CHI Employees Match for Medical Residencies in South Florida

Two Community Health of South Florida employees matched with the Brodes H. Hartley, Jr. Teaching Health Center and will begin physician residency training in June at the Doris Ison Health Center.

Dr. Gregory Fignole, a nurse practitioner at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Clinica Campesina Health Center, and Dr. Ia Bezhanidze, a medical assistant at the Key West Health Center, enter family medicine and psychiatry residency programs alongside eight other residents.

Fignole joined CHI in 2015 after his mother died of cervical cancer when he was 17. "What pushed me to become a doctor was seeing her pass early," he said. "This is something that could have been prevented. I want to help people in their lives and educate them."

Bezhanidze joined CHI in 2024. Growing up in rural Georgia with limited healthcare access shaped her decision to pursue medicine. "Since my childhood, I wanted to be a physician," she said. "People do not have the opportunity to go to the doctor."

At the Key West center, Bezhanidze trained under Dr. Sandy Santiago, associate medical director for CHI centers in the Florida Keys. Santiago's mentorship prepared her for residency, and two other CHI employees now seek to pursue medicine under his guidance.