About us
A GME practice built on years of inside experience.
Fascend Consulting Group is a boutique GME consulting firm helping institutions plan, accredit, launch, and sustain residency programs, from first feasibility study to long-term operations. We serve community health centers, community hospitals, new and expanding medical schools, and established GME programs and Sponsoring Institutions nationwide.
Maggie Fasbender — Founding Principal
Maggie has worked in graduate medical education since 2007: first inside programs, then advising the institutions that build them.
She spent more than a decade running residency and fellowship operations at academic and integrated health systems. That included managing a large university-sponsored Internal Medicine residency, launching and growing a new hospital-based Internal Medicine program, and leading Urology residency and fellowship operations. She knows the work from the coordinator's desk to the GMEC table.
As a consultant, she has guided Sponsoring Institutions and new residency programs through ACGME accreditation in several states and build programs in a variety of specialties. Every ACGME submission she has led has been approved on first submission, from new program and Sponsoring Institution applications to program change requests.
Twice named Program Coordinator of the Year at Loma Linda University Health, Maggie has presented nationally for the NRMP, the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine, and the AAMC, and has held leadership roles with national program administrator organizations. Before GME, she spent years in operations, HR, finance, and training, which gives her a practical, systems-level view of what it takes to keep programs running.
Selected experience
Sponsoring Institution accreditation in seven states
Board resolutions, institutional policies, and applications for new sponsors from California to Vermont.
New residency programs, built from the ground up
Across primary care and specialty programs, including curricula, rotations, evaluations, and site visit support.
Training across the GME enterprise
From Program Coordinators and GME Administrators to faculty, GMEC members, and new Program Directors: practical training in accreditation, operations, and oversight.
ACGME site visit preparation
Gap analyses, mock visits, and on-site support for Sponsoring Institutions and programs, from application visits through continued accreditation and focused reviews.
$1.2M+ in federal grant funding
Planning and development grants for training programs in medically underserved areas.
National presenter and committee leader
NRMP, Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine, and AAMC presentations, plus national program administrator committee leadership.
"From wanting to be a doctor, to developing doctors, to building the programs that train them."
Why I Do This Work
Growing up, I always imagined I would become a doctor, but life took a different turn and I spent my first career in finance, real estate, and lending instead.
When it was time for a change, Loma Linda University offered me a position in its Internal Medicine GME office. I already had a deep personal connection to that hospital, so I took the job and fell in love with graduate medical education.
Early on, I realized something that still drives me: I could help far more patients by supporting the training of many physicians than I ever could as one. A physician may care for thousands of patients over a career, but one strong residency program trains hundreds of physicians. The impact on patient care is exponential. As a consultant, my reach grows with every program and institution I help build.
Our mission
To elevate GME enterprises by bringing clarity to the complex work of building, accrediting and sustaining residency and fellowship programs.
Our vision
Strong, stable residency and fellowship programs, training the physicians every community needs.
The name Fascend blends founder Maggie Fasbender's last name with "ascend": foundation and forward movement.
Guiding principles
Educational Excellence & Academic Rigor
We hold programs to the highest standards of graduate medical education through evidence-based practices, rigorous evaluation, and continuous improvement.
Community Impact
We support training programs that reflect and respond to the needs of the communities they serve.
Integrity, Accountability & Stewardship
We act with integrity and careful stewardship of resources, so our work is reliable, ethical, and aligned with institutional priorities.
Communication & Collaboration
We build trust-based partnerships through clear, consistent communication that brings stakeholders together around shared goals.