The end of January signals the end of residency interview season, which started just about the same time I arrived on campus in October. For nearly 4 months, our Vice Chair for Education Dr. Manish Suneja and his fantastic team met virtually twice a week with graduating medical students from around the country. They met to discuss the amazing things happening here in our residency and how to fit our program to the specific interests of each candidate. The workload is tremendous. The team of 37 faculty interviewers met with 415 potential recruits. This is challenging but essential work to ensure that we recruit another outstanding class of interns for our residency program. Thank you to everyone, from faculty to staff, for all your hard work in making this happen.

Among the categorical applicants that our program interviewed, 17 were interviewing specifically for our Physician-Scientist Training Pathway. Our long-running PSTP is exceptionally strong under the leadership of Dr. David Stoltz and many faculty participants. But both our program and the larger state of PSTPs in academic medicine deserve and need our constant nurturing. Scientific discovery is an area we need as many academic clinicians as possible engaging in, and our PSTP graduates lead the way here. Research is not solely the domain of the classic R01-running physician-scientist. Beyond bench research, there are clinical trials that need front-line clinician expertise. There are many other opportunities for translational research or implementation science, similar to what is practiced by many of our accomplished health services researchers.

Upi’s “Oh WOW” moment
The intersection of discovery and our residency program is evident in another data point. It is no secret that our residents have their pick of subspecialty fellowship programs after they graduate. (Which, in part, is why it is so gratifying that so many choose to stay with us!) One of the factors that runs secondary to their obvious excellence is their achievements in scholarship. Just four years ago, our residents racked up 20 publications in 2021. This is amidst heavy clinical rotations, board prep, and all the other myriad responsibilities that come with one’s first years as a physician.

But here is where it gets even better. Every year since then, the number of publications our residents are involved with has increased and in 2024 our residents authored 43 publications! This is more than double where we were back in 2021. This is incredible growth and evidence of several factors. First, that our culture for scholarship is one that recognizes the spirit and not just the letter of ACGME requirements. Just this week, our residents heard a presentation at noon conference from Kris Greiner, our department’s experienced scientific editor, on designing effective research posters and presentations. The day before, they were introduced to representatives from each division describing the various research opportunities that might align with their interests. This gives residents an idea what projects they might want to work on as well as giving them faces, names, and a point of contact to begin reaching out. Simple things like this are how big culture shifts happen. Credit to Dr. Brian Gehlbach, our residency associate program director in charge of scholarship, and to all the faculty mentors for these impressive results.

Photo for Reflection
Change as durable and as dramatic as this begins in a couple ways. Although the initial spark may strike when we are busy with other things—gardening, cooking, or even walking across campus—those sparks become larger flames after they get nurtured in conversation. We share the idea with a trusted colleague, who feels our excitement, sees the value in the idea, and adds input—ultimately the idea is improved. The other thing that sharing your spark does is it shares the burden of enacting it and establishes accountability. Big things only happen when we do them together. So, my challenge to you in the coming days, pull up a chair with a colleague and ask for input on a thought you have—clinical, research, operational, cultural. Everything is fair game for discussion and everything will improve with discussion. You may not find yourself in some seaside Adirondack chairs like these in this photo. But I hope the setting is similarly serene with time available to you in your conversation corner in order to turn sparks into fires.