Family Medicine Residency

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Mission Statement:

St. Joseph’s Health is part of Trinity Health, a Catholic national health care system located in Livonia, Michigan. We, St Joseph’s Health and Trinity Health, serve together in the spirit of the Gospel as a compassionate and transforming healing presence within our communities. St. Joseph’s has been an innovative leader in health care since our founding in 1869 as the first hospital open to the public in the city of Syracuse. Offering primary and specialty, an award-winning hospital, and collaboration with community partners, St. Joseph’s Health advances the well-being of the communities we serve through an expanding range of services to ensure our patients achieve optimum long-term health. The role of the residency program and Medical Education is to prepare our graduates to be able to provide excellent medical care to our patients in whatever setting they choose for practice. Residents gain their expertise and career advancement while providing clinical care to a diverse population that is medically, psychosocially and economically challenged.

Program Overview

St. Joseph’s Family Medicine Residency seeks to blend the primary care orientation of a community hospital with the academic and educational resources of a major medical university. Our goal is to produce strong clinicians who are capable of delivering high-quality primary care in any setting — from rural to suburban to inner-city practice locations. Residents experience an excellent balance of ambulatory and inpatient medicine, didactic and clinical experiences, and medical and biopsychosocial patient care. Strong emphasis is placed on population health and supported by a diverse community of patients. The structure of our program and focus on teaching in the system allows for hands-on experience and expedited personal and professional growth.

Procedural Training Joint injections Colposcopy Endometrial biopsy Minor skin surgery Skin Biopsies/Procedures Suturing and Laceration Repair

Flexibility of a Large Program
Resident input in scheduling, sequencing rotations and vacations
Four weeks of vacation permitted each year with weekends free on both sides of the vacation week
Experience in couples’ match
Established maternity and paternity policies consistent with ACGME Guidelines
Away electives permitted and available per ABFM guidelines
Responsiveness to residents’ personal needs

Salary & Benefits

Resident Salary

PGY1: $68,788
PGY2: $73,509
PGY3: $76,643

Benefits

St. Joseph’s Family Medicine Residency offers competitive benefits for its residents.

Four weeks annual paid vacation per year — with weekends on both sides
Professional Liability Insurance: Residents are covered by the hospital’s professional liability insurance while performing duties within the scope of their medical education.
Comprehensive insurance package with three medical plan options, two dental plan options and two vision plan options. You’ll also enjoy a lower deductible, copay and coinsurance when you use St. Joseph’s or Trinity Health facilities and aligned providers. Plus, you will be eligible for basic life and accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) insurance provided by Trinity Health and voluntary (colleague paid) options for supplemental life, supplemental AD&D and dependent life. Residents are eligible for 403B retirement accounts with employer match.
Relocation allowance: PGY1 Residents who have matched and are beginning Residency at St. Joseph’s on July 1 are eligible for up to $1000 in moving expenses (depending on distance of relocation). The resident must be relocating to the Syracuse area and must provide valid receipts. The moving expenses are a taxable expense.
CME stipend to cover expenses such as conferences, study materials, etc.
Access to St. Joseph’s Hospital’s Employee-only Fitness Center (free of charge)
Professional Membership: AAFP Membership is provided for all Family Medicine residents

First Year

Your first year of residency emphasizes the inpatient experience with a wide variety of exposure, from obstetrics to pediatrics, surgery, anesthesia and more. Interns spend one to two half days per week, regardless of rotation, seeing their continuity patients in the Family Medicine Center.

Medicine Teaching Service (IP)	Family Medicine Teaching Service (IP)
Night Float (IP)	Family Medicine Center
Elective	GYN/Women’s Health
Obstetrics (IP) x2	Nursery
Ambulatory Pediatrics	Surgery
Inpatient Pediatrics	Geriatrics

Second Year

As you move into your second year as a resident you’ll take on more clinical responsibilities and continue to enhance your decision-making skills. Residents participate in four months of inpatient medicine. During this unique experience, you serve as the primary physician for your patients. You’ll have the opportunity to manage your own inpatient service under the supervision of an attending physician. In addition, you’ll spend another two to three half days per week in the Family Medicine Center.

Medicine Teaching Service (IP) x3	ICU
CNY Family Care/Palliative Care	Behavioral Health
Elective x2	Obstetrics (IP)
Emergency Department	Ambulatory Specialists - Pediatrics
Family Medicine Center

Third Year

During your third year as a resident, you will have a significant role in teaching and supervising junior residents. You are directly responsibility for leading the Medicine Teaching Service and Family Medicine Inpatient Teaching Service. Office efficiency and management are also priorities. Office time increases to four half days per week; however, call is limited. During your third-year, all residents attend weekly conferences to hone job-hunting skills and prepare to transition to life after residency.

