icanseeclearlynow96
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I feel a pressing responsibility to the medical education community to alert those seeking residency, to a program that is plagued with severe lack of leadership, non-existent effective development and training plans/support, and a petty, punitive, and vindictive environment. If this group and forum are truly dedicated to transparency I would very much like to contribute to that transparency by sharing the following insights.
It is distressingly unfortunate that a renowned hospital such as Maimonides Medical Center, in Brooklyn, NY, can rely on a flawed, arbitrary, punitive, and ego-centric Director of Pediatric Residency in the Children’s Hospital. In all fairness, if you read the profile for Dr. Walker Descartes on Maimonides’ web site you could easily conclude that Dr. Walker Descartes is the modern-day Florence Nightengale of Pediatric Medicine. She is the director, chair, co-chair, Vice-chair, faculty scholar, advisor, etc., of umpteen organizations, an educator, a med-school instructor, researcher and author. Simply Amazing!
On top of all of that she is the director of Mainmonides Pediatric Residency training program and the hospital’s child abuse fellow. By the way, she lives in Pennsylvania, of all convenient places. Quite unfortunately, as it has turned out, close family friends of mine are resident doctors in Maimonides pediatric residency program. My following comments are a summation of their experiences in the Maimonides Pediatric Residency program under Dr. Walker Descartes.
If you haven’t begun already to wonder how can this seemingly super-human physician possibly do positive things under each and ALL the responsibilities she holds in all of these organizations, you may have at least wondered how can she effectively run the Pediatric Residency program at a hospital 2 states away from her domicile? Well, the answer is, succinctly, she can’t! And, she hasn’t.
Now, one could argue that such an esteemed physician, by measure of her CV, couldn’t possibly be a detriment to a pediatric residency program, and I see the point. Her CV reads well beyond impressive. And I also want to be fair since Dr. Walker Descartes isn’t present here to defend herself. Like every person, I suspect Dr. Walker Descartes possesses many skills and talents. She most certainly has extensive knowledge on topics in her field, or, should I say, fields, maybe even high-function intelligence. But…all these attributes do not an effective director make.
I could write pages of examples on how and why Dr. Walker Descartes represents the personification of the Peter Principle, that people often rise to the level of their incompetence. I can also list a multitude of classic symptoms (many behaviors that I have observed myself in Dr. Walker Descartes’ presence) that typically lead to a diagnosis of psychopathy, with an emphasis on narcissism, but I’m not a psychiatrist…I’ll have to leave that official diagnosis to psychology professionals. I am hence, left angry and frustrated that friends important enough to consider my family, have been inexcusably failed in so many ways by Dr. Walker Descartes specifically, the pediatric residency program generally, and by default, Maimonides Medical Center Administrators.
But, sincerely, my purpose here isn’t to berate or disparage Dr. Walker Descartes, but solely to alert medical students to be very wary of this pediatric residency program. If one has other choices after residency candidate interviews to rate residency programs higher than the pediatrics program at Maimonides Children’s Hospital, I most urgently encourage all candidates to redirect their attentions to virtually any other program they may find interesting. In a word, do yourselves a great favor, rate Maimonides Pediatrics Residency program “last” if you have to rate it at all!
(Side note: I would highly prefer to NOT post this information anonymously. “Anonymous” most always diminishes believability/credibility. However, I have no choice, I simply cannot risk exposing dear friends whom I consider family members to the almost certain, and previously exhibited, wrath of a suspected psychopath.)
In conclusion, my deepest hope for each of you reading this, is that your monumental efforts to succeed at medical school, will be rewarded with a residency in which you will be welcomed, respected, encouraged, challenged, and rewarded with great learning, and your talents and accomplishments appreciated and acknowledged.
Maimonides pediatrics is not that program.
It is distressingly unfortunate that a renowned hospital such as Maimonides Medical Center, in Brooklyn, NY, can rely on a flawed, arbitrary, punitive, and ego-centric Director of Pediatric Residency in the Children’s Hospital. In all fairness, if you read the profile for Dr. Walker Descartes on Maimonides’ web site you could easily conclude that Dr. Walker Descartes is the modern-day Florence Nightengale of Pediatric Medicine. She is the director, chair, co-chair, Vice-chair, faculty scholar, advisor, etc., of umpteen organizations, an educator, a med-school instructor, researcher and author. Simply Amazing!
On top of all of that she is the director of Mainmonides Pediatric Residency training program and the hospital’s child abuse fellow. By the way, she lives in Pennsylvania, of all convenient places. Quite unfortunately, as it has turned out, close family friends of mine are resident doctors in Maimonides pediatric residency program. My following comments are a summation of their experiences in the Maimonides Pediatric Residency program under Dr. Walker Descartes.
If you haven’t begun already to wonder how can this seemingly super-human physician possibly do positive things under each and ALL the responsibilities she holds in all of these organizations, you may have at least wondered how can she effectively run the Pediatric Residency program at a hospital 2 states away from her domicile? Well, the answer is, succinctly, she can’t! And, she hasn’t.
Now, one could argue that such an esteemed physician, by measure of her CV, couldn’t possibly be a detriment to a pediatric residency program, and I see the point. Her CV reads well beyond impressive. And I also want to be fair since Dr. Walker Descartes isn’t present here to defend herself. Like every person, I suspect Dr. Walker Descartes possesses many skills and talents. She most certainly has extensive knowledge on topics in her field, or, should I say, fields, maybe even high-function intelligence. But…all these attributes do not an effective director make.
I could write pages of examples on how and why Dr. Walker Descartes represents the personification of the Peter Principle, that people often rise to the level of their incompetence. I can also list a multitude of classic symptoms (many behaviors that I have observed myself in Dr. Walker Descartes’ presence) that typically lead to a diagnosis of psychopathy, with an emphasis on narcissism, but I’m not a psychiatrist…I’ll have to leave that official diagnosis to psychology professionals. I am hence, left angry and frustrated that friends important enough to consider my family, have been inexcusably failed in so many ways by Dr. Walker Descartes specifically, the pediatric residency program generally, and by default, Maimonides Medical Center Administrators.
But, sincerely, my purpose here isn’t to berate or disparage Dr. Walker Descartes, but solely to alert medical students to be very wary of this pediatric residency program. If one has other choices after residency candidate interviews to rate residency programs higher than the pediatrics program at Maimonides Children’s Hospital, I most urgently encourage all candidates to redirect their attentions to virtually any other program they may find interesting. In a word, do yourselves a great favor, rate Maimonides Pediatrics Residency program “last” if you have to rate it at all!
(Side note: I would highly prefer to NOT post this information anonymously. “Anonymous” most always diminishes believability/credibility. However, I have no choice, I simply cannot risk exposing dear friends whom I consider family members to the almost certain, and previously exhibited, wrath of a suspected psychopath.)
In conclusion, my deepest hope for each of you reading this, is that your monumental efforts to succeed at medical school, will be rewarded with a residency in which you will be welcomed, respected, encouraged, challenged, and rewarded with great learning, and your talents and accomplishments appreciated and acknowledged.
Maimonides pediatrics is not that program.
