Submission Proposal

               

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

Medical Students

Medical Students & Sub-Internships Full Circle Health (Full Circle Health) Boise Program offers clerkships and sub-internships for medical students in both Family Medicine and Pediatrics. Students interested in Family Medicine or Pediatric clerkships or sub-internships at Full Circle Health Boise must first meet the criteria below.

Medical Student Elective Rotation Criteria:

  • Full Circle Health Boise will accept third year clerkship medical students from the University of Washington School of Medicine, the University of Utah School of Medicine, the Pacific Northwest University College of Osteopathic Medicine or the Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine.
  • Full Circle Health Boise will accept fourth-year medical students for Family Medicine in-patient sub-internship or out-patient rotations from any U.S. medical school on a space available basis after items 1-3 below have been received, reviewed and approved.
  • Full Circle Health Boise will accept fourth-year medical students from the University of Washington, Pacific Northwest University College of Osteopathic Medicine or the Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine on a space available basis for Pediatric sub-internships after items 1-3 below have been received, reviewed and approved.
  • Medical students interested in a sub-internship rotation that do not attend University of Washington, Pacific Northwest University, University of Utah, or Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine must first be approved by Full Circle Health Boise before applying through the University of Washington visiting student clinical elective program, VSAS/VSLO. Requested rotation dates should fall within the rotation guidelines and ideally be for four weeks. Registration through VSAS/VSLO will open at the end of March and should be started at least ten weeks prior to your desired rotation date. Final confirmation of your rotation from the University of Washington must be received at least six weeks prior to your rotation start date to be eligible to start your rotation.

Please send:

Return to Full Circle Health Boise via e-mail to:
Kaye Nelson: kayenelson@Full Circle Healthdaho.org.
P: (208) 954-8741

Please note: A vehicle is required for this rotation, and we do not provide housing for students completing fourth-year rotations and non-University of Washington third year students. Housing and transportation will be your responsibility.

Graduates

2021 Class

Nichole Aker, DO

Boise Program 2021

Medical School: Western University College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific Northwest
Current Job: OB Fellowship at Full Circle Health (2021-2022)

Reuben Baker, MD

Boise Program 2021

Medical School: Brown University
Current Job: Faculty at Maine-Dartmouth FM Residency in Augusta, ME

Michael Claussen, MD

Boise Program 2021

Medical School: University of Minnesota – Duluth
Current Job: Valor Health in Emmett, ID

Laddie Crisp, MD

Boise Program 2021

Medical School: East Carolina University
Current Job: Hospitalist for Ballad Health in Southwest Virginia & Northeast Tennessee

Matthew Davis, MD

Boise Program 2021

Medical School: George Washington University
Current Job: Hospitalist/Full Spectrum Family Medicine in Bethel, Alaska

Julie Duncan, MD

Boise Program 2021

Medical School: University of Missouri
Current Job: Sea Mar Community Health Center in Bellingham, Washington

Joie Florence, MD

Boise Program 2021

Medical School: University of Washington School of Medicine
Current Job: Sports Medicine Fellowship at Full Circle Health (2021-2022)

Kade Klippenstein, MD

Boise Program 2021

Medical School: University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine
Current Job: Faculty at Full Circle Health Nampa

Ryann Milne-Price, MD

Boise Program 2021

Medical School: University of Washington School of Medicine
Current Job: ER at Contra Costa Regional Medical Center in California

Ellen Richardson, MD

Boise Program 2021

Medical School: Brown Medical School
Current Job: Faculty at Maine Dartmouth Family Medicine – Inpatient, Outpatient, OB

Elynn Smith, MD

Boise Program 2021

Medical School: University of Utah School of Medicine
Current Job: Faculty at Full Circle Health Nampa

2020 Class

Lauren Franklin, MD

Boise Program 2020

Medical School: University of Washington School of Medicine
Current Job: Hospitalist Saint Alphonsus Nampa and Boise

 

