00:00
00:07
ASAL RAHIMI: Hello.
00:08
My name is Asal Rahimi.
00:10
I graduated back in 2006, and I love University of Virginia.
00:15
I think that UVA was a really great place to train.
00:18
It was a residency that was small enough
00:21
to give me personalized attention,
00:23
but big enough to give me the experiences that I needed.
00:27
One of the things I really miss about Charlottesville
00:29
was the four seasons, and the cherry blossoms
00:33
in the springtime, and the different fall
00:36
leaves in the autumn time.
00:39
But I think what I miss most about UVA
00:41
is just the warmth, and all the care
00:44
that basically everybody at UVA was
00:48
able to give to the residents, and really put a lot of care
00:52
into our education.
00:55
It definitely opened up opportunities for me.
00:57
One of the things that I was able to do
00:59
was to do an away rotation here at UT Southwestern at the time
01:04
of my residency at UVA.
01:06
And I think that really helped me land my position here
01:08
at UT Southwestern.
01:11
So since I graduated, I came here for a job.
01:15
I've been here for about 10 years now.
01:17
I'm serving as the chief of breast radiation oncology,
01:20
and I was able to do the directorship
01:23
for clinical research for 10 years,
01:24
and oversee hundreds different clinical trials.
01:27
I've written multiple trials, and conducted multiple trials,
01:30
and published them.
01:31
So it has been just an amazing experience
01:34
and I owe it all to UVA.
01:36
So I think it's definitely a great residency for you
01:38
to consider.
01:40
DAVID WILSON: Hi.
01:40
My name is David Wilson, and I graduated
01:43
the University of Virginia Radiation Oncology
01:45
residency program in 2016.
01:49
I'm currently on the clinical faculty
01:51
at the University of Pennsylvania,
01:52
working in two satellites in New Jersey.
01:56
I grew up in Roanoke Virginia, and I
01:59
did my undergraduate education at Wake Forrest University
02:02
in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
02:05
I did medical school at the University of Rochester
02:08
in Rochester, New York.
02:10
And before we talk about the UVA Radiation Oncology
02:14
residency program, one of the advantages of the program
02:18
is that it's in Charlottesville, which
02:20
is a beautiful, idyllic town where
02:23
residents have a great quality of life outside of residency.
02:27
There's a ton of outdoor activities,
02:29
with the Blue Ridge mountains close by,
02:32
lots of hiking and camping close by.
02:36
There's an outstanding food scene
02:37
with great restaurants, and breweries,
02:39
and wineries close by.
02:42
02:44
I got married and had my first child in Charlottesville.
02:49
It's a great place to raise a family, with lots of things
02:52
for kids to do close by.
02:54
There's also a college town that's not really
02:56
dominated by the University, as there's
02:59
plenty of things going on downtown off campus,
03:03
and lots of young professionals around as well.
03:07
So I chose the UVA residency program
03:12
because of its excellent reputation,
03:13
both for research and for clinical care.
03:16
And in looking at different residences,
03:19
I really felt like it had a faculty that
03:21
was really dedicated to educating and mentoring
03:25
residents.
03:28
While at UVA I was under the mentorship of Dr. Paul Reid.
03:32
I was able to help design and be an investigator
03:36
for a prospective clinical trial to evaluate a rapid SVR team
03:40
workflow for bone metastases.
03:44
This trial ultimately resulted in several publications.
03:48
I was also involved in retrospective head and neck
03:50
cancer database research, and other physics projects as well.
03:55
03:57
I really felt like the Department
03:59
made resident education a priority, supporting resident
04:03
didactics, mock oral boards, and funding trips
04:07
to review courses and national meetings.
04:11
I felt very well prepared coming out of residency at UVA, where
04:18
there I was able to have a broad range of experiences from GYN
04:21
and prostate brachytherapy, to gamma knife
04:24
radiosurgery, and SPRT.
04:27
I was confident treating a variety of cases
04:30
that I see now as a general radiation oncologist.
