Southern Colorado Family Medicine Residency
Located in Pueblo, CO since 1975, our program provides robust full-scope family medicine physician training. Our faculty prepares residents for many areas of medical care, including underserved outpatient clinic environments, inpatient adult medicine service, inpatient pediatric service, and OB service with deliveries and cesarian sections.
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Southern Colorado Family Medicine (SCFM) has been training resident physicians for over four decades and many of the primary care physicians in our town trained in our program. Our faculty team has a passion for comprehensive family medicine and seeks physicians who cherish learning underserved family medicine in an unopposed environment. Our program offers an individualized approach to training family medicine physicians with many tracks, procedures, and high-volume inpatient and obstetrics (OB) care that creates a unique training environment. We are a diverse team of professionals who thrive in a positive, educational, and fun environment providing high-quality patient care around the clock.
Program AIMS
- Produce competent full-scope family physicians.
- Train physicians to be experts in meeting their community healthcare needs.
- Produce physicians who will improve the quality of health care in their communities.
- Implement a curriculum that is flexible and sensitive to the needs of our residents and community.
- Train physicians to provide primary care in an underserved population with emphasis on social determinants of health.
- Mentor physicians on becoming members of a multidisciplinary team and caring for patients in the hospital, outpatient, continuity clinic, and nursing home settings.
- Promote the discovery and dissemination of knowledge important to clinical practice.
"We are a compassionate team providing quality family-centered health care to the Southern Colorado community. We seek to build relationships across the lifespan, partner with St. Mary-Corwin to serve those in need, and train well-rounded physicians. We will lead through excellence, collaboration, innovation, and scholarship."
Questions about our program and training opportunities
Once a week, resident physicians rotate in our Migrant Clinic in Avondale, CO and provide care to a predominantly Spanish-speaking farming community. Our resident physicians also rotate in our weekly outreach clinic at the Colorado Health Neighborhoods needle exchange in Pueblo and work with an underserved high-risk population. All these clinics are part of the continuity experience.
- Injections, including joint and trigger point injections
- Obstetrics and Gynecology Birth control, including implant and IUD Endometrial biopsy
- Colposcopy Loop electrosurgical excision procedure
- Ultrasounds, including abdominal and musculoskeletal
- Skin biopsies, including punch biopsies and excisions
- Osteopathic manipulative medicine
- Acupuncture Suturing skills
- EKG reading
- Cryotherapy
Over half of our graduates stay in Colorado and serve in rural areas after their residency. We have graduates each year who choose fellowships in many areas of family medicine. Some graduates also pursue hospitalist work, private practice, and full-scope family medicine. With an individualized education and diverse skill set developed during training, our graduates are prepared to practice anywhere in the world.
- PGY-1 residents will spend 1-2 half days/week
- PGY-2 residents will spend 2-4 half days/week
- PGY-3 residents will spend 3-5 half days/week
Our program offers tracks in osteopathic manipulation therapy, surgical or nonsurgical OB, and colonoscopy. In addition, many residents have taken part in a sports medicine track during training.
In collaboration with Valley-Wide Health and with San Luis Valley Hospital, residents spend their first year in Pueblo and second and third year in Alamosa, CO.
Faculty
Location Information
Our program is located on campus at St Mary-Corwin Hospital and offers complete family care. A safety net clinic in the Pueblo community, we offer care to patients with all insurance types and provide full-scope care for OB, pediatrics, and many onsite medical procedures. Onsite behavioral health and case management services are also available to our patients.
Residents rotate with specialist in a 1:1 setting at St. Mary-Corwin Hospital as well as Parkview Medical Center in Pueblo, CO.
Pueblo, CO information
Pueblo, CO is a 40-minute drive south of Colorado Springs. It has an arid climate, few snowy days, and over 350 beautiful days of sunshine a year. It is a town of 150,000 people with affordable homes and family activities, and many outdoor opportunities, including 100 miles of paved bike paths, water sports like kayaking and fishing, and mountain adventures.
Pueblo is also home to small local theaters, a symphony, fine restaurants, and shopping.
About Sydney Brock
Sydney is originally from Washington. She loves the outdoors, especially hiking and rock climbing, and has lots of pets and plants! She is excited to learn more from the diverse faculty as well as gain more knowledge about obstetrics.
Special interests
Women’s health, integrative medicine, osteopathic manipulation treatment
About Kelsi Brown
Kelsi is a native Coloradoan who grew up in Fort Collins, CO. Her early days were spent on her grandparent’s ranch, which placed a seed of love in her heart for small towns and inspired her to work in underserved rural communities as a healthcare provider.
Why she chose this program
SCFM provides full-spectrum training for family physicians, which is fondly referred to as "womb to tomb care." This all-encompassing approach to family medicine aligns perfectly with her desire to provide medical care for people of all stages of life and understand the treatment and management of each patient's medical health.
