LCRH Residency Program Celebrates its 10th Annual Graduating Class

BY STEVE CORNELIUS

REGIONAL EDITOR, Commonwealth Journal

The Lake Cumberland Regional Hospital reached a historic milestone recently by celebrating their 10th Resident Graduation ceremony. The decade-old celebration marked the culmination of 13 resident doctors (six in family medicine and seven in internal medicine) graduating as fully licensed physicians.

Of the 13 graduates, 12 will be doctors in Kentucky. Three of the graduates will stay and be employed with LCRH (two hospitalist; one at LCMA). To date, the LCRH Residency Program has graduated 85 residents from both programs combined.

The Internal Medicine graduates were Shaelyn Dixon, DO, from Hazard, KY; Maha Husain, MD, from Plano, TX; Madiha Jilani, MD, from Pakistan; Autumn Justice, DO, from Russell Springs, KY; Kathryn Knutson, DO, from Fort Wayne, IN; Chrystie Nguyen Young, DO, from Blacksburg, VA; and Fletcher Young, DO, from Bowling Green, KY.

The Family Medicine graduates were Zachariah Claytor, MD, from Lexington, KY; Kelsi Riera, DO, from Fairbanks, Alaska; Alyssa Kozacek, DO, from Gainesville, VA; James Lutz, Jr., DO, from New Hope, OH; Rebecca Whitworth, MD from Barbourville, KY; and Ruk Yakkanti, DO, from Prospect, KY.

Lake Cumberland Regional Hospital interim CEO Carolyn Sparks gave high praises to the 13 recent graduates and looked towards the future of continued success with the LCRH Residency Program.

“Our hospital is incredibly proud of the graduates from the Internal Medicine and Family Medicine Residency Programs,” said Sparks. “Graduate medical education is pivotal to the quality of care we provide, and our dedicated team of educators is honored to contribute to the future of medical practice by training and developing qualified, competent, and compassionate physicians. We look forward to continuing this important work for many years to come.”

On top of their rigorous undergraduate education, medical school education and in-house medical work, this year’s 13 resident graduates spent three additional years in the LCRH Residency Program under the direction of Internal Medicine Residency Program Director Joseph Weigel, MD, MACP; and Family Medicine Residency Program Director Patrick Jenkins, MD, FAAFP.

“As we come to the end of the first decade of Graduate Medical Education in Somerset at LCRH, I find myself reflecting on how I thought something like this seemed impossible to me, and only a pipe dream at the beginning…now that we are well established, and have changed this community hospital into a center of training and continuous, lifelong medical learning,” Dr. Weigel stated, “I am both amazed and grateful. Many people, but especially Ms. Libbey Crowe, and Ms. Edrie Jones, have made it possible. We would not exist without their determined pride in making sure we came to life, and continued to breathe.

“It is rare for excellent, free standing, Rural GME to exist in our current training system,”

Weigel added. “It is vital to the existence of good medicine in areas that continue to be neglected as important in our country. I am humbled by our success and determined to see it continue.”

Likewise, Dr. Jenkins was grateful for the success of the program over the past 10 years and the fact that many of the graduates chose to stay in the local area.

“The goal of our residency program is to train residents to be highly skilled graduates with a desire to practice in rural communities,” Dr. Jenkins said. “I am pleased to report that five of our six [family medicine] graduates will be practicing either in Somerset or within a 30mile radius of our program. The other resident is staying in Kentucky and doing a fellowship at U of L. I feel he will probably practice in Kentucky upon completion of his training. I am excited for each graduate and the communities that will benefit from their skills.”

Rebecca Whitworth, MD; Autumn Justice, DO; and Shaelyn Dixon, DO, came to the LCRH Residency Program from different parts of the state, but all three will soon be doctors at the local hospital.

Family Medicine graduate Whitworth looks forward to being a physician at Lake Cumberland Regional Hospital and making a home in Somerset.

“I chose to be a physician at LCRH because I wanted to continue to be a part of our residency program,” Dr. Whitworth said. “I love our faculty and our residents. I have found a passion for medical education because I believe it is vital that we continue to invest in residents and medical students in order to raise up excellent physicians for our community.”

