Volansky Discusses Proposed New Family Residency Program in Vermont Public Interview
Melissa Volansky, M.D.’96, Larner clinical assistant professor of family medicine, spoke with Vermont Public about a proposed new family medicine residency program in Vermont. The new program, to be based at health centers in smaller communities, would accommodate 12 family medicine residents, providing about 8,000 primary care appointments per year—and potentially relieving some of the pressure caused by a shortage of primary care physicians in rural areas.
Volansky, chief medical officer of Lamoille Health Partners, has been a family medicine doctor at Lamoille Health Family Medicine in Morrisville for 25 years. She gets the sense that no one is coming to take the place of her colleagues who are retiring. The proposed new family medicine residency program has received academic accreditation for a three-year program to train residents at the clinic and hospital in Morrisville and at Gifford Medical Center in Randolph—but right now it’s short about $4 million over the next four years.
“It’s going to take some investment on the part of the state to get it started,” Volansky said.
If the program does get state funding, residents would arrive next summer, in July of 2026. Then, the long-term plan is to expand the program to other parts of the state, at health centers paired with nearby hospitals in St. Johnsbury, Rutland, Springfield, St. Albans, and surrounding communities.
“We’ll prove the concept,” Volansky said. “Then I think everybody will want one.”