04:35
Graduating from the University of Virginia,
04:37
I felt that I would have been competitive
04:39
for either academic or clinical positions after residency.
04:43
And I chose a clinical position at one of the University
04:50
of Pennsylvania satellites.
04:53
I felt that the strong reputation of UVA,
04:56
and the connections through the faculty,
04:59
really helped me secure my current position
05:01
on the clinical faculty in a very competitive job market.
05:07
Currently I work at two different satellites
05:09
of the Penn Medicine Healthcare System, both in New Jersey
05:13
right now, across the river from Philadelphia.
05:17
One is in Morristown, New Jersey.
05:20
The others is in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
05:23
I treat all disease sites with a special focus
05:26
on linak based stereotactic radiosurgery here
05:31
in Morristown.
05:33
So I was very satisfied with my training and time
05:36
at the University of Virginia, and I
05:38
would encourage you to explore the program
05:39
to see if it would be a good fit for you.
05:42
MATTHEW SEAN PEACH: Hi.
05:43
My name is Matthew Sean Peach, currently Associate Professor
05:45
and Director of Brachytherapy for East Carolina University,
05:49
and a 2019 graduate of UVA's Radiation Oncology residency
05:53
program.
05:55
I'm glad to have the opportunity today to speak
05:57
about my experience at UVA.
05:59
First, you will get it thorough education
06:01
in SBRT hyper fractionation, brachytherapy, gamma knife
06:05
radiosurgery, and complex patient treatments.
06:09
There is not a disease site that I
06:11
felt like I had a lack of exposure to,
06:13
and you'll see a significantly greater amount
06:16
of SBRT, SRS, and brachytherapy, than the average residency
06:19
program.
06:21
I've had the pleasure of working with nearly all
06:23
of the current attendings, and they are all amazing mentors,
06:27
both in science, and in the craft of Radiation Oncology
06:31
practice.
06:32
The nurses and support staff are extremely experienced
06:37
and very helpful, which adds to your education.
06:40
The residency program itself goes
06:42
well beyond what is required to support your studies,
06:46
and as a result, we are very well prepared for our boards.
06:50
We have an excellent physics class,
06:52
and starting our first year, we go to Maryland's rad bio class
06:56
on an annual basis.
06:58
During non COVID times, the department
07:00
assigned us to Osler's Oral Board Review
07:03
during our last year of residency.
07:05
This allows us to get an accurate experience
07:07
of the oral boards a year in advance, something
07:09
that people from other programs wish they had had.
07:12
From a professional standpoint it
07:15
prepares you very well for whatever
07:16
you want in your future career.
07:19
The department has a very good volume
07:21
that allows you to see everything, and get
07:23
accustomed to a workload that future employees and practice
07:27
partners like to see, but not too much that it negatively
07:31
impacts your studies.
07:34
You have responsibility during your rotations,
07:36
which the clinic really depends on,
07:38
and which for me was very satisfying,
07:40
and ultimately made the transition from residency
07:44
into my career very easy.
07:47
If you are interested in research,
07:49
you have multiple opportunities, including
07:51
access to unique resources, such as the extensive gamma knife
07:57
radiosurgery database, and large brachytherapy experience
08:00
that UVA has.
08:02
For those not looking at an academic future,
08:05
the aforementioned clinical experience
08:07
is appealing for those hiring in private practice.
08:10
For myself, who applied to both academic and private practices,
08:14
I felt very competitive equally.
08:19
Lastly.
08:19
UVA's department is just an amazing place to work.
08:22
It has a very friendly and supportive culture
08:25
that is unique, where residents are close to each other,
08:28
and the faculty and support staff feel like family.
08:31
Altogether UVA's department was a place
08:34
that I truly enjoyed working at and going to every day,
08:37
and has really prepared me well for my career.
08:41
Another bonus to UVA is that you get
08:44
to live in one of the best areas of the east coast.
08:47
Charlottesville is in the middle of the Blue Ridge mountains,
08:50
with endless outdoor activities that include hiking,
08:53
rafting, camping, and skiing, either in Charlottesville
08:57
or within a short drive.
