The graduates included 47 internal medicine physicians, 22 who trained in emergency medicine, three in obstetrics/gynecology, and 11 in family medicine. This year also saw the first four graduates in a new general surgery program, two from a new rheumatology fellowship, one in a new psychiatry program, and two each from endocrinology and surgical critical-care fellowships.

Abdo Asmar, UCF College of Medicine’s vice chair of the GME program, said that despite the pandemic, the program was still able to recognize  graduates ith a ceremonies held for each region where residents were trained — Ocala, Gainesville and Orlando — and maintained social distancing guidelines with very limited guests.

The majority of residents graduated from UCF’s inaugural GME program – internal medicine in Orlando. That ceremony featured residents led by Asmar in a decorated with black-and-gold balloons and streamers driving around the Rosen Shingle Creek resort. All ceremonies were streamed live so families could participate.

“There were hundreds of people from all over the U.S. and other countries watching to see their loved ones graduate,” Asmar says. “So even though COVID-19 might have made us do things differently, I don’t think it was less impactful than what we have done in the past. I am still satisfied that we were able to send these graduates out with a bang.”

Doctors don’t practice straight out of medical school and must complete residencies for three to seven years depending on their specialty of choice. Following residency training, some enter fellowships to develop more specialized expertise.

Forty-three physicians-in-training graduated from UCF-HCA transitional or preliminary year programs that are required for specialties such as ophthalmology, dermatology and radiology before young physicians enter more specialized training.

Forty-three physicians-in-training graduated from UCF-HCA transitional or preliminary year programs that are required for specialties such as ophthalmology, dermatology and radiology before young physicians enter more specialized training.

Abdelrahman Attili was one of the first graduates of the general surgery residency program at the Ocala Regional Medical Center. He will go on to do a hepatobiliary (liver and pancreas) surgery fellowship at the Miami Cancer Institute.

“I had a great experience at UCF-HCA program,” Attili said. “The staff and faculty were really supportive and the education program was really good. We were able to do a lot of cases that augmented my operative experience here. UCF was also really supportive for research and educational conferences.”

Ambreesh Chawla, one of the first graduates of the rheumatology fellowship program at the Orlando VA Medical Center will enter private practice in Tampa. Chawla said he was thrilled to have such a memorable graduation ceremony at the Rosen center in spite of the pandemic’s limitations and said more than ever he is looking forward to serving.

“This is an extremely vital time for all physicians,” he says. “We innately enter this field to serve humanity and help save and improve the quality of lives of our patients. I think it’s a privilege to have the opportunity to serve such crucial role in such unprecedented times”

UCF and its partners created the residency and fellowship programs to help alleviate Florida and the nation’s physician shortage. The College of Medicine’s first residency began in 2014 in partnership with HCA North Florida Division’s Osceola Regional Medical Center and the Orlando VA Medical Center. That program led to a UCF College of Medicine-HCA consortium that now has 28 accredited residency and fellowship programs, with the newest fellowship in vascular surgery based in the greater Orlando area. Of this year’s 137 graduates, 50 are staying in Florida for further training or practice. Others are heading out of state to practice or do fellowships at places such as Cedars Sinai and the Mayo Clinic.

“We are so pleased that many of our graduates will be local to Central Florida and several of them will be faculty for our own training and medical school programs,” says Diane Davey, associate dean for graduate medical education. “This is exactly the positive impact we hoped for when we launched these programs with our hospital partners.”

With the COVID-19 pandemic, Asmar noted that it is increasingly important to have graduates joining the workforce, especially in Florida where there has been a resurgence of cases.

“COVID-19 has presented us with so much uncertainty. But amidst all this uncertainty, one thing that we know for sure is the magnitude of this pandemic’s impact,” Asmar says. “And what we need to reduce this impact is having more qualified individuals that can be available to save lives. The best way to prepare for all these uncertainties is to have well-trained people there to do the job.”

On Friday, Choi got the opportunity, matching into an OB-GYN specialty at , a new graduate medical education program established by UCF and Hospital Corporation of America’s North Florida Division.

She is one of 13 UCF Class of 2018 medical students who will do all or part of their residency training in UCF-HCA programs in Gainesville, Ocala and Central Florida. With this year’s match, the HCA consortium added 162 new residents and fellows, bringing its total to 345 in July.

“We are pleased to welcome these outstanding young physicians into our UCF-HCA consortium starting this summer,” said Dr. Diane Davey, associate dean for graduate medical education. “We are excited to be building new residency programs to improve access to care and help alleviate Florida’s physician shortage.”

