Yasir Abunamous, MD
Yasir Abunamous, MD, USF Health Morsani College of Medicine class of 2015, recently made history. He became the first graduate of the MCOM Scholarly Excellence, Leadership Experiences, Collaborative Training (SELECT) program to complete the full cycle of medical education as a student, resident, and now a family physician at Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) Family Medicine in Macungie, Penn.
Originally from Tampa, Abunamous graduated from the University of South Florida with a bachelor of arts degree in psychology. He made the decision to join the inaugural class of USF SELECT MD program – offered in partnership with LVHN – and completed the first two years in Tampa. He first came to Allentown in 2013, not expecting to stay any more than the two years required as a medical student in SELECT. But he and his wife, Sumaya, became enamored with LVHN, and with the family medicine department faculty and leadership in particular. They also found a community and developed personal ties. Thus, at each fork in the road, their decision-making kept leading them to make the choice to stay.
Abunamous said the best part of his residency at LVHN was the opportunity to apply the principles and values he learned in USF SELECT, working with the leaders who developed the program, and now being able to work alongside them.
“I feel very privileged to have been involved in SELECT as a student, and now as an educator. I tell everyone that the value of the SELECT curriculum becomes more apparent with each advancement as a learner — from transitions as simple as shifting clinical teams or rotations, to the more significant leap of formally joining the physician workforce,” he said.
“I use the emotional intelligence concepts nearly every minute of my day, and I lean on the leadership concepts in multiple personal and professional contexts. The health systems information I learned helps me participate in the broader conversations and discussions that occur around me, and helps me navigate within the system more effectively.”
