The program will welcome its first class of 12 residents in July 2026, growing to a total of 36 trainees at full capacity. The program has received ACGME accreditation and will be filling the positions through the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP Code 1587140C6).

“This new residency marks an exciting milestone for the Tallahassee medical community and for our statewide consortium,” says Stephen Cico, the College of Medicine’s associate dean for graduate medical education and designated institutional official for the �鶹ӳ����ý/HCA Florida Healthcare Graduate Medical Education Consortium. “Internal medicine physicians are at the heart of patient care, diagnosing and managing complex diseases, promoting preventive health, and coordinating care across specialties. Primary care is one of the physician shortage areas in the state. Training these physicians here in Tallahassee will improve access to primary care and strengthen the future physician workforce across North Florida and beyond.”

Training the Next Generation of Internists

Internal medicine physicians, or internists, specialize in the comprehensive care of adults and are trained to address both acute and chronic medical conditions. Residents in the new program will gain extensive experience across hospital, outpatient and subspecialty settings — including critical care, cardiology, endocrinology, infectious disease and primary care.

The three-year program emphasizes evidence-based, patient-centered care, interprofessional collaboration and scholarly inquiry. Trainees will also participate in case-based learning, journal clubs and simulation-based education designed to enhance diagnostic reasoning and clinical leadership.

“It is a privilege to help launch the Internal Medicine Residency at HCA Florida Capital Hospital,” says Saquib Anjum, program director of the new residency. “Our mission is to cultivate compassionate, evidence-based physicians who are not only exceptional clinicians, but also lifelong learners and leaders dedicated to improving patient outcomes and advancing the field of medicine.”

Expanding Graduate Medical Education in Florida

The new residency supports the growing need for internal medicine physicians across Florida, particularly in primary care and hospital-based practice. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), Florida ranks among the states with the most significant projected physician shortages over the next decade.

By expanding graduate medical education opportunities, the �鶹ӳ����ý/HCA Florida Healthcare consortium continues to address these workforce challenges.

As the fastest growing GME program in the state, the consortium oversees 47 residency and fellowship programs. It is  training more than 700 physicians in a wide range of specialties at HCA hospitals in Greater Orlando, Tallahassee, Gainesville, Ocala, Fort Walton Beach, Pensacola and Sanford.

“As the need for physicians grows in … Florida, with an estimated 18,000 physician shortage projected over the next decade, we are helping to meet those needs.” — Stephen Cico, associate dean for graduate medical education

Doctors cannot practice medicine immediately after graduating from medical school — they must first complete residences, where they train with experienced physicians in their specialty of choice, such as pediatrics or surgery. Fellowships are optional programs that come after residency for doctors seeking even more specialized training. Residencies and fellowships are integral to solving the physician shortage because many physicians begin their practices near where they do their post-graduate training.

“As the need for physicians grows in the state of Florida, with an estimated 18,000 physician shortage projected over the next decade, we are helping to meet those needs,” says Stephen Cico, �鶹ӳ����ý’s associate dean for graduate medical education and the �鶹ӳ����ý-HCA consortium’s designated institutional officer. “We are focused on medical specialties that are or are going to be in the highest demand.”

Florida’s Fastest Growing Program

�鶹ӳ����ý began its first residency in 2014 in internal medicine with HCA Florida Osceola Hospital and the Orlando VA Medical Center. Today, the �鶹ӳ����ý-HCA Florida GME Consortium has 44 accredited programs across the state — in Greater Orlando, Gainesville, Tallahassee, Ocala, Pensacola, Fort Walton Beach and Sanford.

“This spring, the �鶹ӳ����ý-HCA Florida Healthcare GME Consortium celebrated a major milestone — our 1,000^th graduate. These new attending physicians will go on to make a positive difference in the community with the skills and experience gained working alongside experts in one of our teaching hospitals,” says Cheryll Albold, vice president of graduate medical education for HCA Healthcare’s North Florida Division. “We are excited to add six new graduate medical education programs starting July 1, further expanding learning opportunities, in vitally needed healthcare specialties, for our next generation of doctors.”

“These graduate medical education programs in our hospitals are instrumental to the success of our communities,” says Alan Keesee, chief executive officer at HCA Florida Ocala Hospital.

In the last three years, the consortium grew by 200 physicians, 13 programs and three hospitals. No other GME-sponsoring institution in Florida has had that level of growth. The latest programs beginning this summer include physical medicine and rehabilitation and transitional year residencies at HCA Florida Lake Monroe Hospital in Sanford, a cardiology fellowship at UCA Florida Osceola Hospital, transitional year and psychiatry residencies at HCA Florida West Hospital and a cardiology residency at HCA Florida Ocala Hospital. The transitional year program is a one-year training that provides newly graduated doctors with comprehensive clinical skills before they go on to more specialized training in areas such as dermatology and physical medicine and rehabilitation.

“These graduate medical education programs in our hospitals are instrumental to the success of our communities,” says Alan Keesee, chief executive officer at HCA Florida Ocala Hospital. “We are training up the next generation of physicians in local communities in an effort to retain their talent and meet the needs of our growing populations.”

Helping Address Physician Shortage

A Florida Physician Workforce Study shows that almost one-third of licensed physicians in Florida are 60 or older and as many as 8,000 plan to stop seeing patients in the next five years — most because of retirement. In the past eight years, the �鶹ӳ����ý-HCA consortium has graduated 1,043 new physicians and approximately 50% are practicing in Florida, a major contribution to addressing Florida’s physician shortage. The �鶹ӳ����ý-HCA Consortium is able to train more doctors to meet this need because unlike traditional academic programs, the partnership has multiples of specialty programs. For example, �鶹ӳ����ý-HCA has six programs in internal medicine across the state, two in family medicine, three in OB-GYN and four in psychiatry — a significant contribution to primary care services for Floridians. Emergency medicine is another high-need area. �鶹ӳ����ý-HCA has three ER training programs across Florida and just increased the number of residents it is training in Osceola County to help meet that area’s demands.

“Our goal for our GME programs is, ultimately, increasing access to expert care for our patients throughout Florida.” — Cheryll Albold, vice president of graduate medical education for HCA Healthcare’s North Florida Division

These GME programs also bring needed physicians to rural and isolated areas where access to medical care is limited, such as Pensacola, Ocala, Sanford and Osceola County. For example, the consortium created the first community-based reproductive endocrinology and infertility fellowship in the country. This specialty helps infertile couples and most of those services are in large cities, requiring patients to travel long distances for care. The �鶹ӳ����ý-HCA program is based at HCA Florida Osceola Hospital in Kissimmee.

In addition to providing care at HCA Florida Healthcare hospitals, many of the residents and fellows also care for the state’s veterans. Physicians training in internal medicine, rheumatology, endocrinology, psychiatry, cardiology, surgery, vascular surgery and reproductive endocrinology and infertility provide care at the Orlando VA Medical Center.

“Our goal for our GME programs is, ultimately, increasing access to expert care for our patients throughout Florida,” Albold says. “HCA Florida Healthcare’s strategic partnership with �鶹ӳ����ý’s College of Medicine is providing a pipeline that will directly benefit patients by continually training the best and brightest new doctors, many of whom will ultimately build their own practices right here in the Sunshine State.”