Instagram: @EVMS_EM

Location: Norfolk, Virginia

Year founded: 1981

Number of residents: 30

Program length: 3 years

What is one thing residents can experience in yourprogram that they can’t anywhere else?

Dr. Knapp: Residents begin their PGY-1 with an emergency vehicle operations course followed by completion of the MD-2 duty physician’s requirements for Virginia Beach EMS. This allows them to independently operate an EMS response vehicle during PGY-2 and PGY-3 years.

Why did you choose this program?

Dr. Kallevang: The variety of experience with each block consisting of shifts at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital (Level I trauma), Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital (Level III community trauma center), Sentara Obici Hospital (rural hospital), and Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters (Level I trauma center). There are also monthly wellness events sponsored by the program including Topgolf, beach days, brewery outings, barbeques, and trips to destruction and escape rooms. Finally, not only are our attendings affiliated with the medical school, but all of our academic and community emergency medicine attendings are part of a local, independent, democratic group, Emergency Physicians of Tidewater. Five of the core faculty have received the ACEP National Faculty Teaching Award.

How do residents relax during their downtime? 

Dr. Knapp: Beach days! Both the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay are a short trip from our primary teaching site. In addition to that, we have Norfolk Tides Triple-A baseball and Norfolk Admirals professional ice hockey league games. There are also at least 10 local breweries within a five-minute drive from the hospital. The waterside district has free outdoor concerts, weekly festivals, and a mechanical bull. What else can you ask for?

—Barry Knapp, MD, program director, and Leslie Kallevang, MD, PGY-3, wellness chair