We have had a busy winter here at North Florida. Let’s start with the most exciting news: our program coordinator, Kim Watkins, was honored at the CORDAA20 conference as the 2020 EMRA Residency Coordinator of the Year! Kim is unspeakably deserving of this: she has worked tirelessly to improve our program since its inception, and is such an integral part of our North Florida family. Aside from her premier work as our coordinator, she did all of it while dealing with the death of her father and her husband’s diagnosis and treatment for a rare cancer. I’d like to share a brief passage from the many enthusiastic words we shared in her nomination:

Through five weeks of radiation, eight weeks of chemotherapy, almost a dozen hospital visits related to complications of the chemotherapy, and countless tears, Kim never went anywhere without her laptop. Not one resident missed registration of a conference. Not one poster went unprinted. Not one interview day went awry. The “snack fridge” still had Monsters to drink! Faculty meetings went on. We told her to take time off! Kim was singularly devoted to the residents… Our residency is better; our residents are better, because of her.

In other news, several of our faculty and residents attended EM Days at the Capitol in Tallahassee. They participated with other emergency physicians and residents around the state, advocating for upcoming policy that affects us. Ashley Barash, DO, PGY-2 gave a presentation about sex trafficking victims at the conference. She is uniquely suited to this, as prior to medical school, she spent time as a research assistant for the Domestic Violence Homicide Prevention Demonstration Initiative at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

The faculty and PGY-3 class attended a CME cruise at the end of February, adventuring around the Caribbean and enhancing their EM knowledge. Many of our faculty gave presentations to other practitioners aboard for CME credit. This opportunity also served as the faculty’s graduation gift to our first graduating class!

Speaking of which, our senior class is looking to their rapidly approaching futures with excitement! One of our chief residents, Chris Libby, MD, will complete a fellowship in Medical Informatics at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles. Most of our other seniors have signed with community hospitals around the country, in California, Tennessee, Ohio, and right here in Florida. ■