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The OSA Insider

A podcast about medical student life and the journey to becoming a physician. Featuring survival tips, wellness strategies, the inside scoop on major milestones, and interviews with inspirational faculty members, residents, and students. Join host Dr. Neda Frayha and find out what doctors wish they knew when they were in medical school. From the University of Maryland School of Medicine's Office of Student Affairs.
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Now displaying: Category: Residency
Oct 13, 2025

Our series on applying to residency programs continues, this time with UMMC's General Surgery Program Director, Dr. Steve Kavic. He shares a wealth of information on what he looks for in candidates, how to approach personal statements and interview days, and how he supports his residents to achieve their career goals. 

Sep 4, 2025

Our special series on applying to residency continues, this time with an interview with Internal Medicine Residency Program Director Dr. Danny Baek. She shares her approach to the residency application process and match, how signaling works in her field, what she looks for in applicants, and her best advice for students navigating this unique life chapter. This episode is filled with practical info and tons of support for our students. 

Aug 12, 2025

We continue our series on Applying to Residency with brand new SOM grad Shirin Parsa. She's a prelim surgery intern who will complete her residency in Integrated Interventional Radiology at the University of Maryland. She shares her residency application journey, including the mentorship she received, the interviews she went on, and how she crafted her rank list. Each of these conversations has pearls for all third—and fourth-year students, regardless of specialty. Listen in, and let us know what other specialties you'd like to learn about in this series. 

Jul 25, 2025

We are kicking off a brand new series on Applying to Residency with recent SOM graduates who recently went through the Match. We'll get to know their individual stories, special considerations for applying to their field, and how they approached items like their personal statement, letters of recommendation, away rotations, and rank lists. You'll learn about virtual vs. in-person interviews, signaling, and so much more. In this episode, you'll get to meet SOM 2025 graduate Dr. Pharibe Pope and learn about the ENT application process. 

Jul 7, 2025

Imagine that you start medical school knowing exactly which field you want to go into. You line up your mentors and your research projects in that field. Whenever you shadow a physician, it’s in that specialty. Eventually, you start your 3rd year of med school, and you tell everyone what you want to do. And then - you change your mind. You fall in love with a totally different field. What do you do? In this episode, we hear from two recent SOM grads, Dr. Mia Wessel and Dr. Beita Badiei, about this exact scenario. They share how they pivoted, what went into those decisions, and how to choose a specialty more broadly as an M3. 

 

Oct 25, 2023

Preventive Medicine is a fantastic field that can feel like a bit of a mystery. We don't always learn about it as a residency option, or know what a career in preventive medicine might look like. This episode will change all of that. In this conversation with preventive medicine physicians and leaders Dr. Marissa Khajavi and Dr. Cara Dooley, we'll shine a light on preventive medicine, how to know if it might be a good fit for you, what different roles in the field might look like, and how to learn more about it. 

Sep 4, 2020

We have covered the residency application process before, but never from the perspective of a residency program director. In this episode, we learn all about Dr. Erin Giudice, PD of the Pediatrics residency program at the University of Maryland: her career path, leadership philosophy, how she measures success, and what she really looks for in applicants. 

May 7, 2019

It's that time of year! Our fourth years are about to graduate and move on to their first year of residency. We are revisiting the best parts of two early podcast conversations on the transition to internship: one with Dr. Nubia Seyoum, Emergency Medicine physician at Upper Chesapeake Medical Center, and the other with Dr. Barathi Sivasailam, Internal Medicine chief resident at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Both share wisdom about the hard times, the rewarding moments, and what they wish they had known about intern year that nobody had told them. 

May 14, 2017

It’s that time of year when fourth-year students graduate from medical school and get ready to begin their new lives as interns. To help ease the anxiety of this scary time, we bring you part two of our series on transitioning to residency. Dr. Barathi Sivasailam, a UMSOM grad and Internal Medicine resident at the University of Maryland Medical Center, shares her tips for surviving internship and staying sane. Find out why she thinks event planners would make really good interns. 

Apr 5, 2017

The leap from medical school to internship can be one of the most frightening, stressful, exhilarating times of a young doctor’s life. As part of our series on transitioning to residency, we sit down with Dr. Nubia Seyoum, a UMSOM grad and Emergency Medicine resident at the University of Maryland Medical Center. She shares her approach to managing fear, staying organized, and becoming familiar with totally new surroundings.

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