Cheshire Medical Center Family Medicine Residency Program welcomes first group of resident physicians

Karl A. Dietrich, MD, MPH, program director of Cheshire Medical Center’s Family Medicine Residency, in an exam room of the Family & Community Care practice.
Karl A. Dietrich, MD, MPH, program director of Cheshire Medical Center’s Family Medicine Residency, in an exam room of the Family & Community Care practice.

We look forward to introducing our new residents to the community this summer, and we are excited to have the opportunity to train these enthusiastic resident physicians as they serve our patients.

Karl A. Dietrich, MD, MPH

Six new family medicine resident physicians will soon join the staff of Dartmouth Health member Cheshire Medical Center’s new Family & Community Care practice in Keene, as the inaugural cohort of the hospital’s Family Medicine Residency Program. The six residents will officially join the staff in July 2024 and serve as primary care physicians to patients at Family & Community Care, while also working in several other clinical settings at Cheshire under the supervision of Cheshire clinicians in multiple specialty services.

The Family Medicine Residency program will be staffed by residents Yousef Amr, MB BCh, of Houston, TX; Betsy Assoumou, MD, MBA, MMS, of Belchertown, MA; Julie Burgett, MD, MPS, of Rochester, NY; Christopher Conway, MD, of Rutland, VT; Abigail Huelsman, MD, of Manchester, NH; and Cassandra Papaleo, DO, of Utica, NY.

“We are thrilled to welcome Drs. Amr, Assoumou, Burgett, Conway, Huelsman and Papaleo to Cheshire Medical Center and to our community, and for this important new program to get underway,” said Cheshire President and CEO Joseph L. Perras, MD. “There is a significant need for family physicians nationwide, but especially in rural regions like ours. Physicians who train in rural communities are more likely to practice in rural areas afterward, and that is our hope for this program.”

Residents will provide full-spectrum care for their patients at the Family & Community Care and in the medical center, providing primary care access to more patients in the region.

“We look forward to introducing our new residents to the community this summer, and we are excited to have the opportunity to train these enthusiastic resident physicians as they serve our patients,” said Family Medicine Residency Program Director Karl A. Dietrich, MD, MPH.

To become a family physician, students must first complete medical school and earn their medical degree before completing a three-year residency in family medicine. During this time, they continue their clinical education under a training license, diagnosing and treating patients under the guidance of established faculty doctors. Upon completion of the three-year residency program, the residents will be able to work as family physicians without supervision.

For more information about Cheshire’s Family Medicine Residency Program, visit cheshiremed.org/residency.

About Cheshire Medical Center

Cheshire Medical Center (Cheshire) is a Dartmouth Health member providing the communities in the Greater Monadnock Region a continuum of care spanning primary care and specialty medicine, to surgical services and acute inpatient care. For more than 130 years, Cheshire has been a key contributor to the health and vitality of the Monadnock Region. As a not-for-profit community medical center, Cheshire is deeply committed to delivering excellent care in a safe and welcoming environment. Cheshire is dedicated to being a great neighbor and serves as an integral community resource. Cheshire is the area's largest healthcare provider and leading employer. Along with the services delivered on their Keene campus and satellite locations, the Medical Center partners with local organizations to provide vital services and programs throughout the region. To learn more, call 603-354-5400 or visit the Cheshire Medical Center website.

About Dartmouth Health

Dartmouth Health, New Hampshire’s only academic health system and the state’s largest private employer, serves patients across northern New England. Dartmouth Health provides access to more than 2,000 providers in almost every area of medicine, delivering care at its flagship hospital, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH, as well as across its wide network of hospitals, clinics and care facilities. DHMC is consistently named the #1 hospital in New Hampshire by U.S. News & World Report, and is recognized for high performance in numerous clinical specialties and procedures. Dartmouth Health includes Dartmouth Cancer Center, one of only 57 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the nation, and the only such center in northern New England; Dartmouth Health Children’s, which includes the state’s only children’s hospital and multiple locations around the region; member hospitals in Lebanon, Keene, Claremont and New London, NH, and Windsor and Bennington, VT; Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire; and more than 24 clinics that provide ambulatory and specialty services across New Hampshire and Vermont. Through its historical partnership with Dartmouth and the Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth Health trains nearly 400 medical residents and fellows annually, and performs cutting-edge research and clinical trials recognized across the globe with Geisel and the White River Junction VA Medical Center in White River Junction, VT. Dartmouth Health and its more than 13,000 employees are deeply committed to serving the healthcare needs of everyone in our communities, and to providing each of our patients with exceptional, personal care.