Why Choose WMED?

Hometown: Wabasha, Minnesota

What sets WMed Ortho Surgery apart in helping me reach my goals: The operative experience comes first to my mind, which could be summed up as “early and often.” Moreover, it is the people of this community, the faculty, staff, and co-residents that have elevated my education and experience in residency. People here care about your progress as an orthopaedic surgeon and as a person. 

Hobbies/Interests: My wife and I enjoy camping in several of the nearby state parks, as well as trips up to the Upper Peninsula. We also enjoy traveling abroad. I try to get out fishing on my kayak and hunting whenever time permits. We have also done several home improvement projects here in Kalamazoo, and enjoy spending time walking our golden retriever around Kalamazoo.

Future career plans: I have an interest in both trauma and in arthroplasty and would like to focus my future practice in those areas.

Best thing about living in Kalamazoo/Southwest Michigan: No traffic, affordable city, good access to outdoor recreation.

Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee

What sets WMed Orthopaedics apart in helping me reach my goals: Tight-knit community with broad operative experience and good autonomy

Hobbies/Interests: Spending time with my husband and dog, swimming, cooking, painting, exploring outdoors

Best thing about living in Kalamazoo/Southwest Michigan: Affordable living, close to all fun outdoor activities (beach, hiking, skiing, lake living)

Go-to OR playlist: Summer Hits of the 90's or Top Country
 

Hometown: Fargo, North Dakota

What sets WMed Ortho Surgery apart in helping me reach my goals: WMed Ortho acts as one large family. Everyone, from my fellow residents to our community faculty to our WMed faculty and to our support staff, takes pride and ownership in this program and wants to see the residents succeed. Orthopedics is a tough road, and to have that support for me not only as a surgeon but as a husband, father, son, friend, resident learner, researcher etc. is essential to succeeding in this field and attaining my goals in life. 

Hobbies/Interests: I am an avid, and sometimes overly competitive, playing card and board game player. When I can, I enjoy upland and waterfowl bird hunting. Lastly, I relish spending quality time with family and friends. 

Best thing about living in Kalamazoo/southwest Michigan: Proximity to the beaches of east Lake Michigan. Some the best beaches I've experienced are only a short day trip away. We've spent many days soaking up the sun, enjoying each other's company and playing beach games, most notably spike ball. 

Go-to OR playlist: Guardians of the Galaxy playlist. 

Hometown: Hershey, Pennsylvania 

What sets WMed Ortho Surgery apart in helping me reach my goals: Our residents! Our senior residents play a huge role in helping to teach our junior residents. We have a close knit team of residents with a great dynamic. We work together well, and help push one another to be better. We also love to spend time together outside of work at beach days, cook outs, or exploring local breweries. I think this “family” vibe we create outside of work helps us to work more cohesively.

Hobbies/Interests: I love to run! I ran cross country and track in college, and have been able to continue running throughout residency. I've completed two Ironmans, and was even able to run my first ultra marathon as a PGY1.

Best thing about living in Kalamazoo/southwest Michigan: I love how easy it is to enjoy outdoor activities. When the weather is nice there are lots of  trails to hike, and we really maximize our time on the water. During the winter it's easy to cross country ski, snow shoe, or snowmobile. I've even given ice fishing a shot!  We also have a great indoor rock climbing gym a few blocks from the hospital. 

Go-to OR playlist: Guardians of the Galaxy radio 

Hometowns: Metro Detroit, Michigan; Tulkarem, Palestine

What sets WMed Ortho Surgery apart in helping me reach my goals: Early operative experience; emphasis on clinical breadth and depth within Orthopaedics; clinical faculty that are dedicated to teaching

Hobbies/Interests: spending Time with family; playing video games; studying history and math

Future Career Plans: Foot and Ankle Surgery

Best thing about living in Kalamazoo/Southwest Michigan: Small town that has everything you need with a cheap cost of living.
 

Hometown: Grand Rapids, Michigan

What sets WMed Ortho Surgery apart in helping me reach my goals: The environment and size of the program fosters close mentor-like relationships between attendings and residents that cannot be found at many larger programs.

Hobbies/Interests: Woodworking, home improvement, reading, sleeping

Research Interests: Ortho Pathology, Compartment Syndrome

Future Career Plans: Orthopedic Oncology Fellowship

Hometown: Frankfort, Illinois (southwest suburbs of Chicago)

What sets WMed Ortho Surgery apart in helping me reach my goals: WMed Ortho Surgery provides me with the resources I need to achieve my goals of not only becoming an excellent Orthopaedic Surgeon, but also becoming a mentor and leader for others in the field. Our program's mentorship model of education with 1 on 1 resident:attending training and mentoring relationships provides me with both a tremendous operative experience and the opportunity to learn how effective mentorship and leadership can be implemented both in and out of the operating room.

Hobbies/Interests: I have always been an ice hockey fan and I played in college. I still enjoy to play hockey in my free time.

Best thing about living in Kalamazoo/southwest Michigan: If you live downtown, like me, you will be within a 5-10 minute walking distance from coffee shops, ice cream shops, breweries, a movie theater, and even our Level 1 Trauma Center. A great perk of living in a smaller, yet very alive, city like Kalamazoo.

Go-to OR playlist: 90's Hip Hop!

Hometown: Denmark, Wisconsin

What sets WMed Ortho Surgery apart in helping me reach my goals: The WMed orthopedic surgery residency offers a well-rounded experience with early exposure to a wide variety of procedures and techniques. We have a large degree of autonomy as residents and have the opportunity to develop our surgical skills early on in our training. 

