Joey Wahler (Host): It is helping shape the newest doctors. So, we're discussing Capital Health's Internal Medicine Residency Program. Our guests are Dr. Saba Hasan, director of the program, an Associate Designated Institutional Official; and Dr. Valeria Turcan, she's a fourth year chief resident in the program.

This is the Health Headlines podcast series from Capital Health. Thanks for joining us. I'm Joey Wahler. Hi, Doctors. Welcome.

Dr. Saba Hasan: Thank you.

Dr. Valeria Turcan: Hi, Joey.

Host: Great to have you both with us. First, Dr. Hasan, can you give us a quick overview of the Capital Health Internal Medicine Residency Program? What's most important for people to know about it?

Dr. Saba Hasan: Thank you for that opportunity. So, our internal medicine program started about 50 years ago in 1974, and it started with 27 residents. Over the years, we have had the opportunity to expand our program from 27 to 75 residents this year. And what we are really proud of, that we are able to recruit well-rounded residents from all over the globe. And our residents have the opportunity to rotate at Capital, which is a two-hospital system in the city, urban and suburban locations. At Capital, we are also proud of being able to offer rotational experiences in almost every subspecialty of medicine that is available.

Host: And Dr. Turcan, having gone through this now, what have you found to be the mission, if you will, behind the program? And how does that show up in that day-to-day experiences for residents like yourself?

Dr. Valeria Turcan: I actually believe that the mission of our program is to, first of all, train compassionate, knowledgeable, and capable physicians that would thrive in any environment they would land in after their training. And the way we implement this mission is I think first of all for our regular clinical practice, both in inpatient and outpatient setting, the diversity of the population that we treat, especially here in Trenton. And I think it's also the culture of mentorship that our residents chair, whether that's seniors, faculty, and other medical staff.

Host: Dr. Hasan, anything to add there?

Dr. Saba Hasan: Just a little bit. So with my faculty, we truly strive to provide goal-oriented training to our learners to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to be superior clinician scholars and to be role models of professionalism. We are also committed to ensure diversity in the realms of language and ethnicity, especially as we are in the state of New Jersey, which is so multicultural, and to make sure that our residents are models of professionalism.

Host: Absolutely. And Dr. Turcan, naturally, there are many internal medicine programs available. So, what do you think sets Capital Health apart for applicants, which you one time were considering multiple options.

Dr. Valeria Turcan: Well, not to sound like a cliche, and I know I will sound like a cliche, but I do personally think that it's the people and the culture that we share in our program. I mean, the people are what kept me going as an intern, later on as a senior, and now as a PGY-4 chief junior faculty. I think that the people here in the program create this sense of belonging, which I personally think is crucial, especially in such a high stress environment like a residency program.

 And it doesn't really matter where you're from, what language you speak, what medical background you have. Like when you join this residency, you just kind of automatically become part of a team and everyone's there to try to support you and really want to see you thrive. And I think this is really the most special part about our program.

Host: Dr. Hasan, that's got to be nice to hear.

Dr. Saba Hasan: That is so wonderful. Music to my ears. I would love to add things that are more publicly facing, that people look at objectively. So, Capital values their residency programs and especially their residents, and the acknowledgement of what they do and the respect they receive at Capital is very near and dear to me. There are employment opportunities at Capital beyond residency training. Hospitalist, primary care as well as subspecialists and many of our residents after fellowship training come back and practice here. And I hope one day Dr. Turcan would also do so. I would like to emphasize we do have a very, very strong didactic curriculum and it is a reflection in our board pass rate, which is also a publicly-facing aspect that the applicants see on the website. So, thank you.

Host: Gotcha. Dr. Turcan, any specific experience or unique opportunity you've gone through, be it community work, research, leadership that you think really defines the culture and values of the program? How would you illustrate what you've discussed here?

Dr. Valeria Turcan: I think we have plenty of examples of each of those categories that you just listed. A couple of examples that come to mind in terms of community work. That's our annual vaccine drives. All the residents are a core part of this project. We do have a lot of educational sessions throughout the year on preventive medicine for our Spanish-speaking community. We also have a very interesting project on Mesoamerican nephropathy that our nephrology faculty started, since it affects a lot our patient's from Mexico and South America. And in terms of PI/QI projects, we do have those on a yearly basis in our outpatient service environment. But we also have a bunch of committees that residents join throughout the year. And honestly, as long as you have an idea of a project that you want to work on, really the sky is the limit, the support is here, and all you really have is to come up with an idea and have the enthusiasm to keep the project running.

Host: Dr. Hasan, in terms of community work, which Dr. Turcan just touched on, how important is that as part of this overall program?

Dr. Saba Hasan: So, we are committed to our community in which we practice in, and it is part of our curriculum. We take pride in what we do, and it is a way that we give back to our community.

Host: Yeah, no question. That's a big part of the picture. Dr. Hasan, how about the key qualities you'll look for in an applicant, and what can candidates do to really stand out during that application process or the interview process along the way?

Dr. Saba Hasan: So for us, as a program, we are really looking for well-rounded applicants. We do a very holistic review of the applications. It is not just the scores or a transcript or one thing or which medical school they went to. It is the overall application of how they have used their time in medical school and beyond medical school. And then, it is how they present themselves during the interview process, which is also very important. So, it's a combination of both the application and the interview for us.

