Earlier this week a host of physicians across the country learned where the next phase of their career would take them. The fellowship match day might be slightly less headline-grabbing than the matching of MD graduates with residency programs, but for our department and our residency program, it is just as important. We are proud of all our residents, and we celebrate the residents who heard the click of the next puzzle piece snapping into place this week. Our faculty have worked closely with these trainees for the last 30 months and so to see them take this next step is so exciting.
Most exciting though are the 12 residents who matched into fellowship programs with us here at Iowa or are staying on to do a year as Chief Resident. We are assured that these soon-to-be fellows have received the best training in internal medicine residency in the nation and we have more time to sell them on the benefits of joining our faculty ranks. Our patients benefit, our long-term recruitment efforts benefit, and our research efforts benefit as well. The pipeline from student to faculty starts years before this week, but retaining our residents for fellows is a critical phase.
Among the dozen residents staying at Iowa after graduation next year are our five rising Chief Residents. The last time our department increased its complement of Chiefs from three to four was a little more than ten years ago. That fourth Chief was tasked with focusing on Quality and Safety and the resulting projects, increased QI-related abstracts, and publications from all our residents reflect that position’s impact. Our inaugural fifth, Dr. Amanda Chang, will focus on ambulatory and outpatient services. We anticipate a similar impact on the state of primary care services both at UI Health Care and throughout the state will become visible as the result of Dr. Chang’s efforts and of those who fill the role after. I am really looking forward to working with all our Chiefs in the next academic year.
You can see where all our graduating residents who matched into fellowship this week are headed in this post as well as an updated map of where the last six years’ worth of graduates have gone. Congratulations!
Upi’s “Oh, WOW” moment
The importance of retaining our residents and then our fellows cannot be understated. Graduates of Iowa’s many training programs fill the halls, clinics, and wards at UI Health Care and have a huge role in mentoring those who come after. A scan of some recent department headlines reveals how important a role our trainees play in the institution. Dr. Desmond Barber, a former Chief Resident and graduate of our residency and our pulmonary fellowship, has spent years working alongside Dr. Kevin Doerschug, medical director of our Medical ICU for the last 20 years. The pair have collaborated not just in treating our critically ill patients but also developing curriculum to train others to do the same. Dr. Barber is an enormously qualified critical care physician and proven leader ready to become our next MICU medical director. Similarly, our physician-scientist training pathway bridges the gap between cutting-edge research and clinical care. A recent graduate and now faculty member in our Endocrinology division, Dr. Kathleen Robinson, has been building on work central to her passions since at least her training. In a recent publication, discussed here, Dr. Robinson sets out some practical adjustments that clinicians can make around discussing weight management and treating obesity that can have durable positive impact in reducing health-care avoidance.
Photo for reflection
This is an excellent time of year. I am certainly no fan of the giant piles of snow everywhere or the icy blast of wind this week, but it does mean a shift in focus. We start to think about the things that matter, family and friends. We start to look closely at the year that is ending and think about what we want to improve on in the coming year. When we zoom in on the details, we realize that all of the things that feel overwhelming, the larger systemic knots to untangle, all of it is just details. We can untangle them one at a time and even appreciate the little victories that set us up for the bigger ones. Think, for example, about the steps that our fellowship programs have taken over the last couple years to apply for and achieve the slot expansions that allow us to train more fellows and care for more Iowans. We have a lot to celebrate, and I hope you are making plans to do so in the coming weeks. And then next year we will welcome nearly 40 more fellows into our ranks.
