Update on Maryland:
When I was on the interview trail, it felt like common knowledge that University of Maryland was known for two things: All cancer all the time and being a malignant environment. Having completed my first year of residency at this program, I hope to give you all an accurate update/perspective of what the program is today.
**DISCLAIMER: For all of you keyboard cowboys and those who want to drink Maryland haterade, this is my experience from my PGY-1 year.
To give a little background, I am from the west coast, I applied to six-year programs only and decided late in the game that I wanted to go to a program that had cancer. I believed the exposure would increase my surgical skills as well as teach me how to properly manage sick patients. I went on 10+ interviews and when making my rank list, I based my decision on the scope of a program, the quality of the faculty, location, and resident culture.
Scope:
- Free Flaps: 80
- Orthognathic: 85 (Cases)
- Implants: 120 implants total during years 1, 5, and 6
- TMJ: 16 Total joint replacements, 50+ Level II/III Arthroscopies
- Cleft Lip/Palate: 14
- Cosmetic: 12
- Trauma: ~ 240
You will cover trauma for Sinai, Shock trauma, and UMMC ED. Your intern year is spent at the dental school and hospital clinic. As an upper level you cover the attending’s private clinic, rotate through the perio/prosth department, and oral surgery clinic at the dental school. Our service is divided into an Oncology Team and a House Team. Two fellows, a senior, and an intern run our oncology team. As a senior, you rotate with oncology for four months and one month as an intern. Everything is connected and walking distance, with the exception of Sinai, which is 20 minutes away and covered by seniors for the occasional trauma.
Faculty:
· Oncology team: Dr. Ord (Chairman), Dr. Lubek, and Dr. Dyalram.
o Dr. Ord: Pioneer in the field of head and neck oncology. World renowned, but you most likely already knew this. An incredible teacher and entertaining in the OR as long as he’s not threatening to cut your nuts off.
o Dr. Lubek:Highly published, incredibly skilled surgeon with a viscous work ethic. He predominately overseas the fellows and their training. You won’t work with him much.
o Dr. Dyalram: Dr. Dyalram pushes you to get involved and cut, likely the first to put a scalpel in your hand. She genuinely cares about her residents and developing them into surgeons in both the clinic and community setting. Fun fact, she was also the first female fellowship trained Head and Neck Microvascular surgeon in the country.
· Dr. Warburton (Program Director): Cosmetics and TMJ
o Strong Program Director. Advocates for his residents. Very Skilled, extremely efficient, and has a way of making things look easy. Was originally trained in the UK and reminds most people of James Bond.
· Dr. Caccamese: Pediatric Craniofacial fellowship (Cleft Lip/Palate)
o He is cerebral. One of the most meticulous and focused surgeons I have ever worked with. He does it all. Clefts, Orthognathic, trauma. You name it. He does it. Nothing but respect.
· Dr. Brahim: Trauma, Pathology, Dental School & Hospital Clinic
o One of the kindest and most caring people you will ever meet. I honestly think I’ve come to him for advice on personal matters as much as professional. You can always count on him for a good laugh.
· Dr. Everett, Mostoufi, German - Sedation/Implants
o Dr. Everett: ran a successful private practice for years. Is our go to guy for dentoalveolar. He will teach anything and everything you want to know about implants and exodontia. Easy going and also happens to have a black belt in karate.
o Dr. Mostoufi: Chief OMFS advocate in the dental school. Is responsible for new sedation rooms, introduction of X-Nav, and has tripled our implant numbers over the past years. No I didn’t place 120 implants this year, but the numbers are looking up.
o Dr. German: Allows us to work at his private practice during our senior years where we perform sedation cases and get real world experience.
Location:
- 45 minutes from DC
- 30 minutes from Annapolis
- 2 hours from Philadelphia
- 3 hours from New York
- 2 ½ hours from Ocean City
- 3 hours from Deep Creek Lake & Shenandoah National Park
The city is what it is, a city. Know where to go, where not to go, and don’t be an idiot. Has some decent nightlife and a great food scene. It's not NY or Boston but despite the news, you are not going to get shot. Relax.
Culture:
· Maryland is a high volume program. Keyword here is volume because it just doesn't stop. As a result the training is incredible, but the time and commitment is demanding.
· There is a classic hierarchy at Maryland. Interns report to chiefs, chiefs report to attendings. It's important to know your place. Plain and simple. Almost everyone is willing to help and point you in the right direction but you have to learn to be efficient in the way you talk and function. If not, then you are wasting a senior or attendings time, which there isn’t much room for.
· Our attendings take pride in the fact that you will be a full scope trained maxillofacial surgeon at the end of your 4-6 years. We have a 100% pass rate on the boards and no one has a hard time finding work coming out of here. If you are interested in pursuing academics, we have a higher track record than most.
So that’s my take on it. I have stayed in touch with many of friends from the interview trail. They are currently in places like Mich, Shreveport, Parkland, N.O, Jax, and Emory. We have all had plenty of fun venting about the struggles of residency and all agree you can only be pimped for so long, see so many consults, or take so much call before you have to admit that some aspects of surgical training just suck. The training is hard and the hours are long, but if you’re looking at busy/high volume programs, this is what you are going to find.
