KWSO News 9/2/25: Three Sisters Rural Track Program residents arrive in Madras

Residents in the Three Sisters Rural Track Program (RTP) arrived in Madras earlier this month to care for local patients in primary care clinics and at St. Charles Madras. The Three Sisters Rural Track Program is the first graduate education medical program in Central Oregon. Drs. Ben Khalil and Callie Krewson are the first two residents to participate in the program, which is sponsored by Oregon Health & Science University.

Dr. Jinnell Lewis, RTP director and St. Charles family doctor said in a news release that the program is helping “to develop and train providers who will specialize in rural family medicine” and also helps “fill a shortage of primary care doctors in the region.”

Residents spend the first year of the program completing advanced training at OHSU before spending two years training and caring for patients in Jefferson County with a focus on rural family medicine. Khalil is caring for patients at Mosaic Community Health, while Krewson is caring for patients at St. Charles Family Clinic in Madras. Both doctors conduct rotations at the hospital and with area specialists where they train in family medicine, family birthing, emergency medicine, behavioral health and hospital medicine. They will also have learning opportunities at the Indian Health Services’ Warm Springs Health and Wellness Center.

Research has shown that about 55% of physicians stay within a 100-mile radius of their residency site. According to the news release, this means, within 10 years, Three Sisters RTP is estimated to produce more than 20 physicians who would reside in Central Oregon and provide care for 20,000 to 40,000 patients in the region.

Learn more about Three Sisters RTP.