AdventHealth announces its first Tampa Bay area residency program to train and attract physicians

May 11, 2021 — Sebring, FL - AdventHealth Sebring is the only hospital in Highlands County to provide third-year medical students from various national and international colleges, the opportunity to get real-world learning experience in various clinical settings. Eight medical students from Antigua, Curaçao, Grenada, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, and Bradenton, FL, have been admitted to the family residency program at AdventHealth Sebring. The residents will embark on a three-year robust clinical curriculum that will support their growth as future doctors.

“It is our goal to train and keep the next generation of doctors to help us meet the growing health care needs of our community,” said Dr. Bindu Raju, Chief Medical Officer of AdventHealth Sebring. “The ability to partner with colleges throughout the region and beyond allows us to work together and build a program that provides third-year medical students the experience and all the necessary tools to help us continue to provide the highest quality of care to our rural neighbors.”

Research shows it can be difficult to recruit family medicine physicians to live and work in rural areas such as Highlands and Hardee counties, and the struggle to hire and keep physicians in these communities can mean some patients choose to go without care since it is not conveniently located close to home. AdventHealth is working to close the gap.

“I’m honored to be part of recruiting and training family physicians who will serve and practice in the Heartland community,” said Dr. Kevin Sherin, Program Director for AdventHealth Sebring’s residency program.” We are excited to be the first in AdventHealth West Florida Division to get this opportunity to transform local health care through a residency program.

The residents will rotate through several hospital departments under the supervision of board-certified AdventHealth physicians in the AdventHealth Sebring emergency room, operating rooms, and AdventHealth Medical Group physician practices. Studies show medical residents trained in rural areas are more likely to practice in rural areas and will practice close to where they train.

AdventHealth West Florida Division intends to further expand the residency program to other hospitals throughout the health system. The goal is to train future generations of physicians and provide leading-edge care to patients in the communities we serve.

About AdventHealth Heartland Region

AdventHealth Heartland Region is a not-for-profit, faith-based 222-bed health care system composed of three hospitals in Sebring, Lake Placid and Wauchula, with a staff of more than 1,800 employees and 225 board-certified physicians caring for the Highlands and Hardee County communities. A member of AdventHealth West Florida Division. For more information, visit AdventHealthSebring.com.

About AdventHealth West Florida Division

The West Florida Division of AdventHealth has some of the nation’s brightest medical minds making lifesaving breakthroughs with surgical pioneers, scientists and researchers using leading edge technology and innovation to deliver our brand of whole-person care. Our network of care includes AdventHealth Carrollwood, AdventHealth Connerton, AdventHealth Dade City, AdventHealth Lake Placid, AdventHealth North Pinellas, AdventHealth Ocala, AdventHealth Sebring, AdventHealth Tampa, AdventHealth Wauchula, AdventHealth Wesley Chapel and AdventHealth Zephyrhills, as well as three freestanding offsite Emergency Rooms including AdventHealth Central Pasco ER, AdventHealth Palm Harbor ER and AdventHealth TimberRidge ER. We are more than hospitals, as we have a robust system of care including specialty acute care, over 200 primary care and specialty employed physicians, Express Care at Walgreens clinics, urgent care centers, wound care, physical therapy and home health care. AdventHealth is a faith-based not-for-profit health care system with a mission of Extending the Healing Ministry of Christ. AdventHealth has hundreds of care sites and nearly 50 hospitals across the United States. For more information about AdventHealth, visit AdventHealth.com, or Facebook.com/AdventHealth, and for the West Florida Division, click here.