Jarrod Shapiro, DPM
Practice Perfect Editor
Assistant Professor,
Dept. of Podiatric Medicine,
Surgery & Biomechanics
College of Podiatric Medicine
Western University of
Health Sciences,
St, Pomona, CA

PRESENT Residency Summit 2012

I'm writing today's post from my hotel room this past Saturday at the PRESENT Midwest Residency Summit outside overcast Chicago. As always, the education is top notch at this conference, the speakers are interesting, and the food's not half bad ! As always, I enjoy meeting up with old friends and making new ones. It's fantastic to see, for example, one of my friends, Ryan Fitzgerald, DPM, up on the podium. Watch out for him; he's the next Dr. LaPorta or Schoenhaus !

Of all of the conferences I've attended, this one has struck a chord with me. While here, I've noticed a phenomenon unique to this conference: a sharp dichotomy of practitioners. Since this is a resident-oriented conference, there are, of course, a good number of residents. But I also see experienced faculty lecturing and mentoring, most of which are nationally known. As someone in practice about 6 years, I fall somewhere in between these two groups. Picture me sitting somewhere in the middle of the most experienced podiatric physicians and the least experienced.

This differs from the average conferences I attend in that there's usually a broad swath of doctors of all ages. It becomes a very heterogenous group. But at this conference, the sharp difference between the young doctors of tomorrow and the experienced physicians of today (and yesterday) impressed me greatly. I've spoken with residents just a couple of months away from starting practice, nervous and excited about the future. I've seen the youthful optimism of the best trained foot and ankle surgeons in the world.

Tonight's Premier Lecture is
Current Options for Management of patients with CLI - Part 1
William Marston, MD

I've also spoken with podiatric physicians and surgeons who have spent their long careers not only treating patients, but also taking the time to teach and mentor their younger protégés. I'm honored to be among a faculty of doctors so caring about the education process. For those of you who do not teach on a daily basis like the residency directors and attendings, consider for a moment the amount of work it takes to train a new doctor. They not only have to worry about all of the technical issues of running a residency (COTH membership, assessment methods, certification site visits, etc.). They are also responsible for the professional and often personal well-being of their residents. It's often a thankless job, and, as I hear it, not an especially well paying one.

With that said, here's my toast (can one make a toast over the Internet?) to all of the residents working hard to start their careers. Keep up the good work, and good luck to those of you about to start practice. And here's to the residency directors and faculty. You should be honored for the work you do. Please don't stop, and be sure to mentor those who will someday take your place. Cheers.