Enclothed Cognition

Sonya Kenkare, MD

University of Chicago – Chicago, IL

Dr. Kenkare attended the University of Illinois at Chicago and describes her experience:

In the summer before second year, I did a rural volunteering project through the University of Illinois at Chicago in Andahuaylillas, Peru, taking histories and performing physical exams for patients. Following my clinical experience first year, in a suburban family practice clinic, the range of disease I observed in this Andean town was very different. While the majority of patients I saw in Chicago suffered from metabolic syndrome, patients in Andahuaylillas largely suffered from respiratory problems, malnutrition and enteric parasites. Additionally, resources and medically trained staff were scarce. In a community where access to medical attention is limited but pathology is abundant, our presence made a difference in the lives of many people. In an early encounter as a high school hospital volunteer, I remember a baby with a cleft palate in the pediatric ward who was irritable and unable to breathe or feed without the assistance of tubes. When I held him, I observed his protruding tongue and had immediate respect for the plastic surgeons that would perform multiple surgeries to ensure that this child would never remember having this problem. This was incredibly inspirational to me. A physician sees an anomalous anatomical presentation and envisions the necessary treatment to achieve a desirable end point. Applying science and executing that vision can improve lives in a profound way. Due to the time and financial constraints of medical education I did not see the majority of my family, located in India, throughout the 8 years that I was in college and medical school.

Vote for Sonya here. If you know a resident that deserves to be recognized, please nominate your candidate here.

Our H.E.R.O. Award -Honoring Excellent Resident Observations – was launched to highlight the personal sacrifices and educational commitment during a medical resident’s professional adult life.  We realize, considering the fast moving changes in healthcare,  how courageous medical residents are to embark upon a career in medicine with such an uncertain future.  This award is our way of recognizing that courage.

We wanted to take a moment to introduce you to our nominees individually:

Lucas Lindsell

University of Cincinnati College of Medicine/Cincinnati – Cincinnati, OH

Lucas Lindsell was an optometrist by education before deciding he wanted to be an eye surgeon; he quit his job and applied for Medical School. He was accepted at the University of Cincinnati  and was able to put himself through medical school with the loving support of his wife and graduated top of his class. Although older and already having some experience in health care, Lucas was always humble, supportive of his peers and very professional. Luke has always been fascinated by the eye and taking care of patients. His program is in the midwest in a community driven institution that serves the underprivileged population of southern Ohio, northern Kentucky and east Indiana. Luke understands the community and patients, and he is caring and supportive of them. His work at the VA Medical Center in Cincinnati got him exposed to the medical students and faculty at University of Cincinnati. His daily work, especially with veterans that have diabetes, made him realize he would like to care for them in a more comprehensive way. That is how he realized he had to go back to school and train for another 10 years to become a vitreoretinal surgeon. Lucas had to be supported by his wife, and gave up his financial independence and time with his family to be able to go back to school. He still has 2 and a half years to go but still displays the same passion and determination he had in Medical School. Vote for Lucas here. If you know a resident that deserves to be recognized, please nominate your candidate here.  

Our H.E.R.O. Award -Honoring Excellent Resident Observations – was launched to highlight the personal sacrifices and educational commitment during a medical resident’s professional adult life.  We realize, considering the fast moving changes in healthcare,  how courageous medical residents are to embark upon a career in medicine with such an uncertain future.  This award is our way of recognizing that courage.

We wanted to take a moment to introduce you to our nominees individually:

Katherine Gast,MD MS

Plastic Surgery, Univeristy of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI – Ann Arbor, MI