08:59
It is also situated in the middle of the Monticello wine
09:03
region, with dozens of vineyards,
09:05
that in addition to tastings, brings concerts and festivals.
09:09
Charlottesville has one of the highest restaurants per capitas
09:15
in a small city with significant variety
09:17
and an explosion of microbrews.
09:21
Also, UVA has rich sports experience,
09:26
both to watch, as well as to participate in.
09:29
The University and the rich arts community of Charlottesville
09:32
also bring significant culture to the area,
09:35
while the John Paul Jones Arena brings large city acts
09:38
to the town.
09:40
The town is home to tons of graduate students
09:43
and young professionals with a very active social scene.
09:46
If you have kids, I can't think of a better place
09:49
to raise a family with active schools
09:51
and so many activities for the weekends.
09:53
Charlottesville is truly a special place
09:56
that I can talk about for hours and hours.
10:00
I wish you well with your interviews,
10:02
and I hope you strongly consider UVA in your future.
10:06
KIMBERLY KEENE: Hi.
10:07
I'm Kimberly Keene, and I graduated
10:08
from University of Virginia's residency program
10:11
in Radiation Oncology in 2006.
10:13
I come from the University of Florida,
10:15
where did my undergrad and medical school,
10:17
and then went on to University of Virginia for residency.
10:20
I am now at the University of Alabama at Birmingham,
10:23
and I've been there since 2006.
10:25
I felt that UVA's program prepared me very well
10:28
for my future career in academics.
10:30
It is a small program, and I think because of that, you
10:33
have a lot more independence as a resident,
10:36
And I think that enables you to have
10:38
progressive responsibilities as you go along
10:41
in your residency training that well prepares you
10:43
for practice going forward.
10:46
I also graduated with several papers and a book chapter,
10:48
and I felt that that also prepared me very well
10:51
for my career choice in academics,
10:54
I do think that the program has a lot to offer,
10:56
whether your choice is to go forward
10:58
into a private practice, or academic type position.
11:03
So I highly recommend the program
11:05
and I think that I had an excellent training.
11:07
They've got excellent head and neck experience.
11:10
They have brachytherapy experience that's wonderful.
11:13
So I do feel that has a lot to offer for your training.
11:17
UVA is centered in Charlottesville,
11:19
which is an absolutely beautiful small town.
11:21
It's very close to Washington DC.
11:24
You're right nestled into the Blue Ridge mountains.
11:26
It is beautiful wherever you go.
11:28
I loved, loved the Carters Mountain Apple Festival
11:31
with the apple donuts, which are a must try.
11:34
They have a budding wine industry.
11:36
And so certainly during residency
11:38
we had a lot of things to do, and we certainly, as residents,
11:41
would get out and go do things together.
11:43
So I have a lot of memories thinking back
11:46
that were positive with my co residents, and so forth.
11:49
So good luck going forward with your residency interviews,
11:54
and take care.
11:56
BERT MAIDMENT: Hey, everyone.
11:57
My name is Bert Maidment.
11:59
I'm a radiation oncologist in Overland Park, Kansas,
12:03
which is a suburb of Kansas City,
12:05
working with a group called TRI, Therapeutic Radiologists
12:09
Incorporated.
12:10
And I am a 2017 graduate of the University of Virginia Health
12:14
System Radiation Oncology program,
12:17
and wanted to take a moment today
12:18
to tell you about that program, and my experience
12:22
with that program, which I feel was exceptional.
12:26
So Charlottesville, as a town, I want
12:29
to say first and foremost, is excellent,
12:33
and a wonderful place to live with beautiful scenery,
12:37
exceptional restaurants, and really
12:40
is convenient to many places throughout the country
12:44
to get to on a weekend, or day trip.
12:47
Very well situated.
12:49
And the town itself is full of lots
12:51
of young professionals, young families,
12:54
and is really a wonderful place where we began our family,
12:57
and certainly will always have a special place in our hearts.
