Residency fills class of 2019 through match process

April 1, 2016

Sixteen new residents were welcomed into the College of Community Health Sciences’ Family Medicine Residency class of 2019 on March 18 through the National Resident Matching Program. Two members of the incoming class—Elizabeth Junkin and Russell Guin—are currently fourth-year medical students at the College, which also functions as the Tuscaloosa Campus for the University of Alabama School of Medicine. More than 2,000 candidates applied for the available slots (an increase from the 1,700 applicants in 2015) and 130 were interviewed. The residency, a three-year program and one of the largest of its kind in the country, was able to fill all the positions through the match process. The College’s mission is to improve and promote the health of individuals and communities in Alabama and the region, and one of the ways it fulfills that mission is by addressing the physician workforce in Alabama and the region with a focus on comprehensive family medicine residency training. To address the growing need for primary care physicians in Alabama and nationwide, the Family Medicine Residency has been undergoing an expansion in recent years. It recently applied for and received additional residency slots, which brought its total approved and funded slots from 36 to 48. One in seven family physicians practicing in Alabama has graduated from the Family Medicine Residency, and the 230 graduates practicing in Alabama are in 46 of the state’s 67 counties. Of the 436 graduates practicing outside of Alabama, the majority practice in the South or the Southeast. The University of Alabama Family Medicine Residency Class of 2019: Blair Lindsey Chance Indiana University Joshua Franklin Coy St. George’s University, Grenada Ashley Sujane Froese Lincoln Memorial University Richard Anthony Giovane St. George’s University, Grenada Jonathan Russell Guin University of Alabama School of Medicine • Tuscaloosa Regional Campus Elizabeth Ann Junkin University of Alabama School of Medicine • Tuscaloosa Regional Campus Jonathan Edward Kroeker St. George’s University, Grenada Soojung Samantha Lee Louisiana State University – New Orleans Cory Allen Luckie University of Alabama School of Medicine John Calvin Lundeen American University of the Caribbean, Saint Maarten Jodie Erin McDonald-Beach William Carey University Katie Taheerah Muhammad Meharry Medical College Taki Mohammad Rida Medical University of the Americas, Nevis, West Indies Clifton Shane Scott St. Matthew’s University, Grand Cayman Tiffani Yvonne Thomas Medical University of South Carolina Hailey Elizabeth Thompson William Carey University