News

Palmdale Regional Medical Center’s established Family Medicine Residency Program that began July 1, 2023, is welcoming the next group of eight Family Medicine residents to the program – the class of 2028. In addition, the hospital is proud to welcome the first Internal Medicine residents to the program which includes 12 residents. These additions will bring the total number of residents in the facility to 36.

The hospital partners with community organizations and agencies to ensure the provision of a wide spectrum of services and curricula that are designed to provide the residents with diverse learning experiences to hone their knowledge, skills and attitude. This will prepare them for independent practice of medicine.

The Family Medicine program, led by Program Director Romeo C. Castillo, MD, continues to train residents who value professionalism, excellence, compassion, dedication and hard work, and are receptive to the concept of whole-person care. “The PRMC Family Medicine residency training program is now in its third year,” said Dr. Castillo. “A new batch of first-year residents who complete the 24 ACGME-approved resident positions will start training this July. We look forward to continuing to provide excellent training, preparing them for independent practice of medicine so they can provide compassionate and comprehensive care to the communities they will serve. We are also very excited to look forward to the first cohort of graduates in 2026.”

“The Family Medicine Residency Program is in its third year and moving along admirably,” said Nana Deeb, Chief Executive Officer. “We are now adding 12 new Internal Medicine residents to the hospital team to continue the expansion of the residency program. We can already see the benefits that these programs are adding to the hospital, the community and the healthcare footprint in the Antelope Valley. Our goal is always with our patients in mind – to build a reputable, expanding and patient-focused healthcare facility that looks to the future to offer advanced technology and quality patient care.”

Family Medicine Residency Program 

The mission of Palmdale Regional’s Family Medicine Residency Program is to develop family medicine physicians as primary care specialists who will provide high-quality, compassionate, holistic and family-centered care to a diverse patient population with various needs and backgrounds.

The goal of the program is to offer post-graduate residency training in Family Medicine for three years in length, complying with the guidelines and requirement of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). Residents will be provided with educational and learning experiences within the framework of the six core competencies to meet all the requirements for specialty board certification and with the ultimate goal of safe independent practice of Family Medicine as a specialty.

Our program seeks to achieve these educational goals:

1. To develop family medicine physicians who possess the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes to provide holistic, comprehensive, culturally sensitive patient and family-centered care to diverse communities within the Antelope Valley and nearby communities.
2. To train future primary care physicians who are prepared to practice in any setting while providing excellent evidence-based care to various types of populations they will serve by providing a diverse clinical learning experience in a variety of clinical settings.
3. To provide a learning experience that includes a strong foundation in population health management and an understanding of social determinants of health with the goal of improving clinical outcomes in cost-effective care.
4. To provide training where the concept of adaptive learning and flexibility for individual learning is given high consideration by supporting residents’ areas of interest.
5. To provide training that promotes and emphasizes personal growth, the culture of lifelong learning and well-being that will lead to a long fulfilling career in primary care by equipping residents with the tools to enhance their educational experience and skills to maintain and sustain wellness and effective work-life balance.
6. To provide a learning experience that fosters teamwork and strong inter-professional collaboration by providing a learning environment that promotes respect and collegiality.
7. To provide training that incorporates a culture of inquiry, the environment of scholarship, and performance improvement by strengthening faculty role modeling and providing innovative pedagogical methods.

Internal Medicine Residency Program 

The mission of Palmdale Regional’s Internal Medicine Residency Program is to create a safe and healthy clinical learning environment that allows for the development of internal medicine physicians who trust their skills and excel in patient care that is consistently equitable, effective, patient-centered, timely and efficient.

The educational program was developed to create balance between inpatient and outpatient rotations, continuity clinic, didactics and scholarly activity to allow the optimal development of each resident’s clinical skills, medical knowledge and professional identity. The program structure is based on a 4+2 design that separates inpatient and outpatient patient care responsibilities, allows for better Continuity Clinic training and slows down the pace and intensity of residency training.

Media outlets only are invited to attend our ‘White Coat Ceremony’ to be held on Friday, June 27, 2025, at 11:30 a.m. in the hospital’s Palm Café. This event is closed to the public.

What is a White Coat Ceremony? White coats represent the trainees’ transition from medical school to residency. The white coats indicate that the trainees have entered a new phase of medical education and symbolize the professionalism that they must embody while providing care to patients and the public.