Director's Welcome
A letter from Dr. Heather Stearman, Program Director.
Our residency began with a simple need: to train family physicians who are ready to serve rural communities in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. Roseburg is a good place to do it. We are rural, but not isolated. We have a well-equipped regional hospital, a broad range of specialists, and a busy family medicine practice where residents learn to care for patients across the whole life span. Since our founding in 2020, the program has grown alongside its residents, and each new class has helped shape what we are.
Our goal is to prepare you for the family medicine practice that waits for you. The curriculum gives broad clinical experience, and elective time lets you go deeper in procedures, maternity care, hospital medicine or urgent care. Our faculty have a wide range of interests. They share a commitment to our patients, our community, and the physicians who come after them.
A core principle here is that we are all better when we support one another. Residents and faculty learn from each other, celebrate each other's successes, and help each other through hard stretches. We believe support is an active process, not a door that is open if you go looking. Leadership and faculty listen to residents and act on what they hear: new programs, expanded benefits, and thoughtful changes to the way we train.
As a resident here, you will help shape the program and its culture. We are looking for curious, compassionate, hardworking physicians who take their work seriously but do not take themselves too seriously. We value lifelong learners, independent thinkers, and people who want to be part of their community.
If you want excellent training, real relationships, and the chance to make a difference in a rural community, we invite you to join us. We would be glad to welcome you to the RFMR family.
Heather Stearman, MD
Program Director
