Match Day is coming up soon, and each year, the Match Day celebration at our medical school is sponsored by the Medical Alumni Association. This organization - much like the School of Medicine - has been around since the 1800s. Its office is located in Davidge Hall, the oldest medical education building in the United States in continuous use. And its executive director, Mr. Larry Pitrof, has been leading the organization since 1994 - for 30 years.
In late February, I visited him in Davidge Hall to learn more about his life and what he's seen throughout his decades at our medical school. On the day of our interview, Davidge Hall was filled with activity - renovations, HVAC installation, contractors everywhere. And I felt such powerful nostalgia being in that space. Memories from my first week of med school and from my own Match Day, among so many other important milestones. Larry and I got to talk about the history of Davidge Hall and of the SOM, why he was drawn to our Medical Alumni Association in the first place, how the MAA helps medical students and alumni, and, after 30 years, what comes next for him.
As we close out 2023, we get to become acquainted with Dr. Bruce Jarrell, transplant surgeon and President of the University of Maryland, Baltimore. He taught our host Dr. Neda Frayha when she was a medical student, so this reunion conversation felt very special. We learn about his decision to pursue surgery as a career, his approach to leadership, his path to the presidency of UMB, how he thinks of UMB and its role in the surrounding community, and his advice for all students listening.
Ms. Tess Gillis, Senior Academic Development Specialist at the SOM, is here to help you. She works with students across all four years of medical school on personal academic goals, learning differences, specific struggles, and even when things are going well. She is a wealth of information, a fountain of helpful resources, and a wonderful person. In this episode, we get to know her as a person and also as a resource for our med students. Take a listen, and stop by to "Talk with Tess."
There's a new Dean in town! In this special episode, we sit down with SOM Dean Mark Gladwin to learn about his first year as Dean, the unique opportunities facing both the SOM and the medical profession at large, and how he hopes to prepare our medical students for the future.
Time Magazine just announced that their Heroes of the Year are the Women of Iran. Today we're bringing you a personal story about these heroes, an essay written and recorded by our host Dr. Neda Frayha. This was originally written and recorded for Mighty Forces, where it was published under the title "Iranian Women Are A Mighty Force."
https://mightyforces.substack.com/p/iranian-women-are-a-mighty-force
Dr. Marissa Flaherty is the newest faculty member in the OSA, a graduate of the UMSOM class of 2014, an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, and an all around awesome human. In this episode, we get to learn about her, her career trajectory, how she chose her specialty, and what she is most passionate about when it comes to mentoring and advising medical students.
With Match Day 2022 in the books, we wanted to bring you a conversation on mentorship, including how to find an excellent mentor and how to cultivate helpful, strong mentor/mentee relationships. MS3 Chloe Snow and Pediatrics Chief Resident Dr. Rebka Tekeste share their strategies for success as mentees.
It is so easy to go through medical school without being exposed to the range of career paths available, regardless of which specialty you pursue. And so, we are starting a new series on alums who have gone on to enjoy "nontraditional" career paths. In this episode, we hear from Dr. Maurice Reid (of the Reid Rooms!) about his career in Emergency Medicine and then as an entrepreneur who started his own highly successful business.
The covid pandemic has been challenging for all front-line clinicians. Can you imagine if you were in charge of the public health of an entire county? In this very special conversation, Dr. Frayha sits down with Dr. Nilesh Kalyanaraman, Anne Arundel County Health Officer in Maryland, to learn about his public health goals and personal challenges in the pandemic, and what we can learn from them. This conversation originally aired as part of Hippo Education's Primary Care Reviews and Perspectives podcast.
Just in time for Match Week 2021, we have a student-led episode on self improvement, personal development, and minimizing future regret. MS2 Joseph Deng joins Dr. Frayha to interview neurosurgeon and generally fascinating person Dr. Khalid Kurtom on making good decisions, living your best life, and striving to grow and improve as a human being.
