he McLeod Family Medicine Residency Program welcomed 18 new Residents to its program on July 1. The new Residents for the Class of 2028 include: Dr. Briana Anson, Dr. Lola Babatola, Dr. Aneta Chorzepa-Kania, Dr. Gamal Gawad, Dr. Tooba Marriam, Dr. Kelisa Matias, Dr. Isamar Perez, Dr. Shugoofta Syed and Dr. Parth Thakkar. Joining the McLeod Rural Residency program in Cheraw are: Dr. Qasim Choudhry, Dr. Tejas Doshi, Dr. Chezna Emerson and Dr. Benjamin Gourley. New Residents joining the Rural Residency program in Clarendon are: Dr. Druid Atwell, Dr. Sabrina Ivan, Dr. Janee Perry, Dr. Mithun Reddy and Dr. Edwin Shumaker.

The McLeod Family Medicine Residency Program is designed to train physicians in an effort to increase the availability of family medicine physicians for patients in the 18-county region McLeod Health serves. After graduating from medical school, physicians who join McLeod for their residency receive a rigorous three years of training to prepare for their own future practice. Since its inception in 1979, there have been 300 graduates of the McLeod Family Medicine Residency Program and 19 graduates from the McLeod Family Medicine Rural Residency Program, which was established in 2020. From the two programs, 55 percent of the physicians have stayed in South Carolina and the McLeod Health service area of Northeastern South Carolina and Southeastern North Carolina.