Illinois Medicine

Chicago Sm u t n y We will be healers, teachers, investigators and leaders." Photo: Diane "We've spent years longing to add the initials MD or PhD to our names. Today, that's all become very real — and we will carry these titles and responsibilities with us for the rest of our lives. "I feel accomplished, elated and exhausted. It's been a long haul. I'm happy that it's done and that I've accomplished something so big. I had an excellent mentor in my advisor, Alan Diamond, and there was great support within my department to help me become the best investigator I can be." Dempsey Hughes, MD '13 (Chicago) Emily Reinke, PhD '13 (Pathology) D e s t i n at i o n : United States Army Public Health Command, Army Institute of Public Health, Toxicity Portfolio, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland Class of 2013 President D e s t i n at i o n : Surgery Residency Program at the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Massachusetts Rockford "When you're scared to move forward, look back at all you've done. Think of how nervous you were before starting your first year, or the butterflies you felt before you knocked on the first patient's door. The next step is always scary, but we all know more than we think and have learned more than enough enter into our profession confidently. In our residency essays, we all wrote some version of the sentence, 'I am ready to take the next step.' Now, it's our chance to go and prove it." Daniel J. Thomas (Rockford) Emergency Medicine residency program, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois d e s t i n at i o n : illinois medicine | 29

• Cover