Mayo Clinic Residency Match 2017
In March Mayo Clinic School of Medicine students participated in National Resident Match Day. During this exciting annual ritual, they learned where they’ll spend the next several years of their lives.
Learn more about some of these bright future Mayo Clinic alumni — where they’ve been, where they’re headed and what motivates them.
Read more about Mayo Clinic Residency Match Day 2017.
Dipti Banerjee, M.D. candidate
Residency match: UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, Obstetrics-Gynecology
Graduate: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, master of public health, quantitative methods
Undergraduate: University of California, Berkeley, public health, global poverty
Hometown: Fresno, California
Dream job: Serving an urban underserved population and conducting epidemiology research about health disparities.
What motivates you to achieve your dreams: The belief that quality health care is a human right.
Best piece of advice you’ve received: Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.
Lori Bjork, M.D. candidate
Residency match: Naval Medical Center San Diego, California, Transitional Year
Graduate: University of Maryland at College Park, master’s degree, kinesiology
Undergraduate: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, political science
Hometown: Johnston, Iowa
Dream job: Initially, serving as a military physician in an operational role; long-term, being involved with athletics as a team physician in the civilian world.
What motivates you to achieve your dreams: A desire to serve my country and members of my community.
Best piece of advice you’ve received: People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
Tony Blankers, M.D. candidate
Residency match: Family Residency of Idaho, Boise, Family Medicine
Undergraduate: Bethel University, St. Paul, Minnesota, biology
Hometown: Hospers, Iowa
Dream job: Full-scope family medicine in rural America.
What motivates you to achieve your dreams: Serving God and serving people.
Best piece of advice you’ve received: Don’t forget the little things; little things turn into big things.
Tyler Brobst, M.D. candidate
Residency match: University of California San Diego Medical Center, Pediatrics
Undergraduate: University of Virginia, Charlottesville, biomedical engineering
Hometown: Woodbridge, Virginia
Dream job: Working with underserved pediatric populations, particularly LGBTQ youth.
What motivates you to achieve your dreams: I am excited to work with children and adolescents, and am motivated to make a positive impact in their lives.
Best piece of advice you’ve received: Make time for life, hobbies, friends, family, exercise and eating well at all stages of medical training. Don’t let medicine take over your life!
Sean Cantwell, M.D. candidate
Residency match: Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education, Rochester, Minnesota, Plastic Surgery (Integrated)
Undergraduate: University of California, Los Angeles. physiological science
Hometown: Newport Beach, California
Dream job: I would love to work as an academic plastic surgeon who remains heavily involved in reconstructive surgical efforts, clinical outcomes-based research pursuits and medical education.
What motivates you to achieve your dreams: Surgery, like so much of medicine, fascinates me because you can never become perfect, only better. I am motivated by the opportunity to improve my skills every day during (what I hope will be) a long, challenging and fulfilling career.
Best piece of advice you’ve received: “He who watches the clock will always be one of the hands.” (my dad)
Croix Charles Fossum, M.D. candidate
Residency match: University of Utah Affiliated Hospitals, Salt Lake City, Utah, Medicine-Preliminary; University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, Radiation Oncology
Undergraduate: University of Wisconsin – Madison, molecular biology
Hometown: Rochester, Minnesota
Dream job: One that combines clinical practice with education and research.
What motivates you to achieve your dreams: My grandfather and cancer patients.
Best piece of advice you’ve received: Surround yourself with those that bring out the best in you.
Maria Garcia, M.D. candidate
Residency match: Aventura Hospital, Aventura, Florida, Transitional Year; Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education, Rochester, Minnesota, Ophthalmology
Undergraduate: Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota, biology
Hometown: Miami, Florida
Dream job: Working as an ophthalmologist in my hometown of Miami and being involved in clinical research and teaching.
What motivates you to achieve your dreams: My family. They emigrated from Cuba so that I could have a better life in the U.S., and they have instilled in me my love for education and helping others.
Best piece of advice you’ve received: Always follow your dreams, and remember that everything happens for a reason.
