Foundation of healthcare: Rural Medical Training Collaborative Annual Meeting highlights

Last month, clinicians, educators, program directors, residents, and students gathered in Duluth, Minnesota, for the 2026 Rural Medical Training Collaborative Annual Meeting. The timing felt urgent. Rural communities across the country are facing a growing physician shortage, and the question of how to train, recruit, and retain doctors willing to put down roots in small towns and underserved areas has never been more pressing.

The meeting brought those questions into focus, with sessions dedicated to strengthening rural training pathways and building the kind of workforce rural America actually needs. Plenary sessions covered rural workforce strategy, innovative GME models, and community-engaged approaches to rural health professions education. Breakout sessions and poster presentations showcased strategies in recruitment, curriculum development, faculty development, rural research, workforce retention, and program sustainability. Here are highlights from several influential sessions.

Training the future generation of clinicians

A recurring theme across sessions was why rural physicians keep choosing this work. Many spoke candidly about the tradeoffs of rural living, and just as candidly about why those tradeoffs are worth it. The communities they serve, the relationships they build, access to nature and the opportunity to grow alongside a place and its people were repeatedly cited as reasons to stay.

“Family medicine is the bedrock of a community,” said one program director from northern Colorado. “And we are vitally important to the entire nation in producing family doctors.”

One session focused on engaging Indigenous and rural communities in culturally meaningful research to improve dementia and brain health outcomes. The work centers on a community-based infrastructure connecting researchers, governance structures, and local advisory groups. Rural populations face higher risk for developing dementia and have limited access to care, making this kind of locally rooted research all the more urgent.

Physicians also shared recruitment strategies and innovations in training. One example was the Minnesota Rural Obstetrics Simulation & Education Program, or MN ROSE, established by Community Memorial Hospital in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Health and the University of Minnesota under the leadership of Dr. Keri Bergeson, director of rural programs. The program offers high-fidelity, evidence-based simulation training tailored to the realities of rural obstetric care, helping trainees build practical skills and confidence.

From improving outcomes for mothers and babies across Minnesota to advancing research for patients at risk of dementia, rural doctors described caring for communities across an entire lifecycle.

"Are we training enough physicians to care for our future citizens?" one physician asked. A statewide concern of aging rural physicians and fewer trainees entering rural practice was quickly realized to be a nationwide concern shared among attendees.

Rural workforce development

Duluth itself carries part of that history. In 1972, the University of Minnesota Medical School Duluth campus opened specifically in response to rural workforce needs in the region. More than 50 years later, the same questions that prompted its founding are back at the center of the conversation.

Will there be enough doctors to care for older rural adults? That depends largely on whether the field can train enough physicians who are willing and prepared to practice in rural communities. It is a question with no simple answer, but one that rural medicine has been working toward for decades.

During a Q&A session on rural GME, the conversation kept returning to a simple but significant idea: that building community within rural medicine, across disciplines and programs, is itself part of the work.

Dr. Timothy Pehl, program director for the Grand Itasca Rural Family Medicine Residency Program, put it plainly: “I live in the community, I serve in the community,” he said. “My job is relationship-driven, and that is incredibly rewarding.” The discussion also emphasized the role physicians play in mentorship: Teachers build teachers, and doctors build doctors.

RTMC lessons learned

Additional lessons emerged throughout the meeting as physicians, educators, and trainees reflected on what makes rural programs successful:

• Early rural medicine exposure and training drives interest in rural medicine
• Strong mentorship and community connection improve retention
• Rural training programs work best when they are built in partnership with local communities
• Interdisciplinary collaboration strengthens both physician support and patient care
• Sustainable rural healthcare requires long-term investment in faculty development, research, and graduate medical education

As rural communities continue to face growing healthcare challenges, the work highlighted at the Rural Medical Training Collaborative Annual Meeting offered both urgency and optimism. Programs across the country are finding new ways to train physicians who are prepared for the realities of rural practice and invested in the futures of the communities they call home. 

The path forward will require collaboration, innovation, and sustained support. But if the conversations in Duluth demonstrated anything, it is that rural medicine remains deeply rooted in purpose, and that the people doing this work are determined to ensure rural communities continue to have access to compassionate, high-quality care for generations to come.