It is hard to believe the academic year is already halfway over. Despite the short time frame, we have managed to accomplish a great deal.  It is hard to believe the academic year is already halfway over. Despite the short time frame, we have managed to accomplish a great deal. 

Our ultrasound team’s hard work has been rewarded. In September, the Society of Clinical Ultrasound Fellowships’ (SCUF) 2021 Conference was in Nashville, TN. Both of our fellows, Drs. Michelle Hernandez and Thomas Lawyer, were selected to present at the conference’s Fellow Lightning Talk. Additionally, Ultrasound Fellowship Director Dr. Judy Lin won the Shazam! Award as recognition for her contributions to SCUF. 

At ACEP, we were honored by the acceptance of nine abstracts by current and former residents. One such abstract, “Impact of Emergency Department blood pressure on stroke severity,” was presented by Dr. Parth Patel, PGY-3. Our Ultrasound Director, Dr. Javier Rosario, won an award from the Emergency Ultrasound Section for his contributions as Section Secretary, managing subcommittees and the newsletter. Dr. Judy Lin won an award for developing resources for fellows and POCUS education, as well as being selected for the ACEP Advanced Examination Review Course. Finally, our residency was selected to participate in MedWars. Thanks to Drs. Jesse Wu, PGY-3, Mark Rivera, PGY-3, and Martin Morales, PGY-2 for representing us. 

Many of our residents are working on research projects that have been selected for publication. Drs. Emily Drone and Cherian Plamoottil published “Testicular Compartment Syndrome: An unexpected diagnosis in a case of testicular pain,” in Urology Case Reports. Drs. Jeremy Mayfield, Ms. Sumedha Bandi, Latha Ganti, and Jose Rubero published “Anaphylaxis After Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine” in Therapeutic Advances in Vaccines and Immunotherapy.  

We are pleased to welcome a new faculty member: Dr. Shayne Gue. Originally from West Virginia, he completed medical school at the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine at Marshall University, followed by residency at AdventHealth East Orlando, where he was chief resident and served as faculty. Very active in FCEP and a member of the board of directors, Dr. Gue is the chair of the Symposium by the Sea planning committee and an active participant in EM Days. His educational interests include developing novel approaches to graduate medical education in the form of team-based learning curriculum and gamification. We are very excited to have him join the team, and the residents cannot wait to see what he has in store for our curriculum. 

In addition to academics and research, we also value wellness. This year we continued the annual tradition of having wilderness medicine didactics at a state park. It was a great experience for the residents to kayak down Shingle Creek afterward and explore parts of Orlando many did not know existed. As the COVID-19 Delta surge ebbs, we hope to explore more. ■