S - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School - Rutgers, The State ...

Joanne Kulinski Mazzarelli,MD ’05, and AnthonyMazzarelli, JD, MBE, MD ’02The Residency Years:Choices and ChallengesJoanne Kulinski met AnthonyMazzarelli when she was in sixthgrade and he was in seventh. Theylost track of each other and met againwhen she was at Rutgers, applying tomedical schools. They started datingwhen she was a senior and he was athird-year medical student. “We spentJoanne & AnthonyMazzarellia lot of time talking about medicineand discussing my decision,” she says.When Joanne was a first-year studentin New Brunswick, Anthony wasin his fourth year of medical school onthe Camden campus, simultaneouslycompleting his second year of lawschool at the University of Pennsylvaniaand his first year of a master’s degreeat Penn’s Center for Bioethics. At theend of that year, the U.S. Junior Chamberof Commerce named Anthony oneof Ten Outstanding Young Americans.He had been nominated for thehonor by Joanne, who cited not onlyhis academic achievements, but alsohis community involvement. Anthonyco-founded the student-run HealthcareOutreach Project (HOP) in Camden,where Joanne would volunteer duringher clinical years. She currently servesas an attending preceptor at HOP.The Mazzarellis were married atthe end of her third year.Maura Santangelo andLawrence Schenk weremarried in 1973, afterearning their master of medicalscience degrees at RWJMS (thenRutgers Medical School). They completedtheir MDs at separate schools,however: Maura at Brown UniversityMedical Center and Larry atTufts Medical School.They were back together for theirresidencies at Tufts New EnglandMedical Center, though their contrastingpersonal styles had guidedthem to very different programs.Maura is detail-oriented and consideredneurology before deciding onophthalmology because “ophthalmologistsseem to enjoy what they’redoing. They’re happy doctors.” Larrywould go into orthopaedic surgery. “Itake a broader approach to issues,”he says. “My preferred tool is a twoby-four.”Their first child, William, arrivedat the end of the first year of theirresidencies. Three years later, theirsecond, Candace, was born. Larrywas chief resident in the orthopaedicsurgery residency program, on call24/7, and Maura was completing afellowship in glaucoma at MassachusettsEye and Ear Infirmary.“Having a child while you’re a residentor fellow is insane,” Maura says,“and it was worse before there werelaws limiting residents’ workinghours. You try to schedule your hoursso you’re not on call at the same time,but it’s hard. And the whole timeyou’re at work, you’re conscious thatyour children are out there, somewhere.”Michele and Hubert Johnsonentered the Couples Matchand went to Boston, theirfirst choice, for their residencies.Hubert would do surgery at Tufts,while Michele did obstetrics and gynecologyat Beth Israel Deaconess MedicalCenter. After two years, they tookdeferments to serve as general medicalofficers in the Public Health Service(PHS) in South Carolina, where twoyear-oldChristopher was joined by asister, Kimberly. “The PHS mandatedyou see 100 patients per week,” saysHubert. “We learned a lot of medicine,but no matter how busy we were there,we weren’t as busy as we were as residentswith clinical hours plus administrativework.”Following their residencies in Boston,Hubert did a fellowship in vascular surgery,Michele entered private practice,and Nicole was born. “We enjoyed ourtime at RWJ and are grateful for theexcellent education and opportunities itprovided,” Hubert adds. “We bothgraduated from excellent residencies inBoston, all of which we attribute tobeing so well prepared by RWJ.”The Nahasses’ determination tostay near each other guidedmany of their career decisions.Ron doesn’t recall a match process,but Rosanne still had two years beforegraduation, so the residency programin the Department of Medicine atRWJMS was a clear first choice. Hesubsequently served a fourth year, aschief resident, before completing afellowship in infectious diseases, alsoat RWJMS, and joining the full-timefaculty of the Department of Medicine.Robert Wood Johnson ■ MEDICINE 49