Medicine Teaching Service (IP)	Family Medicine Teaching Service (IP)
Night Float (IP)	Cross Coverage (IP)
Elective x3	Family Medicine Center x2
Community Medicine	Dermatology
Pediatric ED	Orthopedics

Educational Areas of Focus

At St. Joseph’s Health Hospital, we offer educational areas of focus. This allows residents to hone their skills in a number of different environments, ranging from Global Health to Obstetrics, preparing them to pursue careers in specific areas of medicine. The mentorship of experienced professionals coupled with hands-on patient care and additional elective coursework allows residents to gain the knowledge and confidence they need to succeed in their respective fields.

Sports Medicine

American Medical Society of Sports Medicine guidance. For further information, please visit: amssm.org

GOALS: To prepare residents with an interest in sports medicine for future career or fellowship. In addition to becoming a well-rounded primary care physician, interested residents will develop an understanding of primary care sports medicine. Residents will exceed core requirements in orthopedics and sports medicine during residency, develop a strong foundation in sports medicine in preparation for their future careers or fellowship, and be able to provide a portfolio demonstrating competencies in Sports Medicine.

Lifestyle Medicine

We’re excited to start implementation of Lifestyle Medicine Residency Curriculum for all PGY1 residents (targeting 2027). Our goal is to start the course for all residents and offer the opportunity for greater focus on Lifestyle Medicine in PGY2 and PGY3. Successful completion of the educational pathway (a combination of didactics and practicum) will qualify you to sit for the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine (ABLM) certification exam.

Hospitalist

Lays the foundation to create an outstanding hospitalist, it also challenges participants to take leadership in projects that improve quality, patient safety, patient experience, high-value care, and hospital efficiency. The experience includes:

Three months of inpatient medicine in the first year, four months in the second year, and three months in the third year
Additional electives in palliative care, ICU medicine, and various internal medicine specialties

Women's Health

Curriculum and coursework include:

A selection of additional electives:
- Colposcopy experience: Become proficient in colposcopy, culminating in readiness to take the colposcopy exam and become certified
- Experience with the residency faculty working in an office with GYN-consult patients to further enhance skills in women's health issues
Opportunities for teaching GYN skills and lectures, as well as opportunities for writing during the year
Flexibility to pursue individual interests

Opportunities

In addition to the benefits of being in a community hospital, St. Joseph's residents and faculty are also affiliated with the Department of Family Medicine at SUNY Upstate Medical University. This relationship allows ample opportunity to serve as clinical faculty for second-, third-, and fourth-year medical students, as well as participate in active research.

Acting Internship in Family Medicine

This elective is open to all fourth-year medical students, from SUNY Upstate, Ross University, St. George’s University and other medical schools. The goal is to experience what Family Medicine Residency is all about by participating as a team member of the Family Medicine Inpatient Teaching Service. The acting intern functions as a PGY1.

Practice of Medicine

This is the first-year medical student course at SUNY Upstate that provides the foundation for history taking, physical exam and differential diagnosis skills. Third-year family medicine residents have the opportunity to hone their teaching ability by working with faculty to instruct medical students in this setting.

Family Medicine Student Organization (FMSO)

Faculty serve as advisors to the FMSO at SUNY Upstate, and family medicine residents organize and run medical student workshops (e.g., casting clinic, joint injection clinic, GYN procedures clinic).

Welcome from the Program Director

Welcome to St. Joseph’s Family Medicine Residency Program!

Choosing a residency is about much more than choosing where you will work for the next three years. It is about finding the people who will teach you, challenge you, support you, and help shape the physician you will become. At St. Joseph’s, you will find a program with deep roots in Family Medicine, dedicated faculty, an extraordinary and diverse patient population, and a genuine commitment to the community we serve.

For nearly 60 years, St. Joseph’s has been training family physicians to care for patients, families, and communities. As one of the founding 6 Family Medicine residency programs in the country, we are proud of our history and of the important, well-respected role Family Medicine plays throughout our hospital. That history matters. Family Medicine is deeply rooted in our institution and is well respected throughout the hospital.

Our residents train in an environment where the role of the family physician is understood, valued, and supported. We are a community-based program, and our patients are at the heart of everything we do. They come from all over the world and bring a remarkable diversity of cultures, experiences, and perspectives to our practice. Many of our patients come from underserved communities and entrust us with caring for complex medical and social needs. They are some of our residents' greatest teachers.

One of the things I find most exciting about Family Medicine is the tremendous variety of careers available after residency. A strength of our program is the breadth of training and opportunities available to our residents. Our graduates are prepared for many different careers. They become outpatient family physicians and hospitalists, pursue fellowship training, and incorporate obstetrics into their practices. Because we are a large program with faculty who have diverse interests and areas of expertise, residents can find mentors who will support them as they explore their interests and shape their own career paths.

Our goal is not to create one type of family physician. Our goal is to help you become the family physician you want to be. As the new Program Director, I feel fortunate to lead a program with such deep roots in Family Medicine. I am excited to build upon almost six decades of tradition while continuing to look for ways to grow, innovate, and respond to the needs of our residents and our community.

We truly believe our residents can make a difference in our community and beyond, and we encourage them to turn their ideas into action.

If you are looking for rigorous, broad-based training in a supportive environment where you can serve an incredible community and discover your own path within Family Medicine, I hope you will take a closer look at St. Joseph’s. We would be delighted to have you join us.

Warmly,
Elizabeth K. McNany, MD
Program Director
St. Joseph’s Family Medicine Residency Program

Family Medicine Center

More than 4,000 families in Syracuse and surrounding communities receive their health care — newborn to geriatrics and all that comes between — from the residents at the Family Medicine Center. Through the Family Medicine Center experience, our program is committed to the dual mission of providing patients with professional, high-quality care and as well as our house staff with an exceptional learning experience. Each resident is assigned a panel of patients to follow throughout the three years, providing continuity of care to these individuals and families.

The Family Medicine Center is located on the St. Joseph’s Health Hospital campus — a convenient location for residents. It is an elite Level 3 NCQA patient-centered medical home that emphasizes care coordination and communication to transform primary care into a patient-centered experience.

At St. Joseph’s Family Medicine Center, a large emphasis is placed on the importance of population health. With a geographically diverse, refugee-rich community, residents are exposed to a number of different health outcomes, as well as a calculated approach to care that aims to address and influence these outcomes from a biopsychosocial perspective.

Multidisciplinary Approach

The FMC has multiple different disciplines providing patient care and resident education
Full-time social worker to help with non-medical needs
Full-time faculty member who provides both education and behavioral health services
Full-time Pharmacist and Pharmacy Tech available for medication reviews and consultations for residents

Osteopathic Medicine

The OMT Clinic allows osteopathic physicians to build on their training from medical school, and exposes allopathically trained (MD) physicians to this type of treatment
Two Osteopathic physicians on faculty
The OMT clinic is conveniently located within the Family Medicine Center

Technology

The Family Medicine Center is constantly streamlining its care through the use and implementation of technology including POCUS and dermoscopy.
EMR: St. Joseph’s Health uses EPIC Electronic Medical Records to streamline care, reduce errors and better communicate patient information between ambulatory and inpatient facilities.

Faculty

The St. Joseph’s Family Medicine Residency program offers a diverse and well-trained faculty. In addition, all members have private practices, 7 of whom practice obstetrics.

Because each member of the family medicine residency has an area of expertise, the family medicine residency is able to create a robust training environment for its residents. Adjunct faculty members from both the community and Upstate Medical University further strengthen that environment by lending their time and experience to precepting residents in the Family Medicine Center.

All faculty members are board certified in family medicine, and many serve on hospital committees and/or participate in state and national family medicine professional associations.

Elizabeth McNany, M.D.

Residency Program Director
Medical School: SUNY Upstate Medical University
Residency: St. Joseph’s Health Hospital Family Medicine Residency
Special Interests: Preventative Medicine, Curriculum Development, Pediatrics

Kyle Alpha, M.D., Ph.D.

Medical School: SUNY Upstate Medical University
Residency: St. Joseph’s Health Hospital Family Medicine Residency

Melissa Arthur, Ph.D., LMFT

Director of Behavioral Science
Graduate Education: Syracuse University, Ph.D., M.S.W and M.A. in Marriage and Family Therapy
Special Interests: Integration of biopsychosocial model

Dawn Brink-Cymerman, M.D.

Associate Program Director
Medical School: Ross University
Residency: St. Joseph’s Health Hospital Family Medicine Residency
Special Interests: Rural medicine, developmental pediatrics

Meghna Cheruvatath, M.D.

