EDINBURG (Dec. 16, 2014) — The School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and Doctors Hospital at Renaissance (DHR) in Edinburg today announced that four new physician residency programs at DHR have earned initial accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).
ACGME is the private, nonprofit council that evaluates and accredits residency programs in the United States.
DHR is a location for new residency programs in internal medicine, general surgery, family medicine, and obstetrics and gynecology. These residencies are operating under the sponsorship of the School of Medicine at San Antonio, and they will be transitioned to the sponsorship of The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) School of Medicine in the near future.
The program directors for the four residency programs are Michelle Cordoba Kissee, M.D., internal medicine; Charles Richart, M.D., FACS, FCCM, general surgery; Eron Manusov, M.D., family medicine; and John Breen, M.D., FACOG, obstetrics and gynecology.
All four programs are listed with the National Resident Matching Program and are interviewing medical school seniors who are candidates for positions in graduate medical education (GME) training programs. On March 20, the date of the 2015 Match Day, the four programs will learn the identities of their inaugural residents.
Yolanda Gomez, M.D., is the designated institutional official for GME in the UTRGV School of Medicine. “Each of these new residency programs will produce board-eligible physicians who are excellent clinicians capable and ready to enter the independent practice of medicine in the community,” Dr. Gomez said. “If residents choose to do subspecialty training, they will be competitive and capable of attaining nationally recognized fellowship training.”
Residents who choose to pursue an academic career will be afforded the opportunity for research and to develop the foundations for an academic career, she said.
Lois Bready, M.D., vice dean and designated institutional official for GME in the School of Medicine in San Antonio, agreed, adding, “We are all very excited about building new educational opportunities in the Rio Grande Valley.”
Francisco Fernandez, M.D., DFAPA, FACP, founding dean of the UTRGV School of Medicine, said: “Initial accreditation by the ACGME is the evidence that, in collaboration with clinical partners such as DHR, we have identified and put the resources in place to offer first-rate learning experiences to our residents in these four fields of medicine. These residencies are of utmost importance because our ultimate goal is to make sure our medical students are exposed to all types of practices before selecting residency training and entering the work force. DHR has always been known for being on the leading edge of clinical care and now medical education.”
The residencies at DHR join other residency programs that will be transitioned to the sponsorship of the UTRGV School of Medicine in the near future:
• A separate internal medicine residency program, established in 2002, utilizes Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen and other clinical sites. James Hanley III, M.D., is program director.
• The McAllen Family Medicine Residency Program, established in 1977, rounds out the rapidly growing group of residencies in the Rio Grande Valley. Eric Petersen, M.D., is director.
Additional residency programs in the planning stages include psychiatry with sites at the Valley Baptist Health System, Rio Grande State Center and VA Texas Valley Coastal Bend Health Care System, as well as child and adolescent psychiatry. A number of other specialty programs are being considered, as well.
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, one of the country’s leading health sciences universities, ranks in the top 13 percent of academic institutions receiving National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding. The university’s schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions and graduate biomedical sciences have produced more than 29,000 graduates. The $787.7 million operating budget supports eight campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. For more information on the many ways “We make lives better®,” visit www.uthscsa.edu.