I was 100 percent a med student who thought I knew what I wanted to do coming into med school. I was Internal Medicine all the way. So I was dead set on internal medicine and then going into hematology-oncology. But I did my internal med rotation; it just did not click with me. It just wasn't what I felt comfortable with in my wheelhouse.

So I was kind of at a loss after that. What am I going to do? I had thought of surgery a little bit in the background because one of the mentors I had was Jacklyn Engelbart (18MD). She was a fourth-year when I was a first-year. And that was when we first met. And then after that, we just kept staying in touch and she was like, “You should consider it. It's a great field. Like, I love it.”

So right after I did my internal med rotation, I did my General Surgery rotation, and it was so freaking fun. I had so much fun. I still remember the first time I went in the OR. People consider it one of the more paramount, like classic cases. It was lap appy with Dr. Patrick McGonagill (10MD). I drove the camera and got to close the port site at the end. And I thought my whole life had been made. I thought it was so fun. It was like the simplest thing ever, but I was like, “This is the best thing. Like, I'm going to remember this day for the rest of my life.” And like two and a half years later, I still remember it.

So I was a little bit different. I'm a military applicant as well. So I had to apply to the military residencies as well civilian. For surgery, I knew I wanted to be at a very high-volume center. So for me, practice makes perfect. So then that led me more towards the civilian route and choosing institutions in big cities. 

And knowing that I was going to go back to the military someday, I'll have to pay back some time when I'm done with residency. And there is a potential that I could be deployed abroad. I wanted to be at an institution that had a great trauma experience. And so I looked at a lot of areas, and one of the things that I knew that I had to do to get good practice and be prepared for any potential deployment was have penetrating trauma.

And lastly, I knew I wanted to eventually, after the Navy, be in academics. That's how I decided that somewhere with integrated research was probably going to be the better fit for me, especially thinking I might want to do surgical oncology, which is one of the tougher fellowships to match in to. I knew somewhere that had research built-in rather than just a nebulous research opportunity was probably going to get me on that path more fluidly and more efficiently.

Most general surgery residencies try to give you a broad breadth of the types of surgery that you're going to see. So during this first year, I've had ICU months, I've had cardiothoracic months, I'll have vascular, I'll have general surgery, I've had hepatobiliary surgical oncology. The rotations are all just a month-long. Whereas as we go on later through residency, the rotations get longer and they're more tailored to what you actually want to do. We spend the first two weeks kind of getting our feet wet, and then the last two weeks we actually know what we're doing. And then we go to the next one.

The patient population is so incredibly diverse. Houston is a huge city. It's either like the third, fourth, or fifth largest city in the United States. So naturally, that means we see every type of patient population, whether that's different races, different gender, sexual orientations. Whether that's different socioeconomic status; it can be absolutely anything.

Additionally, one can see how the different home life statuses are truly affecting the disposition planning that you have to plan for after (care). It provides you with a different outlook on how people view the healthcare system. Iowa's a little bit more, or a lot a bit more homogenous. And so people tend to view the health care system, similar ways, but down here it's totally different. And so I feel like it's very enlightening and very eye opening to know that whatever views you harbored or came in here with like people see it all totally different. It's really gratifying being able to work with so many different types of patients and despite them coming from different backgrounds or different areas of health literacy, the hospitals down here have really accounted for that and have great things in place.

Single-handedly, one of the largest things that helped me with time management, leadership skills, managing different expectations, and work viewpoints was being in the role of student body president. Unfortunately, that's kind of a very specific type of experience to have had at Carver College of Medicine, but I think it can relate to anyone who steps into a primary leadership role.

I can't emphasize enough how important it is to have some sort of leadership role in something that you're passionate about. The amount of time management skills that I developed over this last year, like figuring out how to best use my time, even while in clinics, you know, like figuring out when would be the best time to respond to an email or when would be the best time to set up a meeting. Even during a clinic day versus when I would get home, like helping me triage what I would need to do right away versus what could wait till the next day was paramount to helping me do that now. 

I'll forever, absolutely love and look back at that time with rose-colored lenses. 

Yeah, it's gonna sound incredibly cheesy because everybody says it and it's the same for when you were trying to pick a med school versus trying to pick a residency, but find somewhere where you know you'll find your people, especially for residency, as it matters in medical school, but the classes were always bigger. So it was, there was a greater likelihood that you were going to find people that you mesh with and were your friends. it's going to be harder to try to find that in residency. And especially if interviews keep being virtual, even if it's not the COVID era.

There were a couple (programs) where I knew that wasn't going to be the right fit. So I shuffled them to the lower part of my list. I can't emphasize that enough, and figuring out how to identify that when you're interviewing is going to be key.

Residency is hard. It is, it is hard. You'll feel gratified and fulfilled at the end of the day, but there are also going to be days when you don't think you can do it anymore. So knowing that the seven to 20 people that your co-interns with are going through the same thing, but they are there to support you. 

So I can't emphasize enough reaching out to alumni, especially the younger ones, in a program because they'll have just gone through it and they'll be able to provide you a candid view. We were all there at one point and we get that it is a tough decision.