About Medical Residencies, Fellowships, and Training at VMFH

Graduate Medical Education has deep roots at Virginia Mason Franciscan Health. Shortly after our founding in 1920 we welcomed our first residents and later graduated our first class of two in 1925. Since that time, we have continued training physicians and have expanded to nine ACGME accredited programs and multiple fellowships throughout the health care system.

Learning and education are embedded in the culture at Virginia Mason Franciscan Health. Every physician, section, division, and department within our organization is committed to continuous learning.

In 2002, Virginia Mason adopted an improvement methodology fashioned after the Toyota Production System, which we call the Virginia Mason Production System (VMPS). Innovation, education, idea sharing, quality, and value are the fundamental tenets that the system relies on.

Why is this important? Research has shown that the practice patterns physicians learn in residency, with respect to quality and value, are detectable even 10 years after graduation. By learning to practice medicine in this environment, you will become an innovative physician, providing high quality care consistently to your patients. Our vision at Virginia Mason Franciscan Health is to be the quality leader and to transform health care. The GME program allows us to further this transformation through residents like you.

Following your training, we are confident that you will leave Virginia Mason Franciscan Health not only as a competent physician in your chosen field, but also as a leader, with tools and training ready to transform wherever you choose to practice.

Thank you for your interest in our programs. We hope you will join us for your training.