13:02
So the program itself prepares you extremely well
13:07
to become a high functioning, very competent radiation
13:12
oncologist.
13:14
The way it does so is through strong education.
13:19
We have excellent lecture series and, in particular,
13:22
the resident led lecture series leads
13:25
to you becoming very adept, having an incredible breadth
13:29
and depth of knowledge which allows
13:31
you to excel in in-service exams and board exam settings.
13:36
I would say with ease, but some of them
13:38
are certainly very hard.
13:39
Still have to study a lot.
13:40
However compared to our peers, we
13:43
found that we were quite well prepared
13:45
for such exams and other tests of our knowledge.
13:50
From a attending physician standpoint,
13:53
I would say that the attendings at Virginia
13:56
treat our training program like an apprenticeship, which
14:00
is exactly what you want.
14:03
They want you to become autonomous, and comfortable
14:06
in your own skin, and develop your own style,
14:08
and become your own radiation oncologist.
14:11
In doing so, they will provide you
14:14
autonomy in increasing amounts commensurate
14:17
with your abilities.
14:19
That is unique of many programs.
14:21
What that will lead to is you becoming
14:24
a more competent, and confident, radiation oncologist.
14:29
The reputation of Radiation Oncology residents
14:33
from Virginia when they come out of training into the workforce
14:37
is that they are exceptionally well-trained, exceptionally
14:40
well prepared to practice medicine,
14:42
whether it be in private practice, employment setting,
14:45
or academic setting.
14:47
That is the feedback that I have received from my partners, who
14:51
felt I was exceptionally well-prepared,
14:53
and it's the feedback that many of my other co residents
14:56
have received as well.
14:58
So that is something we've all heard firsthand
15:00
and something you can expect if you train at Virginia.
15:05
So part of how we glean our knowledge at Virginia
15:08
is through a comparatively high workload.
15:11
And it is not oppressively high, but it is busy.
15:14
And that is exactly what you want in a training program.
15:17
You want to be busy.
15:18
You want to have an exposure to a wide array of complex cases.
15:22
You want to have the opportunity to use
15:27
many different technologies.
15:29
And so TrueBeam is available at multiple spots on campus,
15:34
there as is the TomoTherapy Unit.
15:37
You have an extremely high volume gamma knife program,
15:40
and you have a breakthrough therapy suite with a CT
15:43
on rails, which is really a world class piece of technology
15:47
to have access to.
15:48
It is just an exceptional room.
15:49
We do very high volume complex brachii therapy there,
15:52
and you will come out prepared for almost any position you
15:55
can imagine in the field of radiation oncology.
15:58
So during my job search, I found that the faculty at Virginia
16:04
were incredibly helpful.
16:06
They were very supportive and they don't mind, I would say,
16:10
if you are going into academics, employed, or private practice.
16:14
They will support you regardless.
16:16
Again, that can't be said for every program in the country,
16:19
and that's certainly true at Virginia.
16:21
We have a fairly even mix of academic and private practice
16:24
over the years.
16:24
It's nearly 50-50, as it turns out,
16:27
which I think is indicative of how supportive the program is
16:29
of either endeavor, really whatever is best for you.
16:34
So I was very fortunate to find my job extremely early,
16:37
being from Kansas City and an opportunity arising
16:40
in Kansas City.
16:42
The group actually ended up hiring me,
16:45
or I had a contract signed, while I was still a PGY4.
16:48
So I was able to enjoy my entire last year, knowing essentially
16:51
what my job would be and prepare for that.
16:54
And I think that's again indicative of how
16:56
prepared Virginia can make you for your job.
16:59
I interviewed with PGY5s for the group, And as a PGY4
17:05
it was an ideal fit and ended up working out very well.
17:09
The attendings, and throughout the Department,
17:12
were very supportive.
17:13
They all were happy to review my contract,
17:15
and make sure that I was getting a fair deal,
17:18
and that I understood what I was getting into.
