Lee Health recently celebrated the graduation of the Cass of 2018 of The Florida State University College of Medicine Family Medicine Residency Program. The residency program is based at Lee Memorial Hospital and was created to combat an expected national shortage of primary care physicians-an issue that is compounded locally by a rapidly growing aging population.

This year's graduates include:

Dr. Ashley Clark, who plans to practice in Fort Myers

Dr. Shane Drahos, who will complete a one-year sleep medicine fellowship at Stanford and then return to Lee County to practice

Dr. Tyler Hendricks, who plans to stay in the Central Florida area

Dr. Alim Karim, who accepted a position to continue working with Lee Health

Dr. Gregory Stepp, who will return to his hometown and practice in the Florida panhandle

Dr. Clinton Walls, who will practice as a hospitalist in Sarasota

Dr. Lee Coghill, Global Health Fellow, who will join the faculty here at the FSU COM Family Medicine Residency Program at Lee Health

Dr. Michael Heiland, Global Health Fellow, who will join the faculty at Halifax Family Medicine Residency in Daytona Beach

The Florida State University College of Medicine Family Medicine Residency Program at Lee Health takes residents through 36 months of training, which is divided into four-week blocks. These rotations are completed at Lee Memorial Hospital, HealthPark Medical Center and Golisano Children's Hospital of Southwest Florida.

The program began with its inaugural class in July 2014.

In December 2016, the residency program was approved for expansion from 18 residents to 24, and received Continued Accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) for the next 10 years