The following is a post from Manish Suneja, MD, Internal Medicine Residency Program Director.

As of Friday last week, the Internal Medicine Residency Program has conducted its last full day of in-person interviews in advance of this year’s Match Day on March 15. I want to extend a deep thank-you to a number of individuals within the department. None of this would be possible without the incredible organizational talents of amazing residents, fantastic faculty members, and an outstanding administrative team.

My sincere thanks to the administrative team (Cindy Batzkiel, Denise Floerchinger, Madeline Leonard, Ann Howard, and many others). Their teamwork, hard work, and dedication kept us all on schedule, handling the movement of individuals from room to room, and making sure all of the necessary arrangements —including the food and the applicants!—were in the right place. They worked long hours to make sure every recruitment day was a great day.

Thanks also to all the residents and faculty members who took the extra time to demonstrate for each candidate what the Iowa Difference is all about. Your time spent with them appeared quite frequently in their post-visit evaluations as one of the highlights that they appreciated most. It’s the kind of thing that separates us from the other programs. I am very sure that this time spent with the applicants is a really valuable investment in our residency program.

I also want to thank our educational program leadership (Jane Rowat, Drs. Katie Harris, Gwen Beck, Justin Smock, Bryan Gehlbach, Krista Johnson, Joe Szot, and Scott Vogelgesang) and the Chief Residents (Drs. Nicole Grogan, Bryce Duchman, Carolyn Hilliard, and Jen Langstengel) for making this whole process as smooth as possible. The noon conference remained a highlight of the recruitment day and left a really positive impression of our program. Dr. Grogan did a great job of organizing the welcome dinners and making sure that our residents were kept up-to-date with all the visiting applicants throughout the recruitment process.

Dr. Grogan compiled some of the responses to the post-visit evaluations we received and shared them with our residents recently. At the time, she told them: “YOU are the greatest strength of our program. Every interview day, the applicants remarked on the intelligence, friendliness, and openness that they experienced with our Internal Medicine residents.” I completely agree that our “Amazing Residents” are our biggest strength.

In response to the question, “In your opinion, what were the strengths of our residency program?” here are some of the applicants’ answers:

10/12/18: “Great interviewers and friendly interactive residents. Made it a very comfortable and welcoming environment.”

10/29/18: “I was told by multiple individuals that the people are the greatest strength of the program. There is a definite sense of community among the residents and a strong relationship with faculty. The individualization of each resident’s experience towards their career goals, from faculty mentor to clinic experience, is very impressive.”

11/5/18: “The teaching seems excellent. I loved noon conference today! It was so educational. Everyone here is welcoming and willing to answer anything. It seems like a really supportive program.”

11/12/18: “Everyone associated with the program was overwhelmingly positive.”

12/17/18: “Not only is this an amazingly academically challenging program, but it’s set in a collegial diverse environment of supportive, caring, kind faculty and residents! I also loved your noon conference and your emphasis on teaching.”

1/4/19: “Everyone I talked to was nice and friendly. I felt very welcomed. The culture was amazing. I’m impressed with the fellowship match rates and with how many people decided to stay at Iowa.”

I know you are all as excited as I am to find out who will be joining us this summer. Thank you, especially to anyone whose name I may have forgotten to include, for ensuring that this next class will meet the standards of one of the top programs in the nation.