Restored Radiology Residency Receives its Inaugural Class

Kenneth D. Pearsen, MD, professor and chair of radiology, says nearly every candidate interviewed — ultimately 80 interviewed out of an applicant pool of more than 400 — had superlative qualifications.

”Therefore, we were focusing on differentiating factors that stressed outgoing personalities with an inclination towards teamwork — people who were eager and willing to teach and do research — as well as become excellent ambassadors for the specialty of radiology,” he says.

Pearsen says Jacobs School officials are exceedingly pleased with the match results.

“Given that we are resurrecting a previously dormant program with our first match in over 15 years, we were concerned as to how the applicants would view our program in comparison to numerous well established programs throughout the country.”

“In that context, to say that we are extremely excited with the quality of our four incoming inaugural residents would be an understatement,” he says. “We feel our first four matches are exceptional.”

One of those matches is Mitchell K. Edquist, MD, who says he initially applied for the residency mainly on a geographic basis, but was soon drawn in by many of its other qualities.

”I'm from the Great Lakes region (Milwaukee) and wanted to do what I could to stay in a familiar style of climate and culture that is similar to what I call home,” he says. “I love snow and skiing. I love the changing seasons and the variety it brings in all aspects of life.”

Edquist says during and after his interview experience, the atmosphere of the city immediately drew him in.

“It reminded me so much of home — the genuine people, the work ethic, the weather and the gorgeous lake at the edge of the city,” he says. “I found the new medical school building and the Gates Vascular Institute to be the most gorgeous buildings I had ever set foot in.”

Edquist says he was impressed with all of the people he interacted with before and on his interview day.

“Everyone seems so happy to be involved with the residency program,” he notes.

Edquist also mentioned the YouTube vlog created by Jonathan Marshall, DO, clinical assistant professor of radiology and director of the residency program; and Christopher Nicholas, MD, clinical assistant professor of radiology and an interventional radiology core faculty member in the training program.

“The YouTube videos gave extra exposure to the fun and supportive environment we incoming residents are joining,” he says.

Edquist says he feels fantastic about matching at UB for his residency, noting that it was his number one rank out of his 19 interviews, which included other large and well-respected university programs, including an Ivy League program.

He says the very close interactions with medical students that were mentioned on interview day are of great interest to him. He’s also thrilled to be getting in on the ground floor of the new program. 

“I am very excited to be a part of the inaugural class, especially for the opportunities that exist to help mold the culture of the program while being the most senior residents for our whole time at UB,” Edquist says. “It feels like the best way to be able to help those that come after us.”

The Jacobs School voluntarily withdrew its radiology residency program from the national accreditation process in 2006, during a time when many hospital radiology departments in the region were undergoing reorganization and the medical school had a limited number of radiology faculty members.

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education approved the new program in 2018.

“Restoring the radiology residency was an essential goal for UB,” Pearsen says.

He says re-establishing the radiology residency was important for several reasons, the most important of which was filling a void in an otherwise robust UBMD academic environment, where nearly every specialty and subspecialty area of medicine was well represented except for radiology. 

“Equally important is that a robust radiology program will now — on an ongoing basis — provide a steady stream of expertly trained graduating radiology residents who can stay in our community and become the critical providers for Western New York for years to come,” Pearsen says.