Katherine (Katy) Gast is a graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School. During this time, Dr. Gast was able to obtain a Masters of Science in Clinical Research from the University of Michigan School of Public Health. In addition to a full schedule of coursework, she dedicated more than 1,000 hours of volunteer work at a women’s health clinic dedicated to an under-served patient population. She ultimately decided to specialize in reconstructive plastic surgery secondary to her interest in breast reconstruction after mastectomy. Dr. Gast stayed on as a house officer in Plastic Surgery at the University of Michigan and is expected to finish the program in 2016. The University of Michigan Plastic Surgery residency program is dedicated to training future leaders in both patient care and research. When looking at various residency programs, Dr. Gast wanted to not only become skilled in the operating room, also to focus on the entire patient care experience to ensure that her patients will receive the highest level of care. With Michigan’s strong institutional emphasis on continuous quality improvement the University of Michigan Plastic Surgery residency program is “the right fit” for her. Since matriculating at the program she has not only become a technically strong surgeon but also become an advocate for patients and their families and a champion of quality improvement within the residency and the institution as a whole. Spending long days and nights at the hospital are difficult for every resident, but this difficulty is magnified when time at work means time away from a new baby. Dr. Gast and her husband welcomed a baby girl during her residency. She had to return to work shortly after the baby was born. Due to her clinical responsibilities, frequently there are days when she does not see her child, leaving before she wakes up in the morning and returning home after the baby is asleep. Sacrificing limited time with her family, she has demonstrated an impressive depth of academic productivity as a resident. Dr. Gast has presented her research on the need for systems of care for transgender patients internationally. She has also performed scholarly work to elicit which factors predict an academic career after plastic surgery residency; the results have received attention at the Plastic Surgery Research Council and American Association of Plastic Surgeons national meetings. Vote for Katherine here. If you know a resident that deserves to be recognized, please nominate your candidate here.

Our H.E.R.O. Award -Honoring Excellent Resident Observations – was launched to highlight the personal sacrifices and educational commitment during a medical resident’s professional adult life.  We realize, considering the fast moving changes in healthcare,  how courageous medical residents are to embark upon a career in medicine with such an uncertain future.  This award is our way of recognizing that courage.

We wanted to take a moment to introduce you to our nominees individually:

Kathryn Squires

Washington University in St. Louis – Saint Louis, MO

Kate graduated medical school from Washington University in St. Louis – the most academically selective medical school in the country. But her academic achievements (which are numerous) are not what sets her apart; it is her selflessness. Kate's compassion for others is what led her to volunteer on numerous occasions. Here are some of her medical school contributions:

• Washington University School of Medicine Alpha Omega Alpha, 2011.
• Wynder Prize for Preventative Medicine Award, 2011, given to a graduating medical student who has contributed to research focused on disease prevention.
• Academic Women’s Network Rosalind Kornfeld Student Leadership Award, 2011. The AWN Leadership Award is given each year to women in the graduating class of the M.D. and/or Ph.D. program at Washington University School of Medicine who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in service to or advancement of women within the community.
• Jessie L. Ternberg, M.D., Ph.D. Senior Award, 2010-11. This award is to be given annually to the senior woman graduating from the Washington University School of Medicine who best exemplifies the noble characteristics of Dr. Ternberg’s career: her indomitable spirit of determination, perseverance, and dedication to her patients.
• Foreign Rotation Fellowship, Forum for International Health and Tropical Medicine, 2010-11. This fellowship is awarded to medical students to support international travel.
• Outstanding Scholar Award, VA Medical Center, St Louis, MO, 2010
• Scholastic award given to recognize outstanding professionals in the field of medical education. Awarded to one third year medical student from Washington University each year who displays a commitment to learning and scholarly activity along with compassion and understanding of veteran issues.
• National Institute of Health Research Grant Recipient, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO, 2008

Kate was recently selected to be a Chief Administrative Resident for her final year of residency. Dr. Kate Squires is uniquely qualified to provide care for women – and more specific pediatric and adolescent female patients. Our residency program provides Kate the ability to care for the most complicated patients while Kate provides them with the nurturing care that they deserve. Vote for Kate Squires here. If you know a resident that deserves to be recognized, please nominate your candidate here.  

Our H.E.R.O. Award -Honoring Excellent Resident Observations – was launched to highlight the personal sacrifices and educational commitment during a medical resident’s professional adult life.  We realize, considering the fast moving changes in healthcare,  how courageous medical residents are to embark upon a career in medicine with such an uncertain future.  This award is our way of recognizing that courage.

We wanted to take a moment to introduce you to our nominees individually:

 

Ashley O’Reilly,MD

Mayo Clinic, Rochester – Rochester, MN

Dr. O’Reilly’s experience in medical school at Georgetown exposed her to a wide swath of humanity; she cared for both patients who had been afforded every privilege and were highly educated,  and those with nothing, in desperate need of her care. Ashley O'Reilly is a perfect fit for Mayo Otolaryngology. She has the smarts and clinical acumen befitting a high volume academic center like this one, and the bedside manner and consideration of a true Midwesterner (Minnesota-nice by birth). Dr. O’Reilly spent several months touring through and performing service in Southeast Asia, immersing herself in the cultures and personalities she encountered there. That experience gave her a sense of the scope of the world and of the suffering in it.  She better understands the enormous need for people who want to help reduce that suffering, and felt she could do that best in medicine. Dr. O’Reilly has followed her passion all over the country, incurring significant debt and leaving her home for extended periods of time, in order to obtain the education that she felt would best equip her to be the surgeon she could be. She has had to structure her own family planning around the vagaries of residency training, and has done so with aplomb. Vote for Ashley here. If you know a resident that deserves to be recognized, please nominate your candidate here.

