Family medicine, considered the oldest and broadest subspecialty of medicine, plays a critical role in maintaining community health and access to care. In fact, 90 percent of primary care doctors are family physicians, providing care of a wide range of ailments and conditions from newborns to seniors.

Eric Coris, MD

Eric Coris, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Family Medicine in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, said that family physicians significantly enhance overall health outcomes, particularly for patients from underserved populations.

Aspiring doctors echo this sentiment. Kirtan Patel, a fourth year Morsani College of Medicine student, emphasizes his commitment to the community: “Free clinic work is crucial. It provides a place for the underinsured and uninsured in the community to receive medical care.”

However, the United States – and especially a state like Florida — faces a severe shortage of primary care doctors, posing a serious healthcare challenge. The Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that the country will need an additional 55,000 primary care physicians over the next 10 years to keep up with demand.

To counteract this shortage, USF Health and Tampa General Hospital are joining forces to offer a Family Medicine residency position starting in July 2025. Dr. Coris underlined the necessity of these residency programs, saying, “These programs play a pivotal role in strengthening the health care infrastructure, nurturing a new generation of physicians and facilitating enhanced patient care.”

Patel added, “Family Medicine is the specialty geared toward primary care and preventative care.”

Kirtan Patel studies recently at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine in downtown Tampa.

Family medicine training includes care for pediatric patients, adults, and pregnant women. The field often attracts medical students and residents passionate about serving their communities, which is key in addressing healthcare disparities and enhancing community health.

“Making a difference in the community is a powerful feeling,” Patel said. “The more family medicine physicians we can train and graduate, the better for any community as a whole.”

The goal remains clear: cultivate family medicine physicians through effective residency programs, enhancing access to care and reducing healthcare disparities.

The family medicine residency program will be a key addition to the nation’s fastest-rising medical school in primary care over the past decade, as recognized by U.S. News & World Report Academic Insights.

The USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Class of 2018 will celebrate National Match Day beginning at Noon this Friday, March 16, at Ulele. 

Students, family members, friends and others who cannot attend the event in person can watch the celebration on USF Health’s Facebook Live: www.facebook.com/usfhealth/

This year, 158 USF senior medical students in Tampa, FL, and Allentown, PA — along with thousands of their peers at medical schools across the country – are participating in the Match to learn where they will spend their residencies after graduation.   Residency is the time when licensed medical graduates receive specialized postgraduate training in their chosen medical fields.

In the months leading up to Match Day students apply and interview for residency slots with institutions across the country.  Beginning Noon EST this Friday, U.S. medical students will open sealed envelopes to find out which school among their several selections accepted them and where they will train over the next three to seven years. Match Day is an exciting, life-changing event for these future doctors.

Most of the 47 USF SELECT MD senior students will attend the Tampa celebration at Ulele, but some will participate in a Match Day event on the Lehigh Valley campus in Allentown, PA, where they conducted their clinical training the past two years. The USF Match Day theme is based on Game of Thrones, a perfect fit for soon-to-be physicians who are trained to always be prepared.

This year’s Main Residency Match by the National Resident Matching Program is expected to be the largest in history.

Three words: Safe. Team. Commit. That’s the message Charles Paidas, MD, urged more than 230 new resident physicians to take away from their recent all-day orientation, their official welcome to the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine (MCOM).

“If you remember nothing else about the next 15 minutes, I want you to remember those words,” said Dr. Paidas, professor of surgery and vice dean for Clinical Affairs and Graduate Medical Education at MCOM. “These are your goals for your residency. Graduate as a safe doctor, be able to work in a team, and commit to your obligations of lifelong learning, your patients your peers and students, your department, and the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.”

The June 30 orientation at the USF Alumni Center and was likely be the only time the entire group will be in the same room together. The next day – July 1, the national start to residency training programs – the new-to-USF residents were deployed to the many clinical facilities and hospitals throughout the Tampa Bay area affiliated with the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

This year’s entering group includes 238 physicians, with 147 residents and 91 fellows. Of the residents, about half are entering their first year of residency. Called PGY1s (post graduate year 1), these physicians are experiencing the first day of their medical careers – they just graduated from medical school a few months ago. The other incoming residents are beginning the next step in their residencies, transitioning to a narrower focus within their specialty. Fellows have finished their residencies and are now conducting additional, more specialized training within their specialty. Fellowships are typically highly competitive positions in superior programs. While most of the new resident physicians are from MCOM (40), the rest are graduates of schools and programs from farther afield, including China, Colombia, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Mexico, among others.

The annual influx of new residents and fellows marks a significant moment for these doctors, but probably a bit more so for the PGY1s. It’s when the paradigm shifts, Dr. Paidas said.

“As a medical student, decision making was ‘virtual’ and practiced in the shadows of the care team,” he said. “Now, the responsibility shifts to the intern, or first-year resident. Although not completely in charge, the first-year resident has graded responsibility and team trust is earned and rewarded with more responsibility. The first-year is all about learning the drill.

“And it’s the very first time an office or hospital patient looks at you as one of their docs, begins to develop a relationship with you, and trusts what you say.”

One such resident is Lindsey Ryan, MD, a PGY1 from the University of Louisville in Kentucky. Her first day included making early rounds at Tampa General Hospital with a team from Pediatric Surgery.

Dr. Ryan, who is specializing in otolaryngology, said that USF’s program rose above others when she was interviewing residency programs.

