Electives

Doctor high-fiving children after office visit.We recognize that Family Medicine’s breadth can make it challenging for our residents to decide on the future scope of their practice. This is one reason why we offer a wide selection of elective opportunities for residents to pursue their passions and develop new ones. 

Second year residents have two months of elective time and third year residents have three elective months. The total number of electives will increase beginning with the 2023-24 academic year. Elective experiences are available at our core training sites, including the University Hospital and Denver Health specialty departments and Children’s Hospital of Colorado, as well as community hospitals in-state and abroad. 

Some electives offer a focus on specific patient populations, such as clinics tailored for refugees, patients taking Suboxone, or patients with Hepatitis B or C. We even have opportunities for residents to spend time working on health policy at the capitol or advocating alongside community organizations. Some residents create custom electives to                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

best suit their interests, and our program is always developing new educational experiences to support the learning needs of our trainees.

Recent electives include: 

  • Behavioral Health with our Director of Behavioral Health
  • Complementary and Alternative Medicine with the UCHealth Center for Integrative Medicine and other partners
  • Endocrinology at University Hospital
  • Inpatient and Outpatient Geriatrics
  • Obesity and Lifestyle Medicine with one of our Denver Health faculty
  • Refugee Health at Denver Health
  • Health Policy with the University of Colorado’s Farley Health Policy Center
  • Global Medicine at the University of Colorado clinic in Guatemala’s Trifino region
  • Indian Health Services at the Zuni reservation in Arizona