More Information

More About The Program

1. Full ACGME accreditation with maximum cycle length.
2. An NCQA Level 3 Patient Centered Medical Home clinic
3. Robust individual and population health tools supported through Epic, our electronic health record.
4. Two fellowships: a 2-year Master Teacher Fellowship/Masters of Medical Education and a 1-year Reproductive Health fellowship.
5. A P4 (Preparing the Personal Physician for Practice) National Demonstration Site
6. Member of the Harvard Center for Primary Care Academic Innovations Collaborative

History of the Tufts FMR

During the 1950's and 60's the community of Malden, MA had nearly 40 general practitioners, but by 1988 Dr. Sidney Zeitler was one of only two family doctors in Malden as many others had either retired or passed away. It was Dr. Zeitler who first sounded the alarm over the dwindling supply of family physicians in the Malden community and worked with the old Malden Hospital to initiate a program to recruit, train, and place a continued supply of family physicians in the community. As president of the MA Academy of Family Physicians and Chief of the Department of Family Medicine at Malden Hospital, Dr. Zeitler was a motivating force in the development of a Family Practice Residency Program.

In 1989, a report by the MA Executive Office of Human Services concluded that there was a need for more primary care physicians and suggested state funding for new family practice residency programs in Massachusetts. In 1990, the Board of Trustees of the old Malden Hospital voted to establish a family practice residency program.

When Dr. Zeitler passed away in December 1990, there were no family physicians left in Malden. Six months later, on May 20, 1991, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) notified the old Malden Hospital that the residency program had passed the highest level of accreditation, a designation which was repeated in 1995 and 1998.

In November 1992 the residency interviewed its first applicants and later welcomed its first class of residents in July 1993. At this time, the residency was affiliated with Boston University School of Medicine.

In July 1993 The Malden Hospital Family Practice Residents were the first group of family practice residents to ever train in a Boston tertiary medical center (Boston City Hospital, now Boston Medical Center). Malden residents continued to receive five months of rotations in pediatrics and Ob-Gyn at Boston Medical Center for the next six years. In November 1994 Joseph Gravel, MD, joined the program faculty, having been a faculty member at the Fairfax Family Practice Center/Medical College of Virginia FP Residency in Fairfax, VA. In October 1995 Dr. Gravel became Program Director. In July 1996 the family practice residency grew to six residents per year.

An outside consultant from the AAFP was invited by the residency's program director to visit in December 1998. After careful analysis a recommendation was made to expand the program to eight residents. This occurred in July 1999. Tufts' and NEMC's desire to further develop family medicine as an area of academic and clinical excellence led to discussions with the residency program. These discussions culminated in the creation of the Tufts University Family Practice Residency on July 1, 1999.

After an intensive national search, new family practice faculty started work at Tufts' Department of Family Medicine and Community Health in the summer of 1999. The residency welcomed its first eight-member class and two additional second year residents that same summer, coming from medical schools all across the US. Eight months of selected rotations at New England Medical Center and NEMC's Boston Floating Hospital for Children were developed to complement training received in the community setting.

In 2001, Hallmark Health sold the nearby Whidden Memorial Hospital to Cambridge Health Alliance, a regional community health system with a national reputation for its community and academic mission. Based on this national reputation in August 2006, Tufts University Family Medicine Residency requested, and Hallmark Health agreed, to transfer the Family Medicine residency program to Cambridge Health Alliance. In September 2006, the program was re-accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) after a successful site visit during the previous summer. The nationally-known Tufts University Family Medicine Residency thus joined forces with this regional community health system to offer the best in family medicine training and innovative patient care.

Population Served

Our practice serves Malden, an exceptionally diverse community in which more than 27 native languages are spoken. 

Location/Community

Malden, North Metro-Boston (on the Orange line of MBTA)

A Brief History of Malden 

When John Endicott landed in Salem (Naumkeag) in 1628 he started a small colony focused on agriculture and the Bible. Two years later John Winthrop arrived in Salem with over 1,500 Puritans fleeing persecution in England. Moving south through the area of the Mystic and Charles Rivers, Winthrop, after a brief stay in Charlestown, moved on to found Shawmut, later to be known as Boston.

After and exploratory expedition through Middlesex Falls and Spots Pond, Governor Winthrop asked the General Court to establish an area north of Charlestown to be known as "Mystic Side", for the use of the Charlestown Residents. By 1649 there were enough inhabitants of that area that by agreement of the inhabitants of Charlestown and with the consent of the General Court in Boston a separate town, later known as Malden was established.

By 1887 the town of Malden had grown to a substantial center of 19th Century mercantile activity such as Elisha Slade Converse's Boston Rubber Shoe Company, one of the largest businesses of its kind in the United States. On January 31, 1877 Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated the practicality of the box telephone with a call from the home of Mayor Converse in Malden to the Boston branch of his shoe company on Converse Street.

Today Malden is a city of some 53,000 residents. In addition to some tenacious Yankees there are "established" communities of Italian, Jewish and Irish descendants. Moreover Malden now has many newly-established ethnic communities including persons of Chinese, Vietnamese, Central American, Caribbean, Haitian, North African, and Russo-Slavic origins, to name a few. All of these groups contribute to the vitality of the City of Malden. In Malden High School there are 45 different languages and students practicing 15-20 different religions. Moreover with the establishment of Telecom City, a joint venture with Medford and Everett to establish a enterprise zone for high-technology research3and development, Malden is in an ideal position for the 21st century.

