From rotations to residency

Beaumont Hospital has been a consistent, positive influence throughout Nahrain Putris' education. She worked with Beaumont clinicians while doing undergrad research at Oakland University's Eye Research Institute, and went on to do rotations at Beaumont while she was at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine. So when Match Day 2021 came around, Putris says she was "incredibly excited" to learn she'd be doing her residency in ophthalmology at her number-one pick: Beaumont.

Putris is one of 15 OUWB students who began residencies at Beaumont on July 1, and one of over 85 OUWB students who have matched into Beaumont residencies since 2015. Ryan Fringer, M.D., associate dean for graduate medical education at OUWB, says OUWB students make for outstanding Beaumont residents because of OUWB's focus on the individual learner.

"OUWB establishes relationships in a really deliberate way between students and faculty, students and residents, and students and patients," he says.

"I think that the humanity of medicine is emphasized from day one in their medical school training, and that really is consistent with the kind of care we want delivered in the hospital system."

Andrew Ragheb says OUWB's "systems-based" approach to education helped him feel better prepared both for his third- and fourth-year rotations at OUWB, as well as for his upcoming Beaumont residency in diagnostic radiology. Ragheb says that, rather than "jumping around from topic to topic," OUWB's more holistic approach has helped him more quickly adapt his education to real-world situations. Because Beaumont is OUWB's exclusive training partner, Ragheb says his third- and fourth-year rotations at Beaumont were an invaluable primer for his upcoming residency.

"Because it's such a large hospital, you really get an opportunity to be exposed to a lot of different disease pathologies and a lot of diverse patients as well. I think that's very important," Ragheb says. "I felt that coming out of medical school, I had a very solid foundation. Talking with nurses, residents, and other students, you get the full experience at Beaumont."

Putris agrees that her OUWB education has prepared her "incredibly well" for her upcoming residency. She says she was always "welcomed with open arms" by Beaumont clinicians even as an undergrad, and was "in awe" of the clinicians she continued to learn from while she was doing rotations at Beaumont.

"Despite them being incredibly busy, they always took time to sit and listen to my concerns, to provide me advice, to provide me opportunities so that I could also be successful and someday be in their shoes," she says.

Ragheb agrees, noting that he's excited to continue building relationships that he developed during his rotations at Beaumont.

"To be on a first-name basis with the residents you're going to be working with is very unique," he says. "To have them reach out to me on Match Day, sending text messages, making phone calls, and all of that, made me feel very welcome."

Fringer says many OUWB students are invested in the idea of doing their residencies at "the institution that they've kind of grown up in the shadow of."

"I think they see that there's a challenging educational environment," Fringer says. "There are great teachers to learn from at the institution and I think there's a level of comfort in staying in a system they're familiar with."

That's certainly true for Putris, who says OUWB has been like "a family" to her. She says she's excited to see how Beaumont "mirrors" OUWB's mission and values.

"To be able to start applying those principles and lessons that I've watched and observed and somewhat practiced as a medical student, and put that into actual effect as a doctor, is very exciting to me," she says.