Unlock your potential with exceptional clinical training in a supportive community.
Welcome to the Transitional Year Residency Program — a vital and pivotal step in your graduate medical education.
Our program strives to offer a well-balanced curriculum in multiple clinical disciplines designed to facilitate the choice of and preparation for a specific specialty that requires a year of fundamental clinical education as a prerequisite.
We are dedicated to providing a tailored and uniquely constructed curriculum to the resident physicians pursuing specialties including, but not limited to, anesthesiology, dermatology, radiology, radiation-oncology, physical medicine and rehabilitation and more. The graduates from this program will be well prepared in clinical skills, caring for diverse patient populations with complex disease processes, professionalism, leadership qualities and interpersonal communication.
In addition, we offer training in quality improvement and patient safety, social determinants of health, diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, physician resiliency and wellness. Our residents will have the opportunities to teach medical students, get involved in clinical research and engage in local physician networks. Our didactics include weekly medicine grand rounds, noon conferences and intern reports, monthly journal club, quarterly mortality, morbidity and improvement, specialty conferences such as tumor board and ethics grand rounds.
It is our desire to recruit candidates from diverse cultural and educational backgrounds with excellent medical school training, dedication to the profession of medicine, strong interpersonal skills and leadership qualities.
Fundamental clinical skills rotation (7 mos.)
Electives may include (5 mos.)
*All content is subject to change without notice. Please check back often for updated information.
Our program encourages and supports various research activities. Each program has their own research opportunities. This may include case reports, quality improvement, clinical research and patient safety projects. Most research collaborates with the Wellstar Research Institute and all follow IRB (Institutional Review Board) guidelines.
Class of 2024
Class of 2023
Class of 2022
Perfectly positioned between the north Georgia mountains and the city of Atlanta, Marietta is the ideal place for young professionals and growing families. Equal parts hip and hometown, it’s a bustling city with a small-town feel.
Marietta’s historic downtown square is alive with activity, hosting regular farmers markets, concerts, and festivals. The Battery and Truist Park (home of the Atlanta Braves) provide entertainment for everyone in the Vinings neighborhood. Marietta is also a short drive to Downtown Atlanta and the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport.
Sherwin and I had lunch today and we reflected on how well the TY’s internal medicine curriculum helped us make the mental jump from medical students to confident physicians. Particularly among my ophthalmology peers, I feel that the electives like rheumatology, anesthesiology, and others helped immensely during categorical residency, giving me invaluable perspective to understand another side of things I do every day in ophthalmology. As I begin this next chapter, I will always appreciate TY 2018–2019 as one of the best years of my adult life.”
I had the opportunity to do my transitional year at Kennestone, and I would say that the experience was invaluable. Not only did I get excellent training in medicine but I was also able to immerse myself in many of the other specialties including anesthesiology, neurosurgery, pediatrics, and pathology. As an anesthesia resident, I appreciated the hands on experience I gained from my time spent in the ICU. The rotation that I did with the anesthesiology group at Kennestone gave me exposure to a hybrid academic/private practice model, which ultimately led me back to Kennestone after graduating from anesthesia residency to work with many of these same anesthesiologists. Now as the vice chair of the department of anesthesiology, I get to work with those who I met during my transitional year and the connections that I built during that time have certainly enriched my current role.
The TY year provided the perfect balance. I feel very competent as a PGY-2 but did not experience the burnout that a lot of my fellow classmates had, which allowed me to hit the ground running with my PGY-2 duties.
The further out of TY year I get, the more I appreciate the experience I had at Wellstar. The great variety of electives have been helpful in diagnostic radiology (especially the surgical electives). I had a well-rounded inpatient experience while still maintaining a solid work-life balance. Thanks to Dr. Zhu and the rest of the Wellstar team for a great experience!
I am so grateful for Rosa and Dr. Zhu! My Transitional Year was a time of considerable growth in a safe and encouraging environment. Looking back, I am so glad that I did my Transitional Year at Wellstar Kennestone, and I still recommend it to any and all medical students who rotate with my derm program.
I loved my TY year. I am very thankful to have trained at Wellstar under Dr. Zhu and all of the other wonderful staff.
TY year at Wellstar was excellent. Better preparation for residency than many, if not most, prelim years in discussion with my colleagues.
Wellstar TY program allowed me to transition from a student to a physician in a supportive environment that allowed me to accelerate my professional growth. Thank you, all.
Thank you so much! The Wellstar TY was an incredible experience. I am blessed to have been able to learn with y’all in Marietta.
Given this being a one-year training program, we are not able to provide any visa sponsorship.
Yes, our residents have opportunities to work with medical students and participate in peer teaching.
