Madison and Interview #4

I arrived in Madison, WI Monday night and spent a couple of days there. I stayed with Felix on Monday night and, on Tuesday evening, went out to dinner with some FM residents at Bunky's Cafe, an Italian/Mediterranean place in East Madison. The food was amazing (we had Baba ghanouj and Tabbouleh, JB!) and there were even belly dancers to entertain us! I then stayed overnight with Angela, a third year resident, and her husband (a surgery resident).

Today, I interviewed at University of Wisconsin's Family Medicine Residency program. I liked it a lot! Special things about the program:

• A buddy system (well, they call it a "partner" system). Intern year, you are paired with someone with similar interests and share the same schedule throughout the year (so you can commisserate, vent frustrations, share joys, etc.) This person probably becomes your friend for life! :)
• Unopposed family medicine training at Saint Mary's hospital (and look! I wouldn't even need to 'miss' the St. Mary's here in Roch!).
• Lots of off-site (rural) rotations where you get to be i.e. the only resident assisting a small-town surgeon, the only doc in house in a rural ER (scary, huh?!), etc.
• Four very unique FM clinics (you choose one to join): Belleville, in a tiny town where you do rural medicine; Verona which has an overall older population (for people like EVB); Northeast (biggest one in town, and also quite diverse, with its own pharmacy!) and Wingra (my favorite!!! with a large Spanish-speaking as well as overall underserved population, LOTS of OB and peds).
• A great Global health program with opportunities to do a rotation at established sites in places including Uganda, China, Honduras, Pakistan!
• 4 blocks of OB and easily completed continuity deliveries
• Lots of procedural training including casting, vasectomies, etc.
• Academic center with lots of teaching as well as time to interact with other residents
• Lots of time (4 blocks) in the MICU. If you are very scared of very sick people, like me, this could seem like a bad thing; however, the residents said that the learning environment is very pleasant and you come away feeling very prepared to care for hospitalized patients.
• Madison, a fun town with lots of young people (home to undergraduate and other grad programs)! The city has a wonderful farmers' market, as well as things like free Symphony concerts on the Capitol green, lots of great restaurants (why do I always seem to comment on the food?!), and beautiful lakes (on which you can ice fish-- I saw people doing it today! This is reassuring, in case I don't get to go while still in MN!). It is very reasonable as far as cost of living (and parking is only $15 per month!). And very easy to get around-- roads are very well marked and the city is well laid out.
• Very sweet residents and administrators
• An very enthusiastic program director who trained in my home state of VA!
• Free access to the gym in the cardiac rehab center or workout access to any of the undergrad facilities!

I didn't take any pictures during this stay but, since I know people like pictures, I thought I would post a few regardless. They are from the last time I visited Madison, in May of this year when Britt, Molly, and Molly's friend Karen ran the Mad City Marathon. It may help us relive summer memories during this bleak mid-winter (I swear, it was dark by 4:30 p.m. today!!!)

Above is a picture of the State Capitol building. Below is me and Felix, spectating the marathon, and then cheering on Molly around mile 22. It was SO HOT that day (much cooler this visit to Madison), but was a really fun time!