“I remember being in your shoes,” Ronald Witteles, MD, said to prospective residents during a recent Google+ Hangout sponsored by the Stanford Internal Medicine Residency program. “I really felt that Stanford was the best fit for me, so I crossed my fingers and came out here. It’s been everything I hoped it could be and more.”
Witteles is the resident program director, and he joined a panel of faculty, residents, and physicians to share stories and answer questions from prospective residents and the interested public about life at Stanford.
During the Hangout, department chair Robert Harrington, MD, spent time discussing Stanford’s tradition of innovation – highlighting the Biodesign program, a collaboration between the School of Medicine and the School of Engineering, and the Department of Medicine’s Clinical Excellence Research Center, which organizes research teams to discover and design new methods of health-care delivery. When asked to comment on the school’s innovative reputation, he replied: “There is a spirit of innovation across the residency, across the department, and across the university that I think is unique, and is one of our defining characteristics.”
Several programmatic changes were also addressed during the hour-long conversation. Witteles talked about a new initiative called Pathways of Distinction, or POD, which will allow residents to select one of seven individualized pathways that align with their academic and professional interests. Each POD, he explained, will provide residents with a unique opportunity for mentorship and development outside of their primary education in internal medicine.
Additional audience questions ranged from the level of autonomy afforded to residents (the answer: a significant amount, but you’re never left by yourself), to favorite things about Palo Alto, which garnered enthusiastic group consensus about the vibrant food scene and the close proximity to nature. Watch the full conversation above.
Previously: Stanford Internal Medicine Residency program to host Google+ Hangout