Special interests
Evidence-based preventative care, osteopathic medicine, women’s health
About Alex Grover
Alex is a Colorado “semi-native” who enjoys mountain biking, barbecuing, and hanging out with his favorite chihuahua, Poppy.
Why he chose the program
Alex chose SCFM so he could learn from a faculty that is dedicated to training full-spectrum family medicine physicians. He also wanted to choose an area with a strong need for primary care.
Special interests
Osteopathic manipulation therapy, sports medicine, in-office procedures
About James McCullough
James is a husband and father of two who spends most of his free time with his family. He is a long-time Colorado resident who loves extreme sports and the outdoors.
Why he chose this program
James chose this program because of the great faculty and residents that he met during the interview process. In addition, he liked the broad scope of family medicine education that the program offered.
Special interests
Outpatient family medicine, addiction medicine, osteopathic manipulation treatment, preventative care, quality improvement
About Camilla Monteiro
Camilla was born and raised in São Paulo, Brazil, and has been hopping around the U.S. since 2002. She loves watching and playing soccer, volleyball, football and many other outdoor activities like snowboarding, disc golfing and hiking. She is an avid Peloton rider and enjoys weightlifting.
Why she chose this program
Camilla chose this program because it has a strong curriculum, ample hands-on experience, and the flexibility to shape her learning to the type of practice she aims to lead. More importantly, the people she met, residents and faculty alike, are the program’s greatest asset.
Special interests
Inpatient medicine, procedures, addiction
About Ashima Singh
A Florida native, Ashima chose this program to learn broad spectrum family medicine. The faculty and opportunity to practice preventative care persuaded Ashima to join this program.
Special interests
Adolescent health, mental health, lifestyle management
About Ashley Abrahamson
Ashley was born in Naples, FL but primarily grew up in Charlotte, NC. She has always enjoyed playing sports, traveling, and exploring. During her undergraduate studies, she worked as a CAN in Oahu prior to starting medical school.
Why she chose this program
Ashley chose to attend residency at SCFM because it has many unique opportunities such as acupuncture, integrative medicine, and international medicine. She also appreciates the strong focus on osteopathic manipulation treatment and wellness education within the program.
Special interests
Holistic care, osteopathic manipulation treatment, community care, integrative medicine
About Zachary Barlow
Zachary grew up in a small-town bordering Yosemite National Park in California. Through his experience growing up in an assisted living facility that his family operated out of their home and the year he spent in Ethiopia doing humanitarian work, he decided to pursue medicine to provide care to rural disenfranchised communities in the U.S.
Why he chose this program
Zachary wanted a full-spectrum family medicine program with strong OB training, surgical/procedure experience, and the flexibility to tailor the curriculum to areas of interest. It was a huge plus that this program is so close to many of the outdoor activities that he enjoys.
Special interests
Obstetrics, including surgical obstetrics, psychiatric care, ethics, whole person care, procedures
About Katelyn Deveraux
Katelyn is a Colorado native who absolutely loves everything this state has to offer. She is married with two kids, three dogs, and now 17 chickens.
Why she chose this program
Katelyn chose this program because it trains for full-spectrum family medicine. Residents get the opportunity to make the residency what they want and are supported throughout their endeavors.
Special interests
Rural functional medicine, breastfeeding medicine, osteopathic manipulation treatment, women's health
About Cara Donnelly
Cara is an avid dog rescuer with a passion for watching movies at the cinema and reading any fantasy or romance novel. She enjoys hiking and kayaking and loves listening to vinyl records with her music savvy fiancé, Brad.
Why she chose this program
Cara is thrilled to be a part of SCFM. She moved from Kentucky with her fiancé and dogs in tow to make a home in Colorado and they all fell in love with the mountain lifestyle and the community. Cara thinks the program is dynamic with a full-spectrum curriculum, which is one of its strongest attributes outside of the people.
Special Interests
Obstetrics (operative and nonoperative), hands-on procedures, osteopathic manipulation treatment, pediatric and newborn medicine
About Grace Kim
Grace grew up in Colorado Springs where she enjoyed hiking, horseback riding, tennis, and skiing. After her undergraduate studies in California, she returned to Denver to work as an EMT.
Why she chose this program
Grace is excited to train at SCFM because of the program’s broad-scope training that will also foster her passions for osteopathic manipulation treatment. She loves that this program promotes a strong since of community and allows her to stay in beautiful Colorado.
Special interests
Osteopathic manipulation treatment, full-spectrum care, establishing relationships with patients
About Tysen Nickle
Tysen was born and raised in northern Utah in a close-knit, blue-collar family. Growing up, he developed a love for people and the outdoors. He and his wife love skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, and backpacking.
Why he chose this program
Tysen chose SCFM for its quality rural training and opportunity with osteopathic manipulation treatment. The faculty are also supportive of residents adapting their experience to their passions.