Our H.E.R.O. Award -Honoring Excellent Resident Observations – was launched to highlight the personal sacrifices and educational commitment during a medical resident’s professional adult life.  We realize, considering the fast moving changes in healthcare,  how courageous medical residents are to embark upon a career in medicine with such an uncertain future.  This award is our way of recognizing that courage.

We wanted to take a moment to introduce you to our nominees individually:

 

Katie Van Abel

Mayo Clinic/Rochester, MN – Rochester, MN

Katie went to Jefferson Medical School in Philadelphia, where she had to transition from a professional downhill skiing career to one filled with studying, taking tests and caring for patients. She made the transition easily serving others became the focus of her career. Otolaryngology fits Katie perfectly because of her passion for research, surgery and most importantly the care of the patient. She is incredibly motivated to advance the field of otolaryngology through research, yet does not lose focus on the patients behind the medicine. Growing up as an athlete and competing at a professional level, Katie was no stranger to the being on the patient side of the doctor-patient relationship. Her interaction with physicians through her various sports related injuries introduced her to the culture of medicine and instilled a deep love for patient care. Katie gave up a career in professional downhill skiing to pursue a career in medicine. Vote for Katie here. If you know a resident that deserves to be recognized, please nominate your candidate here.

Our H.E.R.O. Award -Honoring Excellent Resident Observations – was launched to highlight the personal sacrifices and educational commitment during a medical resident’s professional adult life.  We realize, considering the fast moving changes in healthcare,  how courageous medical residents are to embark upon a career in medicine with such an uncertain future.  This award is our way of recognizing that courage.

We wanted to take a moment to introduce you to our nominees individually:

David Stoddard

Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN – Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery – Rochester, MN

David graduated from the University of Rochester, New York medical school. He did so not only as an accomplished doctor in medicine, but also as a father of two with one on the way. He is an incredibly caring individual who places medicine and family as his top priorities, at great personal sacrifice. These attributes provided him with a perspective that is far more mature than many of his peers. Inspired by his amazing wife and children, David not only graduated at the top of his class, but matched into one of the most competitive sub-specialties at one of the most competitive programs in the country: ENT at the Mayo Clinic. Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery truly chose David. While competent in each of his core rotations as a medical student, David quickly fell in love with surgery. Surgery today is not what it once was. The complexities now require a greater degree of specialization much earlier in training, however, for David, the choice of what surgical sub-specialty to pursue was made clear to him by a sentinel event in his life when his mother developed thyroid cancer. Treatment of her cancer required not only surgery but subsequent radioactive iodine therapy as well. Watching and supporting his mother going through this ordeal solidified David’s desire to enter into Otolaryngology. His desire to give back to the specialty that helped his mother has been exemplified by his outstanding patient care on a day-to-day basis. While many residents “put their heads down” to get through the grueling training period of residency, David takes the time to listen and support his patients as individuals, as a family member would. His empathy and dedication to his craft make David the doctor you hope cares for your mother if she were to be diagnosed with cancer. During high school, David was not only a dedicated student, but was again dedicated to giving back to his community. Unlike most high school students, David’s community did not just include his local neighborhood, city or state. David’s community brought him all the way to Lithuania where he lived and served for two years. During that time he provided community service to those in need, taught English as a second language, and explored his faith as a missionary for his Church. These experiences opened David’s eyes to the world as a larger stage than the community he had grown up in. It helped to crystallize for him his desire to serve those in need and improve the lives of those around him in the most profound way he could: through medicine. Most medical students and residents will tell you that medical school and residency leaves little time for people outside of the hospital. Caring for patients, learning the craft of medicine, studying the art of surgery, and learning how to function as an independent physician leaves little time for some of the most important people in our lives…our family. However, David has managed to juggle these demands on his time with absolute brilliance. He is the proud father of four adorable children. When you are with his family, it is clear that he is not an absentee father. After returning from a long day, he takes the time to read to his children, watch the “plays” they have created, and tuck them in at night. He and his wife have provided their children with a warm, full, and loving home despite making a single resident’s salary. This is no small feat. Vote for David here. If you know a resident that deserves to be recognized, please nominate your candidate here.