Dr. Zhu graduated from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. She then completed residency training in Internal Medicine at the University of North Carolina Hospitals. She has been practicing Hospital Medicine since 2005, and joined Wellstar more than 10 years ago. In addition to being the program director for Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center Transitional Year Residency Program, Dr. Zhu is one of the teaching faculty for Inpatient Medicine at Wellstar Kennestone. She is the immediate past president for Greater Cobb County Medical Society for 2023. Currently, she is serving on the board of directors for the Association of Hospital Medical Education (AHME). She is also the chair for Council of Transitional Year Program Director at AHME. Her other professional interests include developing curriculums for QIPS and perioperative medicine, healthcare advocacy and physician wellbeing. Dr. Zhu is a clinical assistant professor at the Medical College of Georgia.
Dr. Arinze received her undergraduate degree from Kennesaw State University and graduated from the University of Louisville School of Medicine. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine, chief residency and fellowship in Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Dr. Arinze’s academic interests include graduate medical education, mentorship, HIV medicine and social determinants of health. She is a clinical assistant professor at the Medical College of Georgia and Mercer University College of Medicine.
As the medical director of Critical Care and ECMO at Wellstar, Dr. Saberi leads a team of dedicated and compassionate professionals who provide lifesaving care to patients with complex and advanced conditions. He completed his undergraduate degree at Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College in Mumbai, India, and his residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Buffalo. He also attended the University of Utah School of Medicine for his training in Pulmonary and Critical Care.
In addition to his clinical role, Dr. Saberi serves as an associate professor of medicine at the Medical College of Georgia. He is a certified physician executive with an Executive MBA from the University of Tennessee and is passionate about teaching, learning and innovating in the field of critical care. He strives to improve the quality and outcomes of our ICU services, operations and research.
Dr. Watson received his bachelor’s degree from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. He obtained his medical and surgical degree from the University of Sydney in Australia. He completed his general medical and surgical residency at Gosford District Hospital in New South Wales, Australia, then completed his internal medicine residency at Emory University School of Medicine.
In 2012 and 2013, he received the Golden Apple Award from Emory University for excellence in teaching. In 2018, he received the Exemplary Teaching Award for Excellence in Teaching Undergraduate Medical Education from the Medical College of Georgia. In 2019, he received the Inpatient Teacher of The Year from Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center Internal Medicine Residency Program.
Dr. Kamran received his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from Khyber Medical College, University of Peshawar, Pakistan. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, where he also served as chief resident. He completed his fellowship in Rheumatology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. In 2019, Dr. Kamran won the Ambulatory Teacher of The Year award from the Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center Internal Medicine Residency Program.
Dr. Rahman earned his bachelor’s degree at King Edward Medical College and his medical degree at the Faculty of Sciences at Government College, both in Lahore, Pakistan. He completed his residency at West Virginia University Hospital in Morgantown, West Virginia, and his internship at the Mayo Hospital in Lahore, Pakistan. Board-certified, he is a member of the American College of Chest Physicians. His clinical interests include graduate medical education, critical care, ECMO and mechanical circulatory support and patient advocacy.
Originally from New York City, Rosa Gomez has worked in the healthcare field for over 20 years. She moved to Georgia in 2012, where she started her work in graduate medical education at Atlanta Medical Center as an administrative assistant and then as the Orthopedic Surgery residency coordinator. She joined Wellstar Kennestone’s Transitional Year Program as the residency coordinator in 2017 and loves her role in the program. Her interests include working out, running, and spending time with family and friends.
Specialty: Diagnostic Radiology
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Specialty: Diagnostic Radiology
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Specialty: Radiation Oncology
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Specialty: Dermatology
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Specialty: Anesthesiology
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Specialty: Radiation Oncology
Advanced Program: UC San Diego Medical Center
Specialty: Diagnostic Radiology
Advanced Program: University of Wisconsin Hospital & Clinics
Specialty: Dermatology
Advanced Program: Emory University School of Medicine
Specialty: Diagnostic Radiology
Advanced Program: Emory University School of Medicine
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Advanced Program: Icahn School of Medicine Mount Sinai
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Marietta Square | Truist Park | The Battery | Gone With the Wind Museum | Earl and Rachel Smith Strand Theatre | New Theatre in the Square | Ghosts of Marietta Tour | Marietta Square Farmers Market | Hilton Atlanta-Marietta Hotel & Conference Center | Cobb Galleria Centre
Cycling is a popular form of transportation in Marietta. The area is also served by the CobbLinc bus service that connects to MARTA — Atlanta’s light rail and bus network. Drivers also have quick access to I-75 and I-285 to get anywhere they need.
