Most of UCF's first round of medical doctors to stay in Florida

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The University of Central Florida will graduate its first internal medicine residents Thursday night.

Most of the graduates will stay in Central Florida to practice medicine.

Arnaldo Reyes, who came from Puerto Rico to study medicine at UCF, said staying in Florida may mean job security.

He’s going to take what he learned and keep it right here in central Florida.

“Because of what's happening right now, it's very appealing. There's a huge need for physicians,” he said.

And Florida needs those doctors in a big way.

The state will be short nearly 5,000 primary care physicians by 2030, and 62 percent of the state's doctors are likely retiring in the next decade.

"The goal is to have physicians trained in Florida, especially Central Florida, especially Osceola and Lake Nona, and have them stay here,” said Davide Carbone, of the Osceola Regional Medical Center.

Eight of the 16 internal medicine students graduating this week will stay in Orlando and three will go to work in Gainesville.

Most are staying in Florida because they've done their residency either at the VA, or HCA hospitals in the state.

"We're trying to recruit folks from all over, and they come to Florida.

Believe me, everybody wants to stay in Florida and Orlando. We have a lot to offer,” said Dr. Abdo Asmar, of the UCF College of Medicine.

For Reyes, Central Florida offered him a chance to work directly with a booming Puerto Rican population, and for him, Orlando feels like home.

"We are reaching out to the community, we are accomplishing the mission of the residency program and the medical school,” he said.

The UCF and HCA Hospital partnership is expected to add at least 600 new residencies in the next three years, with some 250 physicians already in training for the summer.

Cox Media Group