Our H.E.R.O. Award -Honoring Excellent Resident Observations – was launched to highlight the personal sacrifices and educational commitment during a medical resident’s professional adult life.  We realize, considering the fast moving changes in healthcare,  how courageous medical residents are to embark upon a career in medicine with such an uncertain future.  This award is our way of recognizing that courage.

We wanted to take a moment to introduce you to our nominees individually:

 

Kari Kraemer,D.O.

Baton rouge,Louisiana – Baton Rouge, LA

Kari attended Medical School at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine -(PCOM) at the Georgia Campus. Her first memorable experience was in Gross Anatomy class during her freshman year; she was assigned to dissect a cadaver who was a young woman in her twenties, who had died from breast cancer. Kari was overcome by the generosity of this young woman who donated her body to science. Kari did not expect to have a cadaver with which she could so closely identify, and it was a humbling and emotional experience for her. This young woman contributed an incredible amount to Kari’s medical education, and her selfless gift to contribute her body to science will indirectly impact every patient that Kari sees in her medical career. The knowledge of anatomy that allows Kari to confidently practice medicine was in large part a result of this anonymous young woman’s gift. Kari is very much a “type A” personality: she functions best under pressure and finds it exciting and interesting to be working in Emergency Medicine. The ability to actually save lives on a daily basis, and to contribute to the health of a large number of patients, motivates her. Kari’s father is a Physician so she he grew up being exposed to the practice of medicine and it had a great impact on her career choice. After attending undergraduate school at the University of South Carolina in Columbia,S.C. She was very active in her sorority and is a very sociable person with a bubbly personality. Leaving behind all of her friends,family and her social life was very very difficult for Kari. The long,isolating days of non-stop studying and living alone was one of the hardest things she has ever had to do. Vote for Kari here. If you know a resident that deserves to be recognized, please nominate your candidate here. 

Our H.E.R.O. Award -Honoring Excellent Resident Observations – was launched to highlight the personal sacrifices and educational commitment during a medical resident’s professional adult life.  We realize, considering the fast moving changes in healthcare,  how courageous medical residents are to embark upon a career in medicine with such an uncertain future.  This award is our way of recognizing that courage.

We wanted to take a moment to introduce you to our nominees individually:

Mariah Smith

Metropolitan Hospital Psychiatry – Tucson, AZ

Mariah graduated from St. Georges University recently and began her psychiatry residency. Medical school was made memorable by the environment in which she strove to accomplish this amazing feat. Mariah went to medical school on the small island of Grenada where she was able to gain an excellent understanding of medicine while also learning about healthcare in an under-served area of the world. It allowed her to build a better cache of medical knowledge and made her the excellent physician she is today. Mariah's residency program is the right fit for her because she has the capabilities, interests and fortitude of a psychiatrist. Mariah loves to speak with her patients and always seeks ways to improve their lives without simply turning automatically to medications. Mariah chose to build a career in medicine because it has been her lifelong dream; she could not imagine doing anything else with her life. Mariah sacrificed her health to gain her MD: during medical school it was discovered that she had Celiac disease during medical school. Instead of giving up and retreating back home, she pushed through nights of pain and sickness to complete medical school. Vote for Mariah here. If you know a resident that deserves to be recognized, please nominate your candidate here.

Our H.E.R.O. Award -Honoring Excellent Resident Observations – was launched to highlight the personal sacrifices and educational commitment during a medical resident’s professional adult life.  We realize, considering the fast moving changes in healthcare,  how courageous medical residents are to embark upon a career in medicine with such an uncertain future.  This award is our way of recognizing that courage.

We wanted to take a moment to introduce you to our nominees individually:

Leslie Cavazos

KUMC, Kansas City, KS – Kansas City, MO

A 2011 graduate of the Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Dr. Cavazos received a top-notch education. The level of teaching and faculty dedication made this medical education memorable. Rehabilitation medicine is the perfect mix of general medicine, functional outcomes, and pain management. Helping patients reach their optimal level of function in the community is a gift. Dr. Cavazos would like to work with an aging population and find ways for them to prolong their functional independence in the community. She also wants to improve quality of life in cancer survivors, through rehabilitation programs, that assist patients and families. Like all medical residents, Leslie sacrificed time with family, and she was already a mother when entering medical school. Vote for Leslie here. If you know a resident that deserves to be recognized, please nominate your candidate here.