About

The Family Medicine Scholars Training and Admission Track (fmSTAT) is a unique program with two components:

1. The dual admissions process is designed to identify and select individuals who come to medical school intending to be family physicians.

2. The four-year curricular track provides participants with tailored experiences that nurture, develop, and support this select group of medical students toward their family medicine career goal.

Benefits

• Preferential placement with specially chosen family physician teachers
• Interaction with like-minded and committed peers for selected experiences
• 1:1 family physician mentor throughout the four-year experience
• Core family medicine content through semi-annual retreat and seminar sessions
• Optional summer learning experience between first and second year
• Eligibility for support to participate in state and national level conferences
• Considered for Family Medicine scholarships
• fmScholars' designation in the Medical Student Performance Evaluation (Dean's) letter
• A departmental letter of recommendation for residency upon request

Expectations

• Successful completion of general School of Medicine requirements
• Attend annual required fmSTAT learning activities
• Engage in a scholarly project and present it in 4th year
• Complete a family medicine acting internship and a 4th year advance family medicine elective
• Apply to match in a Family Medicine residency

fmSTAT is a dual admission program to the VCU School of Medicine.  The admissions component of fmSTAT is designed to identify and select individuals who are committed to a career in family medicine upon matriculation.

Applying to fmSTAT

The opportunity to apply to fmSTAT is automatically extended to a select group of VCU School of Medicine applicants during the supplemental application process.

Those who receive offers, and wish to apply, complete the online fmSTAT application. The School of Medicine and fmSTAT applications are reviewed by family physicians who participate in the admissions process.

If recommended, the fmSTAT Educational Director will call applicants with an invitation to interview. In addition to the standard School of Medicine interviews, fmSTAT candidates, attend an information session to learn more about the program and a separate one-on-one 30 minute interview regarding their family medicine interest. The information session and fmSTAT interview occur either on the same day at the School of Medicine interviews or the prior afternoon.

fmSTAT emulates the School of Medicine process with rolling admissions and offer dates. 8-10 fmScholars are selected each academic year from those accepted to VCU School of Medicine.

fmSTAT Co-directors provide ongoing support for participants. With input from other faculty and fmScholars, they develop the curriculum, plan and evaluate all program events and hand-select mentors and preceptors to work with each enrollee.

Family Physician Preceptors

The Department of Family Medicine and Population Health involves nearly 200 family physicians across the Commonwealth of Virginia to help train VCU medical students.  Since its founding in 1970, the department has intentionally selected community family physicians (preceptors) -- many who are alumni, to serve as teachers and role models allowing students to experience family medicine where it is practiced most often. As a benefit of the fmSTAT program, fmScholars are preferentially placed with preceptors with the students' particular interests and needs in mind for all of their clinical experiences.

Mentors

Each fmScholar has a specifically selected family physician mentor who supports his/her scholars' personal and professional development. Though many mentors teach medical students, care is taken to avoid having a mentor directly teach or evaluate his or her mentee. See Mentorship section for more information.

The greatest benefit of fmSTAT is the community of students who share similar goals. fmScholars have a variety of personal interests and envision doing a myriad or combination of things, but all aspire to be family physicians taking care of individuals, families and communities!

Our fmScholar's career interests:

• Be a community leader and active advocate of public and preventative health
• Work in a progressive and comprehensive patient-centered clinic
• Live and work in a rural community
• Concentrate on global health
• Focus on sports medicine
• Serve military families
• Join a suburban group practice with a focus on adolescents and women
• Work with low income families, underserved care, refugees, underserved minorities, recent immigrants
• Provide women's health & FM/OB care
• Be a medical educator/work in academics
• Provide chronic disease and geriatric care
• Practice in an outpatient setting
• Start a direct primary care practice
• Be a medical director/physician at a community health center