About the Program

One of a Kind Training in the Heart of Northern New Mexico

Medicos de El Centro (MDEC) is a three-year family medicine program, that is truly one of a kind in the state of New Mexico. It is located in the beautiful Española valley in Rio Arriba County, an area that is known for its rich multicultural background, its gorgeous sceneries, and for its delicious Northern New Mexican cuisine.

The MDEC Family Medicine Residency is a rural program affiliated El Centro Family Health (ECFH), a Federally Qualified Health Center founded in 1972 in Española, New Mexico.

As a true rural training track program, residents will not only learn the fundamentals of primary care such as chronic Adult Medicine (Diabetes, HTN, COPD), Obstetrics, Pediatric/Adolescent/School Based Health, Psych Medicine (Depression/Anxiety, Substance use Disorder/Buprenorphine training), and Geriatrics, they will learn these fundamentals with a focus on the reality of multicultural rural medicine.

Residents will come to an understanding that the overall health of the patients they serve heavily depends on an interdisciplinary health care team. Residents will be integrated into this diverse team and learn to holistically care for this truly culturally wealthy community.

Our training partners

Presbyterian Health Services

Española, NM

A community hospital serving Northern New Mexico since 1948, this acute care, not-for-profit hospital offers a host of specialities including:

  • Cardiology
  • General Surgery
  • Colon and Rectal Surgery
  • Endocrinology
  • Family Medicine
  • Internal Medicine
  • Orthopedics
  • Pediatrics
  • Podiatry
  • Pulmonology
  • Rehabilitation Services
  • Same Day Care Clinic
  • Sleep Medicine
  • Woman’s Care

Residents will have the opportunity to rotate through most of these specialties as a core rotation or as an elective.

CHRISTUS St. Vincent Regional Medical Center

Santa Fe, NM

Since 1998, CHRISTUS St Vincent Regional Medical Center has been home to the University of New Mexico (UNM) Santa Fe Family Medicine Residency Program, a 1+2 program where residents spend their first year in at UNM in Albuquerque before spending their second and third residency years in Santa Fe. This partnership with CHRISTUS St. Vincent Regional Medical Center with allow MDEC residents to complete the following amount of rotations per residency year:

  • PGY-1 = 3 rotations
  • PGY-2 = 2 rotations
  • PGY-3 = 1 rotation

Additionally, MDEC residents will train alongside the senior residents of the UNM Santa Fe FMRP in collaborative care and management of adult patients on the family medicine adults inpatient service, gaining team building and full scope inpatient learning experience.