A program to train — and maybe retain — family medicine doctors at more than a dozen small clinics across Northern New Mexico is calling it quits after just 17 months.

The Médicos de El Centro Family Medicine Residency Program, which began in July 2024, will officially shut down Dec. 31, meaning current residents won't get the full training they need for a family medicine specialty.

The program should have been a "golden opportunity" for Northern New Mexico, said Darren DeYapp, CEO of El Centro Family Health, which operates more than a dozen small-town clinics in the region.

El Centro's clinics have been hosting the medical residents, boosting their own staffing levels while the residents completed their training through partnerships with Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center and

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