st.John hospital and medical center MI

[painquencher]

Anyone rotated through St John hospital and Medical center in MI?

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[SLCpod]

Anyone rotated through St John hospital and Medical center in MI? I am trying to switch my program and I am looking into this program. I heard they recently got a new program director and wonder his impact on program as well.

I know a first year at the program and he is enjoying his experience so far.

 

[ldsrmdude]

Anyone rotated through St John hospital and Medical center in MI? I am trying to switch my program and I am looking into this program. I heard they recently got a new program director and wonder his impact on program as well.

I can give you the word on the street from a few years ago when I was a resident in Michigan. I never visited there, but knew several residents and a few attendings there, so take what I am saying as pure gossip and without any first-hand knowledge. St. Johns used to be a big name and was one of the first 3 year programs in the country. The program isn't as good as it was. I don't know how the new director will change things, but I heard that the hospital administration was not very supportive of the program. It sounds like their trauma numbers really dropped off because the hospital hired a few ortho trauma guys that do all of it now. They drive a lot to cases. I got the impression that they think they're a much better program than they really are. Out of the dozen or so programs in the Detroit area, I'd put it firmly in the middle of the pack

 

[painquencher]

I can give you the word on the street from a few years ago when I was a resident in Michigan. I never visited there, but knew several residents and a few attendings there, so take what I am saying as pure gossip and without any first-hand knowledge. St. Johns used to be a big name and was one of the first 3 year programs in the country. The program isn't as good as it was. I don't know how the new director will change things, but I heard that the hospital administration was not very supportive of the program. It sounds like their trauma numbers really dropped off because the hospital hired a few ortho trauma guys that do all of it now. They drive a lot to cases. I got the impression that they think they're a much better program than they really are. Out of the dozen or so programs in the Detroit area, I'd put it firmly in the middle of the pack

Thank you for your input!
Any other programs you would recommend in Michigan?
Seems like Genseys, Henry Ford, McLaren-Oakland, Michigan Surg Hosp, Oakwood southshore and Proidence have an opening for the month I am trying to switch.

 

[ldsrmdude]

Thank you for your input!
Any other programs you would recommend in Michigan? I am already rotating through DMC.
Seems like Genseys, Henry Ford, McLaren-Oakland, Michigan Surg Hosp, Oakwood southshore and Proidence have an opening for the month I am trying to switch.

I've heard good things about Genesys and Providence. There are 2 Henry Ford programs, Macomb and Wyandotte. They're both good, but Macomb is probably the stronger of the two. Oakwood Southshore wasn't around when I was a student so I don't know much about it. McLaren-Oakland and Michigan Surgical Hospital are probably towards the bottom of the barrel. Again this is mostly hearsay and gossip.

 

[painquencher]

I've heard good things about Genesys and Providence. There are 2 Henry Ford programs, Macomb and Wyandotte. They're both good, but Macomb is probably the stronger of the two. Oakwood Southshore wasn't around when I was a student so I don't know much about it. McLaren-Oakland and Michigan Surgical Hospital are probably towards the bottom of the barrel. Again this is mostly hearsay and gossip.

which programs would you consider top in your opinion?

 

[ldsrmdude]

which programs would you consider top in your opinion?

I'd guess most people would include DMC, Oakwood-Wayne, St. Marys, Henry Ford-Macomb, and Providence in the top 5 of the Detroit programs in some order. I didn't list these in any specific order, just off the top of my head. I'm sure some would include Genesys and/or St. Johns in there.

 

[Feli]

To update this somewhat... for anyone looking at the Mich programs for clerk or interview or match. I have had a chance to rotate at, rotate with, scrub with, speak to, etc residents and alumni from nearly all of these places through the years. I have spoken to over half of the Detroit directors and scrubbed with most of those. There is obviously cross-exp in a city where alumni of one program work with another or multiple training programs. There is a lot of cross-coverage between facilities and many attendings bring cases to multiple programs. Take everything with a grain of salt, but hope this helps:

