Message from Our Program Director
I am so glad you are here to check out the Wake Forest University School of Medicine Family Medicine Residency. As you will find out quickly, this is an amazing place to train.
A little about me: I spent my life in Eastern Europe and did my undergraduate education at Carson Newman University in East Tennessee. I came to Wake Forest University School of Medicine for medical school and was planning on going out west for residency. In fact, the only program I applied to in the South was Wake Forest Family Medicine. However, after interviewing ALL over, I found out just how special and unique a place this is. I ended up staying and met nine of my best friends for life during the next three years of residency. I then completed my OB/Women's Health fellowship at Cone Health and realized that I wanted the privilege of working with some of the best and brightest residents out there in an environment that is full of the great people and experiences that make Wake Forest unique. So here I am and now I get the even greater honor of directing and advocating for 30 unique and incredible residents who make me a greater person, colleague and physician.
Here at Wake Forest Family Medicine, we pay careful attention to keeping your residency full of enough breadth and depth to make you successful family doctors anywhere in the U.S. and in any clinical setting. We work hard to keep your clinic patient panels diverse, clinic experiences varied and exposure to various subspecialists and their services plentiful. Our goal is for you to really experience what community family medicine feels like but in a setting that allows you to tap into all the resources that a tertiary care center provides. As you decide what interests you, there is time set aside for you to explore these interests and develop individual skills as well. We have had residents go to most of the available fellowships in past years and are able to work toward helping you realize your goals, whatever they are.
As you navigate these next three years of residency, we strive to come alongside and support each of you individually as you figure out where your interests and career goals are taking you. You will also have the support of other amazingly talented residents in your class and those classes around you, and they will quickly become your greatest allies and best friends. Thanks for taking the time to check us out and we hope to see you on the interview trail!
From Our Associate Program Directors
Thank you for taking the time to learn about the Wake Forest University School of Medicine Family Medicine Residency. As a graduate of our program, I am excited to share what makes this residency a special place to train. I came to Wake after completing medical school at the Via College of Osteopathic Medicine in Blacksburg, VA and went on to complete a sports medicine fellowship at VCOM-Virginia Tech. When searching for a residency program, I wanted a place that would be both challenging and supportive, have an academic mission but community focus, and prepare me to practice in almost any setting. I found each of these elements woven into the culture of the department, and it is this culture that made me excited to return as a faculty member.
Our program will prepare you to be a well-rounded and outstanding family physician capable of not only practicing in any setting but to serve as leaders in the community. We offer full-spectrum and challenging primary care training that blends the best of academic medicine and community practice. We strive to support our residents and help them reach their personal and professional goals. In addition, we offer unique experiences such as:
- Exposure to point-of-care ultrasound
- Sports medicine coverage
- Elective options in obstetrics and women’s health
- Opportunities to explore integrative medicine
- Training in care that promotes well-being for all communities
- Opportunities for global health
We are proud of our program and invite you to learn more about our team and how you can be a part of the Wake Forest family!
Thank you so much for finding us! My family and I think this is an amazing place to live, train and work- I hope you are able to feel how special this program and community is! I grew up in Michigan (I'll show you where on my hand…) and moved to Virginia to attend the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine- Virginia Campus. I joined Wake Forest Family Medicine in 2013 as a resident. I then stayed on another year as an Academic Fellow, gaining experience in educating all levels of medical learners and completing a Master's Degree in Health Professions Education from Johns Hopkins before joining faculty. My passion lies in developing and implementing novel curriculum for today's medical learners highlighting practical, yet breadth of knowledge required for Family Medicine- so come geek out with me!
What struck me most about Wake when I interviewed for residency, and what still holds true today, is that our residents are kind-hearted, brilliant and have diverse interests. We do not train one particular type of person and that truly makes us collectively stronger. Each year our graduating residents take a variety of positions (outpatient primary care, urgent care, hospital medicine, sports medicine, geriatrics, obstetrics, academic, etc.) in a various settings. Because of the breadth of training offered at our academic tertiary care center, our residents have an abundance of opportunities to gain the knowledge and skills they need to be successful in their careers- whatever that may be! As a program, we honor and appreciate the individual person in their quest to reach their fullest potential and truly care about you as a human being. We would love the opportunity to have a role in your development as a person and professional!
From Our Chiefs
Riley Coon, MD and Alison McDonald, MD
Welcome to Wake Forest Family Medicine! Thank you for your interest in learning more about our program. We feel so lucky to train here and are excited to share with you why we love this place and its people!
