Magic Valley Residency
South Central Idaho, commonly known as the “Magic Valley” due to the phenomenal growth of crops, is now also “magic” due to the medical community and the extremely broad training offered here. Residents will become a member of the physician team serving the rural community of Jerome while having the benefit of rotations with specialists in the referral community of Twin Falls, located only 15 miles away. The flexibility and adaptation of this program to both the professional and personal needs of the residents is aimed to achieve the balance necessary to create patient oriented, well-prepared, fulfilled family physicians. Our program offers strong training in maternity care and medical/surgical procedures.
The Magic Valley Rural Program began in 2009 and is now graduating two residents per year. Residents will complete their three years of training in Magic Valley (about 120 miles east of Boise). All graduates are successfully board certified and our graduates practice in diverse settings, including rural and international settings. Medical students interested in the Magic Valley RTT program must submit an application through ERAS with details included in the Boise application. Applicants invited to interview for the Magic Valley Rural Program will also be interviewing in Boise at the core residency program.
k hard and play harder. The experience is unopposed, with hands-on training in all aspects of family medicine. A particular interest of mine was the ability to develop my Spanish communication skills, and FMRI supports language development through patient interaction, international medicine rotations and language classes, and a grant to provide individual/group tutoring weekly to those interested.
Luke was born and raised in the heart of the Magic Valley in Jerome, Idaho. At the time; Jerome was a single stoplight, agricultural community with a small critical access hospital staffed entirely by family physicians. His mother being one of them. Growing up watching the impact she had on the small community was the genesis of his interest in rural family medicine. After many summers playing in the mountains and fields, off he went to Boise State University. There, he majored in microbiology and minored in chemistry, although what he really enjoyed was playing tuba in the Blue Thunder Marching Band! While in Boise he trained as an EMT and joined the Idaho Mountain Search and Rescue Unit. This allowed him to blend his love of the wilderness with his love of medicine. After graduation it was off to Peru for five months of medical volunteering. There is a dramatic need for primary care in developing countries and this furthered his resolve to become a family physician. Once back, he headed to Colorado to attend medical school at Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine. There he was selected into a Rural and Wilderness Medicine Honors Program, providing additional training for a practice in rural family medicine. He could not feel more privileged to be attending the Magic Valley Rural Training Track. He is excited to be able to return to the community that helped him get started, and be able to give back. The full scope training offered at the MVRTT will well prepare him for his dream of being a full scope family physician practicing in a small town! When he is not at school he enjoys spending time with his wonderful wife Michelle in the outdoors.
Cherri Bingham
Magic Valley Residency Program Coordinator
Family Medicine Residency of Idaho / St. Luke's
(208) 814-9800
801 Pole Line Road West, Twin Falls, Idaho 83301
709 North Lincoln, Jerome, Idaho, 83338
The Magic Valley and Snake River Plain is a place where you can feel the forces of nature. Kayakers can ride the rapids and easily appreciate what it may have been like to see the Bonneville flood smash through the Snake River Canyon 15, 000 years ago. Twin Falls is situated in the scenic area of South Central Idaho, within a 2 hour drive from famous Sun Valley, Boise, and Pocatello. Twin Falls has a population of 35,000 people with a projected annual growth rate of 1.5%.
Jerome is located about 15 miles north of Twin Falls across the Snake River Canyon. It has a population of about 9600 people—and many more cows than people.
Other tourist attractions nearby include Shoshone Ice Caves, Mammoth Caves, Craters of the Moon National Monument, Balanced Rock, Thousand Springs , and the Sawtooth National Forest Recreational area. World famous Sun Valley, a year-round scenic and recreational resort and ski area, is less than 90 minutes away. Skiers can select from 54 groomed runs, and sixteen high volume chair lifts whisk them 2,300 vertical feet up to Bald Mountain’s 9,200 foot summit. Over 60 international restaurants provide all types of dining and entertainment.
Big game hunting includes antelope, bear, deer, elk, moose, and sheep. Several lakes and rivers, including Salmon Falls Reservoir, Magic Reservoir, Thousand Springs, Billingsly creek, Silver Creek, Copper Basin, and the Snake River, provide popular fishing spots. White water adventure trips, ice skating, camping, hiking, swimming, boating, water skiing, and other recreational opportunities are available at various times of the year. The Middle Fork of the Salmon River in South Central Idaho was rated one of the best white water rafting areas in the United States by the New York Times Travel Section in 1999.