The top 3 Michigan programs remain the same (no particular order, just different emphasis/strengths) as they have been for the last couple decades:
> DMC ...trauma heavy, some inner city locations, fantastic volume and diversity, true large teaching hospitals where off-service are teaching and not just community docs... lost the their director to semi-retirement and assist director to changing groups since posts above, but still a very good program with many locations and many attendings and much volume. A lot of their attendings are DMC alumni, but they have a ton of attendings to cover... even more than Ascension StJohn to make them have the largest depth chart of Detroit programs. DMC is definitely a bit weaker than 5 or 10yrs ago when it was drawing elite students to become their residents, doing research, grads going to top ortho or pod groups or top fellowships. I was arguably one of the best in the country (Kissel Sr and Husain running it at that time), but it is still solid and you could do a lot worse. The main attendings now are still the same group (Kissel's two DPM sons and many others... still quite a lot of cases).
> Beaumont Wayne (was Oakwood Annapolis for a long time prior)... most academic of Det programs and trauma heavy, good not great overall numbers, many competent alumni, attracts good residents. I ranked this 2 back when I matched and took cases there for years as an attending. The program and its numbers and research and everything hinges highly on director Dr Fallat (clinic near the airport with much trauma, many referrals, good rep, etc). While Fallat is not young, he is highly productive with the resident clinic and I believe he still does adequate volume to keep the program humming along fine and the numbers good. He actively blocks program's own alumni and other DPMs from the area getting on at the residency hospital and nearby, though (rare exception to ones he may take into his group)... so when he retires, this program's quality will almost certainly crash in a hurry and have a rebuild period.
> Ascension St John Hosp (was StJohn North Shores and other names... let's call it "StJohn Main" as it is usually) ... one of the oldest programs in the country and esp one of the first 3yr programs. Much history and many key attendings came from here (DMC outgoing director Kissel Sr, Henry Ford Macomb director Loder, former StJohn Macomb director/founder Benenati, most of the docs in the main group that feeds this program today: Great Lakes F&A). Like DMC, definitely some major transition in the last 5-10yrs since I left. The program moved its home base from small hospital to large teaching/trauma center when I was there (off service rotations became bona fide teaching but also some politics with ortho), longtime director retired after I graduated, they had an interim director and quality suffered around the time of posts above, my chief resident Rhodenizer assumed director role a few years ago and righted the ship by bringing in a few good attendings, and it continues to evolve. It has always been a program with a lot of locations, many attendings, many many cases... similar to Kern many years ago and now similar to DMC but probably more elective and less trauma. The numbers are quite good, resident quality logically slipped a bit in the interim director years but has recovered, and there is good mix of elective/diab/trauma/etc since there are so many attendings and so many locations. It is, like DMC, at a much better large teaching hospital now for off-service rotations and networking with other specialists, but it is not the amazing 10x your surgical numbers program it or Kern was 20 or 30years ago, but that is mainly because that'd be impossible now... realize that Ascension StJohn Macomb, Ascension Providence, Henry Ford Macomb, and McLaren Macomb programs have all been spun out of StJohn Main throughout the years, and they each take a fraction of the facilities, cases, and attendings with them.

Good programs:
> StMarys Mercy Livonia ... awesome director Adelman who trained DMC (his wife DPM trained Providence). They have attracted some good residents, and some of them have stayed to add to the quality and volume. Dr Faley, also from DMC is very good but only takes a fraction of his work to these residents. While good and improving, this is still a program that hinges heavily on its director (think of it like a younger Beaumont Wayne?).
> Henry Ford Macomb ... talented director Loder who trained StJohn Main and does some very good cases... this program has grown in popularity and case volume. It is is a sort of spin off from StJohn Main location (who used to cover this location and still did for some attendings), so they get some of the many good cases from Great Lakes F&A group in addition to nearly 100% of Dr Loder's cases and his strong drive to improve. Like Beaumont Wayne and StMarys Livonia, it is still a program that is probably a turtle on its back if anything ever happened to the director, though.
> Ascension Providence (was StJohn Providence) ... pretty average program in every way. Director (Kanat) retired and Dr Pupp (famous diabetics and education guy) is very long in the tooth and winding down. You get your numbers, you see a lot of diabetic and some of everything. The DPM attendings are ok and numerous enough. There is good vascular and gen surg and micro at the hospital, so I'd imagine those rotations are solid. They have always gotten fairly average residents in match since it is usually a backup choice for best clerks/students who consider Detroit programs. I thought of ranking this or Genesys as backups but was 99.6% sure of match and only did one backup (Oakwood Annapolis to back up StJohn Main rank).
> Ascension Genesys ... pretty good for elective, pretty sparse for most other stuff since most of their attendings are private practice. They have a strong director and a few good attendings, but they hinge on a F&A ortho for most of the "trauma" and RRA numbers that they double and triple scrub (and how knows how much actual participation by any residents?). It can give you what you need but there are better choices unless your goal is a "country club" program with good hours/call yet fair training. I brought a few cases to them, and the residents were helpful but just nowhere near the level of prep and skill as those from Beaumont Wayne. If you intend to just do private practice bunions and heel injections and etc, then this is a fine enough pick. If you want good RRA skills and to not poop your pants when you get called for a smashed calc after residency, try the main 3 programs or maybe others above.
> Ascension Macomb Oakland ... this was a downright bad program when Benenati quit running it (he did some great cases, so it was a bit like HF Macomb or StMary 10+ years ago with a fairly good program but hugely dependent on the director and his cases). There was an extended time where he and his group didn't even works with the Macomb residents there anymore and they did not have good overall or RRA volume. The current director and his group are basically forefoot surgeons. *Edit to add: with Benenati back (busy aggressive surgeon still in his prime) and his group bringing appreciable cases to this hospital system again, this would be worth a look.