17:21
And certainly they were excited for me
17:23
to join a group with a very good reputation
17:26
of more than four decades of radiation oncology
17:29
care in Kansas City.
17:31
And that was something I was very appreciative of.
17:34
Of the attendings, that they were
17:37
willing to help me through that process,
17:39
and support whatever I felt was in my best interest
17:42
for my career.
17:44
So at the end of the day, I would
17:50
say I do feel truly indebted to the University of Virginia
17:53
Radiation Oncology department.
17:55
As someone told me once, they considered the University
17:58
of Virginia to be an ideal representation
18:01
of what a small radiation oncology program should be.
18:04
And I could not agree more.
18:08
I think that you will find if you spend time at UVA
18:12
and end up training in that program,
18:14
that you will leave with, as I mentioned before,
18:17
an incredible breadth and depth of knowledge.
18:19
You will be competent, not only in the practice of radiation
18:22
oncology, but also the business of medicine, which
18:25
is critically important in this day and age, regardless
18:29
of your station, and academics, employment
18:32
model, or private practice.
18:34
You have to know the business of medicine.
18:35
And that is something that certainly
18:38
while you're learning so many clinical details and facts
18:42
and skills is not lost on the faculty of Virginia.
18:45
And they will ensure that you are
18:47
ready to embark out in the world as the best radiation
18:51
oncologist you can be.
18:52
So best of luck in the process.
18:54
I know it's a stressful time.
18:56
Try to enjoy it.
18:56
It's going to be certainly unusual
18:58
this year with our virtual COVID interviews and such,
19:02
but if your experience at Virginia is anything like mine,
19:06
you will be eager to become part of the team,
19:10
and will leave a stronger and better person
19:14
than you entered with many, many abilities
19:17
that you never thought you'd have.
19:18
Good luck.
19:19
CLAYTON ALONSO: Hi, everyone.
19:20
This Clayton Alonso.
19:21
I'm a radiation oncologist in South Florida,
19:24
and I graduated from UVA Radiation Oncology
19:27
residency in 2019.
19:30
They asked me to make a quick video,
19:32
and I decided to do it in question and answer format.
19:35
So first question, what was residency like at UVA?
19:39
Well, there's six residents at any given time.
19:42
So it alternates two and one resident per year.
19:45
You're usually one on one with the faculty,
19:48
and you're covering one or two disease
19:50
sites with each faculty member.
19:53
For the didactic lectures, there's
19:55
usually a couple of physics lectures per week,
19:59
and then three lunchtime lectures,
20:01
as well as a couple of tumor boards.
20:04
The facilities at UVA are beautiful.
20:06
They're relatively new, and they have three linear accelerators.
20:12
Next question, where did residents
20:15
go after they've graduated recently?
20:19
Well, the six most recent residents, four of them
20:22
have gone into academics, and two have
20:26
gone into private practice.
20:28
So the academics, one has gone to Mayo Jacksonville,
20:32
one has stayed at UVA, one has gone to Emory,
20:37
and one has gone to ECU.
20:40
And then the two private practitioners,
20:43
including myself, have each returned to their home states.
20:48
Next question, what is Charlottesville like?
20:51
Well, Charlottesville is really a great small town.
20:54
There's plenty to do nearby, including tons of hiking,
20:59
as well as lots of restaurants and bars within the city.
21:03
And there is also an excellent athletics program at UVA.
21:09
Thanks so much for your time.
21:10
And good luck on the residency process everyone.
21:13
CHRIS CRANE: Hi.
21:14
My name is Chris Crane.
21:15
I trained at the University of Virginia, Department
21:19
of Radiation Oncology from 1994 to 1998.
21:22
I did my medical school there as well.
21:26
Some of the things that I still, to this day,
21:31
use in my everyday practice are mainly
21:34
the first principles of radiation oncology
21:36
that I learned in residency.
21:39
I think that's a real strength from the educational aspect
21:42
of the program as it was at that time,
21:44
and I learned most of that from Paul Reid.