But I think, Dr. Turcan might be able to add to this too, because she's just had some recent experiences during her fellowship interviews too.

Dr. Valeria Turcan: I'd be happy to add a little bit to that. And obviously, I'm fairly new to being on the side of the fence and not being the one interviewed. But from the experience I've had thus far, I feel that the people that are genuine are the best candidates really because it's always refreshing to hear someone who can openly share their wins and losses and be comfortable being vulnerable about these things rather than have this templated agenda of, "I love internal medicine. I have amazing scores. I'm resilient. I work great under pressure."

And another thing that I notice is people who have the most genuine personal statements are also very, very strong candidates, because it's always, again, refreshing to hear a story that you want to follow rather than just a script of what an ideal internal medicine personal statement should look like. So, I guess that's my take on it

Host: So in short, just be yourself, right?

Dr. Saba Hasan: Exactly.

Host: Sure. And hopefully, that should be enough to get the job done. How do you feel about that, Dr. Hasan?

Dr. Saba Hasan: Exactly what Dr. Turcan said. Honestly, everything that is in the application should be matching the interview, and it really comes through pretty quickly once you have done it a few times. And as Dr. Turcan said, she may be a novice, but she's already noticing it. Personal statements that are not written by the candidate but by somebody else will immediately come through in the interview process. And another thing that she pointed out very eloquently, if there is a shortcoming in the trajectory, talk about it. We are all human. Things happen. But let's discuss it openly and be genuine, be transparent because the reviewer is already aware of it. By not talking about it, it is not going away.

Host: It certainly makes sense. A few other things, Dr. Hasan, how does the program prepare residents for life after residency? You mentioned earlier you'd love for them to stay with you and yours of course. So, whether it be in private practice, hospital-based medicine or whatever else, what's the prep factor here?

Dr. Saba Hasan: So, our goal, our mission and vision of the program is to graduate well-rounded residents from our program, no matter what path they choose post their residency training, whether it is hospitalist, primary care or fellowship training. And the curriculum is designed in such a way that they get all the required experiences through their training. Dr. Turcan, would you have any other comments on this?

Dr. Valeria Turcan: I totally agree with what you said, and I probably will echo the fact that there's probably not one single setting that our residents end up in after graduation and they are not prepared for. And even my class, I keep in touch with them. Everyone's in different parts of the United States in different fields of practice, fellowships from endocrinology and sports medicine to neurocritical care. And everyone's doing such a good job, because I think the program really prepares you for everything that it's out there in the world.

Host: And Dr. Turcan, I want to ask you about career support in terms of mentorship for residents, because talking with residents in doing my job, one thing's for certain, and that's that those early mentors are so influential and can really be such a big factor early on, can't they?

Dr. Valeria Turcan: Sure. That's such a good question and such an important aspect to tackle, especially for residents who are about to start their training. Honestly, the career goal discussion starts very early on. And I remember when I was a PGY-1, I was discussing a potential cardiology fellowship back with my faculty advisor who, guess what? It was Dr. Hasan as well. And back in my PGY-1 year, I was also starting to build a bit of a foundation and knowledge about how I can become a chief resident back from the PGY-4 chief at that time.

And as you go through training, I mean, obviously your priorities shift and so do career aspirations. But regardless of that, the program meets you halfway at all times. And when I remember I told Dr. Hasan that, you know, "Cardiology is not really working out for me. I'm more passionate about pulmonary and critical care," they were on board with this and supportive right off bat. And I honestly think that the support I've gotten, both from the faculty, from my seniors, and even from graduates I've never met, but were there to kind of guide me through the process is exactly why I matched into the fellowship of my choice this year.

Host: Along those lines, Dr. Hasan, I would imagine that when you are mentoring someone like Dr. Turcan nowadays, that you often reflect on those that were key mentors for you, right?

Dr. Saba Hasan: I do. And it is our mentors in our professional journey that we will never forget. And I have mentors now too, even though in a leadership role, I always fall back on them for advice when I am in a pickle too. So, mentors play a very important role in our professional journey.

Host: In a pickle. Well said. I haven't heard that one in a while, Doctor. Very well put. And in summary here, Dr. Hasan, where can interested students or applicants joining us right now learn more and get in touch with someone from the program?

Dr. Saba Hasan: So, our website is a really good resource. I often hear from the applicants really that it does answer a lot of questions. But applicants are also very welcome to reach out to myself, to our chief resident, fourth year chief resident or to our resident. And I've noticed that many of them actually do reach out to our residents because they often mention that and during the interview process. So, many ways of reaching out. There is also an email address where they can also send questions. It is imres@capitalhealth.org.

Host: And we're going to give that information again in just a moment. So, thank you very much for that. Folks, we trust you are now more familiar with Capital Health's wonderful internal medicine residency program. Doctors, keep up all your great work, and thanks so much again.

Dr. Valeria Turcan: Thank you so much for having us.

Dr. Saba Hasan: Thanks.

Host: Absolutely. And a reminder for more information, you can visit capitalhealth.org/imresidency, or as the doctor mentioned, you can email at IM res-- R-E-S-- @capitalhealth.org. You can also call them at 609-815-7021. If you found this podcast helpful, please do share it on your social media. I am Joey Wahler. And thanks again for being part of the Health Headlines podcast series from Capital Health.