Hobbies/Interests: Exercising and weightlifting, exploring Kalamazoo and Southwest Michigan 

Research interests: Hip arthroscopy, ACL reconstruction augmentation 

Future career plans: My wife and I plan on returning to Wisconsin following residency where I plan to practice general orthopedics and sports medicine.

Hometown: Clarkston, Michigan

What sets WMed Ortho Surgery apart in helping me reach my goals: Strong, well-rounded operative experience. Between the two hospitals we work at there are >30 orthopaedic attendings, meaning there are always many more cases than would be possible for 15 residents to cover. I feel confident that this program will prepare me to care for patients in any sub-specialty or practice environment I end up starting my career in upon completion of residency.

Hobbies/Interests: Ice Hockey, Deep Sea Fishing, Traveling, Wakesurfing

Research Interests: Evidence Based Clinical Guidelines, Arthroplasty, Joint Preservation Surgery, Technology in Orthopaedic Surgery

Favorite part of the WMed Ortho Residency Experience: My co-residents are all family. Feeling comfortable knowing I can text or call my co-residents or attendings at any time if I have questions or concerns, which is not only valuable for resident education, but also allows for optimal patient care.

Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio

What sets WMed Ortho Surgery apart in helping me reach my goals: Perfect combination of autonomy, operative experience/case load and great teachers invested in our education. A large percentage of our faculty graduated from the program and want to see it continue to succeed. I think it says a lot that so many people want to come back and establish their career here.

Hobbies/Interests: Brewing beer, recreational soccer, disc golf, hiking, running.

Best thing about living in Kalamazoo/southwest Michigan: The scenery. I really enjoy getting out on the water and exploring the hiking trails in the area. It’s great to have something relaxing to take advantage of on your off days.

Most interesting case I’ve seen at WMed: Periacetabular Osteotomy

Hometown: Colchester, Connecticut

What sets WMed Ortho Surgery apart in helping me reach my goals: WMed has a strong focus on the resident as an individual. The Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Program promotes a resident friendly environment along with very supportive faculty. We are provided with a great clinical education and early operative experience. This program allows us to become competent clinicians and leaders in our profession and community.

Hobbies/Interests: I enjoy spending my time with my wife and children, enjoying all of the outdoor beauty southwestern Michigan has to offer.

Best thing about living in Kalamazoo/Southwest Michigan: Kalamazoo has had so much to offer my family and me. This has included everything from spending many beautiful days at Lake Michigan, hiking at the Nature Center and countless other trails, K-Wings hockey games as well as college hockey, visiting local breweries, and many great restaurants. It’s a large, but still close-knit, very friendly community. My family and I have really enjoyed living here.

Favorite part of the WMed Ortho Residency experience: My favorite part of the WMed Ortho Residency experience has been getting to know my co-residents and learning from the faculty. We have a lot of fun together as residents and the faculty are great teachers, who bring a lot of valuable experience.

Hometown: Iowa City, Iowa 

What sets WMed Ortho Surgery apart in helping me reach my goals: The camaraderie in the Orthopaedic Surgery department here at Western Michigan is amazing. I know that my fellow residents are here for me in my educational journey and that the faculty and staff will always push me to be the best version of myself. I felt welcome at my residency program the second I matched here, and I knew that this was a place where I could fully realize my potential as a future Orthopaedic Surgeon. 

Hobbies/Interests: I love the outdoors and having nerdy fun! This culminates in lots of hiking, rock climbing, camping, D&D, and LARPing with my wonderful (and equally nerdy) significant other.  

Research interests: I have an interest in research on equality in the workplace and underrepresented minorities in the field of Orthopaedic Surgery 

Go-to OR playlist: “Classic Rock Roadtrip” or “Heavy Metal Essentials” 

Hometown: Grand Rapids, Michigan 

What sets WMed Ortho Surgery apart in helping me reach my goals: The awareness that I am supported and well cared for by the faculty and fellow residents makes it space I know I will thrive. Additionally, the level engagement in research development also provides access to resources that allows me to pursue my interest in patient outcome driven care and research.

Hobbies/Interests: Rock climbing, kayaking, knitting, biking

Best thing about living in Kalamazoo and Southwest Michigan: Love the beaches, the lakes, rivers and ponds, and great options for hiking.

Go-to OR playlist: Pop rock or Indie Pop

Hometown: Bay City, Michigan

What sets WMed Ortho Surgery apart in helping me reach my goals: The tight-knit group of faculty and residents really helps foster a learning environment conducive to becoming an excellent orthopaedic surgeon. The one-on-one teaching that takes place is second to none, and will help me reach my goal of becoming a well-rounded orthopaedic surgeon taking care of a community in need of our specialized care.

Hobbies/Interests: Skiing, Biking, Weight lifting, Travelling

Best thing about living in Kalamazoo and Southwest Michigan: Kalamazoo is nice because it has a small-town feel but has the amenities of a larger city. Also we are in a central location where it is a relatively short drive to get to either Chicago, Detroit or Grand Rapids if you want more of a bigger city experience during your time off.

Go-to OR playlist: Hip Hop BBQ

Hometown: Placentia, California

What sets WMed Ortho Surgery apart in helping me reach my goals: The WMed orthopaedic surgery residency has a perfect combination of early operative experience, supportive faculty who assist in creating future leaders in the field, and strong camaraderie between co-residents that helps you thrive in your personal life as well. This program truly is the best place to learn to be an excellent orthopaedic surgeon and leader, with a good work-life balance.

Hobbies/Interests: Weight lifting, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, golfing, cooking, watching NBA games and MMA, and spending time with my family.

Research Interests: Arthroscopic procedures, cartilage restoration

Go-to OR playlist: Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack