Jason Block, 2019

I graduated from EM residency at MMC in 2019. MMC offered the ideal balance of strong EM training, living where people vacation, and year around access to the great outdoors. The multidisciplinary EM faculty, strong ultrasound experience, and early exposure to the ICU were important to me. Over the three years I enjoyed spending time in the MICU, SICU, CCU, and CTICU. After residency, I pursued critical care fellowship, and graduated from Stanford in 2021. I’ve since worked as an intensivist in a large urban ICU in Minneapolis - spending time in all ICUs, but with a predilection to the CTICU. I enjoy the CTICU for the pure cardiovascular physiology, heavy reliance on echocardiography, and mechanical circulatory support (not to mention that most patients who come to the CTICU become well enough to go home!)

Our time in Maine was highlighted by skiing at Shawnee Peak, climbing in the White Mountains with co-resident, climbing partner, and friend Andrew Fried, and relaxing on the many local beaches.

Brook and Heidi Goddard, 2019

Brook and I graduated from MMC EM residency in 2019. Prior to our interview, neither of us had ever traveled to the Northeast before, but we fell in love with both Maine and the EM program, and could not have asked for a better residency experience. The department provided excellent well-rounded training, the faculty were supportive, and the off-service rotations offered important critical care experiences. We lived in South Portland by Willard Beach, and often reminisce about our beach and neighborhood walks through that lovely coastal community. During residency, Brook was able to surf frequently, and together we explored the coast on paddle boards, hiked, skied, and traveled through Maine, to Canada, and abroad. We got our Golden Retriever, Happy, from Oxford – he’s our daily reminder of our time in Maine. After graduating, we moved back to Santa Cruz, California, where we still work today at the local community ER. Thanks to our training at Maine Med, we feel comfortable caring for patients of all ages in a busy, sometimes single-coverage department. We loved our time in Maine, and cannot wait to return someday soon to visit.

Peter Antkowiak, 2019

I absolutely loved everything about my experience at MMC! After residency, thanks to some great mentorship and networking from the MMC faculty, I was able to move to Boston to complete an Administrative & Operations fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and an MPH in Healthcare Management at Harvard. The clinical strength of training at MMC helped my transition to practice as both an academic and community attending at various sites in Massachusetts very smoothly. The additional training I received in data analysis, quality improvement, and research while at MMC also helped me to excel in a leadership path. In just 3 years since graduation, I’ve been fortunate to have published several research papers, have been promoted to Chief of a 40,000+ visit Emergency Department in central Massachusetts, and continue to teach fellows and residents as academic faculty on the operations team at BIDMC. I credit MMC for the amazing 3 years of exceptional training, strong work-life balance, and lifelong friendships that have allowed me to succeed as an attending after graduation. 

Katie Main, 2021

As of May 2022, Katie Main is currently completing her first year of Global Emergency Medicine and Rural Health Fellowship through the University of Washington. The year's adventures have given her the opportunity to work in Anchorage at Alaska Native Medical Center, as well as in Kotzebue and Sitka. She works closely with rural health providers, called community health aides who are trained to care for their friends and families in more remote areas of Alaska. In these areas, providers have access to limited medications, diagnostics, and support. She has also spent time in Kiana, a village of approximately 300, providing emergency, primary, and in-home care to community members. In the next six months, Katie will be working with Partners in Health in Harper, Liberia, assisting the local ED providers to develop training protocols, build capacity, and provide support in the ED. She will then be attending the GORGAS Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Diploma course in Lima, Peru. Katie hopes to continue working in both rural and international settings in her future career post-fellowship.

Nick ashenburg, 2017

I arrived at Maine Med in 2014 excited to be at MMC primarily for the people (I had rotated there) and the amazing opportunities to learn emergency medicine, but also the access to the mountains and beaches and excellent beer.  Much to my delight, my experience in Portland over delivered on all of those expectations and has since set me up for what has been an exciting career in academic medicine (and has left me many amazing mentors in its wake).  Coming into MMC I didn't know if I was aiming for fellowship, practice in the community, an academic path, or a mix - and part of what attracted me to that program is I felt I would be set up for success down the road irregardless of what I chose.  I was right!  After having the incredible opportunity at MMC to train in an ED without the likes of orthopedic, neurology, ophthalmology, ENT, plastics, and various other subspecialty residents and fellows combined with plenty of ICU experience, I felt equipped to moonlight in rural hospitals in Maine and South Carolina while I pursued a Point-of-care Ultrasound Fellowship (POCUS) at MUSC in Charleston, SC.  During that year, reflecting on my time as a senior resident at MMC I realized I very much enjoyed teaching not just my patients but also residents and medical students.  This led me to take my current position as core faculty of Stanford's Emergency Medicine Residency in Palo Alto, CA with the specific responsibility of directing the POCUS education for EM residents and the Stanford medical student POCUS clerkship.  Since then, I have been able to complete a Biodesign Fellowship at Stanford and more recently the ALIEM Faculty Incubator in addition to work as an attending in the Stanford ED.  I credit MMC and the tremendous support and guidance I received while there with helping me find my way and preparing me to tackle any clinical or academic challenge.  While I don't believe I could have received better training anywhere in the country, it was the community and support (I truly struggled intern year) that MMC offered that is unparalleled! And it comes with life in Portland which is the best place I have ever lived.