University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix-Banner Desert Program

Program Identity & Fit

This is a newly launched (inaugural class June 2025) university-affiliated community-based internal medicine program pairing University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix's academic infrastructure with Banner Desert Medical Center, a nearly 40-year-old tertiary referral hospital serving the East Valley of metropolitan Phoenix. The program is explicitly framed as an expansion into an underserved East Valley region facing physician shortages, with a house-based structure creating smaller longitudinal care teams and a curriculum emphasizing social and structural determinants of health. Research is present but individualized rather than central: all residents complete a scholarly project (QI, case-based, medical education, or clinical research) with faculty mentorship and conference travel support, but there is no evidence of a dedicated research track or physician-scientist pipeline. Career orientation is broad and unformed given the program's newness, explicitly supporting primary care, hospital medicine, subspecialty fellowship, or health-systems/advocacy paths, and the program states it values self-reflective, feedback-driven, team-oriented candidates over a narrow applicant type.