McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University Lake Forest Program

Program Identity & Fit

This is Northwestern's suburban Lake County family medicine program, distinct from its urban Humboldt Park and Delnor sister programs, pairing a 201-bed community hospital base with continuity clinics at Erie HealthReach Waukegan (an FQHC-model site) and Northwestern Medical Group Grayslake, giving residents a split underserved/suburban patient panel under an academic Northwestern umbrella. The curriculum runs on a 6-week, Clinics First longitudinal model with protected Friday "Resident Development" time devoted to health equity, community engagement (including a resident-built school-based health center), scholarly work, and professional development, alongside named tracks such as the Gender Pathway Program, a University of Arizona Integrative Medicine certificate, weekly procedure clinic, and Spanish immersion. Research is structurally embedded (two required resident projects, dedicated scholarly time, department-wide Resident Research Day) but oriented toward local QI, curriculum development, and community health rather than bench science, reflecting a primary-care and community-leadership career orientation. Faculty fellowship training in integrative medicine, bioethics, health policy, and women's health, plus explicit framing of the program as young and still "charting its impact" on Lake County health outcomes, signal a value on residents who want to help build program identity through community-oriented, advocacy-minded generalist practice.