WC Missouri News

Bothwell Regional Health Center and the University of Missouri School of Medicine have marked a milestone with the graduation of their first two resident physicians from the Rural Family Medicine Residency program. Dr. Brittany Pendergraft and Dr. Levi Harris completed the three-year program, which began in 2019 following a federal grant awarded to the University of Missouri. Bothwell was selected as the first site in Missouri to implement this rural family medicine residency, aimed at training doctors for practice in rural communities.

The residency is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Pendergraft and Harris were part of the inaugural class, spending three years rotating through clinical settings in Sedalia and Columbia. Their training covered all aspects of family medicine, including emergency medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, and general surgery under supervision from Bothwell and University of Missouri faculty.

Dr. Misty Todd, who directs the residency and practices at Bothwell Cole Camp Clinic, commented on the significance of this achievement: “Being able to say that we fully trained and graduated two board-certified family physicians from a rural training track is an accomplishment no other health system in the state can boast,” she said. “Dr. Pendergraft and Dr. Harris have helped shape the culture and expectations for the residents who follow. I’m grateful for their dedication, commitment to rural medicine and leadership in establishing our residency as an outstanding option for training rural family physicians.”

Todd also noted that both graduates will continue their medical education through fellowship programs: “This is quite a feat for an inaugural class,” she said. “Dr. Harris will be doing a one-year fellowship in sports medicine at the University of Missouri in Columbia. Dr. Pendergraft will be doing a one-year surgical obstetrics fellowship in Tallahassee, Florida. She will return to Bothwell in fall 2026 to provide inpatient, obstetric and newborn care in the hospital and care for patients at Bothwell in Cole Camp Clinic. It is truly an amazing return on investment to be able to welcome our own graduates back to serve the community they trained in.”

The residency accepts six physicians at any time, with two new residents joining each year as two graduate. The curriculum provides hands-on experience across specialties along with didactic education, procedural training, and rotations through hospital and outpatient settings.

“As our first two residents graduate and we welcome two new residents to the program, it’s a great opportunity to say ‘thank you’ to Bothwell’s administration, the medical staff, the rest of the Bothwell team and the community for wholeheartedly welcoming and supporting the residency,” Todd said. “It truly takes all of us to make the program successful."

More information about this program can be found at brhc.org/residency.