SHREC Celebrates First Graduates of Family Medicine Residency and Sports Medicine Fellowship Programs

SHREC Celebrates First Graduates of Family Medicine Residency and Sports Medicine Fellowship Programs

The Sam Houston Regional Education Consortium is celebrating a milestone moment for physician training in Huntsville as the first cohort of family medicine residents and sports medicine fellows complete their programs at the end of June.

For Huntsville, graduate medical education marks something just as meaningful: more physicians training, serving patients and building connections in the community.

Graduate medical education is the training doctors complete after medical school, also known as residency or fellowship programs. In residency, physicians care for patients while receiving hands-on, supervised training in a specialty, such as family medicine. Some physicians go on to complete fellowships, which provide additional training in a focused area, such as sports medicine.

For communities like Huntsville, these programs do more than educate physicians. They bring doctors into the community, expand the local healthcare workforce and create stronger connections between medical education and patient care.

A graduation ceremony was held at Peabody Memorial Library on Sam Houston State University's Huntsville campus, bringing together graduates, faculty, staff, preceptors, families, friends and members of the Huntsville Memorial Hospital and SHSU communities.

The celebration recognized the first graduates of SHREC’s family medicine residency program in Huntsville, as well as the first graduates of its sports medicine fellowship program. Together, the programs represent an important step forward in SHREC’s mission to strengthen physician training and healthcare access in East Texas.

“To our graduating residents and fellows, let me begin by expressing our deepest pride in your accomplishments,” said Gretchen Holmes, PhD, associate dean for graduate medical education and designated institutional official for SHSU College of Osteopathic Medicine. “Completing such a rigorous residency or fellowship requires a blend of grit, sacrifice and perseverance.”

As members of the inaugural classes, the graduates helped shape the culture, standards and spirit of the programs from the beginning.

“Because of your leadership, commitment and willingness to help build something new, you have helped establish the foundation of excellence that exists today,” Holmes said. “This will always be part of your legacy.”

SHREC’s family medicine residency program follows a 4-4-4 model, with four residents in each of the three years. That means 12 family medicine resident physicians are affiliated with SHREC and serving patients in the Huntsville community at any given time.

The sports medicine fellowship adds two fellows each year, bringing additional physicians to the community for advanced training in musculoskeletal care, injury prevention, diagnosis and rehabilitation.

Townes “Tucker” Leigh, DO, founding program director for both the family medicine residency program and sports medicine fellowship program, said the graduates represent a historic moment for SHSU-COM, SHREC and Huntsville Memorial Hospital.

“The graduates here tonight represent the inaugural class of the first residency program and first fellowship program for Sam Houston State University College of Osteopathic Medicine, the first graduate medical education program at a hospital that is nearly 100 years old, and they are making a lasting impact on healthcare for rural East Texas,” Leigh said.

The family medicine residents recognized during the ceremony were Jordan Clark, DO; Steven Munassi, DO; Yumna Shams, MD; and Kerolos Youssef, MD. Munassi also received Osteopathic Recognition for completing additional training in osteopathic principles and practice alongside his family medicine training.

The sports medicine fellows recognized were Nathan Stephen Doyel Jr., DO, and Rachel Holeman, DO.

For Youssef, who served as the inaugural chief resident for the family medicine program, the evening was both a celebration and a reflection on how far the first class had come.

“Coming to Huntsville, none of us really knew what we were getting into,” Youssef said. “We were the guinea pigs. The inaugural class. We were outsiders in a brand-new program. But that isolation didn’t last long because of the overwhelming warmth and welcoming gestures from this community, the hospital and our patients. Huntsville needed this program, and we needed Huntsville.”

That relationship between physicians in training and the communities where they train is central to the purpose of graduate medical education in rural areas. Residents and fellows gain exposure to the needs, strengths and opportunities of rural communities while providing care under the supervision of experienced physicians. Those experiences can influence where physicians choose to practice after training, increasing the likelihood that they will settle in the same community or one like it.

For SHSU-COM, the work aligns closely with the college’s mission to increase the physician workforce in Texas, with an emphasis on primary care and rural practice. SHREC supports that mission by creating pathways for physicians to continue their training in the communities that need them.

As the doctors move into their next chapters, they are pursuing a range of opportunities in patient care and advanced training. Most will remain in Texas, with some continuing into fellowship training and others beginning to serve patients in clinical practice.

Together, their next steps reflect the broad impact of SHREC’s programs, preparing physicians for primary care, hospital-based care, specialized training and continued service to patients in communities that need them.

The June 4 celebration marked more than the completion of training for the graduates. It marked the beginning of an alumni legacy for SHREC and a meaningful moment for the physicians, educators and community partners who helped bring the programs to life.

“We built a monumental program from scratch,” Youssef said. “We changed the landscape of healthcare in Huntsville. Don’t rush past that achievement. Look around this room and take it in.”

For the first graduates, the milestone is especially significant. They leave the program not only as trained physicians, but as trailblazers who helped establish a foundation for future residents and fellows to learn, serve and lead in East Texas.