The Shenandoah Valley Family Practice Residency is an unopposed, dually accredited Family Practice residency that operates in the Shenandoah Valley Region of Virginia. With the close agreement between Osteopathic Philosophy and Practice (OPP) and the Family Practice Philosophy, our osteopathic and allopathic residents are educated in parallel in almost the entire curriculum. Only the OPP or manipulation portions of the residency are highlighted here.

In the Osteopathic Graduate Medical Education (OGME) year one, additional curricular elements include monthly OPP lectures with focused manipulation skill training. The first year curriculum includes both the allopathic and osteopathic residents with a goal of adding hospital manipulation to their existing knowledge base. In OGME years 2 and 3, weekly osteopathic hospital rounds are used to focus and build on the use of manipulation skills in the hospital. Lectures in the OGME years 2 and 3 are via the A-OPTIC online video library. Residents are expected to watch one lecture monthly but are allowed to use the large collection of online lectures to focus their OPP training in an individualized direction.

Office based osteopathic precepting is available for advancing individual skill sets with manipulation.

We are affiliated with the A-OPTIC opti out of Pikeville College of Osteopathic Medicine.

The current program director and director of medical education is Bret Ripley, D.O.. He was educated at Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine where he completed the Undergraduate Teaching Fellowship in Osteopathic Manipulation. Dr. Ripley completed his graduate training in Family Practice at the Johnson City Family Practice Residency and is board certified by both the AOBFP and the ABFM.