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Nemours Children’s Hospital Marks National Match Day with a New Class of 12 Pediatric Residents
Pediatric Residency Program Addresses the Area’s Physician Shortage

Orlando, Fla. (March 31,2020) – On Match Day, 12 students from medical schools around the nation learned that they will be spending the next chapter of their medical training at Nemours Children’s Health System’s hospital in Orlando. Coming from the best medical schools all over the country, this group is the second in Nemours Children’s Hospital’s pediatric residency program. The future pediatricians and pediatric specialists will train and work at Nemours Children’s Hospital, an environment that treats complex children’s health cases.

“Nemours is dedicated to redefining health for children and transforming the care we provide to enable them to grow into healthy, productive adults,” said Dr. R. Lawrence Moss, President and CEO of Nemours Children’s Health System.

"This new class of 12 is the second class recruited by Nemours for its three-year residency program. They were recruited from across the country, and represent the diverse population that Nemours cares for,” said Dr. Heather Fagan, Interim Chair of the Department of Pediatrics and designated institutional official for graduate medical education at Nemours. “Though the celebrations are virtual this year, we are enthusiastic about nurturing these news physicians to ensure excellence in pediatric care.”

Dr. Fagan, an award-winning medical educator, developed the graduate medical education infrastructure at Nemours. Under her leadership, the hospital was awarded institutional accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education in 2016. Dr. Fagan is an associate professor at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine, and serves as an academic assistant dean, leading all medical student programs for the College of Medicine at NCH. For her leadership role, she was recognized with the Dean’s Award from UCF College of Medicine.

“These trainees are the future workforce in our community,” said Dr. Amber Hoffman, director of the pediatric residency program. We have a booming pediatric population in need of more pediatricians and pediatric specialists in Central Florida. Growing this pipeline of medical talent helps families to stay local to receive excellent healthcare.”

Nemours Children’s Hospital received approval to train pediatric subspecialty experts in an academic institution using state of the art technology and innovative simulation and patient care models focused on quality and safety. In 2019, the inaugural class of pediatric residents began their three-year training at the hospital. The inaugural class now moves to second-year training, which includes an introduction to the critical care arena as well as further subspecialty education that helps inform their ultimate decision of their chosen specialty.

Nemours Children’s Health System has been training the next generation of pediatric specialists for decades as well as offering continuing education to improve the current practice of health professionals. In 2018, Nemours in the Delaware Valley, Jacksonville and Orlando hosted and trained more than 1,000 medical students, close to 800 residents and more than 90 fellows.

This class of residents will begin their residency at Nemours Children’s Hospital on June 15 with orientation.

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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 CareConnectNemours 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.