Ali Makki, MD

Boise Program 2020

Medical School: University of Al-Mustansiriyah College of Medicine, Iraq
Current Job: Physician at St. Luke’s West Family Medicine Clinic, Boise

Michael McRae, DO

Boise Program 2020

Medical School: The University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, TX
Current Job: University of Colorado Diabetes Fellowship (2020-2021) then Physician at St. Luke’s, Nampa

 

Daniel Mueller, MD

Boise Program 2020

Medical School: Jacobs School Of Medicine And Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo, NY
Current Job: Geriatrics Fellowship at Full Circle Health (2020-2021)

 

Andrew Narver, DO

Boise Program - Chief Resident 2020

Medical School: Western University of Health Sciences
Current Job: Sports Medicine Fellowship in Fort Worth, TX (2020-2021)

Jeffrey Pennings, DO

Boise Program 2020

Medical School: Campbell University School of Osteopathic Medicine
Current Job: Faculty Physician at Full Circle Health Nampa

Jessica Sallstrom, DO

Boise Program - Chief Resident 2020

Medical School: A.T. Still University – School of Osteopathic Medicine (ATSU-SOMA)
Current Job: Family Medicine Physician at Terry Reilly, Boise

 

Robin Sautter, MD

Boise Program 2020

Medical School: University of Minnesota-Duluth (2 years) / Rural Physician Associate Program (RPAP) in Willmar, MN (1 year)
Current Job: Surgical Obstetrics Fellowship in Tacoma, WA (2020-2021)

Kelly Stanley, DO

Boise Program - Chief Resident 2020

Medical School: Campbell University School of Osteopathic Medicine
Current Job: Family Medicine/OB Physician at St. Luke’s, Meridian

Kyle Renner, MD

Boise Program 2020

Medical School: University of Kansas SOM in Wichita
Current Job: Physician at Clara Barton Hospital in Hoisington Kansas

 

Ty Waters, MD

Boise Program 2020

Medical School: University of Nevada School of Medicine
Current Job: Family Medicine Physician at St. Luke’s, Mountain View

2019 Class

Josef Bartels, MD, MPH

Boise Program Graduate 2019

Medical School: University of Rochester
Current Job: Hospitalist Saint Alphonsus Nampa and Boise

Louie Bartoletti, MD

Boise Program Graduate 2019

Medical School: University of Washington – Montana WWAMI
Current Job: Soldotna, AK

Marion Cook, MD

Boise Program Graduate 2019

Medical School: University of New Mexico
Current Job: Albuquerque, NM  (FQHC)

Scott Hippe, MD

Boise Program Graduate 2019

Medical School: University of Washington School of Medicine
Current Job: Family Medicine in Chelan, WA

Annie Hofstetter, MD

Boise Program Graduate 2019

Medical School: University of Nevada School of Medicine, Reno
Current Job: St. Luke’s Boise

Melissa Roop, MD

Boise Program Graduate 2019

Medical School: University of Washington
Current Job: Full Circle Health Idaho Street Clinic Faculty & Hospitalist at Saint Alphonsus Nampa

Justin Shippen, DO

Boise Program Graduate 2019

Medical School: Des Moines University – College of Osteopathic Medicine
Current Job: Rexburg, ID Hospitalist + Rigby locums clinic coverage

Zach Weiss, MD

Boise Program Graduate 2019

Medical School: University of New Mexico School of Medicine
Current Job: Geriatric Focus at St. Alphonsus in Nampa, ID

Zechariah Wilson, MD

Boise Program Graduate 2019

Medical School: University of Nevada School of Medicine
Current Job: Sports Medicine & FM Focus at Primary Health in Caldwell, ID

Minnie Yordon, MD

Boise Program Graduate 2019

Medical School: University of Connecticut School of Medicine
Current Job:

2018 Class

Elizabeth Atnip, MD

Boise Program Graduate 2018

Medical School: Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine
Current Job: Broad spectrum faculty job in Boise, ID

Loren Colson, DO

Boise Program Graduate 2018

Medical School: Western University of Health Sciences/College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific
Current Job: Broad spectrum faculty job in Boise, ID

