UCF College of Medicine-Hospital Corporation of America North Florida Division Consortium has established a new General Surgery residency program that will begin at Osceola Regional Medical Center and the Orlando VA Medical Center this July and is seeking immediate applicants.

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) recently approved the new five-year program for a total of 15 residents. The new program is the consortium's 19th in Central and North Central Florida.

"A new program allows us the rare opportunity to fuse the essentials of classical surgical education with the modern principles of surgical training to create something special," said Dr. Philip Kondylis, residency program director. "Our program is devoted to excellence in surgical training and we are fully committed to graduating surgeons prepared to advance surgical care locally, and to lead the next generation of surgical thought nationally."


The UCF-HCA North Florida Division partnership is designed to increase Florida's number of residency programs - a key to solving the state's physician shortage. Today the consortium has 250 residents and fellows training in HCA hospitals in Kissimmee, Ocala and Gainesville and the two parties expect to increase that number to 600 + by 2020.

Osceola Regional Medical Center has undergone major expansion of its services and facilities, doubling in size to about 400 beds over the past few years. The hospital is a Level 2 trauma center and includes a Comprehensive Stroke Center, Acute Physical Medicine Rehabilitation and programs for high-risk obstetrics and behavioral health. Osceola Regional has received accreditation with commendation from the American College of Surgeons Committee on Cancer and is Joint Commission disease-specific certified in breast, colorectal, lung cancer and sepsis. "Residents training at our hospital are helping us serve one of Florida's fastest growing, most diverse communities," said Davide Carbone, CEO at Osceola Regional.

The Orlando VA Medical Center in Lake Nona is one of the nation's largest healthcare facilities for veterans and includes a comprehensive outpatient multispecialty clinic and an extensive variety of surgical services. It houses the VA's national simulation training facility.

Residents will also rotate at Nemours Children's Hospital in Lake Nona to gain additional experience in more advanced/pediatric conditions.

All three training sites are devoted to minimally invasive surgical procedures (hand and stick laparoscopy, robotic assisted surgery and trans-orifice surgery). The new residency program has a vigorous academic schedule intended to foster self-review, continuous learning and to expedite evaluation and potential application of new innovative treatments. The program will also emphasize research, encouraging residents to publish and review the results of their scholarly activity on an ongoing basis.

Applications are now open for the 2018-2019 academic year and should be submitted through ERAS. Qualified applicants will be selected for interviews. Contacts for the surgery program are Ana Acevedo, program coordinator, ana.acevedo@hcahealthcare.com.