In this special conversation, our own Dr. Neda Frayha sits down with the amazing Dr. Louise Aronson, geriatrician and Professor of Medicine at UCSF and author of the fantastic book Elderhood to learn more about how we can take better care of our over-65 patients. Hint: many of these pearls can help us become better doctors all around. This conversation originally aired on Hippo Education's Primary Care Reviews and Perspectives podcast
Hopefully we all try to do the right thing on a regular basis, but how many of us have blown the whistle on a massive public health crisis? Dr. Neda Frayha got to interview Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, the Flint, MI pediatrician who opened the world's eyes to the lead in the water that was poisoning Flint's citizens. They talk about how to become a more effective patient advocate, and how to face situations that feel scary but ultimately benefit our patients. This conversation originally aired on Hippo Education's Primary Care Reviews and Perspectives podcast.
This was supposed to be a conversation about life as a surgeon, and life as a woman in surgery. And it is. But it is also a brutally honest and often hilarious conversation about how to choose a specialty, identify mentors and sponsors, fail at something every now and then, and prioritize your mental health when the walls are crashing down around you. In this conversation, Dr. Kim Lumpkins shares her path to becoming a pediatric surgeon and urologist, and So. Much. More.
We've got another special episode for you: an in-depth, personal conversation with Dr. Rana Awdish, pulmonary and critical care physician and author of the incredible memoir, In Shock. She shares her experiences as a young, critically ill patient in her own hospital and what she learned from that harrowing time. We also explore why doctors become jaded and what it means to really connect with other human beings, even when it's hard. This is one of our all-time favorite conversations. It originally aired on the Hippo Education podcast Primary Care Reviews and Perspectives.
We have a very special episode for you today! Dr. Paul Offit is a world-renowned vaccine expert and pediatric infectious diseases specialist who has been on The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and 60 Minutes, among many other shows. He just happened to go to the University of Maryland for medical school, and he is passionate about educating others on the safety and efficacy of vaccines. He sat down with our own Dr. Neda Frayha, as well as her friend and colleague Dr. Solomon Behar, to share tips and tools for how we can communicate more effectively with our patients who may be skeptical about vaccines. This conversation was recorded for and originally aired on the Hippo Education podcast Primary Care Reviews and Perspectives.
Our last episode featured the obstacles and adventures Dr. Olga Ioffe faced as she immigrated to the United States and began her medical training all over again. In this episode, we continue our conversation and learn more about impostor syndrome, whether a specialty choice is like a soulmate, and the one memory from Dr. Ioffe’s journey from the Soviet Union that continues to haunt her dreams.
In January 2017, the journalist Julia Ioffe published an article in The Atlantic about her family’s journey from the Soviet Union to the United States as refugees. She wrote about her mother, a pediatric ear, nose, and throat surgeon, who had to flee her home country with her two young daughters due to religious persecution. Her mother is none other than Dr. Olga Ioffe, Professor of Pathology and well known educator at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Sometimes, the people we see every day have incredible stories to share. This is one of those stories.
In medical school and residency, it's hard to lift up and see the long-term view of your career. Dr. Sandra Quezada remembers that feeling. Since then, she has had an adventure-filled path to the career she enjoys now, which includes so many components she loves: inflammatory bowel disease, medical school admissions, medical Spanish, and now diversity and inclusion within medical education. Find out how she pursued individual passions to hit the jackpot in her career.
For 45 years, Art Cohen has been an alcohol and drug abuse counselor at the University of Maryland Medical Center, helping our sickest and most complex patients through the darkest times in their lives. If you walk around the hospital with him, you'll feel like you're with a celebrity. Patients, nurses, custodial staff, doctors, the person who sells you your cup of coffee in the morning - they all come up to Art, hug him, laugh about life. That's because he makes every person feel valued and important. Art is retiring, and it's hard to imagine our medical school and hospital without him. In this episode, we learn about Art's life, why he was a "bad kid," how his own life changed after a difficult few years, and how he knew that helping people with addictions was his passion. He also shares his approach to interviewing and caring for patients, as well as a few memorable patient stories. He tells us it's not easy to say goodbye to a place after 45 years. For everyone who knows Art, it's definitely not easy to say goodbye to him.