Peter Schorsch
Tampa General Hospital (TGH), along with the University of South Florida’s (USF) Morsani College of Medicine, is launching a new medical residency training program in anesthesiology.
The program has received Council for Graduate Medical Education accreditation. Residents in the four-year program will work at Tampa General Hospital and its satellite locations throughout the Tampa Bay region, with training from USF Health faculty.
Recruitment for the inaugural class is already underway, Tampa General and USF announced Wednesday.
“Our new anesthesiology residency program will help us address a national shortage of both anesthesiologists and residency positions to train future physicians in this crucial specialty,” said Dr. Charles J. Lockwood, Executive Vice President of USF Health and Dean of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.
“We are delighted that Tampa General Hospital is collaborating with us to further expand our GME programs across a wide variety of specialties to ensure the most advanced care to the next generation of Floridians.”
Residents in the program will add to training positions already in place through the Morsani College of Medicine’s Graduate Medical Education program. The new residency program will include 12 residents in each of the four years of training, and will grow USF Health’s Graduate Medical Education Program to more than 780 residents and fellows working in nearly 70 specialty programs.
“This new anesthesiology residency program at Tampa General is an incredible opportunity for residents to train under the supervision of some of the nation’s leading physicians,” said John Couris, President and CEO of Tampa General Hospital.
“In partnership with USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, we’re continuing to expand training opportunities, strengthening the pipeline of talent to our region, and contributing to the exceptional care offered at Tampa General now and for years to come. At the same time, we are fortifying a foundational element of academic medicine — educating the next generation of medical professionals.”
Dr. John Hodgson, an anesthesiologist with TEAMHealth, a physician-owned practice plan that supports clinical services for Tampa General, will lead the new program.
“We are thrilled to establish a residency with 48 individuals that will complement the complexity and size of TGH/USF,” Hodgson said. “Recruiting is underway, and we are seeking top-notch medical school graduates who are poised to become leaders in our specialty through the pursuit of excellence in patient care, research, and quality improvement.”
Tampa General Hospital Chief of Anesthesiology Dr. Jeffrey Weiss said the program “was developed to complement” the hospital’s mission to be “the nation’s safest and most innovative academic medical center.”
“Its presence will positively impact the needs of our community, training the next generation of anesthesiologists in the setting of a national shortage that has impacted our region,” Weiss added.
“As a tertiary care regional referral medical center, we have both the breadth of facilities and acuity of cases to provide our residents with the highest caliber of both academic and clinical experience. We are very excited to get started training future national leaders in the field of anesthesiology.”
Tampa General Hospital is the primary teaching hospital for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. It also supports USF Health’s College of Nursing’s certified nurse anesthetist program.
The hospital expects to provide additional opportunities to support medical education programs through its future growth, including with the recent acquisition of Bravera Health and its planned Surgical, Neurosciences and Transplant Pavilion, which will be a 13-floor facility adjacent to the main hospital on Davis Islands.
