Vanderbilt Health, an academic health system anchored by Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has received approval to establish a new Primary Care-Internal Medicine Residency Program at Vanderbilt Wilson County Hospital (VWCH) in Lebanon, Tennessee.
“This is an important and proud milestone,” said VWCH President Scott McCarver, MHA. “With this program, we will be serving our community and other communities like ours by training the next generation of physicians. This represents our latest investment in expanding access to comprehensive care in Wilson County, and our continued commitment to this community.”
The program, which received approval Sept. 17 from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), will focus on training general internal medicine physicians with an emphasis on primary care — preparing them to deliver comprehensive care for adults in both community and rural settings.
Located 30 miles from downtown Nashville, 245-bed VWCH serves a patient population across Wilson County and surrounding communities. The new residency program reflects Vanderbilt Health’s commitment to invest in VWCH, now a teaching hospital, and to advance health care in the surrounding community.
“I am glad to see this project come to fruition,” said Kyla Terhune, MD, MBA, associate dean for Graduate Medical Education for Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and VUMC Senior Vice President for Educational Affairs. “This is what I’ve worked on for the past three years.”
“Access to primary care is essential to the health of an individual and of a community,” she said. “This is a project we have very intentionally put in place, building it on the foundation of excellence in medical education and professional development that VUMC has a track record of providing.”
Terhune, the former ACGME/National Resident Matching Program Designated Institutional Official for VUMC, is transitioning to a new role as Senior Vice President for Education at the American College of Surgeons in Chicago, effective Nov. 1.
“We are thrilled to receive ACGME approval for the new Primary Care-Internal Medicine Residency Program in Wilson County,” said Program Director Missy Scalise, MD, associate professor of Medicine.
“This program represents an opportunity to train the next generation of physicians in a community setting while maintaining strong ties to Vanderbilt’s academic excellence,” Scalise said. “Our mission is to train primary care physicians who are not only clinically outstanding but also deeply connected to the patients and communities they serve.”
The new residency training program at VWCH is officially joining the 2026 Main Residency Match, which matches medical school graduates with residency training programs nationwide, and will welcome its first residents in July 2026.
The three-year program will recruit eight new trainees annually, building to a total of 24 residents by the third year. For more information, visit the program’s website or email wilsonIM@vumc.org.
