I feel amazing because Nemours was my number one choice,” said Gabriel Williams, medical student from University of Central Florida College of Medicine. “I was ecstatic that Nemours chose me. I’m from Orlando, my family is here and Orlando is where I want to be.
ORLANDO, Fla. (March 15, 2019) – An historic day as Nemours Children’s Hospital takes part in its first-ever Match Day and builds a brand-new national caliber residency program to prepare new physicians for success in emerging and innovative models of care. On Match Day, students from medical schools around the United States find out where they will be spending their upcoming years for additional training. The 12 medical students placed with Nemours Children’s Hospital will come from as far north as New York and New Jersey, from Chicago and Ohio and several students from across the state of Florida.
“Nemours Children’s Health System is excited about the opportunity to be a transformative force in medical education,” said Larry Moss, MD, president and CEO of Nemours Children’s Health System. “Our goal is to train the best in the country to develop the leaders of tomorrow in children’s healthcare”. We welcome our first class of residents with high aspirations for what they will accomplish and how they will make their mark on keeping children healthy.”
“I feel amazing because Nemours was my number one choice,” said Gabriel Williams, medical student from University of Central Florida College of Medicine. “I was ecstatic that Nemours chose me. I’m from Orlando, my family is here and Orlando is where I want to be.”
In June 2017, Nemours Children’s Hospital in Lake Nona received institutional accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), granting Nemours the authority to develop and execute the full educational curriculum and oversight for its own residency and fellowship programs. On Friday, the National Resident Matching Program® released results to applicants seeking residency and fellowship training positions. 2019 Main Residency Match was the largest on record matching more than 44,000 applicants to only 35,000 positions.
The Nemours Children’s Hospital Pediatric Residency Program will help to address a physician shortage crisis. Starting a residency program and subsequently building fellowship programs in a freestanding pediatric hospital offers a unique opportunity to make a difference. Nemours Children’s Hospital will train pediatric subspecialty experts in an academic institution utilizing state of the art technology, and innovative simulation and patient care models focused on quality and safety.
“Nemours’ residency program allows future physicians the opportunity to leave a legacy and make a difference in their community. They will change the landscape of healthcare in Florida and across the nation," said Dr. Amber Hoffman, program director for Nemours Children’s Hospital Pediatric Residency Program.
Nationwide, 2/3 of pediatric residency graduates practice medicine where they complete their training. By adding residency positions, Central Florida families will have more access to pediatric specialty care closer to home and will not need to travel out of the region in search of expert care for their child. Nemours’ goal is to ensure that families receive the best care possible in their own backyard. In addition, by 2025, the state of Florida anticipates a shortage of medical specialists, with the number of children in the state expected to increase by 7%. Unless the number of pediatric specialists practicing in Florida increase accordingly, that translates into long wait times and difficult access to care.
“The pediatric residency program is the first step in training the next generation of academic physicians,” said Dr. Heather Fagan, the Designated Institutional Official for Graduate Medical Education at Nemours Children’s Hospital. “Our long-term strategy includes developing multiple subspecialty fellowships that allow us to train pediatric experts who will serve families from Central Florida and beyond,” said Dr. Fagan
This fall, Nemours interviewed nearly 200 medical students for the 12 open pediatric residency positions. The interviewees came from states throughout the U.S., including Colorado, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Texas, California, and Florida, just to name a few.
“It was a phenomenal interview season,” Hoffman added. “We met some incredible medical students. It was clear that we couldn’t go wrong based on the candidates we interviewed. We were all inspired, and moved by their accomplishments and passion.”
“I actually wasn’t planning on going into pediatrics but I did my rotation at Nemours Children’s Hospital and I fell in love,” said Laura Chilcutt, medical student from University of Central Florida College of Medicine. “I couldn’t decide which I loved more, pediatrics or Nemours and then thought, why separate them?”
Nemours Children’s Health System has been training the next generation of pediatric specialists and offering continuing education to improve the current practice of health professionals. In 2018, Nemours in Delaware, Jacksonville, and Orlando hosted and trained more than 1,000 medical students, close to 800 residents, and more than 90 fellows.
###
About Nemours Children’s Health System
Nemours is an internationally recognized children's health system that owns and operates the two free-standing children’s hospitals: the Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Del., and Nemours Children's Hospital in Orlando, Fla., along with outpatient facilities in five states, delivering pediatric primary, specialty and urgent care. Nemours also powers the world’s most-visited website for information on the health of children and teens, KidsHealth.org, and offers on-demand, online video patient visits through Nemours CareConnect. Nemours ReadingBrightstart.org is a program dedicated to preventing reading failure in young children, grounded in Nemours’ understanding that child health and learning are inextricably linked, and that reading level is a strong predictor of adult health.
Established as The Nemours Foundation through the legacy and philanthropy of Alfred I. duPont, Nemours provides pediatric clinical care, research, education, advocacy and prevention programs to families in the communities it serves.
Nemours has a number of service regions. Selecting your region will help us show you the right contact information and the most relevant content for you.