Three years ago I wrote a column for the now erstwhile Roanoke Star-Sentinel about four medical students who had just completed their first year at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. In last week’s online issue of TheroanokeStar.com I re-ran that column in preparation for an “exit interview” as these soon-to-be physicians move from VTC to the much wider world of residency training. On May 10th they will receive their MD degrees then they will begin the final years of their training which, in some cases, may be as long as six additional years.
When I met with them last week, I was interested in their reaction to their medical school experience. They all agreed that, in retrospect, the first two years were grueling and they wondered why they were subjecting themselves to such an arduous process. I heard no such expression in my visit with them in 2011 but I knew it was coming.
No medical student is immune from such emotions in the pre-clinical years. Once they began to have patient contact in the third year, it became much clearer why they were working so hard; the goal was in sight, thus the work became more engaging. Now it’s time to re-introduce them and update their résumés.
Matt Joy, a graduate of University of Southern California in Performance Music, will be staying in Roanoke at Carilion in a general surgery residency in preparation to entering plastic and reconstructive surgery training at Carilion which is in the final stages of accreditation. He still plays guitar professionally, but that has definitely taken a backseat to his medical training. He completed his research project in bariatric surgery (weight reduction) in relation to knee replacement, but found the sample size too small to come to any definite conclusions.
Don Vile, with a degree in Biomedical Engineering graduate from Harvard, will attend Wake Forest in an internal medicine residency. His research project on rotavirus, a gastrointestinal problem, will certainly make him the resident expert among his peers when encountering viral diseases that affect the intestinal track. He commented, as did his colleagues, on the sense of collegiality that was present throughout the entire class during their four years together.
Elizabeth Glazier, a University of Georgia graduate with a degree in advertising, will be a resident at University of Maryland in orthopedics. She will be near her family and abandoning the weekend commute done for the last four years to be with her husband. Her research project on the genomics of melanoma did not come to fruition since the theory with which she and the Virginia Tech faculty were working fell out of favor. She then took up a project on ultrasound-guided injections which will be valuable in her orthopedic career.
Jarred Hicks, a psychology undergraduate of Lee University in Cleveland, TN and graduate work at UNC Chapel Hill, will begin a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Utah, a specialty that was completely off his radar when he entered medical school. His research on hospital response to disasters yielded information that should prove useful. The hospital problems of Katrina were part of his data base. Given the number of major natural disasters which have challenged hospitals in recent years, one hopes lessons have been learned.
I was impressed at how focused they were as a group, yet how diverse their interests have become. Of the 42 who entered VTC in 2010, 40 will graduate. One student elected a fifth year in order to obtain a PhD as well as an MD; one student took a medical leave of absence.
One-hundred percent of the class obtained a residency. Their scores of national board exams have been above the national average; each said they were happy with their overall training and the exceptional support of the faculty. Asked if they are glad they made the choice to attend a new medical school with a non-traditional problem-based curriculum, they all replied in the affirmative.
That the medical school is sending out their first graduates to such excellent training programs is a testament to the success of the institution. We can optimistically expect great things in the future and Roanoke can be justly proud of the progress that is already evident.
We agreed to keep in touch as they complete their training in future years and will follow their careers with interest and enthusiasm.
J. Hayden Hollingsworth, MD
