About Us

From Our Chair, Dr. Jonathan Becker...

Dr. Diane M. Harper, MPH, MS

The Department of Family and Geriatric Medicine has a long history of providing outstanding medical care to the patients in our community and training to medical students, residents, and fellows. The department began service to metro Louisville in 1972 and plans to do so for many years to come.

Educational Mission

The department’s educational mission is to provide high quality undergraduate and postgraduate medical education to students, residents and fellows in family, geriatric, and sports medicine.  The majority of our faculty are involved in all levels of teaching at the school of medicine.  In the first and second year, faculty members work with year medical students in the Introduction to Clinical Medicine course and Interdisciplinary Clinical Cases curriculum.  Each year the department provides clinical rotations in family medicine to all third year medical students in the required clerkship.  In addition, the department provides acting internships and elective rotations in geriatrics and sports medicine for fourth year students interested in family medicine.

The department is directly involved in providing post-graduate training to medical school graduates who pursue residencies in family medicine and fellowships in geriatric medicine and sports medicine.  Our ACGME accredited programs include two family medicine residency programs, the geriatric medicine fellowship, and the sports medicine fellowship.

The Louisville Family Medicine Residency program is home to an 8-8-8 family medicine residency program in an urban setting that provides training at University of Louisville Hospital, Jewish Hospital, Norton Children’s Hospital and with community physicians in specialty practices. This is the largest family medicine training program in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

The Glasgow Family Medicine Residency program is home to a 4-4-4 family medicine residency program in a rural setting that provides training at TJ Samson Hospital in Glasgow, KY and with community physicians in the Glasgow, KY area

The Geriatric Medicine fellowship provides training to two fellows per year focusing on the care of the older patient.  Fellows train in the inpatient settings at University of Louisville Hospital and Jewish Hospital and outpatient training occurs in nursing homes, the VA system, and the Geriatric Medicine practice at our Newburg practice location. 

The Sports Medicine fellowship provides training to two fellows per year focusing on primary care sports medicine and the care of athletes.  Fellows train in the sports medicine practice at our Cardinal Station location, athletic training room for University of Louisville athletics, and a number of community physicians.

Clinical Mission

The clinical mission of the department is to deliver patient centered care with compassion and excellence. Each of our practice sites are certified Patient Centered Medical Home practices for patients from the very young to the very old and those in between.  Additionally, the department has specialized practices where our physicians provide specialty care in Geriatric and Sports Medicine.

The University of Louisville Cardinal Station practice is a training site for our residents. Our dedicated faculty physicians and residents see patients side by side and provide care to all members of the community.

The Center for Primary Care and the University of Louisville Family Medicine Newburg practice are faculty only practices where faculty physicians and nurse practitioners see patients of all ages.

The Geriatric Medicine clinical practice is housed within the University of Louisville Family Medicine Newburg location and concentrates on providing care to older adults and their unique issues.

The Sports Medicine clinical practice is located at in the same facility as the Center for Primary Care and the Cardinal Station practice.  The faculty and fellows in this practice are dedicated to providing care for not just athletes but musculoskeletal care for all parts of our population.

The diverse educational and clinical offerings provided by the Department of Family and Geriatric Medicine make it an ideal place to train in Family Medicine, Geriatric Medicine, and Sports Medicine and receive excellent care by any of our physicians.