Passing glance if you are lower class rank and unlikely to be competitive at the above ones but want to consider Michigan:
> McLaren Macomb ... director Andrews is a cool guy and alumni of Kern (as is Sundblad, prior director and also Kern alum). They do good surgery and Andrews tries some big stuff. This program, like many, takes over a StJohn Main location and is the turnaround attempt of historic Kern after they bounced around a few small outpatient surgery "hospital" centers in the last decade and had a very tough time getting any decent residents or case volume or off-pod rotations. This is a program that will need time to re-build a stable of attendings and cases since they haven't churned out many superstars in the last decade or two (as they did in the 70s 80s 90s), but they now have a location and hospital big enough to do it. You could do worse in match.
> Henry Ford Wyandotte ... director change recently, and it was viewed as a low average program even prior to that with a fairly well-liked outgoing director. Current director and his group have avg at best training.
> Beaumont Trenton (aka Oakwood South Shore) ... a couple DMC trained attendings but not the most loved in the area. Probably deep backup only.
> Central Michigan Saginaw ... director Cohen trained at Kern awhiile ago and likes some oddball stuff like total first MPJs and other biologics. This is a newer program, and I would guess it is average at best in terms of teaching and resident quality. There are not a ton of people living in/around the "thumb" area, but they only take 2 per year, so it might be decent for numbers.
> Beaumont Farmington (aka Botsford) ... best days are in the rear view, those best days were never that great, director is winding down.
> McLaren Oakland (aka POH) ... I don't think there ever were good days? Alumni I've met were forefoot surgeons or basically non-op and had nothing good to say about the case volume or exp.


...DMC and Ascension StJohn Hosptial make particularly good clerk spots or cores since they have a ton of cases, they are large major teaching/trauma centers, and you will see a lot of attendings, a lot of cases, many locations, etc etc. Ascension StJohn gave free student room and food when I was there and DMC only free food, but check to see present situation. I am no longer training/working in Mich but still have connections there, so anyone can always PM me and I can try to get in touch with info or Mich people I know that may help.

 

[Feli]

...Ascension Macomb-Oakland ... Benenati and his associates still bring cases....

Yes, this is the key for Ascension Macomb. It is good to have your update that Benenati and his group are back there working with that hospital and its residents. Programs change quickly, and I can edit my groupings with your update. It is good that you liked the program. I had no idea he backtracked... after Benenati was no longer director of that StJohn Macomb program he'd founded, he would deliberately do his surgery elsewhere (StJohn Main, Henry Macomb, Beaumont, etc with those residents) for many years, even though StJohn Macomb/Oakland is close to his offices. If he had to take a case to StJ Macomb due to the pt insurance or preference, he would not have any StJ M/O residents scrub (just get a first assist or his associate if the case needed it). The program was on life support for those many years as referenced above, they scrambled regularly, and residents they did get were usually trying to transfer out often also. They had few cases (mainly from DPMs that take the bulk of their cases to DMC or StJohn Main locations... but bring the occasional scrap to StJ Macomb). The successing (and current) director and his pod group aren't high volume, so the program had almost zero significant RRA attendings outside Benenati's group (maybe that's changed also?) or the odd ortho case they could try to log to graduate, and I am almost certain that they didn't even get RRA accredited when Benenati's group had exited and it went to PMSR +/- RRA models 2011-ish. It was a dumpster fire.

