Get to know our residents

Hometown: Coeymans Hollow, NY

Medical school: Touro University California

Why did you choose Spectrum Health for your residency/fellowship? I was really drawn to the great learning opportunities provided at Spectrum, in adult medicine but especially in pediatrics with the free-standing DeVos Children's Hospital functioning as the main pediatric referral center for western Michigan. Also, it feels cliché to say it, but when I did an away rotation here the people were incredibly friendly and welcoming. I concluded that I would get the education of a major teaching hospital, but still with the community/family feel.

Hometown: Temecula, CA

Medical school: Western Michigan University Homer Stryker MD School of Medicine

Why did you choose Spectrum Health for your residency/fellowship? I love West Michigan and I want to serve the people here!

What are your clinical interests? I'm not completely sure yet. But, cardiology has always had a special place in my heart.

Hobbies: I always say that if the sun's out, I'm out. I love anything outdoors - gardening, hiking, tennis.

Hometown: South Bend, IN

Medical school: Indiana University School of Medicine

Why did you choose Spectrum Health for your residency/fellowship? Applying to internal medicine/ pediatrics programs is difficult because you have to balance the strengths of both categorical sides. Spectrum Health was one of the programs that made this easy. They have a broad patient population on the adult and pediatric sides that are pulled from throughout the western and northern parts of the state along with an ability to serve a wide array of different patient conditions. As a result, you have the opportunity to treat nearly every type of patient and disease. This, in combination with being a smaller program that allows for more hands-on time with procedures and simulations, is what drew me towards Spectrum Health for my residency.

What are your clinical interests? My future goals are still up in the air. Thankfully there are plenty of opportunities with early electives to gain more insight into what specific clinical area I'm meant to be in. If I had to guess early on, I lean more towards hospital-based medicine. T

Hobbies: I'm really interested in just about anything outdoors, which makes Michigan such a great place to live! If I had to choose my favorite hobbies it would be backpacking and hiking. I have a goal to eventually get to hike through all of the National Parks. So far we're about a fourth of the way there!

Hometown: Riverview, MI

Medical School: Michigan State University College of Human Medicine

Why did you choose Spectrum Health? I chose Spectrum Health because it is an amazing program at at tertiary care hospital.

What do you like most about your program? The people are the best part of the program!

Clinical Interests: My clinical interests change monthly, but right now I am interested in adult and pediatric hospital medicine.

Living in West Michigan: I love living so close to Lake Michigan! West Michigan beaches are beautiful in the summer!

Hobbies: I craft, do home renovation/home improvement projects, binge watch TV, and snuggle my daughter and my pup in my spare time.

Hometown: Herndon, VA

Medical School: Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine - Virginia Campus

Why did you choose Spectrum Health? I did an away rotation here during my fourth year and enjoyed it. As I got to know the program, faculty, and residents a little bit better through the rotation and interview process, I found a warm and welcoming group that I could see myself learning with and growing with for the next few years.

What do you like most about your program? I am looking forward to being able to form more and more intelligible answers to my friends and family's questions regarding their health. In other words, I am looking forward to the opportunity to learn a lot about a lot.

Clinical Interests: I am not entirely sure at this point.

Living in West Michigan: The summers are quite pleasant and the food I've eaten so far has been pretty good. Also, I'm a big fan of Meijer.

Hobbies: I spend most of my time hanging out with my wife and dog. Other than that, I like to read, watch TV, and play board games.

Hometown: Lincoln, NE

Medical School: University of Nebraska Medical Center

Why did you choose Spectrum Health? The Med-Peds program at Spectrum was the right choice for me because I knew there would be a good balance of academic rigor with time for self-care and family. Residents in the program were clearly able to meet the demands of residency while either starting or caring for their own families. The other big factor for me was connecting with the current residents at my pre-interview dinner. They were friendly, warm, and genuine in responding to our questions and perhaps more importantly, were friendly and supportive to each other. I knew having a camaraderie like this with the other interns and senior residents in my program would be important during my first year.

What do you like most about your program? I like that the residents in our program are helpful and supportive of each other, especially in times of need. When one of our interns had a family emergency this year, we all helped out as much as possible, including dog-sitting at her house while she had to be out of the country. We also enjoy spending time together at the beach, trivia nights with other classes in our program, or just meeting for dinner at someone’s house.

Clinical Interests: My clinical interests include primary care, mental health in primary care, and working with underserved and low-income patient populations. Our residency clinics, which include two half days each week in each discipline, have given me direct patient care experience in these areas. In our clinics, social workers are available to meet with patients directly to introduce mental health resources in the community. Based on our interests, we can also spend additional electives in primary care at different clinics throughout Grand Rapids or in other parts of Michigan.

Living in West Michigan: What I enjoy the most so far about West Michigan is the summer. The weather is warm but never too hot for outdoor activities. I like going to Lake Michigan at Grand Haven and walking out to the lighthouse next to the beach. There are also many golf courses and bike trails in and around Grand Rapids, along with many breweries and relaxing outdoor spaces.

Hobbies: I like to do different projects at my house, especially landscaping and maintaining my yard, and grilling out afterwards. I am also a huge poetry and literature nerd, which goes back to my English major in college, and love to talk with anyone who will listen about Shakespeare to Langston Hughes to the latest and greatest in slam poetry. I occasionally find time on Wednesday nights to join a writing workshop that meets in Grand Rapids to share new work. I also love sports – I will watch just about anything, but especially Nebraska Cornhusker football – and I love to play soccer, basketball, and golf.

Hometown: Grand Haven, MI

Medical School: Univeristy of Wisconsin in Madison, WI

Why did you choose Spectrum Health? The thing that stood out to me about Spectrum was that it was a community hospital with a great reputation that saw the same diversity and volume of patients without being bogged down as a huge University institution.

What do you like most about your program? The personalities and support from my co-residents. We have a great time at work and I always spend a portion of it laughing. We love to tell stories and job, but everyone also knows when people need help and are willing to pitch in. For not only clinical duties but things at home as well. I had a family emergency during intern year and was overwhelmed by the support and love from covering shifts to meals at home.