CONTACT: media@bannerhealth.com
GREELEY, Colo. (June 18, 2020) – A graduate of North Colorado Family Residency Program (NCFM), nationally recognized as one of the top family medicine residency training programs, recently received top honors with a Bush Fellowship. Meghan Curry O’Connell, MD, was selected as one of 24 Bush Fellows, a group of visionary leaders who are provided funding to help shape and improve their communities.
A resident physician at NCFM from 2011 to 2013, Dr. O’Connell said she spent her outpatient time working at Sunrise Community Health Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center, the perfect place to learn community medicine.
“I loved residency and my time in Greeley. Sunrise really prepared me to work with underserved communities,” Dr. O’Connell said. “Ultimately what I care about is making people healthier and there’s a lot of different ways to do that as a physician.”
“Dr. O’Connell typifies the majority of our resident physicians with her passion for social equity and desire to be of great service to mankind,” said Dr. David Smith, NCFM program director.
Dr. O’Connell said she will use her fellowship funds to transform healthcare in her home state of South Dakota by developing leadership skills, meeting with stakeholders and learning more about the policy and business side of healthcare by enrolling for an Executive Master of Public Administration at the University of South Dakota.
The Bush Fellowship is open to anyone 24 years and older who lives in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota or one of the 23 Native nations that share the same geography.
Out of 746 applicants, 24 were selected, receiving $100,000 over 12 to 24 months to pursue formal and informal learning experiences that help them develop the skills, attributes and relationships they need to become more effective, equitable leaders who can drive change in their communities and the region as a whole.
NCFM offers three-year programs, providing resident physician residents one of the broadest ranges of procedure training found in the U.S. with learning opportunities in hospitals and clinics that provide care to underserved and rural patients, among others.
About North Colorado Medical Center
North Colorado Medical Center is a fully accredited, private, nonprofit facility licensed in Greeley, Colorado, owned by Banner Health, a nonprofit healthcare system with 28 hospitals in six states. It serves as a regional medical center offering a comprehensive scope of community-based and specialty healthcare services for an area including southern Wyoming, western Nebraska, western Kansas and northeastern Colorado. It offers Emergency care, cancer care, heart care, orthopedics, inpatient and outpatient surgery, neonatal intensive care, obstetrics, pediatrics, rehabilitation, intensive care, lab and medical imaging, medical air transport and the Western States Burn Center. For more information, visit www.BannerHealth.com/NCMC.