Learn More

Malden, from Primitive Past to Progressive Present
Ruth Kimball Randall
Published 1975 by the Malden Historical Society by Phoenix Publishing, Caanan, New Hampshire
Library of Congress Catalog Number 74-30896
ISBN 0-914016-15-6

The History of Malden, Massachusetts 1633-1785
Deloraine Pendre Corey
Originally Published 1899
Facsimile Reprint 1992 by Heritage Books, Bowie, Maryland
SBN 1-55613-562-9

Local Websites

Official Website of the City of Malden
Official Website of the City of Boston
Boston.com
Your Town Malden
Malden Public Library

Where is Malden Anyway?

6 miles north of downtown Boston.

To our North

Massachusetts: Salem 13 miles, Gloucester 28 miles, Rockport 33 miles
New Hampshire: Salem 29 miles, Nashua 39 miles, Concord 65 miles, Lebanon (Dartmouth) 120 miles, Lake Winnipesauke 100 miles, White Mountains 120 miles
Maine: Portland 96 miles, Kittery 80 miles, Caribou 346 miles.
Vermont: Ben & Jerry's 180 miles
Canada: Montreal, Quebec Province 246 miles
North Pole: 3290 miles

To our South

Boston/Cambridge area:
Cambridge Hospital: 4 miles
Somerville Campus: 4 miles
Tufts Univ. School of Medicine/New England Medical Center: 6 miles
Harvard Medical School/Longwood Medical Area (Brigham & Women's, Beth Israel-Deaconess, Boston Children's Hospital): 8 miles
Massachusetts General Hospital, Mass. Eye & Ear Infirmary: 6 miles
BU Medical School/Boston Medical Center: 7 miles
North End (Italian), Old North Church, Fleet Center, Faneuil Hall, New England Aquarium, Museum of Science, Imax Theater, Boston Harbor: 5-6 miles
Bunker Hill/USS Constitution: 5 miles
Copley Plaza/Newbury Street/Boston Public Garden/Theatre District: 6-7 miles
Museum of Fine Arts 8 miles

Further afield

Foxboro Stadium (home of NE Patriots) 40 miles
Plymouth Rock 30 miles
Cape Cod 50 miles
Providence RI 50 miles
Miami 1520 miles
South Pole 9161 miles

To our West

Tufts College 3 miles
Harvard University/ Harvard Square 5 miles
MIT 5 miles
Lexington/Concord 8-10 miles
Walden Pond 15 miles

A bit further afield

Hartford, CT: 96 miles
New York City: 198 miles
Los Angeles: 3020 miles
Honolulu: 5082 miles
Beijing, China: 6759 miles

To our East

CHA Everett Hospital: 2 miles
Logan Airport: 7 miles
The Atlantic Ocean: 7 miles

A bit further afield

London: 3276 miles
Paris: 3437 miles
Moscow: 4490 miles

Greater Boston - A Great Place to Live

The Greater Boston region is one of the most dynamic metropolitan areas in the United States, offering a strong academic environment, a thriving arts scene, rich cultural diversity, and an internationally-renowned medical infrastructure. Combined with the region's rich historical heritage, soft ocean breezes, and breathtaking autumn foliage, it is no wonder that the Boston region is one of the nation's most desirable areas to live.

Boston is often described as the gateway to New England. This is due to its central location and major highway access to points both North and South. At all times, you are less than 90 minutes away from thousands of vacation destinations including whale watching on Stellwagen Bank, black-diamond skiing in Vermont and New Hampshire, touring the mansions in Newport, RI, whitewater rafting in Maine, or visiting the pristine beaches of Cape Cod.

As Cambridge Health Alliance is based in Cambridge, Somerville, and Boston's metro-north region, residents can choose to live in dozens of local communities throughout the area. Some residents live in nearby urban communities, benefiting from the close proximity to work and the Boston city scene. Others choose more rural areas slightly farther away, yet still with easy highway and commuter rail access.

Browse our directory of web resources:

Cambridge Health Alliance Locations

Tufts University Health Sciences Library

Tufts University School of Medicine

AAFP (American Academy of Family Physicians)
Information about the AAFP, medical specialty of family medicine, and family physicians. Includes publications such as American Family Physician, patient education materials, AAFP policies, and much more.

AAFP Center for Policy Studies in FP & Primary Care (Robert Graham Center)
American Academy of Family Physicians Center for Policy Studies in Family Practice and Primary Care. The purpose of the Center is to bring a family practice and primary care perspective to health policy deliberations in Washington.

Association of Departments of Family Medicine

Coastal Research
Public policy, health care access information, community medicine

Family Medicine Education Consortium (Northeast STFM)

International Electives
International Medical Health Education Consortium - excellent, informative website- try this one first

International Medical Corps (overseas electives)
IMC is a relief organization in impoverished regions of the world, open to Tufts residents desiring a memorable international elective experience.

Massachusetts College of Pharmacy

Massachusetts Medical Society

STFM (Society of Teachers of Family Medicine)

Tufts HealthCare Institute

Urban/Rural Opportunities

CHA owns three school-based health centers and has 13 ambulatory sites and 2 hospital sites. Located in Boston with academic affiliations with both Tufts and Harvard, residents have enormous resources for clinical, academic and public health experiences. We also have an international rotation in Milot, Haiti.

Spouse/family Opportunities

Boston has rich professional and educational communities with over 64 colleges and universities in the greater Boston area Many residents’ partners are involved in other medical education programs, post-docs graduate schools or a broad array of professional endeavors.