 

Amanda Dauten, MD

Boise Program Graduate 2018

Medical School: University of Vermont College of Medicine
Current Job: Outpatient focused family medicine in Northfield, Vermont

Billy Galligar, MD

Boise Program Graduate 2018

Medical School: University of Washington School of Medicine
Current Job: Palliative Care focused job in Treasure Valley region of Idaho

Kacy Herron, MD

Boise Program Graduate 2018

Medical School: University of Washington School of Medicine
Current Job: Broad spectrum surgical OB job in Juneau, AK

Benjamin Holland, MD

Boise Program Graduate 2018

Medical School: Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine
Current Job: Outpatient focused job in Fruitland, ID + inpatient locums in Nampa, ID

Emily Knudsen, MD, MPH

Boise Program Graduate 2018

Medical School: University of Virginia
Current Job: Broad spectrum work at a FQHC in Enterprise, Oregon

Janae Krahn, MD

Boise Program Graduate 2018

Medical School: University of New Mexico School of Medicine
Current Job: Broad spectrum faculty job in Meridian, ID

Luke Mather, MD

Boise Program Graduate 2018

Medical School: University of Washington School of Medicine / WWAMI Alaska
Current Job: Broad spectrum job in Juneau, AK and Anchorage, AK

Molly McCormick, DO

Boise Program Graduate 2018

Medical School: Western University of Health Sciences/College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific
Current Job: Broad spectrum faculty job in Kuna, ID

Margaret Pluskal, MD

Boise Program Graduate 2018

Medical School: Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
Current Job: Broad spectrum work in Cottonwood, ID

2017 Class

Chelsea Carlson, MD

Boise Program Graduate 2017

Medical school: Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Current job: Faculty member at Full Circle Health providing outpatient, inpatient and obstetrical care

Danielle Davies, MD

Boise Program Graduate 2017

Medical school: Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine in New Jersey
Current job: Full Circle Health Faculty in Nampa, ID (Nampa Residency Program)

Jaclyn Cooperrider, MD

Boise Program Graduate 2017

Medical school: University of Washington School of Medicine, Idaho WWAMI track
Current job: Full Circle Health Faculty & Idaho Sports Medicine Institute, Boise, ID

Nathan Defrees, MD

Boise Program Graduate 2017

Medical school: Oregon Health Sciences University
Current job: Outpatient, inpatient and obstetrical family medicine in Baker City, OR

Julia Forberg, MD

Boise Program Graduate 2017

Medical school; University of Minnesota School of Medicine – Duluth campus.
Current job: Family medicine with OB in Red Wing, MN

Sarah Henkle, MD

Boise Program Graduate 2017

Medical school: Rush Medical College
Current job: Finished HIV Viral Hepatitis Fellowship at Full Circle Health 2017-2018. Core faculty in Chicago beginning January 2019

Jenna Ingersoll, MD

Boise Program Graduate 2017

Medical school: University of Wisconsin School of Medicine.
Current job: Completed OB fellowship at the University of Utah in 2017-2018; currently working as a broad spectrum family physician in Ashland, Wisconsin

Maia Pinsky, MD

Boise Program Graduate 2017

Medical school: University of Vermont School of Medicine
Current job:  HIV Viral Hepatitis Fellow 2017-2018. Now practicing outpatient Family Medicine and HIV care in Gardiner, ME

Michael Wauters, MD

Boise Program Graduate 2017

Medical school: University of Wisconsin School of Medicine.
Current job: Outpatient, inpatient and obstetrical family medicine in Port Angeles, WA

Kelsey Wertzler, MD

Boise Program Graduate 2017

Medical school: University of Washington School of Medicine
Current job: Full Circle Health Faculty in Nampa, ID (Nampa Residency Program)

Lindsay Orme, MD

Boise Program Graduate 2017

Medical school: University of Washington School of Medicine
Current job: Practicing broad spectrum Family Medicine in Caldwell, ID