HISTORY

The Fitchburg Family Medicine Residency was founded in 1978 by Robert Babineau, Sr., MD,
who returned to Fitchburg after the Korean War and opened his practice in 1952. Dr. Babineau
was one of the first Board certified family physicians in northern Massachusetts, eventually
forming a group of four physicians who were at the core of a clinically and politically active
Department of Family Medicine at Burbank Hospital in Fitchburg, MA. By the late 70's, the FP
Department of Burbank Hospital committed itself to FM residency training to share their vision of
full-service Family Medicine, including obstetrics and intensive care, based on values of
continuity of care and the importance of community.

The Fitchburg Family Medicine Residency today remains rooted in those original values. Since
the founding of the Residency, its partnership with the Department of Family Medicine and
Community Health at the University of Massachusetts Medical School has been an ongoing
source of academic and intellectual support. Service to the community has always been central
to our mission, as shown by the fact that the residency is the mainstay of care for the
underserved, houses the only local HIV/AIDS services, provides the only co-located, fully
integrated provision of primary care medicine and primary care psychology, serves as the
physician for the Fitchburg Public Schools, and now is the sole provider of medical services for
the community health center in Fitchburg.

FFMR's mission of service is consistent with its mission of educating residents. The support of
the Department of Family Medicine at Health Alliance Hospitals and the close working
relationship with intensivists, obstetricians, psychiatrists, surgeons,and pediatricians at Health
Alliance are the bedrock of the teaching program. As the only residents in the hospital during
PGY 2 and 3, residents develop close consulting relationships with most of the hospital's
physicians.

The FFMR model assures a quality learning experience. The first year provides the intensive
experience and supervision of an academic medical center; the second and third years provide
the freedom and the responsibility of community hospital training with adequate elective time for
training opportunities in Boston and Worcester. One hundred percent of Fitchburg graduates
have passed the American Board of Family Practice Certifying Examination on the first attempt.
The majority of graduates have remained in New England, with 15 of the 22 family doctors on
the Health Alliance staff being former residents,faculty, or both.

We at Fitchburg Family Medicine Residency proudly invite you to visit and gauge the quality of
education and quality of life this long-established program provides.