UAB expands rural physician training with new Marshall Family Medicine Residency program
The newly accredited program aims to address Alabama’s primary care shortage by preparing physicians to serve rural and underserved communities.
A new family medicine residency program aims to strengthen physician training and expand access to care in northern Alabama.
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education on Tuesday approved the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Family and Community Medicine’s new UAB Marshall Family Medicine Residency. The program plans to welcome its first class of residents in July 2027.
The new program represents another step in UAB’s statewide efforts to address Alabama’s primary care workforce shortage by expanding physician training in rural and underserved communities. Once fully operational, the residency will train 18 new family medicine physicians each year and contribute to UAB’s growing statewide network of rural physician training programs.
The initiative joins a growing number of rural residency programs that train physicians where they are most needed while expanding access to care. Because physicians are more likely to practice near the communities where they received medical training, rural residency programs are an important component of strengthening Alabama’s health care workforce.
Based at Marshall Medical Center South in Boaz and led by UAB faculty, the new residency will prepare physicians to deliver comprehensive care in rural and community-based settings while helping address health care workforce needs.
“Family physicians play a critical role in improving access to health care, particularly in rural communities,” Dr. Irfan Asif, chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine and associate dean for primary care and rural health, said. “This collaboration between UAB and Marshall Medical Center reflects our commitment to educating new primary care physicians while expanding access to care in North Alabama and statewide.”
The UAB Marshall Family Medicine Residency aligns with UAB’s broader rural physician workforce strategy to bring physicians and future physicians into communities that need them, while UAB’s downtown Birmingham campus provides academic and clinical resources. It is part of an expanding network of rural programs. UAB’s broader efforts also include the recently launched Goodrich Rural Innovation in Training for Alabama, supported by a $10 million gift to strengthen rural residency training and improve access to care in underserved communities.
Residents will receive full-spectrum family medicine training, including outpatient and inpatient care, community-based experiences and opportunities to care for patients across all stages of life. The program will offer specialized learning opportunities, including advanced obstetrics training and optional sideline sports coverage.
Program leaders say the curriculum emphasizes relationship-centered care, evidence-based practice and a deep understanding of rural health needs.
“Practicing in this growing community is so rewarding because family physicians have the opportunity to care for patients across the lifespan and address a remarkably broad range of health needs in both outpatient and inpatient settings,” Dr. Chandler Stisher, program director and a graduate of the UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine, said.
“In a rural community where access to specialty care is sometimes limited, family physicians play an especially important role in providing comprehensive care close to home. Our goal is to develop confident, well-rounded family physicians who are prepared to practice wherever they are needed most, including communities where they may be among the few physicians available.”
In addition to a continuity clinic within Marshall Medical Center South, residents will train at Marshall Medical Center North in Guntersville for a broader range of clinical experiences.
The UAB Marshall Family Medicine Residency is the second new residency program the Department of Family and Community Medicine has launched this year. In April, the accreditation council approved the UAB Family Medicine Residency training program with tracks in Birmingham and Selma.
“UAB remains dedicated to improving access to quality primary care for everyone in our state,” Asif said. “Developing additional rural residency training across our state to meet patient needs and prepare trainees to serve rural communities is critical to that mission. We want to enhance our Family Medicine Residency Program, allow for expansion to serve more Alabamians and support long-term sustainability, growth and impact. The Marshall Residency is another step in building a training network that helps students and residents learn in an area they may permanently call home, strengthens local health care systems and creates lasting improvements in access to care.”
The UAB Marshall Family Medicine Residency program is recruiting first-year residents to begin training in July 2027.