“On interview day, you look for a program you will fit into,” Dr. Ryan said. “That’s a big thing. There are great programs all over, but it’s that extra piece you look for. I loved the program and the faculty here and I felt right at home.”

Fitting right in on rounds at TGH, Dr. Ryan walked in and out of pediatric patient rooms with the health care team that included more seasoned residents, a chief resident, an attending physician, a nurse practitioner, and a USF medical student. These are the first patients she is seeing as a physician, a realization she doesn’t miss.

“I’m having a very good day,” she said.

USF’s residency program has more than 80 residency and fellowship training programs with more than 700 trainees. The program is considered strong, Dr. Paidas said.

“It’s all about the depth and breadth of patient populations,” he said. “The USF affiliates attract a wealth of patients and provide the substrate for the maturation of the resident. Tampa Bay has historically been an attractive geographic locale. In addition, we have a superb clinical faculty able to balance their work with patient care and education. Think about it. Our affiliates include the Number One ranked hospital in the State, level 1 Pediatric and Adult trauma Center, Comprehensive Cancer Center, two VA’s, Family Health Clinics. Our affiliates give us an unbelievable depth of patients.”

This year’s residents and fellows totaled 238. About 45% are starting at Tampa General Hospital, 25% at the Haley VA Hospital, 15% at Moffitt Cancer Center, and the remaining are at various other sites. Internal medicine welcomed the largest number of new residents and fellows, with 73, followed by surgery, with 25.

Here is a breakdown of the entire group:

Dermatology, 5

Emergency Medicine, 10

Family Medicine, 10

Cardiology, 7

Internal Medicine, 73

Medicine / Pediatrics, 6

Neurology, 18

Neurosurgery, 4

Obstetrics & Gynecology, 7

Ophthalmology, 5

Orthopaedics, 7

Otolaryngology, 3

Pathology, 8

Pediatrics, 15

Preventive/Occupational Medicine, 2

Psychiatry, 13

Radiology,20

Surgery, 25

Story by Sarah Worth, and photos by Sandra C. Roa, USF Health Office of Communications. 

The beginning of the next stage of their life starts now.

Soon, the medical students of the class of 2012 will criss-cross the country, dressed in their business best, nervously anticipating curveball questions and first impressions, as they start their interviews.

The interviews will chart the course of their future, as they are a key step in determining where they will go to receive their graduate medical education.

“It’s a little nerve-racking,” says Jayme Mitchell, a fourth-year USF medical student who hopes to become an OB/GYN physician. “But it’s also exciting.”

Mitchell and her fellow would-be OB/GYNs are receiving a little help tonight, thanks to USF’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and several faculty members. Seven students have dressed in their interview clothes this evening for a full round of mock interviews.

The department’s leaders do the mock interviews each year to try to give the students a little extra practice before they head out to residency programs around the country. USF’s Office of Student Affairs also coordinates a program of mock interviews with volunteer faculty members.

“They always worry,’’ said Dr. Jimmy Mayer, associate professor and director of Undergraduate Women’s Healthcare Education. “They always have a ton of questions about the interview itself.”

Medical students have become experts at taking written tests over the years, but the thought of this new kind of assessment fills some with dread. They ask Dr. Mayer about all their uncertainties.

What questions will they ask me? What should I tell them? How many interviews should I do?

The mock interviews are designed to soothe nerves, give students a boost of confidence and a better idea of what to expect.

The timing couldn’t be better for student Delaura Patel.

“My first interview is on Friday,” she said. “I’m flying to Arizona. This is like the real thing.”

The department tries to make the interviews as much like the real thing as possible, said Dr. Mayer and Lauren Shaw, coordinator of Undergraduate Women’s Healthcare Education. Dr. Mayer warns students that each program is different; others may not run their interviews in the same way as USF’s. To avoid potential bias, any students who do mock interviews will be matched with other faculty members if they interview for USF residencies.

The students are so hungry for extra experience that they have juggled busy clerkship schedules to be here. Robert Rossi is working nights right now and went to bed at 9 a.m. But he’s here this evening in his best suit.

“I like this,” Rossi said. “I need the practice.”

There are advantages to practicing on the home court. When Mitchell walks into her final interview, it’s easy to greet Dr. Soha Patel, a first-year resident, with assurance.

“Obviously, we’ve never met before,” joked Dr. Patel.

Dr. Patel grills Mitchell on her medical interests: Why do you like the program here? Are you concerned that your experience might be more narrow if you stay in one place? Where do you see OB, as a field, going ten years from now?

She throws in a few offbeat, more personal queries as well: Who inspires you? Who do you rely on most? Tell me about your favorite childhood moment. What’s the last thing you Googled?

Mitchell handles the curve balls with ease. Staying put doesn’t worry her, she says, because USF is constantly changing and adapting. And the person closest to her: Mom.

The students also get other tips about what happens outside the interview room. Cluster your interviews by location so you don’t have to buy as many plane tickets. Remember coats and shoes for winter weather. The reception the night before can be just as important as interview day – and if residents don’t show, that may be a red flag that they’re unhappy with the program.

Mitchell has wanted to become an OB/GYN since shadowing a family friend in high school.

“It’s exciting, it’s fast paced,” she said. “I feel like I can connect with the patients – and that they trust me. It’s fun delivering babies, but there’s a lot more than that too.”

– Story by Lisa Greene, photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications