Danbury Land's Connecticut's First Teaching Health Center

The Greater Danbury Community Health Center won a $450,000 federal grant Monday to train three physicians in primary health care, a national need, said U.S. Senator Chris Murphy.

Murphy announced the grant at the center located at 57 North St., saying primary care is a medical field with a shortage, and the Danbury facility and others nationwide are helping to fill that need by providing the primary care residency program.

"We are taking a leadership position in graduate medical training," said Dr. Ramin Ahmadi, MD, who directs medical training and research at Danbury Hospital and its parent company, Western Connecticut Health Care. The primary care residency program is three years long.

"For years I was saying Danbury was the only city in Connecticut without a community health center," Senator Murphy said. "Now we have one of the fastest growing community health centers in the state."

The health center is scheduled to start by training three physicians the first year, who then continue for a total of three years. In the second year, another three physicians will be added and in year three, another three physicians will be added. The total grant will be $2.7 million over the three years.