When I was on the interview trail, it felt like common knowledge that University of Maryland was known for two things: All cancer all the time and being a malignant environment. Having completed my first year of residency at this program, I hope to give you all an accurate update/perspective of what the program is today.
**DISCLAIMER: For all of you keyboard cowboys and those who want to drink Maryland haterade, this is my experience from my PGY-1 year.
To give a little background, I am from the west coast, I applied to six-year programs only and decided late in the game that I wanted to go to a program that had cancer. I believed the exposure would increase my surgical skills as well as teach me how to properly manage sick patients. I went on 10+ interviews and when making my rank list, I based my decision on the scope of a program, the quality of the faculty, location, and resident culture.
Scope:
- Free Flaps: 80
- Orthognathic: 85 (Cases)
- Implants: 120 implants total during years 1, 5, and 6
- TMJ: 16 Total joint replacements, 50+ Level II/III Arthroscopies
- Cleft Lip/Palate: 14
- Cosmetic: 12
- Trauma: ~ 240
You will cover trauma for Sinai, Shock trauma, and UMMC ED. Your intern year is spent at the dental school and hospital clinic. As an upper level you cover the attending’s private clinic, rotate through the perio/prosth department, and oral surgery clinic at the dental school. Our service is divided into an Oncology Team and a House Team. Two fellows, a senior, and an intern run our oncology team. As a senior, you rotate with oncology for four months and one month as an intern. Everything is connected and walking distance, with the exception of Sinai, which is 20 minutes away and covered by seniors for the occasional trauma.
Faculty:
· Oncology team: Dr. Ord (Chairman), Dr. Lubek, and Dr. Dyalram.
o Dr. Ord: Pioneer in the field of head and neck oncology. World renowned, but you most likely already knew this. An incredible teacher and entertaining in the OR as long as he’s not threatening to cut your nuts off.
o Dr. Lubek:Highly published, incredibly skilled surgeon with a viscous work ethic. He predominately overseas the fellows and their training. You won’t work with him much.
o Dr. Dyalram: Dr. Dyalram pushes you to get involved and cut, likely the first to put a scalpel in your hand. She genuinely cares about her residents and developing them into surgeons in both the clinic and community setting. Fun fact, she was also the first female fellowship trained Head and Neck Microvascular surgeon in the country.
· Dr. Warburton (Program Director): Cosmetics and TMJ
o Strong Program Director. Advocates for his residents. Very Skilled, extremely efficient, and has a way of making things look easy. Was originally trained in the UK and reminds most people of James Bond.
· Dr. Caccamese: Pediatric Craniofacial fellowship (Cleft Lip/Palate)
o He is cerebral. One of the most meticulous and focused surgeons I have ever worked with. He does it all. Clefts, Orthognathic, trauma. You name it. He does it. Nothing but respect.
· Dr. Brahim: Trauma, Pathology, Dental School & Hospital Clinic
o One of the kindest and most caring people you will ever meet. I honestly think I’ve come to him for advice on personal matters as much as professional. You can always count on him for a good laugh.
· Dr. Everett, Mostoufi, German - Sedation/Implants
o Dr. Everett: ran a successful private practice for years. Is our go to guy for dentoalveolar. He will teach anything and everything you want to know about implants and exodontia. Easy going and also happens to have a black belt in karate.
o Dr. Mostoufi: Chief OMFS advocate in the dental school. Is responsible for new sedation rooms, introduction of X-Nav, and has tripled our implant numbers over the past years. No I didn’t place 120 implants this year, but the numbers are looking up.
o Dr. German: Allows us to work at his private practice during our senior years where we perform sedation cases and get real world experience.
Location:
- 45 minutes from DC
- 30 minutes from Annapolis
- 2 hours from Philadelphia
- 3 hours from New York
- 2 ½ hours from Ocean City
- 3 hours from Deep Creek Lake & Shenandoah National Park
The city is what it is, a city. Know where to go, where not to go, and don’t be an idiot. Has some decent nightlife and a great food scene. It's not NY or Boston but despite the news, you are not going to get shot. Relax.
Culture:
· Maryland is a high volume program. Keyword here is volume because it just doesn't stop. As a result the training is incredible, but the time and commitment is demanding.
· There is a classic hierarchy at Maryland. Interns report to chiefs, chiefs report to attendings. It's important to know your place. Plain and simple. Almost everyone is willing to help and point you in the right direction but you have to learn to be efficient in the way you talk and function. If not, then you are wasting a senior or attendings time, which there isn’t much room for.
· Our attendings take pride in the fact that you will be a full scope trained maxillofacial surgeon at the end of your 4-6 years. We have a 100% pass rate on the boards and no one has a hard time finding work coming out of here. If you are interested in pursuing academics, we have a higher track record than most.
So that’s my take on it. I have stayed in touch with many of friends from the interview trail. They are currently in places like Mich, Shreveport, Parkland, N.O, Jax, and Emory. We have all had plenty of fun venting about the struggles of residency and all agree you can only be pimped for so long, see so many consults, or take so much call before you have to admit that some aspects of surgical training just suck. The training is hard and the hours are long, but if you’re looking at busy/high volume programs, this is what you are going to find.