By Shea Wright 

When Aneela Ijaz, M.D., and Khalifa Al-Sulaiti, M.D., arrived in South Hill, Virginia last summer, they expected to sharpen their clinical skills and learn about rural healthcare. What they didn’t expect was how quickly they became part of the community they serve.

For the past year, these medical residents have been building relationships, earning patients' trust and discovering firsthand what it means to care for a rural patient population. That sense of connection is at the heart of the VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital (CMH) Family Medicine Residency Program. It's the Rural Track Program (RTP) of Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine's Department of Family Medicine. 

"Over the past year, I’ve realized that healthcare is built on relationships. Patients get to know you, you get to know them, and that connection changes the way you practice medicine,” Al-Sulaiti said. "Our patients genuinely trust their physicians, and that is not something we take for granted." 

That sense of connection isn’t accidental.   

“CMH has been a key part of helping make this program a success,” said Lori Landes, M.D., Ph.D., director of the VCU Health CMH Family Medicine Residency Program. “The local chamber of commerce, schools, businesses, providers and staff have all helped to create this program. That sense of community and support makes this residency program special and provides education beyond the walls of the clinic and hospital.” 

Why VCU’s family medicine residency program expanded to South Hill 

Family medicine is a unique specialization in the medical field. These doctors serve as a patient’s guide through the broader health care system, focusing on prevention and early intervention. 

The family medicine residency is the first graduate medical education program at CMH. The rural track is the first of its kind at VCU and VCU Health, and leadership anticipates expanding post-graduate training opportunities in these areas. 

The program is designed to prepare early-career doctors for the unique needs and challenges facing patients living in rural areas while fostering lasting relationships with the community they serve.

This program has always been about more than training physicians. It's about investing in rural communities. 

Lori Landes, M.D., Ph.D., director of the VCU Health CMH Family Medicine Residency Program 

This community-focused approach to a residency program also addresses a longstanding challenge facing rural healthcare: recruiting and retaining family medicine physicians. Research shows that 62% of family medicine physicians continue practicing in the same state where they completed their residency, making rural training programs an important pathway for building the future healthcare workforce. 

By building strong relationships with their community, care teams learn about the challenges patients face outside of their appointments. For instance, it is not uncommon for people to travel long distances for care if they live in a rural area. They rely heavily on their family medicine physicians for guidance through complex medical and social challenges. 

"Training in a rural community has profoundly shaped my approach to patient care and reinforced that effective medical care extends beyond diagnosing and treating disease. It requires understanding the social, economic and logistical factors that influence a patient's health,” Al-Sulaiti said. 

In 2025, Family Medicine residents Aneela Ijaz, M.D., (left) and Khalifa Al-Sulaiti, M.D., (right) were welcomed to the VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital with signed heart-shaped maps of South Hill signed by colleagues and community members. (Elizabeth “Laure” Gill, VCU Health)

For Ijaz, working with experienced team members in South Hill helped her learn how to identify the socio-economic factors that might be affecting a patient’s health or quality of life.  
 
"The nurses, medical assistants and support staff knew the patients, understood the nuances of rural healthcare and were often the first to recognize when someone needed extra support. Their experience, insight and dedication taught me lessons that cannot be learned from textbooks," she said. 

Growing confident, community-based physicians 

The breadth of family medicine also challenged residents to grow in ways they hadn't anticipated.  

Training in a rural setting expanded Al-Sulaiti and Ijaz’s procedural skills and provided opportunities to take a larger role in patient care decisions. 
 
“Knowing my patients and their families over time has improved my communication skills and helped me develop confidence in navigating difficult conversations,” Ijaz said. “It has also helped me stay open to learning. I don’t know how many family medicine doctors in urban areas can say they’ve delivered a baby one day, assisted in the operating room another and then spent time in the emergency department. At CMH, we get to be part of it all.” 

Residencies are postgraduate training programs that follow medical school and train physicians in an area of specialization, such as family medicine. During their time at a designated healthcare facility, newly graduated doctors gain hands-on clinical experience under the supervision of experienced physicians while caring for patients in hospitals, clinics and community settings.

Caring for people over time taught me to look beyond the diagnosis and understand the whole person. Those relationships have shaped not only how I practice medicine, but also the kind of physician I hope to become. 

Khalifa Al-Sulaiti, M.D., Family medicine resident at VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital

For both Al-Sulaiti and Ijaz, one of the most rewarding aspects of the program has been the opportunity to build connections with patients that extend far beyond a single office visit. 

"Residency has strengthened my clinical skills and given me confidence as a physician, but what surprised me most was how much I learned from my patients,” Al-Sulaiti said. 

Al-Sulaiti recalls a patient who came in for chronic medical condition. What stood out to him after seeing the patient for several months wasn’t a single procedure or diagnosis – it was the trust and relationship developing between them.  

“Caring for people over time taught me to look beyond the diagnosis and understand the whole person,” he said. “Those relationships have shaped not only how I practice medicine, but also the kind of physician I hope to become.”  

CMH is more than a hospital, it’s part of the community 

A new group of residents started their first year at CMH in late June. Within their first week, they’ve already begun to build new relationships with patients and care teams, learning more about their new home base and the South Hill community. 
 
"This program has always been about more than training physicians,” Landes said. “It's about investing in rural communities. Welcoming our next class is an exciting milestone because it means that mission continues to grow.” For current residents Ijaz and Al-Sulaiti, this milestone also means a chance to pass along words of wisdom to their new colleagues.  

“I am excited to welcome and mentor new residents and keep growing as a physician. I am also looking forward to seeing how the residency program continues to develop and expand in the years ahead,” Al-Sulaiti said. 
 
“One of the things I'm most excited about is welcoming our new co-residents and continuing to build the relationships that have made this first year so meaningful,” Ijaz said. 

As the family medicine residency program continues into its second year, one thing has become clear: CMH is much more than a training hospital for early-career doctors.  

For Ijaz and Al-Sulaiti, CMH has become their entryway into a community that continues to shape the kind of physicians they are today and who they hope to become in the future. 

VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital is located in South Hill, Virginia. (Allen Jones, Enterprise Marketing and Communications)

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