Our History

The Yakima Family Medicine Residency Program (now known as CWFMR) opened with a complement of eight residents in 1975 with Dr. Corpron, MD as its director; Dr. Corpron continued to be a vital presence in the community until his passing on January 3, 2021. Several of the graduates from that original program continue to practice family medicine today, in his original clinic, Family Medicine of Yakima. Yakima Family Medicine Residency Program was closed in 1984 during the recession, when folks just stopped going to the doctor, and reopened in 1993 as the Central Washington Family Medicine Residency Program (CWFMR) with a total of thirteen residents. We continued to evolve and increased our complement to eight residents/year in 2007. Our program currently comprises a complement of twelve residents/year.  In 2003 we converted from a hospital owned program, to a residency owned and operated by a community health center and in the fall of 2009 our FQHC became our institutional sponsor. Our history of successful medical education provides the foundation for our growth and innovation as we continue to train talented family medicine doctors through quality education and service.

Our inaugural graduating class consisted of 6 physicians, last June we proudly graduated 10!   As our statistics attest below, our contribution to reducing the size of the physician shortage continues; as we continue to graduate physicians who are providing excellent medical care to thousands of patients!