If he and his group are now back taking cases, it becomes a program worth considering. I agree. Things change. He is a StJohn Main alumni and an outstanding surgeon with a very busy practice who is not young (60yo or near now) but still in his prime. With his personality and energy, he might have good longevity of doing cases and teaching, like Kissel Sr or Pupp or others. AB wasn't very good at passing the knife back when my co-residents and I scrubbed with him since he was usually busy and in a hurry, so we usually just sent a 1st or 2nd year (but I heard he had gotten a bit better by necessity at letting residents work when he became a residency director). Regardless, he brought fantastic volume and RRA that was sometimes so good I'd go "first assist" (but mainly watch him fly through dissections) even as a 3rd year just out of interest. I would trust him to work on my family any day even if we had our compensation differences. His longtime associate Shaw is also StJohn Main trained and also brings a smaller but not insignificant amount of surgery for residents (bunions, Brostroms, basic fractures, etc etc) since their offices are quite busy, and they tend to always have a young associate or two who will last for a year or maybe a few and then jump ship when they are stuck on pay (looks like they just rotated that associate spot Watkins to Green out/in again). I am sure their group and the cases from those three in that group is probably the largest piece of that Macomb residency's pie of cases once again, so I'm glad. I was actually that Dr AB associate placeholder way back when, possibly associate #14/22 in the decades long timeline of those offices' associate skeletons lol, and during the time I was there, their whole group intentionally never took a single case to the Macomb hospital/residents.

With their group taking cases there and that rift mended, that Ascension Macomb program might move into that middle teir of Det area programs on my list. My mistake on assuming his group was permanently done taking cases there... but they absolutely did basically go on strike from helping that program circa ~2010-2016 or beyond. He is a pretty competitive and strong-willed doc with many other options for where to bring his surgery, and I honestly though that decision would not be reversed. That is a fairly recent but hugely important development if that Benenati group is back and cooperating with director Ciacco, Macomb/Oakland residents, etc.

There are probably still at least five Det programs that will tend to offer better training in my eyes, though... if losing any single attending or group (even director) can make a program all but worthless, as it did for StJohn Macomb, it is a backup at best in my eyes. DMC and StJohn have lost entire groups who brought cases, lost their director, lost facilities where their residents scrubbed, my favorite busy and amazing attending retired in my 2nd year, etc were and are still very busy with no threat to numbers. Beaumont Wayne will be more tricky when Fallat steps down since the bulk of their RRA comes from him, but they remain strong right now and you never know when that transition time will be or how it will be handled (hopefully another solid DPM brought in to take over the clinic and it doesn't miss a beat). You mentioned DMC, but did you rotate Oakwood (Beaumont Wayne) or Ascension StJohn Main to see their case volume and resident/alumni quality and research support? If so, you still consider Ascension Macomb over those? It is ultimately an individual choice for everyone as to where they click. 👍

 

[Feli]

...While I was at Macomb-Oakland the biggest attendings who brought cases were Panchbhaiya, Burhani, Aronovitz, Kissel, Dimack, Fineman. I believe the Kissel I scrubbed in with his one of the associate directors, not sure which one he was but he definetly wasn't the older one. They're all RRA as well. If anything the program did more rearfoot than forefoot. It's nearly the opposite of Genesys where I felt they did more forefoot than rearfoot.

Ok cool, makes more sense. Macomb/Oakland basically got a few of their recent grads to bring cases there, they got Benenati group goodwill and cases back, and now also have a portion of historically DMC group (F&A Specialists SE Mich) to do cases from their Berkley/Warren/etc offices at Macomb/Oakland hosp after DMC had the director change (Kissel Sr outgoing).

Erik and Brian Kissel (sons) trained at the DMC program their dad controlled before the changes, and that was when it was still one of the very best programs in the country with Husain as resident clinic and research/associate director of DMC, etc. The father (Charles Kissel) was one of the first 2yr trained from StJohn Main and real amazing as a surgeon and a businessman and the director of DMC for decades, but he is semi-retired now. Erik is pretty excellent from his rep, seemed smart the few times I met him at events (he still works mostly with DMC residents but goes other places too), and Brian is considered good also... he'd probably be the Kissel who might be doing a good amount of his cases at Ascension Macomb/Oakland now.

Burhani is good, very level-headed doc. He was one of Dr Loder's first residents at Henry Ford Macomb program. When he started, he was taking most of his cases to StJohn Main and doing inpatient consults/surgery just when I was finishing residency there since his office is right down the street and he was new to practice and building up. That's good if he brings a good amount to both places and groups of residents now. He inherited a pretty cool situation where he was associate for one of the busier inpatient/wound/PP DPMs working mainly StJohn Main and its wound center (and other StJohn Main covered locations), but that guy left and Burhani got control of that pretty good location/practice very fast. That rarely happens in Detroit due to so many DPMs.... the Motor City metro is generally a good place to train but very tough place to practice as a young DPM.

