January 2026 Kudos and Awards - John T. Milliken Department of Medicine

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 skills, and work ethic: submit here.

Residents of the Month

Dr. Tori Tedeschi: “She is energetic, inquisitive, and helpful to the entire MICU Team. She often writes orders during rounds on patients for whom she is not the primary resident and helps workflow. She brings a positive energy and light to the often grim situations we see in the ICU, which is much needed in the dreary month of January and with the latest snowstorm. “

Dr. Sarah Ream- Winnick: “She was an outstanding team leader on firm. We had an unprecedented number of complex social situations and she guided the interns with balanced autonomy and support to maintain a productive and safe environment. Very well done. “

Drs. Sarah Kim (top) & Sydney Fobare: ” These two interns set an exceptional standard for what excellence looks like. From day one, they brought a combination of clinical insight, compassion, and professionalism to the team, consistently approaching each responsibility with grace, finesse, and quiet confidence. They navigated multiple complex goals-of-care conversations with remarkable maturity, ensuring that patients and families felt supported, heard, and respected. They showed extraordinary patience and dedication in caring for patients with significant medical complexity and socioeconomic challenges. Their patients were consistently grateful. They are hardworking, dependable, and team-oriented. They elevated the entire service through their collaboration, positive attitudes, and willingness to step in when needed. Just as importantly, they actively involved the medical students, creating space for autonomy while providing guidance, encouragement, and inclusion that helped learners grow in confidence and skill. Together, they created a supportive, patient-centered environment that reflected the best of our profession. Their work ethic, emotional intelligence, and commitment to their patients and team make them exceptionally deserving of recognition as Interns of the Month.”

Kudos

**Matt Samaro** – COH staff would like to recognize Dr. Samaro. A patient was scheduled with a team member, but when chart review showed repeated history of sexually inappropriate behavior towards female medical staff, Dr. Samaro insisted the IOV be changed to his schedule instead.

**David Morcos** – I worked with David on the Hepatology service and he was undoubtedly one of the best interns I have worked with to this day. He not only was eager to see new consults, but he oriented the medical students around the hospital & taught them how to navigate the system when the fellows were busy with other tasks. He showed up early to work each day with a very positive attitude, and it made the work atmosphere much better. He also kept an eye on the new consult list and asked if he could take any new patients that popped up before fellows had known about them. He will be a phenomenal Ophthalmologist, pleasure to have had the opportunity to work with him.

*(from left)* **Charlotte Starling, Nick Griffith, and Lane Parmely** – COH staff would like to recognize these three physicians. They stopped on their way walking in the link to help out the ANMs and a patient who had fallen and required medical assistance. The help was greatly appreciated!

**Marcella Araujo de Oliveira Santana** -Exceptional resident, great at team work, management and communication.

Jessica Liebiech — **Jessica Liebich –** Outstanding participation on the geriatrics rotation. Jessica showed up and was INVESTED. Read about patients ahead of time, went into rooms without needing cueing (we LOVE that!), and knew about the 4Ms. She read the welcome manual or something. Just delight to work with her.

**Vruta Kansara** – was senior resident on Med 2 Firm. On a Saturday long call day her team admitted and took over care of 14 new patients to her Firm team. Vruta did an additional 15th new patient admission that went to another team. She oversaw a deluge of new complicated medical patients during a singular call day with aplomb.

**Jenn Hesse** – excellent bedside manners, first time senioring on firm, was very confident and efficient.

**Annabelle Yang** – she goes above and beyond with her patients and families, held extensive GOC with difficult decisions, confident, thorough with notes and presentations
Annabelle Yang- she goes above and beyond with her patients and families, held extensive GOC with difficult decisions, confident, thorough with notes and presentations.

**Jin Choi** – is an exceptional intern. She is genuinely curious, loves to learn, reads and teaches, asks great questions, and has outstanding clinical reasoning. She functions like an R2 in IM. She is an absolute pleasure to have on the team and an incredible contributor.

**Zeena Bou Reslan** – an exceptionally strong intern to work with in the MICU. She was always ready to present and able to predict the needs of the patient that day. I was impressed by her medical knowledge and her ability to connect to families and their patients. Her acumen as a physician exceeds that of an intern and extremely enthusiastic about critical care. She is a strong asset to our residency program and an example for others.

**Anchor Team 1** – It is too difficult to recognize just one or two of my residents as Medicine is a team and this team functions as one would expect a high performing team. They have strong personalities and are great physicians for all the right reasons. It has been a pleasure working with these 12 residents since July.

Congratulations to all our amazing residents, and thank you for the work that you do!

View Past Winners and Kudos