Family Medicine Residency program celebrates one year of service to the community

The Family Medicine Residency program celebrated one year of service to the community with a special event honoring the advancement of first-year residents to their second year and recognizing the incoming class.

The six doctors who are now in their second year of residency are Elier Benacho Padilla, MD, Ngoc Huong Helen Ho, DO; Kristin Kuenh, DO; Connor Smith, MD, Anna Carolina Spilere Furlan, MD and Abigael Welsh, DO. The new doctors, starting July 1, are Bruna Cordeiro Tonail, MD, Nicholas Dietschweiler, DO, Anuar Guevara Cruz, MD, Robert Austin Harrell, MD, Katherine Keane, MD and Kaitlyn Perkins, DO. 

“During their second year, residents are able to manage more complex cases and supervise junior residents and medical students,” said Dr. Joshua Hodge, Family Medicine Residency Director, Ascension Sacred Heart. “Their expanded roles, along with the six additional students, will greatly expand the number of patients we are able to serve.”

Doctors in the residency program spend four days a week seeing patients at the DOH-Walton/Walton CHC Coastal Branch. During their three-year program, they will also complete clinical hours at Point Washington Medical Clinic, Sacred Heart Emerald Coast, Sacred Heart in Pensacola, Sacred Heart Gulf and in the offices of area community providers. 

The Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Family Medicine Residency Program received accreditation in late 2022. The program is modeled after the successful residency programs at Sacred Heart in Pensacola. Students enrolled in the program will be eligible for Board Certification in Family Medicine. 

The program is a partnership between Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast, Florida Health in Walton County/Walton Community Health Center and The Florida State University College of Medicine. Ascension Sacred Heart hospitals in Northwest Florida partner with the Florida State University College of Medicine to train future physicians. Combined, there are 90 residency spots available, with plans to increase that number, as well as the number of specialties to address Florida’s growing physician shortage.