We are both Midwest transplants who left our home states for the first time to move to Winston-Salem for residency and we immediately found ourselves at home here. What drew us both to Wake during the interview process was the feeling that everyone here had a real affinity for each other and loved what they do - and boy has this held true! We are fortunate to train alongside colleagues who will be lifelong friends in an incredibly supportive learning environment. Our faculty, many of whom are graduates of our program and have been in our shoes, know us well and genuinely care about our wellbeing both in and out of the workplace.
We feel like we’ve struck the perfect balance between a large academic medical institution and a community-focused family medicine department. In the hospital, we are fortunate to work alongside residents in other specialties in a system that respects and values our perspectives as family docs. One of the most rewarding parts of being at Wake is taking care of complex, high acuity patients alongside our specialist colleagues while forming relationships and friendships with them outside of work, too! In our clinic, we’re focusing on building our outpatient skills and providing care to a diverse patient population that encompasses the diversity of our Winston-Salem community. When not in our resident continuity clinic, you can find us rotating through community sites like our local FQHC, providing sideline coverage for high school, collegiate, and professional sports teams, or participating in a number of other community events ranging from mass pre-participation physicals to North Carolina School of the Arts performances. The diversity and breadth of our training experiences encourages residents to explore our own unique interests and sets us up for success in whatever career we envision for ourselves. The effect of this is evident in our recent graduates going on to work in outpatient settings AND as hospitalists, sports fellows, family medicine obstetricians, and wound care docs, just to name a few!
Winston-Salem is a medium city of ~250,000 people, which, when paired with neighbors Greensboro and High Point, makes for a metropolitan area of over 1,000,000 people! But you’d never guess it, because the cost of living is more than reasonable and traffic is virtually nonexistent. Some of our residents’ favorite activities in the city range from brewery trivia to sand volleyball to farmer’s market mornings.
On a grander scale, North Carolina is home to mountain ranges to the west and beaches to the east, and Winston-Salem sits nearly right in the middle of them. This makes day trips a realistic and accessible option during even busier rotations in residency. We are just 30 minutes from Piedmont Triad International Airport and just over an hour to both Raleigh Durham International and Charlotte International airports. Plus, our vacation days are not limited to week-long vacations at a time which makes long weekends (near or far) all the more plentiful.
We love Wake Forest Family Medicine and hope you will, too! Feel free to email us with any questions you might have or if you’ll be in the area and want to come visit us.
Riley & Ali
We are both Midwest transplants who left our home states for the first time to move to Winston-Salem for residency and we immediately found ourselves at home here. What drew us both to Wake during the interview process was the feeling that everyone here had a real affinity for each other and loved what they do - and boy has this held true! We are fortunate to train alongside colleagues who will be lifelong friends in an incredibly supportive learning environment. Our faculty, many of whom are graduates of our program and have been in our shoes, know us well and genuinely care about our wellbeing both in and out of the workplace.
We feel like we’ve struck the perfect balance between a large academic medical institution and a community-focused family medicine department. In the hospital, we are fortunate to work alongside residents in other specialties in a system that respects and values our perspectives as family docs. One of the most rewarding parts of being at Wake is taking care of complex, high acuity patients alongside our specialist colleagues while forming relationships and friendships with them outside of work, too! In our clinic, we’re focusing on building our outpatient skills and providing care to a diverse patient population that encompasses the diversity of our Winston-Salem community. When not in our resident continuity clinic, you can find us rotating through community sites like our local FQHC, providing sideline coverage for high school, collegiate, and professional sports teams, or participating in a number of other community events ranging from mass pre-participation physicals to North Carolina School of the Arts performances. The diversity and breadth of our training experiences encourages residents to explore our own unique interests and sets us up for success in whatever career we envision for ourselves. The effect of this is evident in our recent graduates going on to work in outpatient settings AND as hospitalists, sports fellows, family medicine obstetricians, and wound care docs, just to name a few!
Winston-Salem is a medium city of ~250,000 people, which, when paired with neighbors Greensboro and High Point, makes for a metropolitan area of over 1,000,000 people! But you’d never guess it, because the cost of living is more than reasonable and traffic is virtually nonexistent. Some of our residents’ favorite activities in the city range from brewery trivia to sand volleyball to farmer’s market mornings.
On a grander scale, North Carolina is home to mountain ranges to the west and beaches to the east, and Winston-Salem sits nearly right in the middle of them. This makes day trips a realistic and accessible option during even busier rotations in residency. We are just 30 minutes from Piedmont Triad International Airport and just over an hour to both Raleigh Durham International and Charlotte International airports. Plus, our vacation days are not limited to week-long vacations at a time which makes long weekends (near or far) all the more plentiful.
We love Wake Forest Family Medicine and hope you will, too! Feel free to email us with any questions you might have or if you’ll be in the area and want to come visit us.
Riley & Ali