Patrick Monette, MD

Hometown: Westfield, MA

Undergraduate School: Middlebury College

Medical School: Harvard Medical School

Hobbies/Outside Interests: Watching spooky movies, following Boston sports, visiting local restaurants and breweries, playing drums, and finding fun new things to do around town!

Favorite things about/to do/to eat in Charlottesville: At this point it’s only been a couple months but I love that Charlottesville manages to have plenty of things to do and places to visit, all while maintaining a more intimate small-town feel. I’m pleasantly surprised how quickly I’ve come to enjoy it here!

Why did you choose UVA? When it came time to put together a rank list, UVA was absolutely the #1 choice for me. I loved the comradery amongst the residents, the faculty’s documented and well-awarded commitment to education, and the quality of training and national reputation here which gives UVA grads plenty plenty of opportunities for fellowship and job placement. Additionally, Charlottesville and the surrounding area seemed to be universally loved, and it’s been great getting to experience it all now for myself!

Anesthesiology Interests: Open-minded, but interested in academic medicine and potentially critical care and/or cardiac anesthesia.

Favorite Rotation:  I’ve only done a couple of off-service rotations thus far in my intern year, but I had a great month on general medicine with supportive and friendly co-residents and faculty.  Plus the catered lunch talks were a nice perk 🙂

What’s the best piece of career advice you ever got?: There is the classic adage from Dr. Francis Peabody, “the secret of the care of the patient is in caring for the patient.” Patients can tell when you truly care about them, and I’ve found that the patient and physician experiences mutually benefit when that commitment is there.

Aside from that, just before I started medical school I had a meeting with a mentor who told me to “never lose yourself to medicine.” That is, never forget about who you are, how you got this far, and to take care of yourself along the way. I try to keep that in mind as I enter each new stage of my career, and so far it has served me well.