Our residents come to our program with great diversity. They come from all parts of the country and with a broad range of experiences. What they have in common is a commitment to excellence and a desire to make the health care system better. This commonality is palpable throughout the program and is visible in the work the graduates do once they leave the program.
On an evening in January, 2006, I drove into Portland on the residency interview trail and was struck by the city's beauty and easy-going nature. Mt. Hood loomed over the City of Roses, lending grandeur to a town known more for good food and great outdoors than glamor and glitz. Luckily, I found that this gem of the Northwest also had the perfect residency for me. I became one of those lucky few who, on his interview day, just knew where he wanted to be.
Having researched residencies thoroughly, I knew of Providence's strengths on paper: its remarkable Boards passing rate, the broad range of career paths its graduates follow, its strong faculty and advanced medical and informatics technologies. But I found myself unprepared for the intangibles only evident on Interview Day. It was something about how happy the residents were, the idealism and enthusiasm of the faculty, the atmosphere of charitable service that seemed to permeate the hospital and express itself in the friendliness of everyone I met. Strong and driven residency leadership has created a rare culture of rigorous scholarship, professionalism and compassion for patients while emphasizing the personal wellness of residents and their families, a unique combination I have come to love over the last three years.
As a Providence resident, I found my peers to be selfless, kind, hard-working yet fun-loving, well-rounded and highly accomplished. I saw residents cheerfully volunteering to cover extra call when a colleague had to leave town to tend to an ill relative. Very recently, I heard of an intern who stayed on after his overnight shift to counsel a new patient distraught over his cancer diagnosis. And I have watched proudly as my friends accepted offers to highly competitive fellowship programs and won awards at national conferences and published manuscripts in leading journals. The best part has been seeing these already stellar people grow and change with me. Because a great residency should not only attract capable and promising applicants, it should also mold, challenge and nurture its young doctors into lifelong learners, mature professonals and the best healthcare providers they can become. I am happy to say that our program does just that.
I hope you will consider our program as you prepare for this very significant chapter of your life. Please know I am happy to help with any questions you may have along the way.
All my best,
Erik Geissal, M.D. Chief Resident
“Our Residents form the core of the educational experience. They are enthusiastic about learning, committed to the highest quality care for their patients, and quite devoted to each other. It is a privilege to work with them.”
Janan Markee, M.D., Former Chief Medicine Resident and Current Hospitalist
