Medical Student Programs

Preceptor Placement

Your Family Medicine Clerkship placement will be with a family physician practicing in a private office or ambulatory clinic setting. The person who will be working with you on your site placement is Karen Rayla, Administrative Coordinator of the Clerkship. She is located on the third floor of the Benedict Building, Room A3-229 and her telephone number is 508.856.4117. It must be understood that the initial contact with each preceptor is through Karen Rayla.

Initially, the lottery run by Student Affairs will assign you to one of seven geographic areas throughout the state. The areas are: Worcester South, Worcester North, Middlesex, Boston, Pioneer Valley, Southeast and Berkshire.

If you are assigned to the Berkshire Area, you have the option of living at the Berkshire Medical Center (BMC) in Pittsfield with students rotating on other clerkships. You will not be responsible for the cost of housing and meal tickets will be provided while at the BMC.

In other areas you must commute or find your own housing.  If you are assigned to one of the Area Health Education Center (AHEC) geographic locations (Middlesex, Pioneer Valley, Southeast or Berkshire) you may be reimbursed up to $65.00 per week for the total cost of housing and/or travel beyond 30 miles per day. However, there is NO TRAVEL REIMBURSEMENT for students assigned to the Worcester South, Worcester North and Boston areas.

In order to help you rank your geographic choices we will distribute a list of possible communities where you might be assigned in each area. Once you are assigned to an area, you could be placed in any of the practices within that geographic location. Since we are always developing new practices, additional sites could be added.

We do want you to understand that placement in Block IA requires your flexibility concerning your preceptor assignment. It is difficult to place students during this block due to preceptor vacations, and this is not something we can influence. Although you might be assigned to a geographic area, it is possible that your clerkship site could be outside that area. We do our best and are often successful in making placements based on your expectations. However, there are no guarantees during this time period.  Preceptor availability dictates placements.

Following your lottery assignment to a geographic area, a questionnaire will be sent along with site descriptions. The speedy return of the questionnaire will allow us to take your preferences and any special circumstances into consideration as placements are made.