History: Inova Podiatric Residency Program

The program was established in 1986, and was a Foundation based program known as the Northern Virginia Podiatric Residency Program. Although the program had achieved national recognition as one of the premier podiatric surgical training programs, it lacked a "home" base, was not fully integrated within the GME community and residents salaries and benefits lagged behind the national average.

On July 1, 2003, Inova Fairfax Hospital assumed full sponsorship and control of the program and the program became known as the Inova Fairfax Hospital Residency Program. Restructuring of the program included a consolidation of non-podiatric clinical experiences at the hospital, with residents receiving the same salaries and benefits as all other residents sponsored by the hospital. 

The program, which originally started with two residents in 1986, currently is fully approved by CPME for five residents per year (5/5/5) as a Podiatric Medicine and Surgery Residency Program with the added credential in reconstructive rearfoot/ankle.

Although the basic elements that made the program strong have not changed, the sponsorship change has allowed for a major expansion of clinical training opportunities (see training and rotations), along with expanded surgical experiences especially in the area of rearfoot/ankle, trauma and diabetic reconstructive surgery.

Having the hospital as a home base has afforded the program and its residents the increased staffing, computer access, office and on-call space necessary to run a program of this magnitude. More importantly, it has allowed the program to continue to aspire to meet its mission to be at the forefront of podiatric medical education.