A new emergency medicine residency program at Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola in partnership with The Florida State University College of Medicine began on July 1, 2026. It aims to increase the number of emergency room physicians in the area and improve emergency care services.
“As a Level I trauma center, we will be preparing these physicians with vital emergency room experience at the highest level of care,” said Sacred Heart Chief Medical Officer Dr. Peter Jennings. “Not only are we helping to build the workforce of tomorrow, adding board certified trainers and licensed doctors will strengthen our ER care team providing a better experience for our patients.”
15 residents are part of the first class, making it one of the largest Emergency Medicine residencies in the Southeast. The number of residents will increase by 15 annually, reaching a maximum of 45 residents at the start of the third year. EM residents are licensed doctors who receive supervised training while under the supervision of experienced, board-certified EM doctors.
15 faculty members (doctors working at Sacred Heart who were appointed as faculty by FSU) will train the residents led by Andrea Austin M.D., MS-HPEd, FACEP, Emergency Medicine Program Director
The Emergency Medicine Residency Program is a 3 way partnership:
- Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola provides the clinical site
- FSU College of Medicine provides the academic structure and appoints the faculty.
- Vituity provides the faculty (doctors working at Ascension Sacred Heart who are employed by Vituity, a 100% physician-owned partnership).
As the region’s only Level I Trauma Center (one of only 11 in the state), Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola is uniquely positioned to prepare physicians with vital emergency room experience at the highest level of care.
Residents began orientation in June and will undergo simulation training for the first month of their residency. They will utilize a new fully outfitted simulation center on the Sacred Heart campus. This will allow residents to practice skills such as intubation and ultrasounds.
This program is addressing a huge shortage of Emergency Medicine physicians in the area and state. The Florida Hospital Association reports that 63.1% of doctors who train in Florida stay in the state. Also, over 50% of resident graduates practice within 100 miles of their program according to the American Board of Family Medicine
The new Emergency Medicine program becomes the 5th current residency partnership, expanding the collaboration between Sacred Heart and The FSU College of Medicine that began in July 2025. Current residency programs include internal medicine as well as OB-GYN at Sacred Heart Pensacola; pediatrics at Studer Family Children’s Hospital at Ascension Sacred Heart; and family medicine at Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast in Miramar Beach. With the addition of the new EM residency, there will be a total of 135 residency spots across all specialties to train future physicians with plans to grow the number of residents and programs.
