6 minute read
Advancing Alumni
PCOM’s Virtual Mock Residency Interview Program continues to prepare fourth-year DO students for residency interviews. With a 36 percent increase in alumni volunteers this year, the program has provided 250 students from PCOM and PCOM Georgia with the opportunity to conduct practice meetings with alumni in advance of residency interview season. Because most of the alumni volunteers graduated within the past 10 years and recently went through the interview process themselves, students gain relevant and invaluable tips while making connections in the field. Through the mock interview program, students can register for an interview with an alum from the specialty they plan to pursue for residency. With the assistance of Institutional Advancement, students and alumni are then paired and introduced to schedule a time to conduct a mock interview on a virtual platform. A joint venture between the Office of Institutional Advancement and Residency Planning Services, the Virtual Mock Residency Interview Program was established in the fall of 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic forced all residency interviews to go virtual. This sudden change added anxiety and uncertainty to an already stressful process. “With the move to virtual interviews, I had no idea what to expect,” recalls Donielle Sturgis, DO ’21, who utilized the mock interview program to prepare for the 2021 Match. “I was already anxious about not being able to interview in person and tour the hospitals. In addition to providing feedback on how to approach interview questions, my interviewer was able to give me feedback on my lighting, computer setup and interview space. I used his advice to set up my interview space exactly how he recommended for every interview. The program helped put my mind at ease.” The class of 2021 went on to achieve a 99.6 percent match rate in the National Resident Matching Program. Given this success, Institutional Advancement and Residency Planning Services offered the program again this past fall to the class of 2022. The second year of the program welcomed 139 alumni interviewers. While the 2020 program utilized waitlists for mock interviews in specialties such as psychiatry, neurology, neurosurgery and general surgery, no students were waitlisted in the second year of the program thanks to a 36 percent increase in alumni participants. Nearly half of alumni interviewers from the program’s inaugural year returned. Regina Ondrasik, DO ’19, a pathology resident at Dartmouth–Hitchcock Medical Center, has mentored five students through the program over the last two years and finds it fulfilling. “I really enjoy getting to know some of my future pathology colleagues and helping them put their best foot forward as they interview. I like to reassure them that it will all work out. It’s such an exciting time for the students, and I love being a part of it,” says Dr. Ondrasik. The impact of alumni interviewers goes beyond helping students succeed in the match process; they’re also inspiring students to become involved in the program after they graduate. Twenty-one members of the class of 2021 participated in the program this year as alumni, including Dr. Sturgis. Amy Brady, DO ’21, a pathology resident at SUNY Upstate Medical University, was one of the students who worked with Dr. Ondrasik in the program’s first year. This year, she volunteered as an alumni interviewer. “As a student, working with Dr. Ondrasik made me more confident as an applicant. I volunteered as an alumna because I wanted to help provide fourth-year students with the same experience. Being able to pass on the advice that was shared with me was the best,” says Dr. Brady. While the true success of the program’s second year won’t be measured until Match Day, the class of 2022 is already seeing its benefits. “The alumnus I worked with went out of his way to help me feel prepared before the beginning of my interviews,” says Mia Robb (DO ’22). “I feel very fortunate that I was connected to him. I hope I will have the opportunity to pay his kindness forward to future students once I am a physician.”
PCOM’s mock residency interview program prepares fourth-year DO students for their actual residency interviews.
Q&A
BURT BLENDER, DO ’62 – CAPTURING THE HUMANITY OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE THROUGH PHOTOGRAPHY
Burt Blender, DO ’62, was attracted to medicine from a young age. Growing up in South Philadelphia, he was influenced by and chose a career in osteopathic medicine after observing the humane, holistic medical care practiced by his neighbor, Benjamin Serota, DO ’50. Before retiring in 2013, Dr. Blender worked for 50 years at Northeast Family Practice (NEFP) in Philadelphia’s Feltonville neighborhood. For his last 25 years in practice, he worked alongside fellow PCOM alumnus Gerald Tadley, DO ’86, who continues to lead the thriving practice today. Dr. Blender’s lifelong interest in and passion for photography enabled him to celebrate the trust and loyalty of his patients by taking their photos. He has self-published Family Practice, a book of patient portraits—photographs that reflect the humanity inherent in the practice of osteopathic medicine. Recently, the Office of Institutional Advancement sat down with Dr. Blender as he reflected on photography and his career in medicine.
HOW DID YOU BECOME INTERESTED IN PHOTOGRAPHY?
Photography was thrust upon me in high school by my older brother, who was my role model. Whatever he did, I was expected to do. He was the editor of our high school newspaper and yearbook, and when he graduated, I became the editor. There was no one to take photos, so I purchased a small camera and became a photographer. Later, at PCOM, my classmate, Murray Zedeck, DO ’62, and I were co-editors of the yearbook.
WHERE HAS YOUR WORK BEEN PUBLISHED?
I have taken thousands of photos. My wife, Libby Harwitz, and I traveled extensively over the years, and wherever we went, I captured images. Several of my photos were published in the New England Journal of Medicine on a page dedicated to photography by physicians. I submitted a favorite to the journal that was taken one Halloween night on South Street in Philadelphia; it featured a truck driver wearing the head of a chicken. The editor contacted me, asking, “What’s with this photo?” I convinced her to place this quirky photo in a future Halloween issue. Colleagues were in disbelief that I’d successfully submitted a chicken-headed photo to the prestigious New England Journal.
WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO PHOTOGRAPH YOUR PATIENTS?
Of the many photography courses I’d taken over the years, I was most drawn to portraiture—an application that provided insights into engaging my subjects. In general practice, I treated babies, children, adolescents, the elderly; at one time, I cared for five generations of one family. It was difficult to resist such a phenomenon, so I approached my patients for permission to photograph them, and most, including homebound/house call patients, agreed. The longtime patient/doctor relationship built on mutual trust and caring enabled us to fully share this deep experience.
WHAT IMPACT DO YOU HOPE YOUR PHOTOS HAVE?
In 2007, several members of the class of 1962 organized and mounted an exhibition of their creative artwork in the lobby of Rowland Hall. That exhibition provided me the rare platform to present Family Practice, my series of photographic images reflecting a cross-section of the extraordinary demographic representative of my diverse, multicultural, multigenerational, multi-socioeconomic osteopathic patient practice of 50 years.
A selection of the series of portraits Burt Blender, DO ’62, captured of his patients during his osteopathic patient practice of 50 years.