21:47
The way things were structured at that time,
21:50
the residents ran most of the patient care.
21:53
And we used the principles of physics, and biology
21:56
fractionation, and all of those things in clinical practice.
22:00
And I find that that's something that
22:03
is missing in today's technology driven radiation oncology
22:08
practice, as someone who's been in academic radiation
22:12
oncology my entire career at M.D. Anderson,
22:15
now Memorial Sloan Kettering.
22:18
I come across all aspects of academic practice,
22:23
and I've been heavily involved in education,
22:29
and I just find that its technology has taken a bigger
22:33
place not for good reason, but it
22:38
has replaced these principles.
22:41
And I think that that's something
22:42
that I hope is still a big part of the program.
22:46
I'm sure it is since Paul has now been
22:49
such an icon there for so long.
22:51
And Jim, under his leadership, the program has grown so much.
22:56
The other thing about the program
22:58
I think is a real strength, compared
23:00
to many of the other programs I'm familiar with,
23:02
including M.D. Anderson Sloan Kettering,
23:06
I was a program director for 10 years at MD Anderson,
23:09
is that the strength of the clinical programs
23:12
and departments in each of the most important areas
23:17
to radiation oncology is one of the critically important things
23:20
about any radiation oncology program.
23:24
And at UVA, at that time and I'm sure now too,
23:28
the important programs, head and neck, general surgery, GYN,
23:33
pediatrics, medical oncology, are all very strong.
23:37
They're not large departments, but they're very high quality,
23:40
and we learn the most from our patients.
23:43
So I found that to be a real strength of the program,
23:46
even though it never was really a very large program.
23:49
These were strengths that I think served me well,
23:53
because I came out very well clinically trained,
23:56
and hit the ground running with no problems whatsoever
24:02
taking on all the responsibility that was needed.
24:05
So I think it's fair to say that the strengths of the program,
24:09
from my experience, for across the board
24:15
clinical strength of all departments,
24:17
and from the radiation oncology technical aspects, learning
24:23
the principles of radiation oncology
24:25
that are extremely important and that I still use today
24:31
in clinical decision making.
24:33
Thank you very much and good luck.
24:35
DAN TRIFILETTI: Hey.
24:36
It's Dan Trifiletti.
24:37
I am a radiation oncologist at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville,
24:41
and I went to residency for Radiation Oncology at UVA.
24:45
I was born in Florida, outside Jacksonville, and grew up here.
24:53
And I went to medical school and college
24:56
at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
24:58
And then I matched in radiation oncology
25:01
at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
25:03
And I was there 2013 to 2017, and I loved my time there.
25:15
It was awesome.
25:17
I was interested in brain tumor stuff in medical school,
25:23
and then, but you know pretty open to research
25:28
and opportunities as they went through.
25:30
I loved my time in Charlottesville.
25:32
They have a strong neuroscience program there,
25:35
and I worked closely with a lot of people,
25:38
including Dr. Lerner and Dr. Sheehan in neurosurgery.
25:42
Both great mentors, but also outside that space
25:46
with Dr. Showalter and Dr. Reid.
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They were there the whole time I was there.
25:53
And I really loved my time there, loved Charlottesville.
25:56
Charlottesville is an awesome city.
25:58
We're actually going back in a couple of weeks
26:00
to visit because we really enjoyed our time there.
26:04
Some awesome stuff about Charlottesville
26:06
is the sort of farm thing.
26:12
So my wife and I are into food, and eating, and cooking,
26:16
and in Charlottesville there's a real farm
26:19
to table kind of environment that is just super awesome.
26:22
And the restaurants are cool, but also we
26:25
were part of a crop share, and once a week I
26:29
would take my wife and my kids.
26:31
And we'd drive out to this farm, and pick vegetables,
26:34
and they had a bunch of just fill
26:36
up a bag with all kinds of vegetables,
26:38
and the kids would play with bunnies and chickens
26:40
and whatever.
26:42
So we would do that every weekend We just really enjoyed
26:46
the city.
