2022-2023 Chief Medical Residents
Pictured L to R: Drs. Joseph Granade, Aditi Jani, Courtney Wagner, and John Locke

As chief residents, we remember what it was like being a resident before the COVID pandemic gripped the world. It affected nearly every aspect of our personal lives, work experiences, and medical education. It was during the second half of our intern year that we started seeing news articles about an atypical, pneumonia-like illness across the globe. Then, in what seemed like the blink of an eye, the hospital began canceling elective procedures, ambulatory clinics started closing, and residents were hastily recruited onto newly assembled COVID Surge Teams to address the rising number of patients streaming into the hospital.

It was inspiring to witness the dynamic balance of adaptability and resilience demonstrated by our resident colleagues and faculty leaders in the months that followed. Those months would stretch into years. After such a long time, we've finally been able to take our masks off outside of patient care areas these past few weeks and it's difficult not to be excited at the prospect that the pandemic may finally be coming to a close. 

With the hope that we had seen the last major waves of COVID, we began our term as chief residents. Each year the incoming chiefs attend a conference called APDIM (Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine) where we have a chance to get to know our new co-chiefs better, hear from speakers about how to make the most of our year, and generate new ideas for how to carry on the tradition of continuous improvement. While we were there, we heard so many speakers mention “getting back to normal” as COVID cases began to dwindle. It struck us that we didn’t want to get back to normal. We wanted to make things better than before. Now we are nearly halfway through our time as chiefs, and we’ve done our best to help make the program better than ever.

One of the projects we were most excited about as we left APDIM was the creation of a central repository for resident information, such as schedules, policies, etc. Since that time, we have successfully implemented the “UAB IMRESources” Google drive, which allows residents to access clinic and ward schedules, conference presentations, and many other helpful resources from any device. Residents can upload and download photos to share memories with their class. Our hope is that someone was taking photos along the way to capture it all, because the first six months have been a whirlwind.

We welcomed our new PGY-1s with the Intern Picnic at Aldridge Gardens before the real work began with the ever-expanding Intern Bootcamp. The bootcamp was created by one of our new associate program directors, Dr. Starr Steinhilber, with the aim of providing interns with all the skills necessary to excel over the year to come. We also kicked off the PGY-2 year with our annual immersive ACLS training sessions, known as “Shock Week,” and the PGY-2 Retreat, where they learned more about what it means to be a leader in their new role as an upper level. Finally, our PGY-3s enjoyed taking time to reflect on what it means to be a part of the UAB tradition at our annual Legacy Dinner, where we heard from phenomenal speakers like Dr. Mike Saag and Dr. Starr Steinhilber. Though it’s been a lot of work transitioning to the new year, we all had a chance for some well-deserved time away from the hustle and bustle of the hospital at Oak Mountain State Park, where we enjoyed the lovely fall weather together at our most well-attended Camp Dismukes Retreat since the pandemic first began.

With so much of the year already behind us and everyone settling into their new roles for the year, it is time to look forward to what’s ahead for the program. In the Spring, you’ll find that the UAB IM Residency Program is quite literally moving up in the world as we transition to a newly renovated office space on the 4th floor of the Boshell Diabetes Building, which will include a newly constructed resident lounge. The new lounge will be significantly larger than our current space and include many more computer stations, a kitchenette area, individual lockers, and plenty of casual sitting space as well. We are tremendously excited to announce that construction is continuing on schedule and we anticipate transitioning to our new space by February 2023.

As the program prepares for an aesthetic makeover with the change of location, we have also been busy working to renovate some of the educational aspects of the resident curriculum. The first part of the academic year saw the successful transition of our oncology subspecialty rotation to a medical oncology rotation. The redesign allows residents to continue to train under our excellent oncologists while also working with familiar internal medicine faculty. The new structure provides an opportunity to learn principles of high-quality inpatient medicine as well as evidence-based management of oncological diseases and their complications.

Given the success of the oncology curriculum redesign, we have been able to set our sights toward another exciting curricular opportunity. Following the announcement that our Renal Wards experience will be closing in July 2023, we CMRs and program leadership have been hard at work planning how best to utilize this new potential space in the curriculum. Our aim is to maintain the rigor of a ward month experience while also providing residents with a chance to learn directly from experts in subspecialty fields. Though we are not yet prepared to formally unveil the new curriculum simply because there are many meticulous details to iron out in order to ensure a smooth transition, we are certain that the residents will be excited with the new direction and what it means for our program as a whole.

And lastly, what better way to look forward to the future of the program than to mention our phenomenal virtual interview season, which is now well underway. Our residents have been graciously opening their homes for fellow residents to join program-catered socials wherein applicants connect virtually to get a glimpse at what makes our program so great. We’ve had a tremendous turnout from residents at our interview day social hour as well, and on the days I haven’t been able to attend, I can hear boisterous laughter erupting from the conference room as residents share fun stories about their shared experiences training here at UAB.

As we reflect on past changes and look forward to the future, things are “getting back to normal.” VA Morning report has returned to in-person for the first time in two years. Medical students have rejoined us for noon conferences. Outside of patient care areas, masks have been coming off and revealing a surprising degree of participation in No-Shave-November. We have come back together as a residency, and our resolve remains: we don’t want to get back to normal. We want to get even better.

Best,

Your CMRs
Aditi, Courtney, John, Joseph

"It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer." - Samwise Gamgee, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers