HEALTH CARE: Residency program once again shows its impact

Sonoma County’s deep-rooted residency program welcomes its newest class of medical trainees this summer and is once again proving its impact on local health care as a fair number of graduates have chosen to stay and work in the community.

Although the program continues to grow, the past several years have been a trial of endurance for the 70-year-old Santa Rosa Family Medicine Residency as the program continues to wait for a permanent sponsorship entity.

A little more than year ago, Sutter finalized the transfer of the residency’s clinic to a local nonprofit and has been working with the community to shift administrative power to a consortium of leaders including Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa, Southwest Community Health Center, Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, Kaiser Permanente, the Sonoma County Department of Public Health and U.C. San Francisco. But the process that was meant to take several months is still evolving more than a year later.

“The biggest issue for us has been getting this new leadership going. It has been a tough transition, and what we thought was going to be a six- or nine-month project is still being worked on years later. … Otherwise the program is strong and getting stronger,” said Program Director Dr. Colin Kopes-Kerr.

The residency program received more than 500 applications for the new class, and about 115 from across the nation were interviewed to select the 12 members. The exiting class will graduate this month, and of the 12, at least three will stay in Sonoma County.

The new residents include: Jennifer Fish graduated from the University of Minnesota Medical School. Prior to coming the Santa Rosa, she participated in a nine-month rural health care program.

Texas- and Long Island-native Christoph Gelsdorf received his medical degree from UCSF but spent time previously working as a management consultant and EMT. He has volunteered with several community and natural disaster recovery projects in Burma and surrounding regions.

University of Massachusetts Medical School graduate Ellen Green plans to spend her career working with the medically underserved. She spent one summer providing care with a health outreach nurse in rural Costa Rica and has worked in several federally qualified health centers.

Kari Harris was born and spent her life in Northern California before attending U.C. Davis, U.C. San Diego and earning her medical degree from the University of San Diego School of Medicine.

Harvard Medical School graduate Colleen Harrison earned her bachelor’s in international affairs from the University of Colorado and spent much of her life traveling for work. She taught sports in South Africa and prepared her thesis in Argentina. She is a National Health Service Corps Scholar, and she is fluent in Spanish.

Jessica Less earned her medical degree from Stanford University and has experience in health-related work in Nicaragua, Uganda and England.

Los Angeles-native and UCSF graduate Joanna Mandell was a medical clinics staffer in East Timor, studied specialized medicine in India and worked on her thesis in Brazil previous to joining the local residency.

Before graduating from the University of Vermont College of Medicine, Michelle Mertz “found herself delivering babies in her bare feet in Thailand” and performing “exams at 13,000 feet in the Himalayas.” She completed a two-year OB/GYN residency at Brown and is certified in acupuncture.

Katie Noyes graduated from Dartmouth Medical School and received her bachelor’s from Stanford. She spent time as a teacher in Kenya and as a back roads guide in national parks.

Kristina Sowar earned her medical degree form the University of Colorado School of Medicine, where she launched an alternative medicine student interest group and was elected wellness representative for her class.

Kamin VanGuilder attended the University of Nevada School of Medicine and worked many years as a medical assistant.

Jimmy Wu graduated from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and hopes to pursue integrative medicine and traditional Chinese medicine.

•••

Submit items for this column to D. Ashley Furness at afurness@busjrnl.com, 707-521-4257 or fax 707-521-5292.