26:47
There's awesome restaurants.
26:48
The downtown mall is a super fun place for kids.
26:52
So when we moved there, I had a three month old,
26:56
and then we had another kid while we were in Virginia,
27:00
and then my wife was pregnant as we were leaving.
27:03
And the whole pregnancy pediatric thing was awesome.
27:09
We liked our doctors, and the environment in the department
27:14
is fun.
27:16
It's very family and team oriented,
27:19
which I enjoyed a lot.
27:22
It appeals to me.
27:24
It's not really a competitive atmosphere.
27:27
It's good.
27:27
It's more about development and growing
27:30
together as a team, and kind of like giving you
27:35
the opportunities that you need to succeed in your future,
27:38
and kind of defining what that is for you.
27:40
So for me, I did a lot of gamma knife research
27:44
with Dr. Sheehan, and ended up taking
27:47
a position in brain tumor stuff, gamma knife stuff,
27:50
at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville
27:52
as they were building a center.
27:54
And now this center is growing, growing
27:57
and I'm a part of these growth opportunities here,
28:01
and kind of just seeing my career explode.
28:05
And it's really related to the time
28:08
that I spent in UVA, to kind of plant the seed
28:10
to teach me how to think, and how to get stuff
28:15
done when there's barriers.
28:17
So we really enjoyed our time there.
28:19
I would encourage you to rank UVA highly.
28:23
If I could do residency again, I'd
28:24
probably do it just the way that I did it.
28:26
NEAL DUNLAP: Hello.
28:27
My name is Neal Dunlap, and I'm currently the residency program
28:31
doctor and Vice Chairman in Radiation Oncology
28:33
at the University of Louisville.
28:35
I completed my residency training
28:37
at the University of Virginia in 2011.
28:40
I wanted to just take a few minutes to share
28:43
what my experiences during residency
28:45
have done for me, both professionally and personally.
28:49
Thinking back on my time in Charlottesville,
28:51
my fondest memories from my wife and me
28:53
are that we were able to have our first son there.
28:57
So Charlottesville will always hold a special place
28:59
in my heart.
29:00
And I actually still have a townhouse there,
29:03
so lots of reasons to still come back and have
29:07
a connection to the local area.
29:10
From a training perspective, though, I
29:12
think UVA gave me a very unique perspective
29:15
walking out into my first job.
29:19
The one thing that Dr. Lerner always emphasized
29:22
is that residents need to understand
29:23
how to be autonomous, and how to function fully on their own,
29:28
and their level of graduated responsibility that
29:30
was given to trainees really helped shape me,
29:33
walking into my first job.
29:36
I feel like starting in Louisville when
29:38
I signed my first plan, I did not
29:40
have any kind of apprehension.
29:44
I felt confident and competent in what I was doing.
29:48
And I think that's the unique thing that UVA offers that many
29:50
programs don't.
29:51
Is that you get a really solid practical knowledge of how
29:55
to take care of patients.
29:57
Walking out of programs understanding
30:00
that data is important, but it doesn't really
30:03
make you a good doctor.
30:04
And I think UVA really emphasizes
30:06
that to be a physician first and foremost
30:09
is to take care of people.
30:11
As a residency director now I've tried
30:13
to implement some of the same philosophies
30:16
and learning paradigms with my residents.
30:20
And my goal is to always send people out into the field,
30:25
they can walk into a job with a knowledge base,
30:29
as well as a competency in taking care
30:31
of patients, that is top notch.
30:33
And I think UVA really did that for me.
30:36
And so when you're thinking about your residency training
30:38
program, UVA should rise to the top of your list.
30:42
I think it's small and intimate.
30:44
Residents really have a great collegial attitude
30:46
with each other, and the faculty are really
30:48
approachable and willing to help you grow as a physician.
30:53
So I appreciate you taking time to listen to me,
30:56
and I hope you'll consider UVA when you
30:59
make your residency decision.
31:00
Have a good day.
31:02