Special interests
Serving Spanish-speaking populations, osteopathic manipulation treatment, sports medicine, pain medicine
About Elizabeth Wolfe-Meyer
Elizabeth is from a rural area and has always enjoyed school and learning. These passions drew her to family medicine and allowed her to continue her studies while serving a rural community.
Why she chose this program
Elizabeth decided on SCFM because of the rural training program and the full-spectrum training. She loves that she can live in the environment she enjoys while continuing her hands-on training.
Special interests
Obstetric care, addressing health disparities, rural medicine
About Johnathan M. Emahiser
Johnathan is a father to two young sons who keep him young. He spends his evenings skateboarding with his family, studying, or hiking when he has the time.
Why he chose this program
Johnathan’s biggest priority when selecting a residency was opportunities for involvement in the community. His passion is homeless outreach, and he is very eager to work with SCFM to care for his new neighbors, regardless of status.
Special interests
Osteopathic manual treatment, behavioral medicine and counseling, obstetrics
About Julie Funfrock
During Julie’s undergraduate, she worked as a home health aide and spent time learning and researching in various countries. These experiences had an enormous impact on her and led her to pursue medicine. In her free time, she loves spending time with her family as well as hosting potlucks, game nights, and endless card games.
Why she chose this program
Julie chose SCFM because she wants to train with a program that has many opportunities in full-spectrum family medicine and works with an underserved patient population. While looking for a residency, it was important to her to be a part of a medical community that values teamwork in a supportive environment where everyone is encouraged to become the best physician possible. Julie is grateful to learn from such an amazing group of physicians and to serve the community of Pueblo to the best of her abilities.
Special interests
Obstetrics, fertility awareness, pediatrics, osteopathic manipulation treatment
About Spencer Hegerhorst
Spencer grew up in a small town in Oregon where he learned to love the outdoors. When he is not learning medicine, he can be found hunting, fishing, camping, or hiking.
Why he chose this program
Spencer chose SCFM because of the emphasis the program places on rural, underserved populations. Coming from a small town, he has always known he wanted to practice rural medicine and SCFM has all the tools to help him achieve that goal.
Special interests
Rural medicine, emergency medicine, wilderness medicine
About Naman Jain
Naman enjoys singing and songwriting, cooking, and traveling in his free time. He speaks five languages, has been to nine countries, and dreams of getting his pilot’s license.
Why he chose this program
Naman is looking forward to offering his osteopathic and clinical skills to an area where there is great need. Also, he wants to become certified to do colonoscopies and c-sections as part of providing holistic care to his patients.
Special interests
Holistic and preventative care, osteopathic medicine, pharmacologic management, biotechnology
About Kamal Lazar
Kamal was born in Sri Lanka and migrated with his parents to the United States when he was 18. Oregon has been his second home since 2007 and is where he completed his higher education and medical school. During his undergraduate years, he had the opportunity to volunteer on a medical mission to Arusha, Tanzania, which was pivotal in pushing him to pursue a life in medicine.
Why he chose this program
SCFM was Kamal’s first choice when ranking residency programs. He wanted to serve in a diverse community where socioeconomic hardships are prominent. The faculty, residents, and administrative staff are amazing, and they are another huge reason he wanted to train with SCFM. He hopes to draw from his life experiences to serve and connect with his patients to provide the best care he can offer.
Special interests
Osteopathic manipulation treatment, global health, pediatrics, adult neurology
About Blake Reichert
Blake grew up in Minnesota, but once he moved to Colorado for his undergraduate education, he never left. Blake likes to participate in the many activities that beautiful Colorado offers.
Why he chose this program
Blake is excited about the broad, full-scope training at SCFM. Through this program he will be able to learn more about rural medicine, women’s health, and a multitude of other areas to prepare him to give the best treatments possible.
Special interests
Rural medicine, substance use treatment, geriatrics, women’s health
About Hunter Ries
Hunter was born and raised in northeast Ohio. She is excited to be in Pueblo as he loves being outdoors and staying active. A lot of her free time is spent playing volleyball, reading, and trying new recipes in the kitchen.
Why she chose this program
Hunter has taken a few trips to Colorado in her life, and they were always over too fast. She knew she could see herself living there long-term. SCFM had everything that he was looking for in a program; with options to continue her osteopathic manipulative therapy training and work closely with many high-risk pregnancy patients as well as bond with the close-knit group in the program.
Special interests
High-risk obstetrics, outpatient procedures, osteopathic treatment, inpatient pediatrics
About Lexie Skelton
Lexi spent her early childhood in Colorado Springs, and while she loved growing up in Indiana and the Midwest, she knew she had to return to the Rockies. She loves hiking, skiing, DIY projects, global missions, investing in her faith, and snuggling with her fur babies.
Why she chose this program
Lexi chose to further her medical education at SCFM for the full-spectrum practice opportunities, comradery between attendings and fellow residents, and of course all the natural beauty and community to be found in Pueblo.
Special interests
Obstetrics, pediatrics, adult medicine, surgical and procedural, outpatient medicine
