The 28th Annual Dr. David Rothman Resident Research Day was held today and the results were outstanding. Below is a list of the presenters this year along with the title of their research projects. Meghan Valentine R2, "SurgiQuest versus Traditional Insufflation: A Retrospective Cohort Study" Lindsay Kuroki R4, "Disclosing a Diagnosis of Cancer: Considerations Specific to Gynecologic Oncology Patients" Jessica Rosenstock R4, "Moving Towards Personalized Care for Endometrial Cancer: Does minimally invasive surgery facilitate selective use of lymph node dissection" Amanda Spitalnik R4, "Placental Pathology, First-Trimester Biomarkers and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes" Matthew Weis R4, "Natural History of Placenta Previa in Twins" Natalia Grindler R3, "Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals Lead to Earlier Age of Menopause: A Cross-Sectional Study Using the US Population-based NHANES Database" Callie O'Neil R3, "Two-Year Continuation of Reversible Contraception: A Comparison of LARC versus non-LARC methods" Maureen Schulte R3, "Inhibitory Effect of Glucosamine on Endometrial Stromal Cell Decidualization In Vitro: Janine Spain R2, "Normal First Stage of Preterm Labor" Juliana Verticchio R2, "The Effects of Degree of Obesity on Risk for Post-caesarean Wound Complications" Special thanks to Dr. Thomas Mooore for being our guest speaker and presenting the "Use and Abuse of the Amniotic Fluid Index". Great job everyone! TS

Match Day 2013!

Two days left before Match Day 2013! We were so impressed by the candidates that came through this year and wish all of them the best - though we will be partial to the 9 that we are lucky enough to get. There are great things on the horizon in the new year: Surgical training, Robotics, iPads! Good luck to all.

Happy New Year!

and Happy Halfway point of the Resident Year. Those 6 months went by pretty quickly. Interns are now savvy residents knowing exactly which fridges house the best ice cream treats. (Hint: APU.) We had a great group of candidates this past interview season and match day is right around the corner. We've had some fun on match day with our special suitcase and Pi pizza and we hope to have something even better planned this year. Special shoutout to Kenan Omurtag (REI) who is assisting me with creating an ACOG Course in Medical Apps for the Annual Meeting in May. That should be a lot of fun (though New Orleans may not be ready for KO). A new year's resolution will be to make better use of the blog. We hope to have residents have their voices heard as well as post recent articles that they publish. Any comments are welcome. Thanks! TS

Summer School for new Residents

It's always exciting when a new class starts. Everyone moves up a year and responsibilities and expectations change. That makes this time of renewal a good chance to revisit some important topics. The new Chief Administrative Residents (Sammy Schon, April Parker and Lindsay Kuroki) started us off with a bang with a wonderful orientation session. First, we watched the famous Seattle Fish video. For the uninitiated, this is a video that focuses on the fishmongers at the famous Seattle Fish Market. They do hard hard labor but still manage to enjoy their work. That enjoyment is contagious! In the video they lay down some of these pearls - have fun, be there, create your climate. These lessons are so important to our own residency work environment. We create the climate and if today is any indication, that climate is fun! Next, the CARs led a game of charades. The residents were divided into groups and the first member had to place their hand into a bag. They would feel an item and then whisper a description of that item to the next person. The third person would then need to silently act it out in order to get the remaining members of the team to guess it. Highlights including a description of forceps, a speculum and Baby Tuuli. It was a great session and really starts us off on the right foot. For the upcoming year, we will continue with the module-based lectures (GYN from July-Aug) but we will be incorporating more surgical skills with Dr. Biest on Thursday. Next Wednesday we'll be covering important issues like Professionalism, Handoffs and Feedback. I'll be better about trying to post weekly in order to keep this info out there. I appreciate your feedback. Thanks Tony Shanks

Congratulations to our Class of 2012! We bid a fond farewell to our wonderful chief residents this past Saturday. The ceremony was held at Union Station in downtown STL and was well attended by both residents and faculty. We've bounced around to many different venues but this was one of the best. Drs. Meiling Hua, Kylie Smith, Ali Venturella, Anya Rabinov, Elena Rhoads, Kate O'Neill, Brooke Winner, Lindsay Reed and Shayna Norman all received their residency diplomas. Dr. Hua will be pursuing an MFM fellowship at Jefferson in Philly. Dr. O'Neil will be joining her in Philly where she will be going into REI. Shayna Norman (MFM) and Brooke Winner (MIS) will both be staying at Wash U. Kylie Smith joins a prestigious private practice group in Seattle, Washington. Ali Venturella will be doing the same in Sweet Home Alabama. Anya and Elena will be returning to California with Elena joining a great group just outside of Anaheim. Their efforts to stick together and complete a difficult residency are noted and praised. I wish them all luck and look forward to seeing the great things that will be coming from them. Sincerely, Tony Shanks

MIS

Another educational/fun outing with the MIS group. I see that Pi pizza was the meal of choice!

Minimally Invasive Interest Group

Brooke Winner, one of our amazing Chief Administrative Residents, has started a Minimally Invasive Interest Group. The group plans to meet every block (approximately every 6 weeks)to practice with simulation trainer boxes, discuss articles, and talk about MIS fellowship for those who are interested.

It's a great way to learn about an exciting field while socializing with peers outside of the hospital.

Dr. Peipert liked it so much that he is sponsoring the food!

TS