University of Kansas Wichita-Via Christi Hospitals Wichita Program

Program Identity & Fit

Via Christi is a community-based, unopposed family medicine residency (18 categorical positions per class) sponsored academically by KU School of Medicine-Wichita, serving metropolitan Wichita and rural Kansas with a large-volume, full-spectrum patient base spanning FM, OB, pediatrics and ICU care. The program's defining feature is graduated procedural autonomy from day one, an exceptionally strong operative OB training track (C-sections, operative vaginal deliveries), and dedicated fellowships in Sports Medicine and, distinctively, a one-year International Family Medicine Fellowship built around tropical medicine coursework, rural Kansas locums, and five months at partner mission hospitals abroad. Graduate outcomes show a dominant pipeline into rural and underserved community practice (many FM/OB positions in small Kansas and Midwest towns, FQHCs, Direct Primary Care) alongside a steady, values-driven stream into global/medical-missions work, with a smaller cohort pursuing FM/OB fellowships, sports medicine, or faculty roles. Research is not emphasized; the program instead foregrounds mentorship, character, service orientation, and preparation for broad-scope, low-resource or rural practice over academic scholarship.