Jackson Memorial Hospital

By Patricia Panakos, MD

Greetings from Miami! We can’t believe it’s fall already. It seems like just yesterday that we were hosting our orientation month and the yearly intern welcome BBQ at Dr. Diskin’s house. Now we are sipping on Starbucks’ PSL, watching football and keeping our fingers crossed against hurricanes.

The 15 members from the Class of 2024 came from all over the country, bringing a breadth of diversity and experiences. They quickly settled into life in Miami and hit the ground running as they began caring for the sickest patients due to COVID-19 cases rising again in South Florida. We are hopeful that the peak has passed, and our residents have remained compassionate and resilient as we continue to serve our community in this time of need. In fact, Dr. Juhi Varshney, PGY-1 was so moved by her experience that she wrote a piece in the Miami Herald on COVID-19 through the eyes of an EM physician. We are so proud of her for her heartfelt and inspirational article.

Accolades are also in order for Drs. Kristopher Hendershot and Naomi Newton, PGY-2s, who competed in FCEP’s 2021 Virtual Case Presentation Competition (CPC) and brought home the trophy for the best program for the 5th consecutive year! Dr. Naomi Newton was also recognized as the overall best discussant. We would like to congratulate them on all their dedication, hard work and success.

Before we know it, recruitment season will be here, so the planning for the next virtual interview season has already begun. We can’t wait to meet stellar new medical students interested in training at Jackson!

We hope to see everyone live at ACEP21! ■

Meet Florida’s 21st emergency medicine residency program: Westside-Northwest Emergency Medicine

Plantation, FL

• Total positions: 39 • Positions per class: 13 • Accreditation date: Aug 27, 2021 • Inaugural class: July 2022

Brandon Regional Hospital

By Dr. Calixto Romero III, MD, PGY-3

Chief Resident

The new academic year has been progressing very well. Our new class has been a wonderful addition to the Brandon Regional EM family. We are all very excited to see them progress throughout the year. Our PGY-2 and PGY-3 classes have been working hard at making the transition into residency as smooth as possible for them.

Although we are back in virtual classroom for academic half-day sessions due to COVID 19 surges, we have a stellar curriculum that is progressive and inclusive of the residents, faculty and guest speakers. This change back to virtual classroom has highlighted the resiliency of our residents and faculty alike. Both individually and collectively, our program has been invested in advancing our wealth of knowledge and understanding for our practice.

The Class of 2022 is actively preparing for post-residency life. A significant portion are completing interviews for fellowships in emergency ultrasound, EMS, and critical care medicine. Some have already secured attending physician jobs after the completion of their residency training.

We also want to welcome a new core faculty member, Dr. Gomez, to our family. Dr. Gomez completed fellowship in emergency ultrasound and has joined the staff as emergency ultrasound faculty.

As a group, we wish that all other residency programs in the state are faring well with the circumstances surrounding the pandemic. We hope that all of our colleagues are staying safe and continuing to care for their wellness. ■

Program Director: Matthew Slane DO, FACEP, FAAEM

DON’T FORGET TO SHARE ONLINE

Access the online version of each residency program update at fcep.org/empulse or on your residency program’s fcep.org landing page. Follow FCEP’s social media channels to share in realtime!