Leah Grengs, M.D. candidate
Residency match: University of North Dakota, Fargo, Psychiatry
Undergraduate: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, neuroscience, and anthropology
Hometown: Little Canada, Minnesota
Dream job: To serve patients in great need of mental health care and be involved in the education of medical trainees.
What motivates you to achieve your dreams: A great number of patients I have had the honor of caring for in medical school.
Best piece of advice you’ve received: Never let anyone tell you that you can’t do something that you are passionate about.
Sasha Halasz, M.D. candidate
Residency match: University of California San Diego Medical Center, General Surgery
Undergraduate: Moravian College, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, neuroscience
Hometown: Doylestown, Pennsylvania
Dream job: Something in the realm of general surgery but not sure what yet.
What motivates you to achieve your dreams: Friends, family and mentors.
Best piece of advice you’ve received: If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.
Omar Haque, M.D. candidate
Residency match: Beth Israel, Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, General Surgery
Undergraduate: Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, molecular and cellular biology
Other: Oxford University, Oxford, England, visiting student, health care economics
Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia
Dream job: Surgical oncologist.
What motivates you to achieve your dreams: The goal of improving the lives of patients with pancreatic cancer, which currently entails a dismal prognosis.
Best piece of advice you’ve received: Three rules of surgery: eat when you can, sleep when you can and don’t touch the pancreas.
Stella Hartono, M.D., Ph.D. candidate
Residency match: Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, Pediatrician-Scientist Training and Development Program
Graduate: Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Ph.D., immunology
Undergraduate: California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, chemistry and microbiology
Hometown: Walnut, California
Dream job: Physician-scientist doing immunology research while taking care of children with immunodeficiency.
What motivates you to achieve your dreams: Smiles on the faces of my little patients.
Best piece of advice you’ve received: If you do what you love and do it well, then you will never have to work a day in your life.
M. Earth Hasassri, M.D. candidate
Residency match: University of California San Francisco, Psychiatry
Undergraduate: University of California, San Diego, physiology & neuroscience, psychology
Hometown: Garden Grove, California
Dream job: Psychiatrist helping people to reach their highest potential as human beings and to increase their capacity to live the lives they have reason to value.
What motivates you to achieve your dreams: I am powerfully motivated by the conviction that health should be a human right, not a privilege. Also, I am profoundly motivated by my family, both of whom immigrated here from Thailand so that I could have a better life in the U.S.
Best piece of advice you’ve received: While going through a difficult time, I went to a yoga session and the instructor unwittingly helped me by saying, “If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the moment.”
Breann (Bre) Kluck, M.D. candidate
Residency match: Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, Pediatrics
Undergraduate: College of Saint Benedict, St. Joseph, Minnesota, biology
Hometown: Rochester, Minnesota
Dream job: General pediatrician in an academic pediatric medical center.
What motivates you to achieve your dreams: Positive family experiences with the health care system. Also, I fell in love with pediatrics as I will be able to support children’s resiliency and provide them tools to find success through adversity.
Best piece of advice you’ve received: Find “your people” — find the specialty in which your colleagues are people you enjoy working with professionally and that you can see yourself being friends with.
Rajat (Raj) Moman, M.D. candidate
Residency match: Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education, Rochester, Minnesota, Anesthesiology
Graduate: Boston University, Massachusetts, master’s degree, medical sciences
Undergraduate: Florida State University, Tallahassee, biology
Hometown: Orlando, Florida
Dream job: Anesthesiology. Doing whatever interests me the most at the moment.
What motivates you to achieve your dreams: Family, friends, helping others, loving what I do. Feeling like I am contributing to something bigger than myself.
Best piece of advice you’ve received: Try to learn something new every day.
Praveena Narayanan, M.D. candidate
Residency match: Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven Connecticut, Internal Medicine
Undergraduate: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, genetics, cell biology and development
Hometown: Waukesha, Wisconsin
Dream job: Academic subspecialty physician and medical educator.