Fineman, Dimachk, and Panchbhaiya are recent grads from the M/O program itself... I'm not familiar with them or how busy/good they are, but I always think it's good when a program has at least some attendings who are alumni (but not totally inbred with most/all attendings being alumni either).

...If they now have the cases and are getting decent match residents again, I would imagine that the director will certainly get replaced at M/O at some juncture then, and that could be a pretty good program if Brian Kissel or someone well trained takes over and they keep building it. Caicco was basically just a default fill-in director when Benenati stepped down, and Caicco's not even RRA cert. Like I said, his group is mainly just forefoot stuff and very minimally surgical (unless Dimachk does their RRA now as their associate?). Aronovitz is a nice guy but also not really the material for that lead job at any quality residency due to training, practice, boards, etc. I would certainly guess that a different group of attendings (likely F&A Specialists SE Mich... or maybe one of the recent M/O alums once they get board cert... less likely Burhani/Panchbhaiya since they are closer to StJohn Main and take most stuff there) will take over the M/O program directorship and guidance at some point. I don't think M/O directly employs any DPMs as FTEs in the way that StJohn Main or Henry Ford hospitals tend to do, so you don't have any natural director choices there... but maybe they will someday?

I kid you not, though: this Macomb/Oakland program was not one that anyone wanted to touch with a 10 foot pole for quite awhile after Benenati had left directorship circa 2013 and pulled his group and his cases out. It stayed that way for years since they had almost zero good attendings, struggled to attract/keep any quality in terms of residents, etc. None of those 'biggest attendings' guys you mention above were on staff then (except Aronovitz and Caicco/Mauro/Spreit group... none of whom amount to very many cases and do almost zero RRA). That is a pretty quick turnaround to a respectable program and decent volume now, and I'm very glad for that. That usually can't happen that fast... if at all. They definitely took advantage of the politics and leadership the changes at DMC program and made the most of it. I am also amazed they somehow mended the Benenati situation to get cases from his group now also. That is a revival story you don't hear every day.

I didn't rotate at Beaumont Wayne. I rotated at Ascension St. John Main. I thought the case load was better at Ascension Macomb-Oakland and hands on experiencing was better at Macomb-Oakland. Like I said the fact that ortho takes a lot of call at Main really hurt the program in my eyes..

This is not insignificant, but the program never depended on the ER at Main and never got much from there. Ascension StJohn Main has a very high number of overall locations and attendings who grab referrals from dozens of ERs, Urgent Cares, etc. The resident logs get much more of their cases from the surgery centers and even some of their other smaller hospitals than the main location. Fractures and ORIF cases are not abundant but definitely not scarce at all due to so many locations... and diabetic ER salvage and recon cases are something you are bored with even by the end of first year.

I agree 100% it would be nicer if they could get more bone/joint trauma cases and surgery from their "mothership" location and its ER for StJohn Main Moross, but private practice ortho brings the $$$ and has the political say-so (just like most big metro hospitals). As you said, Mendelson ortho group controls the vast majority of the ER fracture ankle etc f/u pts at Macomb/Oakland hospitals, and StClair Ortho group (Lee Perry Zingas et al) rule the east side referrals including StJohn Main and have for a long time. Those guys will honestly send a form letter complaint to the Chiefs of ER, Surgery, Trauma, etc when they find out podiatry got so much as a fifth met fx. I know because I have been asked about it a few times as a resident by the Chiefs who are usually thinking "who cares who it was referred to if it was well taken care of," but money talks. I honestly don't blame the orthos one bit... they view it as their money, and metro areas are dog-eat-dog competitive. I might act the same way if I were in their shoes (just like DPMs think we are better than gen ortho docs for treating F&A fractures and should get most of them - or at least split call with F&A ortho somehow).

