Greetings from the happiest place on Earth: The University of Central Florida/HCA Florida Healthcare (Greater Orlando/Osceola) Emergency Medicine Residency Program! This year, we welcomed seven new exceptional interns to our program and have enjoyed watching them grow. Watching our PGY-3s and PGY-2s settle into their roles as senior residents has also been exciting. Additionally, we have had the privilege of having two members of the 2023 graduating class become attending physicians at our facility!

Our program continues to grow, with many exciting opportunities on the horizon. We welcomed two fellows to our Ultrasound fellowship, Dr. Silva Baucage and Dr. Zorilla Caballero. This year, we have spearheaded a new EMS fellowship program led by Dr. Walker and we welcomed our first EMS fellows, Dr. Katz and Dr. Nguyen. Learning and growth do not end there! Starting next year in 2024, we are excited to announce two new fellowships coming to Osceola. Dr. Gue will lead our Medical Education fellowship, and Dr. Stephanie Cohen will provide top-notch education in her Simulation fellowship. It truly is a time of immense growth in our program, and we are so proud to see our faculty take on these new roles!

Our residents continue to push themselves within the emergency department and the research world, representing our program with poster presentations, abstracts, and oral presentations at ACEP 2022 in San Franciso, CORD 2023 in Las Vegas, and SAEM 2023 in Austin. Perhaps most notable was our program’s recent success at the 2023 FCEP Symposium by the Sea. Our chief resident, Dr. Alorda, took first place in the Drop the Mic competition, with Dr. Cesarz and Dr. Voter taking second and third place, respectively. In addition, Dr. Ragusa was awarded best presenter in the Case Presentation Competition. Lastly, our program won the Resident Quiz Bowl competition with the participation of Drs. Bobbett, Voter, and Cesarz. During this conference, we also watched one of our PGY3s and former EMRAF president, Dr. Diers, hand the baton to Dr. Vuong, who was elected the EMRAF president for the upcoming year.

Our medical education director, Dr. Gue, worked tirelessly to help host this year’s SAEM Southeastern Regional Meeting at the University of Central Florida. Our interns attended the conference. Dr. Mejias was awarded best resident presentation for her talk on disaster medicine. Overall, it was a great success, and we look forward to hosting future years!

Not only have our residents been shining stars this year, but so has our faculty. Dr. Gue received the UCF Innovative Teaching Award, FCEP Member of the Year Award, and the ACEP National Emergency Medicine Junior Faculty Teaching Award. Dr. MacIntosh, our associate dean of DEI, was awarded the Orange County Public Hero Award for her service to our community!  Dr. Cohen was voted the Vice President of Membership for the SAEM Sim Academy! We are so proud of everyone and look forward to another great academic year!