Eight of the UCF graduates will to through the UCF-HCA transitional-year program at Osceola Regional Medical Center. Certain specialties — such as ophthalmology, radiology and dermatology – require students to do a one-year transitional year of training that focuses on general medicine.

Medical student Nicole Spitzer said she is thrilled to be staying in Orlando for another year before moving to LSU for ophthalmology. After Friday’s match ceremonies, she wore an LSU baseball cap as she stood with Dr. Abdo Asmar, program director for UCF’s transitional and internal medicine residencies at Osceola Regional.

“I’m really looking forward for my transitional year so I can really learn how to be The Good Doctor,” Spitzer said.

As a faculty member, Asmar said he was thrilled to be see his former medical students train as physicians. “It’s an amazing opportunity to teach them as medical students and then see them grow into real doctors caring for patients,” he said.

The UCF-HCA consortium now has 21 residencies and fellowships. The partnership hopes to add more than 600 residency positions to the state by 2020 to help address Florida’s physician shortage.

Through a partnership with HCA, UCF now has 11 accredited residency programs in Central and North Central Florida with more on the way. Through the HCA consortium, the medical school hopes to add approximately 600 residency spots in Florida by 2020 to help relieve the state and nation’s physician shortage.

“We’re very pleased to have so many UCF students in our consortium programs,” said Dr. Diane Davey, associate dean for graduate medical education. “Today means we are going to be adding 100 physicians who will be training and serving patients in the Central Florida area.”

The bulk of the UCF graduates are entering a transitional year residency based at Osceola Regional Medical Center. A transitional year – also called an internship – is required for many specialties such as dermatology and ophthalmology before residents go on to more specialized training.

UCF medical student Jae Kim will do his ophthalmology residency at Wayne State şŁ˝ÇÖ±˛Ą and was thrilled to match at UCF, his first choice, for his transitional year. “My heart is here,” he said. “I’ve established connections here and am excited to continue the work to help build UCF’s program.”

Kim came to UCF after getting his graduate engineering degree at UCLA and working to build faster, cheaper cell phones. He decided he wanted to use his scientific training to help people and came to the College of Medicine because it requires all medical students to do research. While in medical school, he developed a machine that can test uric acid levels in the blood of gout patients and a computerized imaging process that could help doctors diagnose diseases of the eye earlier and more accurately. The inventions have earned state and national honors.

Joseph Caravaglio will do his dermatology residency at Brown şŁ˝ÇÖ±˛Ą after completing his transitional year at the UCF-HCA residency program. “I’m absolutely excited,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity to train in Orlando for another year because I love Orlando and I love UCF.”

Dr. Abdo Asmar is program director for the College of Medicine’s first residency program, internal medicine, in partnership with Osceola Regional Medical Center and the Orlando VA Medical Center. Transitional year residents will spend a great deal of time working in Dr. Asmar’s program.

“These are pioneers who have taken a chance on a new program and want to work with us to create a legacy,” he said. “We’re very excited to have so many of our outstanding students join us in providing excellent care to our patients and expanding our educational programs.”

“I would like to thank the College for honoring me with the Lifetime Achievement Award,” Davey said. “Many great pathologists have mentored me over the years, and I am glad I have been able to give back to the profession.”

She was one of the founding members of the CAP Cytopathology Resource Committee and served as the Committee’s chair from 1998-2001, having previously serviced as vice chair.  Her focus is in cytopathology and hematopathology with her research concentrated on cervical cytology and new cytology laboratory techniques and quality improvement efforts for better patient care.

Davey served as president of the American Society of Cytopathology from 2001-2002. She also has served on several committees of both the American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology and the American Cancer Society, and has developed management guidelines for Pap tests and the HPV vaccine. She has been an adviser for both the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and serves on editorial boards for four journals, including Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine.

In addition to her teaching and leadership role at the College of Medicine,  Davey is a practicing pathologist at the Orlando Veterans Affairs Medical Center. In addition, she serves as vice president and trustee for the American Board of Pathology and is a member of the Pathology Residency Review Committee for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).

Davey received a B.S. with distinction from Cornell şŁ˝ÇÖ±˛Ą and a B.S. in Medicine from the şŁ˝ÇÖ±˛Ą of South Dakota. She received her M.D. from Washington şŁ˝ÇÖ±˛Ą in St. Louis and completed her residency at the Indiana şŁ˝ÇÖ±˛Ą Medical Center and the şŁ˝ÇÖ±˛Ą of Iowa.