News Housestaff Recognition

April 2023 Kudos and Awards

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Thank you, residents and interns, for all you do for one another and for your patients. Though often under-appreciated, your work does not go unnoticed. 

Help us highlight the kindness, clinical judgement, resourcefulness, and work ethic.
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Nominate a resident/intern for Housestaff of the month or just share something good. 

Aaron Pruitt
Pruitt

April 2023 Inpatient Resident of the Month
Aaron Pruitt

“Aaron easily is the best senior I have ever worked with. His empathy, clinical skill, and overall demeanor have been a joy to work with and learn from. We had many difficult patient situations, both medical and medical-adjacent, and he guided the team deftly throughout the process. We emphasized team dynamics, and the three weeks working with him were a masterclass in the ideal workplace vibe.”

David Zhang
Zhang

April 2023 Inpatient Intern of the Month
David Zhang

David has some of the best interpersonal communication with patients I have ever seen. He is leading goals of care conversations beyond his years! He is so determined to take wonderful care of his patients. His attitude is steadfast and tempered so when he and his team were slammed with a million patients, he faced the challenge with grit and as learning opportunities.

Kudos

Austin Niu
As Austin’s APD, I read all his glowing evaluations, so I might be biased, but when I see all his evaluations in action, I get this swelling sense of pride of how amazing of a person he is. Over 3 years, he has grown so much, in knowledge (wow!), teamwork and leadership. And luckily, while we were on cardiology firm, Austin saved me a ton! There were all these teaching points (sorry David and Malek) that Austin just pulled out of no where. Some specifics, during a busy call day, he helped the interns and divided the work while keeping the interns in the loop. The attitude was never “Sink or swim” – it was really “we’re all running this marathon and we’re going to finish together.”
Neha Akkad
Neha Akkad
Compassionate with patients often under difficult circumstances, great with the students, and used substantial fund of knowledge to make clinical decisions that decreased suffering
Mark Shapses
Mark Shapses
Mark presented journal club on a very difficult topic, and his mentor didn’t show up. He did a great job, specifically he was able to pivot questions and manage the room.
Akash Mitra
Akash Mitra
Akash was fantastic at calmly and skillfully handling a complex medical and social situation with a patient who was on many medications which were both not medically necessary and likely harmful to their care but were very concerned that stopping them would not go well. He coordinated with specialists to develop a plan with the patient and the family to pull back the medications in a step-wise fashion that everyone was okay with, as well as handle roadblocks along the way.
Harrison McMinn
Harrison McMinn
Harrison was one of the best seniors I have ever worked with, despite this being his first time senioring on firm. He has already mastered the balance of providing oversight and leadership, but also letting us be independent and develop better as clinicians. He consistently worked towards efficiency within our team and was quick to jump in and help wherever we needed. He truly made it feel like we were all on a team supporting these patients, rather than a hierarchy. His clinical knowledge was also superb. He went above and beyond to send research articles for specific things for complicated patients and even did this on his days off. He is an amazing senior and will be an even better attending.
Chinwe Amazu
Chinwe Amazu
Chinwe was incredibly proficient during her month on firm. We had one patient who had transferred to our facility overnight and was frustrated because of a delay in having a procedure because of the transfer. Chinwe was able to speak with different consultants and have the patient scheduled for the procedure that same day. She was always thinking ten steps ahead which led to thorough and efficient patient care.
Rahul Ramaswamy
Rahul Ramaswamy
He was a great intern. He definitely knew about his patients and took ownership of their care, even on his off days. As a senior resident, it was reassuring to have him on the team. He was passionate about teaching and would regularly give small chalk talks to the medical student. I look forward to seeing how he progresses as a senior resident next year.
Eric Mittauer
Eric Mittauer
Shoutout to Eric for discussing care with nursing staff in CCU and having goals of care with patients day and night to ensure appropriate and effective care is provided.
Malek Ayoub
Malek Ayoub
Malek is GLUE to our team. He is so enthusiastic to learn! He doesn’t just wonder throughout the day – he’s proactive, he’s determined to receive and apply feedback, and he has so much FUN doing so. Firm is hard work, but it doesn’t seem like it when you have Malek lifting everyone’s spirits and crushing patient care. Dr. Ayoub had a very sick PHV who needed urgent subspecialty care. After calling the subspecialty clinic and waiting on hold for 20 mins, he went up to the clinic where his persistence was successful in procuring an appointment that met the patient’s needs. His tenacity and unwavering care was impressive and will undoubtedly lead to the improved health of his patient.
Solomon Park
Solomon Park
Solomon went above and beyond coordinating home O2 for a patient who lived 7+ hours away. He spent a long time coordinating with multiple companies on a non-call weekend day so that the patient did not have to spend another night in the hospital.
Julie Jin
​​​​​​​Julie Jin
She is a fabulous doctor: detail oriented and compassionate towards all her patients. During her recent rotation at the VA, she found one of her patients down unexpectedly on pre-rounds, called a code, and ran the code exceedingly well. Per the ICU attending, who came up to participate mid-code, it was one of the best run codes he had seen at the VA.
Beth Bryant
Beth Bryant
Cheerful, helpful, competent and kind demeanor on the ID consult service. Quick to learn, and quick to jump in and help when things were busy.
Jesse Young
Jesse Young
I see Jesse often in the PCMC and he always has a smile on his face. We have seen some physically and socially complex patients and he never lets this get him down and he continues to have a positive attitude every day. In my opinion, his continuous optimism has a meaningful impact on the staff, residents, and attendings in the clinic when he is there. It is always a joy to discuss patients with him.