Dean’s Message
Educating a physician workforce, particularly family medicine doctors, is key to our mission of meeting the primary health-care needs and improving the health of Alabama and the Southeast, including rural and underserved communities.
This has been our mission for 45 years and we have never wavered.
“We are expanding and enhancing our partnerships with rural communities, particularly those in the Alabama Black Belt, where we work to assist struggling hospitals, develop sustainable health-care models and deploy innovative technologies to benefit rural patients.”
– Dean Richard Friend, MD
45 Years
Tuscaloosa Family Medicine Residency Program
The University of Alabama Tuscaloosa Family Medicine Residency Program is a well-established three-year program for doctors seeking to specialize in the practice of family medicine. The residency is one of the oldest and largest family medicine residencies in the United States, annually educating and training 48 resident physicians – and it also offers seven fellowship programs for family medicine physicians who want additional specialized training. The first resident graduated in 1975. To date, 524 residents have graduated from the residency; 1 in 7 family medicine physicians practicing in Alabama are graduates of the residency and many others have entered practice in the Southeast and other parts of the U.S., including in rural and medically underserved communities.
“The residency is the biggest supplier of family medicine physicians in the state of Alabama. The residency teaches them how to be the best family physicians and then keeps them close to home. That’s pretty darn good if you keep half of the people you train in your home state.”
Dr. Nicholas Knight, 1977 graduate
Celebrating 45 years of providing primary care physicians for Alabama and beyond
The Tuscaloosa Family Medicine Residency Program spans over four decades and is now one of the premier family medicine residencies in the country. Read more about the rich history of the residency here.
