Ascension St. Vincent's Riverside has partnered with Florida State University College of Medicine to sponsor its Family Medicine Residency Program and its Family Medicine-Obstetric Fellowship, which is opening a new satellite clinic for obstetric patients. FSU will become the academic sponsor for the program that has trained physicians in Jacksonville for more than 50 years.
St. Vincent's has a long history of training exceptional physicians, and this collaboration marks an important next step in preparing the primary care workforce our region urgently needs. Florida continues to face a physician shortage, especially in primary care. Statewide data show that more than 75% of physicians who attend medical school and complete residency in Florida stay to practice, underscoring the impact of expanding high-quality residency programs in our community.
"This partnership with Florida State University strengthens our ability to train family physicians who will serve Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia," said Ascension Florida Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Syed Jafri. "We're building on a 50-year legacy of training doctors who stay in our region to care for families."
"The FSU College of Medicine and Ascension St. Vincent's share the same goal – and that is to educate and provide outstanding primary care physicians to the people of our communities," said Alma Littles, M.D., Dean, FSU College of Medicine. "At Florida State, we do this by growing our Graduate Medical Education program in partnership with hospitals and healthcare facilities statewide. Today, FSU is proud to sponsor 28 GME programs encompassing more than 230 faculty and 330 residents and fellows and we are happy to work with Ascension St. Vincent's and build on its rich tradition of providing exemplary care."
The sponsorship connects residents to FSU's statewide GME network and academic resources while St. Vincent's Riverside continues clinical operations with the same rotations, schedules and faculty.
This agreement supports Florida's Live Healthy Initiative to expand residency opportunities statewide and addresses primary care shortages by training family physicians who will serve their communities. Ascension St. Vincent's Riverside Family Medicine Residency program has trained hundreds of family physicians since 1973.
As part of the partnership, the Family Medicine Center is also expanding its reach in the community. On May 12, the center opened a satellite office for obstetric patients at Ascension St. Vincent’s Southside in the Roger Main Building, 3rd Floor, Suite 345. The office will be staffed by fellows in the Family Medicine-Obstetric Fellowship, which trains family physicians to provide comprehensive obstetric care. Dr. Danielle Carter, fellowship program director and faculty with the Family Medicine Residency Program, leads the fellowship.
"We are excited to continue our collaborative growth of GME with Ascension Florida," said Dr. Bill Boyer, FSU Associate Dean-GME and DIO. "The expansion of GME programs provides increased opportunities for our medical students to remain in the state of Florida along with our focus on physician workforce development across North Florida and the Big Bend.”
According to a recent study released by the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida, FSU-sponsored residency programs rank among the most in-demand in Florida. The study examined the percentage of available residency slots filled by medical school graduates in 75 Florida hospitals and other health care providers between 2020 and 2024. FSU-sponsored residency and fellowship programs received a 100% match rate in each of the five years, a rate realized by only nine others.
