UVA School of Medicine

Twenty-seven years ago, Vindell Washington, MD '90, graduated from the University of Virginia School of Medicine. In May 2017, his twin daughters, Kayla and Kristine Karvonen, will receive their medical degrees from UVA before heading on to residencies in San Francisco and Seattle, respectively. It will be quite a change, but one they are excited to take on. We recently caught up with them to learn about their experiences at UVA and their future. Tell us a little about yourselves. KRISTINE: We grew up in Minnesota and both went to Rice University in Houston, Texas. I did biochemistry and cell biology there. We knew about UVA from our dad, who went to med school here, and he grew up in Virginia. KAYLA: I did biochemistry and cell biology, too, plus psychology. We had very similar paths. We both knew that we wanted to do medicine early on. Kristine always knew she wanted to do something with oncology, and I was thinking neonatology. When we came here, we both decided we wanted to do pediatrics. KRISTINE: I didn't know going into medical school that I wanted to do pediatrics, but I sort of figured it out during my third-year and fourth-year rotations. We'd talk about what we liked and didn't like about them but we tried to really come to our decisions separately. Did you know you wanted to go to medical school together? KAYLA: No. We heard back from UVA at different times. I heard back first and decided to interview at UVA. They're unique in that they tell you the Friday after you interview if you got in, so I knew early on that I got in and wanted to go to UVA. Kristine had another medical school that she was considering. She interviewed at UVA and really liked it and also liked another program, too. But in the end, she decided that she also wanted to go to UVA. It was another time that we made independent choices about where we wanted to go and tried not to factor in that this is where my sister wants to go. It's hard to be independent, though, when you have a lot of similar interests. Now you're headed to different institutions for residencies. How do you feel about that? KRISTINE: People are surprised but our plan was to go to separate residencies. That's what we were hoping for. But at the same time, Kayla is my best friend and my biggest support system, so of course I'm going to be a little apprehensive and nervous at first. But we're both ready for it, and I'm really excited to see how she does on her own and how she becomes her own doctor. We've already become our own people, even though we've been together along the way. Now, we're going to be doing our own thing and becoming our own physicians. I think it'll be fun to have her not too far away—it's only like two hours. KAYLA: We're both very excited about the places that we're going. I think our family, especially our grandma, is maybe a little less excited that we're going to two different places. She and our mom like it when we're together. If anything happens, we can help each other because we're close by. They've always had that safety net. We're almost never in the same city where our family is—it's been that way for the past eight years and now it will be for another three—but they've always taken solace in the fact that we've been in the same city which won't be the case anymore. What was your experience like at UVA? KRISTINE: It's been a really amazing experience. It was a big transition from Houston to Charlottesville at first. Also, being in such a small class was a transition because at Rice, I saw Kayla when I wanted but our friend groups were totally different. Then here, we started off in a 160-person class so that was a change. But our training was great and prepared us really well. I think UVA as an institution tried to treat us as individuals the best they could, but realizing that it's difficult on the wards with a lot of other third years. KAYLA: We were both in Reed College and so we did our rotations together in third year. We weren't always in the same hospital or the same unit, but a lot of the times we followed each other and other times we were together and that was confusing for residents and really everyone involved, especially for evaluations. I think it was unique for UVA to have a situation like this with twins and they hadn't really thought about that, so that's something I might have changed. But like Kristine said, having her there is always a big support. And UVA does a great job for all of the medical students and we feel prepared for residency. UVA has a lot of family history for us—our grandma, aunt, and of course, our dad have all gone here at least for some part. We didn't really think about it all that much when we came into med school, but it's cool to think about now. We have this legacy across generations. UVA is definitely a special place for our whole family to come back to and all have different experiences and memories. We talk about the Rotunda and the new medical school and joke about how it's so much nicer now than when Dad went here. studentperspective student Q&A K ayla and Kristine K ar vonen, SMD '17 (L-R): Kayla and Kristine Karvonen 26 Vitals Spring 2017

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