Medical School: Ross University
Residency: St. Joseph’s Health Hospital Family Medicine Residency
Special Interests: Full scope Family Medicine, Preventative Care, and Teaching

DeAnn Cummings, M.D.

Medical School: SUNY Upstate Medical University
Residency: St. Joseph’s Health Hospital Family Medicine Residency
Special Interests: Hospitalist medicine, patient education

Gerry Edwards, M.D.

Medical School: SUNY Upstate Medical University
Residency: St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Family Medicine Residency
Special Interests: Integrative medicine, preventive medicine, orthopedics, patient education, information technology in health care

Gregory Faughnan, M.D. , FAAFP

Medical School: SUNY Upstate Medical University
Residency: St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center
Special Interests: Inpatient medicine, POCUS, Heart Failure

Sara-Ann Fox, M.D.

Medical School: SUNY Upstate Medical University
Residency: St. Joseph’s Health Hospital Family Medicine Residency
Special Interests: Medical education, preventive health and community oriented primary care

Mary Geiss, D.O.

Medical School: Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine
Residency: St. Joseph’s Health Hospital Family Medicine Residency
Special Interests: OMM, Integrative Medicine, Women’s Health

Roshan Ghimire, M.D., FAAFP

Medical School: Institute of Medicine at Tribhuvan University in Nepal
Residency: Altru Family Medicine
Special Interests: Full Spectrum Family Medicine (including operative obstetrics), Women’s Health, Office Procedures

Marilyn Glauber, M.D.

Medical School: New York Medical College
Residency: Loyola University Medical Center, Chicago
Special Interests: Hospital Medicine

Madison Healey, M.D.

Medical School: Ross University School of Medicine
Residency: St. Joseph’s Health Hospital Family Medicine Residency
Special Interests: Menopause, Curriculum Development

Maryam Hemmat Hamrah, M.D.

Medical School: Saba University
Residency: St. Joseph’s Health Hospital Family Medicine Residency
Special Interests: Preventative Medicine, Women’s Health, Teaching Residents

Lynne Humphrey, M.D.

Medical School: SUNY Upstate Medical Center
Residency: St. Joseph’s Health Hospital Family Medicine Residency
Special Interests: Geriatric medicine

Nathaniel Kaufman, M.D.

Medical School: SUNY Upstate Medical University
Residency: St. Joseph’s Health Hospital Family Medicine Residency
Special Interests: POCUS, Curriculum Development, Full Scope Family Medicine

Michael Kernan, M.D.

Medical School: Universidad de Navarra (Pamplona, Spain)
Residency: St. Joseph’s Health Hospital Family Medicine Residency
Special Interests: Sports medicine, adolescent medicine

Brian Kline, M.D.

Medical School: SUNY Upstate Medical University
Residency: St. Joseph’s Health Hospital Family Medicine Residency
Special Interests: Hospital medicine, rural medicine

Chris LaBounty, M.D.

Medical School: SUNY Upstate Medical University
Residency: University of Rochester
Special Interests: Teaching internal medicine

Vanessa Lalley-Demong, D.O.

Medical School: Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine
Residency: St. Joseph’s Health Hospital Family Medicine Residency
Special Interests: Osteopathic manipulation and sports medicine

Gerald McMahon, M.D.

Medical School: SUNY Upstate Medical University
Residency: University of Michigan Hospitals (Ann Arbor, MI)
Special Interests: Hospitalist medicine

Kristen McNamara, M.D. , FAAFP

Medical School: Albany Medical College
Residency: St. Joseph’s Health Hospital Family Medicine Residency
Special Interests: Women’s health, adolescent medicine

John O’Brien, M.D.

Medical School: SUNY Upstate Medical University
Residency: St. Joseph’s Health Hospital Family Medicine Residency
Special Interests: Preventive medicine and adolescent medicine

Matthew Picone, M.D., M.S.E.d.

Transitional Year Program Director
Medical School: New York Medical College
Residency: St. Joseph’s Health Hospital Family Medicine Residency
Special Interests: Graduate medical education, medical student clinical skills development

Mary Pinkes, M.D.

Medical School: SUNY Upstate Medical University
Residency: St. Joseph’s Health Hospital Family Medicine Residency
Special Interests: OB, Mental Health

Ryan Planer, M.D., M.P.H.

Medical School: Drexel University
Residency: St. Joseph’s Health Family Medicine Residency
Special Interests: Full scope, office procedures, healthcare administration