Royer named 2021 Resident of the Year

Dr. Stanton Royer, an emergency medicine physician who just finished his residency training program at the Medical College of Georgia and Augusta University Health, is the recipient of the medical school’s 2020-21 Walter J. Moore Outstanding Housestaff Award.

Called “academically brilliant” and “easily one of the top three residents I have ever worked with” by his nominator and assistant residency program director Dr. J.R. Barrett, Royer has spent the last year serving as the residency program’s chief resident of academics. In that role he helped manage extensive educational programs for fellow residents, including simulation classes and guest speakers and ensured the success of the program’s academic conference — the four hours each week spent reviewing the latest literature and interesting patient cases or honing clinical skills.

“(It’s) a demanding role usually, but even more so this year as we undertook a major curriculum overhaul with a larger emphasis on simulation,” Barrett wrote. “His level of discussion when leading journal clubs challenged even the most astute minds on our faculty.”

“I just really enjoyed working with the department’s leadership and I felt like I could do some good with the program and keep it moving forward,” Royer said. “I like keeping up with the literature and I enjoy lecturing and helping other people lecture better. This was an opportunity to do that.”

During residency, he volunteered as a certifier and instructor for the AU Health System’s standardized training on how to effectively place central lines using ultrasound, which has helped dramatically reduce central line complications throughout the health system. He also was a residency representative on the Clinical Learning Environment Review subcommittee of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.

Royer also has been active in community service throughout his residency, volunteering at the Druid Park Clinic for indigent patients and at a field hospital set up in Augusta when Hurricane Michael evacuees flooded the area in 2018.

“It’s no wonder Dr. Royer consistently had some of the highest faculty scores on professionalism in his evaluations,” Barrett wrote. “(He also) had one of the highest faculty evaluation scores for direct patient care. From my personal experience with Dr. Royer on shift, I can tell you that he is thoughtful, compassionate and procedurally gifted — qualities that make him an outstanding physician.”

The admiration is reciprocated.

“This is the most collegial (emergency medicine training) program you can find and it leaves you with just an outstanding clinical education. It really is second to none,” Royer said. “Any physician that walks out of our doors is going to be prepared to walk into any emergency room and be successful.”

Royer is a 2018 graduate of MCG and was among the first recipients of a Harrison scholarship, a merit-based scholarship that emphasizes intellect and outstanding leadership potential made possible by a $66 million gift by Dr. J. Harold Harrison, the renowned vascular surgeon from Kite, Georgia, and 1948 MCG graduate, and his wife, Sue. He earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Augusta University in 2013.

Royer will stay at MCG and AU Health this year to complete a one-year ultrasound training fellowship program and hopes to one day be able to join the faculty.