Graduate Testimonials
What is your post-residency job/location?
UNR Family Medicine Faculty / Renown Primary Care
How did our residency help prepare you for practice?
Residency provided a broad-spectrum practice with procedural opportunities, blend of academic/community practice settings and experiences, and exposure to a variety of subspecialty options including wilderness medicine and sports medicine.
What made the residency unique?
Residency was unique in its extent of pediatric experiences, blend of academic and community environment, and close bonds developed with fellow residents and faculty.
Any other special recollections you have of residency?
Loved the Burning Man emergency department rotation and other rural rotations!
What is your post-residency job/location?
Outpatient Primary Care with Northern Nevada Medical Group
NV Academy of Family Physicians Board of Directors
AAFP Commission on Federal and State Policy
How did our residency help prepare you for practice?
We are structured to really support outpatient practice after our intern year. I had plenty of clinic experience to get comfortable seeing patients on my own. I just started working in my new position, and I feel like I have all the tools I need thanks to our attendings varied experiences!
What made the residency unique?
Dr. Williams’ and all other faculty’s complete support of us to pursue our own interests. No two of our residents have the same curriculum because we were all equipped and supported to pursue our own particular interests. I was able to tailor my experience around policy and advocacy work and this opened up many professional experiences I’ve had.
Any other special recollections you have of residency?
The people. All of my co-residents and attendings were my friends as well. We got together for cohesion events and all sorts of activities outside of work. The culture and personality of the program really promotes community and support.
What is your post-residency job/location?
Hospitalist at French Hospital in San Luis Obispo, CA
How did our residency help prepare you for practice?
Plenty of inpatient hours, rotations with volume that required me to hone my efficiency. Great volume and patient population inpatient. Great pathology and exposure to high acuity medicine. Nights are independent.
What made the residency unique?
Comradery, exemplary attendings and co-residents/recent grads, rural medicine, and Reno is truly a place where Family Medicine/primary care is essential and plays an integral role in all levels of diagnosis and treatment of many medical problems. Referrals and specialty services inpatient are not necessarily available and leaves much of the care to us to help navigate and implement
Any other special recollections you have of residency?
The people are incredible. It's a formative time and one ought to be surrounded by the kind of people one wants to be influenced by-- I feel very strongly that I achieved that in Reno, and I do believe this is unique.
Also, wilderness med, burning man, and rural experiences are unparalleled.
What is your post-residency job/location?
I am a hospitalist in Reno.
How did our residency help prepare you for practice?
Our program has a strong inpatient presence with the benefit of autonomy, independence, and elective flexibility.
What made the residency unique?
The faculty, staff, and fellow residents made my residency unique. Reno is a great location.
Any other special recollections you have of residency?
I feel like my fellow residents and my faculty are my friends and family. My wife (Brooke Todd MD, Class of 2021) just had our first baby and the residency is really supporting us.
What is your post-residency job/location?
I am currently working for South Lyon Medical Center in rural Nevada. I work in primary care as well as in a small emergency department of a critical access hospital.
How did our residency help prepare you for practice?
Our residency gave me excellent, up to date primary care training. In addition, I rotated with and establish strong collegial relationships with many specialists. This expanded my scope of practice and helped define appropriate treatment and referral options.
What made the residency unique?
One of the things that make the UNR Family Medicine residency unique is the tremendous amount of freedom I had in elective rotations. Because I planned to work in a rural ED I chose my electives to gain additional skills in necessary areas: pediatric respiratory care, emergency medicine, and critical care.
Any other special recollections you have of residency?
Above all else, I can say that the people involved throughout my training, both my co-residents and the faculty, are what I will always remember most fondly. I have made life-long friends and mentors who I cherish.
What else would you like to share about your life?
I have the somewhat unique experience of having had all my training; undergraduate, medical school and residency in Nevada. I also happen to be a fourth-generation and lifelong Nevadan myself so having had the opportunity to be raised, trained and now practice medicine in Northern Nevada truly is a joy and privilege.
What is your post-residency job/location?
I am working with Carson Medical Group in Carson City, Nevada doing outpatient family medicine along with both pediatric and newborn inpatient medicine.
How did our residency help prepare you for practice?
Other than adult inpatient medicine and OB, I will be doing everything that residency prepared me for. I feel very confident in my skill set that I learned during residency here. Our faculty are really trusting and allow us to make decisions on our own. This helps develop our skills and knowledge. The faculty is always available and more than willing to help and teach. We have a very good balance here.
What made the residency unique?
Three things made the residency unique. 1. The variety of pathology and patients seen and cared for. 2. The great relationships that the residents have with each other and the faculty. 3. The ability to obtain my MPH while in residency. I hope to use my MPH skills to advocate for both primary care and public health.
Any other special recollections you have of residency?
I have many special memories... like listening to music with our faculty in the Pit and making dutch oven cobble behind the clinic one morning. And really all of this just makes me remember what a good time I had during residency overall.
What else would you like to share about your life?
I recently had my first child and am excited to begin my new life with him and my husband.
I practice family medicine with obstetrics at Renown in Reno.
How did our residency help prepare you for practice?
I felt like I got a well-rounded family medicine experience. I had a good balance of inpatient and outpatient experiences, strong pediatrics exposure, and great continuity between the inpatient and outpatient world with my patients, especially with my obstetric patients and following-up with the babies I delivered.
What made the residency unique?
The residency was special for me in the fact that I could have a great professional relationship, as well as great friendships, with both my co-residents and attendings. I felt like all the residents had a voice in the direction of the residency and could even tailor their residency experience to their interests. I still consider myself friends with my attendings both during residency and today.
Any other special recollections you have of residency?
Going to Lake Tahoe on our resident retreat. Resident wellness barbecues and events like spa days, ropes courses, and hanging out during and after work with friends.
What else would you like to share about your life?
In addition to the great medical training it felt like I got, I also got great training in the business of medicine. Between our didactic curriculum within the residency and my four-year length of training program (MPH) I feel very prepared for all aspects of medicine I have encountered so far.
I work as an outpatient primary physician in south Reno with Renown Health
How did our residency help prepare you for practice?
Completing residency with the UNR family medicine program gave me the confidence and ability to go out and practice on my own, knowing my exposure to community medicine was vast and my training was strong.
What things about your residency made it special?
My residency was special because of the people I worked with and the true ‘family' aspect of the program.
What was fun about your residency program?
My residency program was fun because everyone made learning fun and patient interaction fun.
What else would you like to share about your life?
I met my (now) husband in my residency program (as he was two years ahead of me in residency) and fell in love with Reno. My residency truly changed my life :)
I currently practice as an outpatient family physician at Renown Medical Group in Reno
How did our residency help prepare you for practice?
The residency provided excellent breadth and depth so that, without limitation, I could decide how to practice when I finished residency.
What made the residency unique?
The faculty were incredible role models who each provided something special.
Any other special recollections you have of residency?
Dr. McCarthy taught me to love the burnt coffee in the hospital. Dr. Spogen taught me what it meant to take ownership of my patients. Dr. Fiore taught me to always be guided by the evidence but not constrained by it. Dr. Passalacqua taught me how empathy improved patient care. Drs. Johnson and Williams taught me about "human biological process elimination in austere environments". The list goes on and on...