StJohn Main program doesn't have a couple dozen locations anymore like they did when they were based at StJohn North Shores (which had a decent ER for getting fx... but still only a drop in the bucket of their overall volume), and that was also obviously before the newer residencies (HF Macomb, M/O, McLaren Macomb, etc) spun out of their formerly covered locations. Today, they still have about a dozen ASCs and hospitals to scrub at. That makes for plenty of cases and more than the vast majority of programs nationwide. It is definitely too bad that DPMs, even most of the highest trained and best ones in the area, are mostly doing mainly just toe/met fractures and ankle sprains they get referred... and a few ankle fx, met fx, lisfranc fx, calc fx, Achilles ruptures, etc that "slip thorugh the cracks" or find their office on their own since the injured patient or their friend/family was already a patient and steers them there. That is just how it is and how the public and medical community views podiatry... evolution takes time. However, in many places, DPM residents hardly do those cases since DPMs don't get those refers at all, or residents "do" them with ortho where they retract, don't even really touch the knife, and basically just falsify their logs. So, it could always be much worse. Just look at NYC or other areas. Detroit suddenly looks way above average for scope/training, haha. You really have to look at their overall schedules of all the ASCs and hospitals they cover each day... but I agree the case lists just at their main location are seldom impressive (mostly since that's a large hospital that's hard/inefficient to do elective at for their PP group attendings.... and that has only been their main location for about 10yrs now).

At the main Ascension StJohn location, you will pretty much only see the director and a few other hospital employ DPMs doing cases (since the resident clinic and wound center is in that main campus) and maybe a few other PP attendings who do inpatient consults doing diabetic cases at StJ Main. Hardly anyone aside from the FTE DPMs do many bunions, ankle scope, neuromas, recon, etc there, though... they never did, since it is hard to get OR time and not efficient. The parking, getting OR time booked, the ORs running on time, etc all suck... just like any big teaching facility. For PP docs doing elective cases with slim/zero chance of needing overnight admit afterwards, it is all about being able to get in and out quicker. Most of the PP attendings from Great Lakes, Shores, Hosey/Murphy, and the many other PP groups that Ascension StJohn Main residents cover tend to do their cases at the StJohn ASCs "12/23," other system or physician-owned ASCs, or the smaller non-Ascension hospital facilities that StJ Main residents cover.

The huge strength of the Ascension StJohn Hospital Main program that is hard to grasp during a clerk or even core rotation is the past longtime director and the present one being able to navigate the politics, get Med Ed to realize their residents need to go to all of the outside facilities to get good numbers and training, and get various DPM attendings to broker the deals with facilities both within and outside the Ascension system. ER trauma will always be a work in progress and probably more fail than success, but that strengthens their ability to get residents to more other locations also. That manifests in busy overall schedule and diversity of attendings/cases/locations. That is something most pod residency programs can't do or just don't do: it takes much diplomatic work to set up the many covered locations... but it is a HUGE boon to the training/diversity/volume when it is done well. Numbers and diversity aren't a concern at the program for that very reason. There is often a lot of driving just like most higher volume programs, but it's worth it to have residents do cases every single day and scrub in with good cases/attendings most of those days. I think I had something like 6 or 7 hospital badges in my resident car with each used for various sets of hospitals and ASCs due to all of the locations. Some of them made us log hours at the outside facilities monthly or whatever as part of the training agreements, but it was completely it. A few had better free food than Main campus

At the end of the day, StJohn Main and DMC undoubtedly have the most locations, highest volume, most RRA cert attendings, etc among the Det programs. StJohn has the edge on elective while DMC undoubtedly wins on trauma (esp high energy trauma) since they get more good stuff referred from ERs and more ortho cooperation (downtown pts have much worse insurance and I don't think ortho cares as much about splitting ER call/refers there, while they throw a fit at Ascension and other better demographic facilities due to the $$$), but that also means the DMC hours and call tend to be quite a bit rougher.

 

[shadesofgrey]

My perspective on some of the Michigan programs:
-I did my residency about 3 years ago (sheesh time flies), and at that time my circle of friends felt that DMC was actually on the decline, due to loss of Husain, change in PD, and rumor was ortho was starting to take more of the trauma. Plus the culture was not so good at the time.
-Comparing training among local residents at the time, I was most impressed with St. Mary's. One of my good buddies trained there, and I was consistently surprised and impressed at the amount of trauma and quantity of their RRA cases.
-As Feli mentioned, outside of Fallat Oakwood didn't seem like it had much RRA, and I would be a little concerned about what happens when he retires.
-I've worked with Dr. Cohen quite a bit (from the CMU program), he is a excellent surgeon. I don't know about the rest of the attendings.
-Geneysis seemed like a quality general podiatry program when I clerked there. Good people.
-Can't comment on the St. John programs.

Having been out and talking to pod school friends from elsewhere, I am not sure Michigan has a top tier residency anymore. Used to be Kern in the 80's-90's and then DMC were arguably among the best in the country. I think there has just been to much dilution, to many residency programs in one metro area. Thoughts?