Physicians, dentists graduate from training Published June 13, 2012 By Dr. Kenneth Levin 81st Medical Group Graduate Medical education associate director KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- Thirty-seven physicians and dentists will graduate from internship and residency training during a ceremony at the 81st Medical Group Don Wylie Auditorium 10 a.m. today. Lt. Gen. Douglas Owens, Air Education and Training Command vice commander, will deliver the commencement address. General surgery residency graduates include three residents who are the first five- year graduates since the program re-started following Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. In addition, this program is the largest general surgery residency platform in the entire Air Force. Surgery residents receive some of the most comprehensive training available in the entire Department of Defense with rotations to Eglin Air Force Base and Pensacola Naval Medical Center, Fla.; Memorial Hospital of Gulfport; Biloxi Veterans Administration Medical Center; Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas; University of Mississippi Medical Center at Jackson, Miss. and even Landstuhl Army Regional Medical Center, Germany. Other physician graduates include seven residents with three years of specialty training in internal medicine. This is a very comprehensive training platform in internal medicine which also includes rotations at other facilities such as the Biloxi VA and the UMMC. This ensures all graduates receive balanced instruction in all of the core competencies evaluated by the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education. Physicians who complete these programs are eligible to take board certification examinations in their specialty and are assigned to hospitals in the United States and overseas. One graduating general surgery resident was selected for fellowship training in vascular medicine and one internal medicine graduate was selected for a fellowship in genetics. Six internal medicine and six general surgery graduates completing one-year internships will continue their residency training at Keesler. Eight graduating dentists are completing a one-year advanced education in general dentistry residency and two are completing a one-year general practice residency. These dentists receive advanced training in all dental specialties including oral surgery, endodontics, periodontics, prosthodontics, pedodontics and orthodontics. Upon graduation, they will be assigned as military dentists throughout the world. Keesler hosts the largest one-year AEGD program in the Air Force. The dental graduates are completing a two-year residency in endodontics. Didactics and research were accomplished at LSU School of Dentistry in New Orleans the first year and the second year the students completed the clinical portion of their training. This is the perfect program for Keesler as these endodontic residents help provide supervised teaching for the AEGD/GPR program as part of their curriculum. Both endodontic graduates will be assigned stateside following graduation. The graduates: General Surgery -- Fifth-year postgraduates: Maj. (Dr.) Chad Edwards, Capts. (Drs.) William Harris and Charles Woodham. First-year postgraduates: Capts. (Drs.) Jacob Anderson, Ramon Brown, Brady Bahr, James Coker, John Hyman, Kyle Iverson, William Smith and Olivia Vaughan. Internal Medicine -- Third-year postgraduates: Maj. (Dr.) Charles Borders, Capts. (Drs.) Adam Ackerman, Steven Deas, Mauricio Decastro-Pretelt, Sabrina Sumner and Jordan Williams. First-year postgraduates: Capts. (Drs.) David Brandt, Anthony Cavalli, Blair Curtis, Grant Gallimore, Benjamin Goins, Timothy Netters and Quy Nguyen. Research -- Capt. (Dr.) Ramon Riojas. Dental -- Second-year endodontic postgraduates: Majs. (Drs.) Steven Black and Jeffrey Burroughs. One-year AEGD postgraduates: Capts. (Drs.) Riley Adams, Angela Cook, Justin Heaton, Christopher Loftin, Evan Roberts, Radley Robins, John Willison and Eric Winterton. One-year GPR: Capts. (Drs.) Thomas Heidenreich and Jacob Sladky.