Students in patient room watching presentation with anatomic model.

Graduate medical education in family medicine at Mayo Clinic

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Overview

The Family Medicine Residency at Mayo Clinic in La Crosse, Wisconsin, strives to give residents the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for future practice, not only in small communities, but also for successful practice in an ever-changing medical environment. To achieve this, our outstanding residency-trained faculty members work closely with a highly motivated team of physicians, nurses, psychologists, and others, each committed to training competent, caring family physicians.

Residents learn to focus on patients' individual needs and care for the whole person in the context of family and community. Throughout the entire curriculum, there is a focus on the concept of family systems and the biopsychosocial model is the cornerstone.

The provision of high quality medical care in the outpatient setting is of great importance and training in the clinic is an integral part of the program. Prevention and wellness are emphasized. This approach, presented in a supportive and nurturing environment, results in highly skilled, compassionate, caring physicians ready to meet the healthcare needs of our complex society. Our graduates are actively recruited, both regionally and nationally, and our program has a national reputation as a good place to learn family medicine.

The future of family medicine

In a word: "bright." Health care reform has highlighted the need for more family medicine physicians and their importance in the rapidly changing health care environment. The demand for family medicine physicians around the country has skyrocketed, and you will have multiple opportunities for a great position when you complete your training with us. People know that if you trained in a Mayo Clinic program, you are well trained, and ready to begin the next phase of your life, making a positive contribution to the world of family medicine.

Overview of the Family Medicine Residency in La Crosse, Wisconsin

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Overview of the Family Medicine Residency in La Crosse, Wisconsin

Family medicine resident meets with a patient in the clinic

Your training experience

As a resident at Mayo Clinic in La Crosse, you'll have access to robust clinical and educational resources. You'll find support both inside and outside of the campus to promote physical and mental wellness and ensure your work/life balance.

More about the curriculum

More about life as a resident

John Merfeld, M.D. Program Director

Director's welcome

Welcome to the Mayo Clinic Family Medicine Residency Program in La Crosse. We are celebrating 48 years of training competent, caring family physicians. I invite you to come and visit to see for yourself.

More from the program director

Frequently asked questions

Are you doing in person or virtual residency interviews this year?

For the 2024-2025 interview season, we will be conducting both in-person and virtual interviews! We understand the complexity of traveling for interviews but also want to offer the option to connect in person.

Do you offer second-look visits?

If you interview in-person, a second look is not offered. If you interview virtually and would like to check us out in person to help, make your decisions, we do offer no-stakes campus visits. The visits take place after our rank list is submitted to ensure that an applicant’s decision to attend or not cannot affect our rank decisions.

Do you offer clinical rotations for medical students?

Yes! We love working with students and offer rotations with our inpatient family medicine teaching service and the family medicine residency clinic. There are two options to request a rotation with us here in the Family Medicine Residency at Mayo Clinic in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

  1. Current medical students can apply for 4th year clerkship rotations directly via the AAMC Visiting Student Learning Opportunities (VSLO) portal. Check out the Mayo Clinic's Visiting Medical Student Clerkship website (https://college.mayo.edu/academics/visiting-medical-student-clerkships) for admissions and application information, including information on Diversity Scholarships (https://college.mayo.edu/academics/visiting-medical-student-clerkships/scholarships).
  2. If you do not qualify for the VSLO clerkship as outlined above, students can also request a rotation with us through this Clinical Experience Request Form 

Note: While filling out this online form, under "PREFERRED MAYO CLINIC HEALTH SYSTEM LOCATION", mark "Southwest Wisconsin", then "La Crosse", then "Family Medicine Residency".

Accreditation

The Family Medicine Residency at Mayo Clinic in La Crosse, Wisconsin, was initially accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) in 1976, and currently maintains full accreditation. The program has received a five-year accreditation (which is the maximum time allowed) each of the past four reviews. The five-year accreditation is given only to those programs demonstrating excellence in graduate medical education.

Doctor examining patient with onlooker.