JOPLIN, Mo. – Freeman Health System’s Graduate Medical Education program draws talented physicians to Joplin for essential training, and more than a few remain with Freeman to practice medicine indefinitely.

At 7:00 pm Friday, June 16, in the Missouri Southern State University Billingsly Student Center ballroom, 13 new physicians will receive their long-awaited residency diplomas during a graduation ceremony. Freeman offers training in four residency fields: Emergency Medicine; Ear, Nose and Throat; Family Medicine and Internal Medicine.

The graduating physicians include:

• Emergency Medicine: Justin Orren, Kiara Angelina Pendergraft, Nina Devi Pinjala, Christina Schramm, Zachary Vincent and Gregory Wallis.
• Internal Medicine:  Melanie Akuna, Zachary S. Anderson, Sofiya Azim, Adam Lawrence Magiera and Ashley Brooke Vincent.
• Ear, Nose and Throat: Vanessa E. Halvorsen and Kellee Nicole Neal.

As a teaching hospital, Freeman provides resident physicians the opportunity to study side by side with some of the most knowledgeable and dedicated physicians in the country.

“The way physician education works is they do four years of medical school,” Stephanie Lea, Director of Freeman’s Medical Education program. “Now, after medical school they each get that lovely MD or DO title but they really can’t do anything with it until they first complete their residency. So that’s where we come into play here.”

Internal medicine, emergency medicine and family medicine residencies at Freeman last three years, Lea said. Because it’s surgical, the ENT residency is a five-year program. Add in the years from undergraduate studies, and some of Friday’s new physicians have been in training for more than 12 years – a huge time commitment for them. 

“Once they graduate from their residencies, they become a fully licensed, board-certified physician. They can go out into the world, though we hope a lot of them stay here at Freeman,” Lea said. “It’s a major step for them. I’ve been doing this for 13 years, so I feel like I’ve raised them.”

In total, Freeman provides clinical rotations to more than 100 medical students in the United States each year.