HCA Florida Fort Walton-Destin Hospital marked a significant milestone in medical education with its inaugural white coat ceremony for 12 residents in its new Graduate Medical Education (GME) program on July 30, 2024.

• The event celebrated the hospital’s first class of internal medicine residents, symbolizing their transition into the next phase of their medical careers. The ceremony brought together hospital board members, parents of the residents, staff, and physicians involved in teaching.

Dr. Amanda Finley, program director, emphasized the importance of the program for the community. “When you teach physicians locally, there’s studies and data that show that you’re investing into the community,” Finley said. “Physicians will come back to practice here because you train them here. You develop your community of physicians, your support system, you’re familiar with the way the community works, and its needs.”

The three-year internal medicine program aims to address the deficit of primary care providers in Florida and the greater South. Finley noted that the program is already recruiting for its next class of 12 residents for July 2025.

The white coat ceremony holds special significance in medical education. As Finley explained, “The white coat has a lot of symbolism in establishing the medicine and the progress and the transition.”

Finley explained that medical residents have completed a rigorous educational journey before entering their residency programs. This path typically includes earning a college degree, often in biology or chemistry, completing prerequisites, passing medical school entrance exams, and then completing four years of medical school. 

• Upon graduation from medical school, these doctors choose their specialty for residency training. In the case of these 12, they have chosen internal medicine.

Two of the new residents, Dr. Kheri-Ann Henry and Dr. Jessica Rambharose, expressed their enthusiasm for the program. Henry, originally from Miami with family roots in Jamaica, completed her medical degree at Windsor University in St. Kitts. 

• “It’s amazing. It’s more than I could ask for just being here, being so welcomed and supported by everyone,” Henry said. “It’s just been a dream come true. I would have never thought to pick a residency so perfectly suited for me than this one.”

Rambharose, whose family emigrated from Trinidad and Tobago to Boston in 1989, studied at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and completed her medical degree at Trinity School of Medicine in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. “Not only did I get paired with the best opportunity, I feel that HCA Florida Fort Walton-Destin Hospital and Dr. Finley called me to this program because she saw everything that I have to offer and my passion for patient care,” she said.

Both residents emphasized their eagerness to grow and learn. “Growing each and every single day and just becoming the best physician that I possibly can be,” Henry said about her expectations. Rambharose echoed this sentiment, adding her interest in “opportunity to work with the attendings, obtain research opportunities, gain my knowledge and skill set, and get to further my application for fellowship.”

The GME program is part of a larger educational initiative at the hospital. In April 2024, the hospital partnered with the Okaloosa County School District to open the Health Academy of Northwest Florida, the first high school health academy housed on an HCA Healthcare hospital campus in the country. 

• This academy provides high school students interested in healthcare careers the opportunity to earn industry certifications and gain skills needed to enter the workforce or continue their post-graduate studies.

Finley highlighted the program’s potential impact on the hospital’s ability to attract and retain medical talent. “Just within our hospitalist ward service staff, we have people who want to come and work here just so they can be involved in teaching,” she said. “It definitely reshapes the culture of a facility.”

The program’s development is part of a larger initiative by HCA Healthcare. “HCA is very minded on looking forward to the future needs. Where is healthcare headed and how can we help fill those needs in the future state?” Finley explained. She noted that HCA has been building graduate medical education programs for about the last 10 years and is now the largest sponsoring institution for training physicians in the country, with over 5,000 residents nationwide.

Finley emphasized the unique aspects of the program, including the high quality of subspecialists in internal medicine and the level of surgical cases residents will be involved in. 

“Our ability to connect with specialists in rheumatology anywhere in the consortium of HCA or UCF,…it’s really a hybrid to the best opportunity for our learners,” she said.

• The program also focuses on producing well-rounded physicians. “You need to be a physician that can practice in a rural area and have all the skill sets in the toolbox, and not just someone who can only practice in a large building that has all the tools,” Finley stressed.

As the hospital celebrated its 50th anniversary a few weeks prior to the white coat ceremony, Finley reflected on the significance of launching the GME program. “Setting the foundation, setting the tone for education in the facility is something that’s going to carry for years to come,” she said.

The program’s success will be measured by the residents’ achievements, fellowships, and the practices they open, Finley added, emphasizing the program’s potential to change lives and impact patient care in the community. “You may have saved a life today,” she said while looking across the table at Henry and Rambharose. “To think about the impact that each one of them will make is huge. It’s immense.” 

As the new residents don their white coats and begin their journey at HCA Florida Fort Walton-Destin Hospital, they carry with them the hopes and expectations of a community looking forward to a brighter, healthier future.

New Residency Doctors:

• Austin Barnett, DO
• Emmanuel Dominguez, MD
• Kheri-Ann Henry, MD
• Breanne Kothe, DO
• Harvey Lin, MD
• Erin McQuillan-Hicks, DO
• Vamsi Pachchipulusu, MD
• Adam Peton, DO
• Jessica Rambharose, MD
• Joel Sandrugu, MD
• Kevin Tran, DO