She oversees the health system’s expanding graduate medical education programs and research initiatives
Dr. Wilhelmine Wiese‑Rometsch was named the 2025 recipient of the Outstanding Contributions to Advancing the Careers of Women in Medicine Award by the Florida Chapter of the American College of Physicians, Florida Chapter, the Sarasota Memorial Health Care System (SMH) announced just before the end of 2025.
“The prestigious award recognizes physicians whose leadership, advocacy, and mentorship have advanced meaningful opportunities for women in medicine across Florida,” a news release explains.
As chief academic officer at Sarasota Memorial, “Wiese-Rometsch oversees the health system’s expanding graduate medical education (GME) programs and research initiatives, which are helping create a robust pipeline of new physicians serving Florida and the Suncoast region,” the release points out.
Since SMH collaborated with Florida State University a decade ago to launch it, the GME program “has more than tripled in size, providing specialty training, mentoring and support to more than 70 physicians a year in multiple residencies and fellowships underway at SMH,” the release adds. “On average,” the release notes, “more than half of the resident physicians remain in the region after completing their residencies, and as many as 70% have stayed and established practices in Florida.”
“Dr. Wiese‑Rometsch exemplifies the best of academic medicine,” Sarasota Memorial Chief Medical Officer James Fiorica said in the release. “Her vision and dedication have positioned Sarasota Memorial as a leading teaching hospital, attracting and training top tier physicians with a culture committed to clinical excellence and compassionate care.”
Additionally in the release, David Verinder, CEO of Sarasota Memorial, commended Dr. Wiese-Rometsch for her contributions to the community and beyond.
“The impact of Wilhelmine’s work extends far beyond our health system and region,” Verinder said in the release. “She has helped shape programs that create real opportunities for physicians to lead, research, innovate and teach. Many of our resident physicians have stayed in our community and are filling critical needs throughout Florida,” he continued. “We’re grateful for her leadership and proud to see her recognized by the Florida Chapter of the American College of Physicians.”
Since starting SMH’s first residency programs in internal medicine and emergency medicine nearly a decade ago, the release notes, Wiese-Rometsch has helped expand the GME training opportunities to include emergency medical services and hospice and palliative care fellowships, it points out. A new Complex Gastrointestinal Surgery Fellowship at Sarasota Memorial’s Brian D. Jellison Cancer Institute — which recently was accredited — is slated to start training physicians in that specialty in July, the release says. “An Advanced Head & Neck Fellowship at SMH also is in the works.”