Southwest Georgia medical residents commit to Georgia

ALBANY — The Phoebe Family Medicine Residency Program celebrated the graduation of five resident physicians on Saturday evening during a ceremony at Doublegate Country Club. Four have committed to helping offset Georgia’s physician shortage, officials with Phoebe Putney Health System said.

The 2017 graduates are Drs. Danielle Andrews, Sarah Codrea, Justin Lancaster, John Macon and Jennifer Yam.

“The graduation ceremony is the culmination of a lot of hard work over the last three years, not just for the graduates, but for me as the program director,” Dr. George Fredrick, director of the Phoebe Family Medicine Residency program, said. “The birds are leaving the nest, and I’m very proud of what they have accomplished and what they will achieve in the future.”

Lancaster, co-chief resident, said the residents have become like a family.

“When people ask me why I chose to do my residency at Phoebe, I tell them it’s the people,” he said. “When I came here for my interview, I knew immediately this was my top choice. After spending time with Dr. Fredrick, I got in the car with my wife to leave and she asked how it went. I said, ‘this is where I want to be.’

“It’s a sibling relationship with our class. We worked hard but we certainly enjoyed ourselves over the last three years.”

Officials said Macon is staying in Albany to practice as a hospitalist for Phoebe starting Aug. 1. He was awarded the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine Award, which recognizes a resident who has best demonstrated an interest, ability and commitment to family medicine education.

Codrea will be practicing in Johns Creek, and Yam in Kennesaw and Holly Springs. Andrews is beginning a behavioral health fellowship in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Following a sports medicine fellowship in Birmingham, Ala., and Lancaster plans to practice in Statesboro, officials said.

Fredrick said one of the top things the Phoebe Family Medicine Residency Program looks for when choosing residents is some sort of connection to Georgia.

“Our goal is to keep them in our state, specifically in Southwest Georgia when possible, and we have a better chance of doing that when they’re from Georgia or have some other association with the state,” he said.

Officials said several awards were given to the residents. Lancaster was named Resident of the Year and Dr. Tiera Williams was named Faculty of the Year. Dr. Stephen Daniel was named Intern of the Year and Dr. Daniel Smith was honored with the Community Service Award. Dr. Chinwe Ukaonu was awarded In-Patient Attending Physician of Year, Nick Carden was awarded Community Faculty of the Year and the Mid-level Provider of the Year was Kenna Wiles.

The program’s primary mission is to train family physicians to practice in Southwest Georgia. It has graduated more than 100 clinicians. Since the program began in 1993, 80 percent of the graduates have gone on to practice in Georgia.

To learn more about the program, please visit fmresidency.com/index.html.