UVA School of Medicine

t he newest alumni of the University of Virginia school of Medicine received their diplomas on May 21, in a cer- emony held at the Paramount theater in downtown Charlottesville. Here's a quick overview of the newest graduates: During the Diploma Ceremony, Executive Director Barry Collins presented the UVa Medical alumni association's Outstanding student award to tamara saint-surin. ana tucker and stephen Mein were also recognized as the recipients of this year's Class of 1954 Community service award. Congratulations, Class of 2017! studentperspective You'll graduate in 2018. Have you decided on your specialty? i'm planning to specialize in Family Medicine. i think what really helped me in making that choice was working as a scribe at Lynchburg General hospital's Emergency Department. i knew i liked the diversity of the patients you would see coming in and that every day was a little bit different. But i wanted to know what happened to people after they left, so that was something that pointed me to Family Medicine. You can literally see any age group and mold your practice to what you want it to be. Also, having had ill family members, i am drawn to the continuity of care and having a unique relationship with your patients. Your primary care doctor is the person you talk to about so many issues, even if you are also seeing a specialist, and the doctor you come back to for follow-up. that relationship can be very impactful. i'm also very interested in women's health and pediatrics, so family medicine would allow me to combine those interests. i'm applying mainly to schools on the East Coast since that's where my family is, but there are a few programs on the West Coast that i am considering, too. You just kind of pray for the best when those interview invitations start to come in. i'm not sure where i will end up, but UVA is definitely on my list. In closing, are there any thoughts you'd like to share with alumni? i want alumni to know that their voices still very much matter and their funding that supports events like diversity receptions is making the people who are currently here more comfortable and willing to recruit other people here. seeing that support on the alumni level and the faculty level has been very helpful to me and encouraging as a student here, knowing that there are a lot of people invested in UVA and the people who are here now. Student Q&A continued from previous page Graduation 2017 Find out where the graduates are continuing their training: UVAMedalum.org/2017match l 151 n Number of MD graduates l 31 n States where 2017 alumni are doing residencies l 21 n 2017 alumni who are now residents at UVA l 5 n Alumni who entered residency programs at other Virginia hospitals Class of 2017 b y t h e n u m b e r s 28 Vitals Fall 2017

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