Prior to her residency, Internal Medicine graduate Justice worked as a nurse which led her to want to do more for her patients and led her to be a future hospitalist at Lake Cumberland Regional Hospital.

“I enjoyed caring for patients as a registered nurse, however desired the ability to do more for my patients,” Dr. Autumn Justice stated. “I wanted the best training possible, therefore pursued a career in medicine by attending medical school to become a physician.”

Internal Medicine graduate Dixon’s first experience with the LCRH Residency Program was at a graduation ceremony five years ago as a third-year medical student. Her husband, Blake Dixon, had just graduated medical school at the time. They moved to Somerset so that he could start his family medicine residency training and she could start her clinical training as a medical student.

“At that graduation ceremony, I remember former graduate, Dr. Ryan Moss, saying “we stand on the backs of giants and we have giants here”. I knew in that moment that I was in the right place for the clinical training that occurs during the last two years of medical school,” stated Dr. Dixon. “As a medical student I was able to work with excellent attending physicians and resident physicians who helped me to grow both clinically and professionally through daily EKG readings, didactic conferences, and patient care responsibilities.”

“It was during this time that it became apparent that Internal Medicine was my passion,” Dr. Dixon added. “It was because of the excellent training that I knew Lake Cumberland [Regional Hospital] would provide through the didactic program, open ICU, patient volume, high procedural volume, and dedicated teaching physicians that it was an easy decision to remain at Lake Cumberland for three years of internal medicine training. It was also the opportunity for medical student interactions, mental health support, and the family atmosphere that the program provided that also helped make this an easy decision.”

During training, the Dixon medical couple ingrained themselves in the community. They bought a home, joined a local church – The Creek – and slowly feel in love with the new local area.

“We knew at this point that we wanted to call Somerset our home,” Dr. Dixon said. “We also knew that interacting with medical students and residents was a long term goal for both of us so when my husband graduated from the family medicine residency program it only made sense that he establish his practice at LCMA and continue teaching in both the clinic and hospital setting.

“After spending a total of five years being a part of this program as both a medical student and resident physician, I can say that it was one of the best decisions we have ever made and God’s plan is always good,” Dr. Dixon aded. “Therefore it is due to the roots we have planted, our church family whom we love, love for this community, ability to work with resident physicians and medical students, and my deep gratitude and respect for the residency program at Lake Cumberland that I have also decided to stay and work as a

hospitalist at Lake Cumberland Regional Hospital where I will continue to be sharpened both clinically and professionally by my colleagues, that are giants in their own right, who I have so much respect and admiration for. It is an honor to serve the people in this community and to be a graduate of the Lake Cumberland Internal Medicine Residency Program.”

LCRH Designated Institutional Officer Jennifer Stephens Roberson knows that not all graduates will stay local, but she has always took solace knowing that wherever the LCRH Residency Program graduates go to they will greatly impact the health needs for other communities.

“The mission of both programs is to train competent physicians to meet the healthcare needs of our region and state,” Roberson stated. “We are working to accomplish this with our graduates as they begin caring for patients in communities across Kentucky making communities healthier.”

This year the residency programs at LCRH presented their first Humanism and Excellence in Teaching Awards. This year’s winners were Dr. Haley Carroll PGY1, Dr. Corey Morris PGY-2, and Dr. Alyssa Kozacek PGY-3.

The awards were given to celebrate the teaching that their resident physicians do in both the hospital and clinic settings, as it is part of a fundamental learning process for the third and fourth year medical students. The award was voted on by the third and fourth year medical students for a resident physician in either the family medicine or internal medicine program who exemplifies excellence in teaching and compassionate care to medical students, patients, families, and their colleagues. The awards were given for post graduate year (PGY) 1, 2, and 3 resident physicians.

For more information about graduate medical education please visit their website at Lake Cumberland Residency Programs at gme.LakeCumberlandHospital.com.

Contact Steve Cornelius at scornelius@somersetkentucky.com.