UMass Chan to send medical students to Southeastern Mass., Rhode Island for training

PHOTO | Courtesy of UMass Chan Medical School Dr. Ray Kruger of Southcoast Health (left), and Dr. Michael Collins of UMass Chan (right) sign the affiliation agreement between the two entities, while (from left) Dr. Terence Flotte and Dr. Anne Larkin of UMass Chan Medical School and Renee Clark, Dr. Jay Lawrence, and Dr. Dani Hackner of Southcoast Health look on.

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By Isabel Tehan

UMass Chan Medical School has partnered with Southcoast Health to enable students from the Worcester school to complete clinical rotations at the three-hospital community-based system in Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Southcoast Health is expected to have 15 to 20 UMass Chan students participating in clinical rotations at a time, according to a Wednesday press release from the medical school. Rotations will be in ambulatory medicine settings, including primary care, as well as inpatient medicine clerkships.

Southcoast Health joins the medical school’s other major teaching affiliates, which include UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Baystate Health in Springfield, and its March addition of Lahey Hospital and Medical Center in Burlington. Southcoast’s hospitals are all acute-care facilities, with locations in Fall River, New Bedford, Wareham, and Rhode Island.

“We are pleased to be expanding our network of excellent teaching affiliates – a great example of partnerships benefiting everyone and training more physicians for the commonwealth,” UMass Chan Chancellor Dr. Michael Collins said in the press release. “Southcoast Health is the largest provider of primary and secondary care on the South Coast of Massachusetts, making this partnership a fantastic opportunity for our students to experience a fully integrated health system.”

The first round of students began rotations at the Southcoast system in June, according to the press release.