It is hard to believe, but our residency program is now heading into our fifth year. It seems like we just started yesterday! But indeed fifth year it is, and we are experiencing yet another first: three of our graduating residents are going into fellowships! Charlie Andrews will be staying at MUSC for a Neurocritical Care fellowship. Margaret Lewis will be going to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, and Brad Presley to Palmetto Richland in Columbia. Brad and Margaret are both doing fellowships in Emergency Ultrasound.

In addition, three others are staying in South Carolina, a definite benefit to the palmetto state. Jamie Kuo and Ron Turner have accepted positions at Roper St. Francis in Berkeley County, and Garrick Messer will be working at Providence Hospital in Columbia. Rounding out the class, Mark Flanagan will be returning to his roots in Maine, having accepted a job at St. Joseph's hospital in Bangor.

We had another overwhelmingly successful match this year for our fifth class of interns, the class of 2014. Once again we had a huge amount of interest in our program, and as always our crack team did a superhuman job of reviewing the applications, doing the interviews, the rankings, etc. We received almost 750 applications, a 25% increase over last year and interviewed 117 excellent candidates. Once again we recognize the efforts of our team, led by Dr. Christina Bourne, Residency Director, and consisting primarily of Drs. Jeff Bush and Diann Krywko, Associate Residency Directors, and Program Coordinator Lindy Carter. Although many others chipped in, the majority of the work was done by these folks, and we can not thank them enough. Well done!

The names and medical schools of the new class, Class of 2014, are as follows: Michael Warren Boone (University of Arkansas), Meghan Cummins (University of Cincinnati), David Michael Dodd (University of Kentucky), Blake Jordan Grider (Indiana University), William Jacobsen (Medical College of Georgia), and Brett Lorenzetti (Florida State University). Welcome to MUSC!

We continue to grow and excel clinically, despite these difficult economic times. We are in the final planning stages of our next full ED renovation, and expect to be breaking ground by the fall. The process will take almost two years since we will be renovating in place, but will give us a new state-of-the-art ED, with room to handle projected growth, teaching, and research for years to come.

Research continues to expand under the capable watch of Dr. Edward Jauch, Director of Research. Again, despite the unfavorable climate, we continue to land new grants and new research dollars.

These are exciting times to be at MUSC, and I am proud to be a part of such a capable and progressive team!

"First choice in the Delivery, Education, and Advancement of Emergency Medicine"