While a physician’s medical education and training never truly come to an end, 124 Dell Med doctors are celebrating a huge milestone in their careers: residency and fellowship graduation.
Residency and fellowship graduation marks the culmination of a decadeslong educational journey. Now, some graduates will pursue post-residency training through a fellowship in a subspecialty, while others are achieving full autonomy by entering practice as attending physicians.
“The Class of 2023 embodied courage and resiliency as they performed clinical activities while working tirelessly to pursue their medical education in the midst of a pandemic that altered our health care systems and increased physician shortages,” says Jonathan MacClements, M.D., senior associate dean of graduate medical education. “I am excited to see how they shape the future of medicine as they continue on in their careers.”
Throughout the course of their graduate medical education, the Class of 2023 honed skills in their chosen specialties, developed solutions to systemic challenges in health through the Advancing Care Transformation signature curriculum and strengthened their positions as physician leaders, and contributed to more than 575,000 hours of care across Central Texas in the last academic year.
Who are the graduates and where are they headed next? Meet the newest …
Zari Cain-Akbar, D.O.
Residency: Neurology
Medical School: Campbell University School of Osteopathic Medicine
Achievements:
- Developed an animal-assisted therapy service as an intern for a local memory care center, Simple Sparrow Care Farm in Hutto, Texas
- Virtually taught neurology curriculum to learners in Kenya via UT Global Health
An impactful moment:
My neurology program director asked me to accompany him to Kenya. I was the first Dell Med neurology resident to have ever been involved with the global work there. Every moment since then has been changed because of that one — it changed my entire career trajectory.
Thanks to Dell Med and Ascension Seton …
… I marched to my own beat. Everyone encouraged me to pursue the opportunities I wanted and needed to pursue. I was given a great deal of autonomy which will directly impact my ability to succeed as a solo neurologist.
Next steps:
I am heading to rural North Carolina to open the first neurology clinic in a southeastern region of the state.
Joseph Dragonetti, M.D.
Fellowship: Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry
Residency: Psychiatry, Tripler Army Medical Center
Medical School: Penn State College of Medicine
Achievements:
- Teaching second-year Dell Med students and Fort Hood psychiatry residents
- Active participant of the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry
- North Austin Civic Association volunteer
An impactful moment:
I cared for a young man who had a severe negative reaction to a psychiatric medication. It was very meaningful to help him get better and educate him and his mother about his psychiatric and medical illnesses and our recommended treatments.
Thanks to Dell Med and Ascension Seton …
… I feel much more prepared to be able to deliver high-quality psychiatric care to patients with acute and complex medical illnesses. I received excellent mentorship to grow as a leader and educator for future generations of psychiatrists.
Next steps:
I accepted a job at Wake Forest School of Medicine as associate program director for their psychiatry residency.
Simin Golestani, M.D.
Residency: General Surgery
Medical School: University of Arizona College of Medicine
Achievements:
- General surgery chief resident
- House Officers Association president
- Advanced trauma life support instructor teaching community physicians and incoming interns
An impactful moment:
As residents, we are there the moment the patients come into the trauma bay. We take them to surgery and repair what we can and then treat them through the course of their ICU stay, helping them through the healing process to the moment of discharge. To see patients and their families walk into the clinic after all of their trauma and know that our care played a role in getting them to this point has been the most fulfilling and meaningful experience of my residency.
A great accomplishment:
This year, I was honored to receive the American College of Surgeons Chassin Award for Professionalism, which is awarded to one surgery resident in the country. However, having been pregnant as an intern, I feel that my greatest accomplishment wasn’t actually in residency, but it was the combination of being a surgery resident and being a mother, which have been two of the most challenging and rewarding experiences. I have spent time advocating for increased support and resources for breastfeeding surgery residents in the hospital and at nationwide conferences.
Next steps:
I am pursuing a trauma and critical care fellowship at Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.
Mitchell Katona, M.D.
Residency: Emergency Medicine
Medical School: The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio Long School of Medicine
Achievements:
- Emergency medicine chief resident
- Clinical lead, direct peritoneal resuscitation project, TheraNova Medical Device Innovations
- Ascension Seton event medicine volunteer for Formula 1 U.S. Grand Prix, Austin Marathon, ACL Music Festival and more.
An impactful moment:
I had the privilege to participate in the delivery and resuscitation of a 24-week-premature baby. Dell Seton Medical Center doesn’t have a labor and delivery ward, yet it was an amazingly coordinated multidisciplinary effort, and I am still floored by the calm professionalism of the team. I intubated the baby and kept thinking of how the patient was so tiny and fragile. It showed me the miracles a group of outstanding health care professionals can pull off, and it had a huge impact on my appreciation of the preciousness of life.
A great accomplishment:
I took care of a teenager who had presented in opioid withdrawal. He explained he had become addicted to “street oxy” that he would crush and snort. Despite his addiction and its stigma, he had come to the emergency department because he had multiple friends who had recently died of overdoses.
He and his mother were both tearful and desperate for help. We were able to get him initiated on buprenorphine that day, and I like to think that we saved his life. I then designed an algorithm for managing opioid use disorder within the Dell Seton emergency department. We trained members of the department to recognize and treat opioid use disorder and found that these efforts substantially increased buprenorphine use and prescription, hopefully improving care of this disease within the department.
Next steps:
I won’t be going far. I am staying at Dell Med as the assistant clerkship director of the emergency medicine rotation for second-year students, and I will be working clinically at Ascension Seton Medical Center.
Joo Lee, M.D.
Residency: Family Medicine
Medical School: UT Southwestern
Achievements:
- Family medicine chief resident
- House Officer Association representative
- Family Medicine curriculum committee member
- Resident board member, TAFP Heart of Texas Austin Chapter
An impactful moment:
Alongside Alejandro Moreno, I moderated a workshop titled “When the Learner is the Target of Bias of Discrimination by a Patient” for a conference with faculty from across Texas. I was then able to present this topic to my mentors from my medical school. It was both a wonderful experience and an important topic to discuss.
Thanks to Dell Med and Ascension Seton …
… I received all the mentorship and support I needed to get to where I am today. As I graduate from residency, I leave with a better sense of the type of physician I want to become.
Next steps:
I am headed to Boston for an academic primary care fellowship with Boston University. I hope this experience will help me become a better, well-rounded academic physician.
Graduate medical education, or GME, refers to the period of education in a particular specialty or subspecialty following completion of medical school. This continuation of training through residency and fellowship programs provides the clinical and educational experience needed for physicians to achieve autonomy, deliver high-quality patient care, and prepare for challenges in an evolving health care landscape.
Dell Med, in partnership with Ascension Seton, is home to 442 resident and fellow physicians and sponsors 48 residency and fellowship programs ranging from family medicine and neurology to pediatric emergency medicine and cardiovascular disease.