2017 Resident and Fellow Commencement

University of Minnesota Family Medicine and Community Health held its annual resident and fellow commencement on Tuesday, June 6, 2017 at the McNamara Alumni Center on the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities campus.




McNamara Alumni Center

This year’s graduating class included:

• 55 family medicine residents from our eight programs

• 1 primary care behavioral health fellow

• 4 hospice and palliative medicine fellows

• 2 human sexuality fellows

• 2 sports medicine fellows

• 15 faculty and fellows who completed Teaching, Evaluation, and Curriculum for Healthcare Professionals, also known as TEACH

• 8 faculty who completed the Collaboration and Scholarship Intensive for Family Medicine (CSI-FM) program

Read tweets from the ceremony using the hashtag #umnfamilymedgrad on Twitter and view photos of all of our graduates on our Facebook.

Resident and Faculty Awards

A number of family medicine graduates and faculty were honored for excellence in teaching, research, and service.



Excellence in Research Award


The Excellence in Research Award was presented to Mankato’s graduating resident M. Aly Terra, DO, for approaching the crucial topic of symptom control for patients with terminal illness non-pharmacologically and non-invasively.


Mankato residency graduate M. Aly Terra, DO

“Completing a research project during residency training is challenging. Completing a research project that is a treatment study is even more difficult. Dr. Terra had the foresight to schedule elective time devoted to research. In doing so, she had a personally rewarding experience that positively impacted the quality of life for the patients she encountered.” – award nominator 

Community Service Award

The Leonard P. Burke, MD, Memorial Award is given to a graduating resident whose family medicine training has resulted in a unique service contribution. This year, the award was given to graduating Methodist resident Alice MacDonald, MBChB, for developing a new way to screen patients for food insecurity and a program that offers cooking classes to eligible patients.

Methodist residency graduate Alice Macdonald, MBChB

“Prior to this, there was no awareness of what food insecurity was, let alone how many of the clinic’s regular, long-term patients were food insecure and how it might be affecting their health and medical care. Beginning in 2015 residents began learning to recognize that bias, and acquiring the tools to screen and address patients’ food insecurity.

Dr. MacDonald’s enthusiasm for addressing this social determinant has been infectious and has continued to help us recruit residents to carry on the quality improvement work associated with it.” – award nominator  

Faculty Awards

This year’s Affiliate Faculty Teacher of the Year, went to, not one affiliated faculty, but a whole group – the University of Minnesota Health Women’s Health Specialists Midwifery group.

The University of Minnesota Health Certified Nurse Midwives

“We have appreciated our partnership with the whole OB/CNM team at Women's Health Specialists, but I am particularly grateful for the resident teaching and patient-care partnership that the midwives have embraced for the past six years.” – award nominator 

This year, department faculty Christopher Reif, MD, MPH, was recognized for his excellence in educating residents, medical students, and other health professionals.

Christopher Reif, MD, MPH, director of clinical services
 of the Community-University Health Care Center

Dr. Reif serves as director of clinical services of the Community-University Health Care Center and is involved in medical student education, co-directing the Urban Community Ambulatory Medicine (UCAM) clerkship and precepting for the Family Medicine Clerkship.

STFM Resident Teacher Award

Nine residents from our eight residency programs received the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM) Resident Teacher Award for demonstrated interest, ability, and commitment to family medicine. Awardees include Duluth residency graduate Megan San Giacomo, MD; Mankato residency graduate M. Aly Terra, DO; Methodist resideny graduate Jared Mell, DO; North Memorial residency graduates Erica Gathje, MD, and Meredith Bourne, MD; St. Cloud residency graduate Jason Huikko, MD; St. John’s residency graduate Anne Kennan, MD; St. Joseph’s residency graduate Charles Vang, MD; and University of Minnesota Medical Center residency graduate Arlene Rillo, MD, RN.

Below are recipients of the Leonard P. Burke, MD, Memorial Award, Excellence in Research Award, and Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM) Awards. STFM awardees are holding the large, framed certificates.

Front row, left to right: Methodist graduate Jared Mell, DO; University of Minnesota Medical Center graduate Arlene Rillo, MD, RN; Leonard P. Burke awardee Alice Macdonald, MBChB, from Methodist; St. John's graduate Anne Keenan, MD; and St. Joseph's graduate Charles Vang, MD.

Back row, left to right: North Memorial graduate Meredith Bourne, MD; Duluth graduate Megan San Giacomo, MD; North Memorial graduate Erica Gathje, MD; Mankato graduate and Excellence in Research awardee M. Aly Terra, DO; and St. Cloud graduate Jason D. Huikko, MD.

Congratulations to all graduates and award recipients!