University of North Carolina: Fully Integrated Readiness for Service Training (FIRST)

The FIRST Program is a 3+3+3 program, creating an accelerated and enhanced training connecting the medical training pipeline from three years of medical school to three years of family medicine residency, to three years of practice support following training in a rural/underserved area of North Carolina.

• Students are accepted into medical school through the standard admissions process and are selected for FIRST following the first semester of their first year of medical school.

• Direct progression to select North Carolina Residency Programs in Family Medicine, General Surgery, Pediatrics, and Psychiatry

• 2 students in first cohort, 2 in second, 3 in third, and 4 in the fourth

• 2 students have graduated and are currently in residency

• 130 weeks of curriculum with 8 week summer experience between MS1 and MS2 years

• Continuity clinic experience starting MS1 year and continuing throughout medical school

• Funding support from The Duke Endowment and other private foundation

• Students matched with loan repayment options following residency and helped with placement in rural/underserved areas of the state.

• Recent expansion to other UNC Campuses and residency programs

• Intended expansion to fields of surgery, pediatrics, and psychiatry