Hackensack Meridian Health (HMH) recently graduated 314 residents and fellows from the network’s Graduate Medical Education (GME) Program. This is the largest number of graduates that the program has seen yet, emphasizing the work that Hackensack Meridian Health has put into growing the healthcare workforce of the future.
The 314 graduates from the program’s most recent class, is a significant increase from the 244 graduates that the program had last year. The newest graduates were trained across five Hackensack Meridian Health hospitals, with more than 65 of them remaining in the HMH network. The five hospitals that graduates were trained at include Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Hackensack University Medical Center, Ocean University Medical Center, Palisades Medical Center and JFK University Medical Center.
“This is an outstanding group of clinicians, and we are continuing to train the best of the best,’’ said Ihor Sawczuk, M.D., FACS, the president of Academics, Research, and Innovation at HMH, associate dean of Clinical and Research Integration and Linda and Peter Hanson Professor and Chair Emeritus of Urology at the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine. “Our GME programs continue to strengthen the network, and vice-versa.”
The increase in graduates over the past year outlines the strength of HMH’s GME program and brings light to a positive trend that is becoming evident. As more residents and fellows graduate from the program, Hackensack Meridian Health and other networks across the Garden State will have access to young, educated professionals.
“We continue to find ways to improve our training, and our workforce,” said David Kountz, M.D., MBA, MACP, vice president and chief academic officer for Hackensack Meridian Health, as well as senior associate dean for Graduate Medical Education and professor of Medicine at the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine. “This is what it’s all about.”
Hackensack Meridian Health’s GME program has allowed the network to bolster its staff with intelligent residents and fellows, emphasizing its importance. Through the increase in staff, HMH is able to serve the individuals in its community to the highest ability.