What motivates you to achieve your dreams: Great mentorship.
Best piece of advice you’ve received: Medical training encompasses many important moments and decisions (e.g. board exams, choosing a specialty, matching to residency/fellowship); but, arguably, none of these are truly life-changing. What will matter is the people you choose to surround yourself with and the attitude you choose to live by.
Kristin Nguyen, M.D. candidate
Residency match: University of California San Francisco, Psychiatry
Undergraduate: University of Central Florida, Orlando, molecular and microbiology
Hometown: Fairfax, Virginia
Dream job: Psychiatry clinic Monday-Thursday; laceration repair clinic Friday; author on weekends.
What motivates you to achieve your dreams: Knowing I have only one life to live, making my family proud.
Best piece of advice you’ve received: Go with your gut.
Stuart Ostby, M.D. candidate
Residency match: University of Alabama Medical Center, Birmingham, Obstetrics-Gynecology
Undergraduate: Washington State University, Pullman, biology
Hometown: Portland, Oregon
Dream job: GYN oncology. Alternatively, I always wanted to be a barista because I love coffee and the atmosphere of a nice café.
What motivates you to achieve your dreams: The personal health care experiences of my family, as well as international work, have largely shaped my motivations and career interests.
Best piece of advice you’ve received: Find a life’s work you would desire to do regardless of compensation, and invest in others.
Ryan Planchard, M.D. candidate
Residency match: Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland, Neurological Surgery
Undergraduate: Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, biomedical engineering and economics
Hometown: Boulder, Colorado
Leah Schmelkin, M.D. candidate
Residency match: Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education, Rochester, Minnesota, Psychiatry
Undergraduate: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Hometown: Buffalo Grove, Illinois
Dream job: Child and adolescent psychiatrist in an academic setting.
What motivates you to achieve your dreams: I am standing on the shoulders of giants, but there is still so much work to do!
Best piece of advice you’ve received: Run your own race.
Philip Young-woo Sun, M.D. candidate
Residency match: Maimonides Medical Center in New York, New York, Medicine-Preliminary; University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Neurology
Graduate: University of California, Los Angeles, master of science, physiological science
Undergraduate: University of California, Los Angeles, physiological science
Hometown: Seoul, South Korea
Dream job: Neurologist.
What motivates you to achieve your dreams: My academic interest in neuroscience and sense of accomplishment through utilizing my energy and knowledge to help patients with neurologic diseases go through the difficult times in their lives.
Best piece of advice you’ve received: Make sure to explore various specialties of interest through shadowing and research in selective weeks — truly a great privilege for medical students at Mayo.
Michael Tien, M.D. candidate
Residency match: Stanford University Programs, Stanford, California, Anesthesiology
Undergraduate: University of California, San Diego, biochemistry and cell biology, psychology
Hometown: Walnut, California
Dream job: Anesthesiologist and ICU physician.
What motivates you to achieve your dreams: My family and my patients.
Best piece of advice you’ve received: “Everything will be OK in the end. If it’s not OK, it’s not the end.” (John Lennon)
Diana Vork, M.D. candidate
Residency match: Gundersen Medical Foundation, La Crosse, Wisconsin, Transitional; Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Medical Education, Rochester, Minnesota, Dermatology
Undergraduate: U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado, biology
Hometown: O’Fallon, Illinois
Dream job: I would like to be a dermatologist or dermatopathologist serving my community in the Midwest.
What motivates you to achieve your dreams: My biggest motivator is the good feeling I get when I have helped someone.
Best piece of advice you’ve received: My dad often told me (apparently quoting comedian George Carlin), “Don’t sweat the petty things, and don’t pet the sweaty things.”
Saranya Wyles, M.D., Ph.D. candidate
Residency match: Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education, Rochester, Minnesota, Dermatology
Undergraduate: Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, New York
Hometown: New York, New York
Dream job: Academic dermatology.
What motivates you to achieve your dreams: To find the truth and advance humanity.
Best piece of advice you’ve received: Make it happen.