81st MDG graduates 39 physicians, dentists Published June 13, 2013 By Col. Martha Ann Stokes 81st Medical Group director of medical education KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- Thirty-nine physicians and dentists were honored June 11 during a formal graduation ceremony conducted in the Keesler Medical Center's Don Wylie Auditorium. The event marked their completion of internship and residency training. Retired Lt. Gen. Clark Griffith, former Air Education and Training Command vice commander, delivered the commencement address. Brig. Gen. (Dr.) Kory Cornum, 81st Medical Group commander, was the presiding officer. The General Surgery Residency program graduated four surgeons from a five-year program, the largest general surgery residency platform in the Air Force. Surgery residents receive some of the most comprehensive training available in the Department of Defense with rotations to Eglin Air Force Base and Pensacola Naval Medical Center, Fla.; Biloxi VA Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System, Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio; the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson and Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany. Other physician graduates included eight residents with three years of specialty training in internal medicine. This is a very comprehensive training platform which also includes rotations at other facilities such as the Biloxi VA Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System and the University of Mississippi Medical Center. This ensures all graduates receive balanced instruction in all of the core competencies evaluated by the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education. Physicians who completed these programs are eligible to take board certification examinations in their specialty and are assigned to hospitals in the United States and overseas. One of the graduating general surgery residents was selected for fellowship training in vascular medicine and two internal medicine graduates were selected for fellowships in pulmonary/critical care. Eight internal medicine and three general surgery graduates who completed one-year internships will continue their residency training at Keesler Medical Center. Nine graduating dentists completed a one-year Advanced Education in General Dentistry Residency program. They received advanced training in all of the dental specialties including oral surgery, endodontics, periodontics, prosthodontics, pedodontics and orthodontics. They will be assigned as military dentists throughout the world. Keesler hosts the largest one-year Advanced Education in General Dentistry program in the Air Force and is transitioning to a two-year program for the 2013-2014 academic year. Two dental graduates completed a two-year residency in endodontics. The first year of didactics and research was accomplished at LSU School of Dentistry in New Orleans with the predominately clinical portion completed at Keesler the second year. This is the perfect program for Keesler as the endodontic residents help provide supervised teaching for the AEGD program as part of their curriculum. Both endodontic graduates will be assigned stateside following graduation. The graduates were: General Surgery Fifth-year postgraduates: Maj. (Dr.) Mark Lytle and Capts. (Drs.) Andrea Blake, Hampton McClendon and David Thomas First-year postgraduates: Capts. (Drs.) George Fulghrum, William Goncharow, Michelle Medintz, Marcia Miranda, Theresa Stockinger and Olivia Vaughan Internal Medicine Third-year postgraduates: Maj. (Dr.) Daniel Hatcher and Capts. (Drs.) Adrian Barron, Timothy Davis, Matthew Fain, Andrew Maley, Talayeh Rezayat, Benjamin Smith and Derek Smith First-year postgraduates: Capts. (Drs.) Julie Davenport, Amanda Deans, Joshua Donart, Benjamin Huang, Christin Laufer, Shannon McCarthy, Candace-Rose Pace, Margaret Tajak and Andy Welstead Research: Capt. (Dr.) Kyle Iverson Dental Second-year endodontic postgraduates: Lt. Col. (Dr.)Kathryn Aasen and Maj. (Dr.) James Young One-year AEGD postgraduates: Capts. (Drs.) Jonathan Barnes, Phillip Barras, Michael Caldwell, Daniel Chartrand, Patrick Gaus, Christopher Gomez, Alan Jones, Michael Luna and Kirsten Valeri