Family medicine residency program at Lee Health names new director

Florida State University College of Medicine Family Residency Program at Lee Health has named Dr. Alfred Gitu as the program’s new director. Gitu has been a faculty member since the program launched in 2012 and has served as associate program director for the past year.

Gitu was named following a national search. He will replace program co-founder Dr. Gary Goforth, who will retire in July. Gitu earned his medical degree from the University of Nairobi in Nairobi, Kenya, and completed a family medicine residency at the Self Regional Healthcare Family Medicine Residency Program in Greenwood, S.C.

“Dr. Gitu is an experienced faculty member, a strong leader, and a kind and capable family medicine physician who is dedicated to caring for the underserved,” Goforth says. “He has been integral to the success of our program, and I am proud that FSU and Lee Health chose to promote from within the program.”

Goforth helped establish the residency program and was its first director. Under his leadership and two years after its inception, the program was approved for expansion to 24 residents and received continued accreditation with commendation from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education for the following 10 years without a single citation for improvement.

 Based at Lee Memorial Hospital with The Florida State University College of Medicine as its institutional sponsor, the residency program was created to abate the shortage of primary care physicians anticipated locally and nationally. Medical school graduates are required to complete residency training in their chosen specialty to become independently practicing physicians. 

About 60% of residents will practice medicine in the same area in which they are trained. Since the program started, 13 of the 18 graduates have remained in Southwest Florida following graduation.