Graham Wagner, MD
Why did you choose PM&R?
I really love the idea of focusing on function. I also really found "my people" when rotating with PM&R as a medical student - kind, active, happy people.
What is your favorite aspect of academic medicine?
By far getting to work with people who are in various stages of their training, from pre-meds to fellows.
What is the best advice you received during medical or graduate school?
Go into a specialty that you love, because you are going to spend an awful lot of time doing it. Don't chase the money, chase your interest.
What is the best advice you received during residency?
Learn as much as you can during residency - it goes fast and you will be expected to know the answers as soon as you are done.
What advice do you have for PM&R applicants?
Four years is a long time to live and work somewhere, so make sure you like the people you meet and the location of the residencies you are considering.
What advice do you have for PM&R residents?
Seek out ways to explore all of your potential interests early. If you think you may have an interest in sub-specialty, seek out research, the "currency" of fellowship applications.
What is you life motto?
Send it. Well, it used to be until all that sending it caught up with me.
What is your favorite activity in Utah?
Mountain biking. It's what skiers do when they want to have fun.
What is your favorite mountain bike loop in Utah?
Whole Enchilada in Moab. Jenny's to Red Bull in Park City if you only have 45 minutes
What is your favorite weekend road trip from Salt Lake City?
Moab in spring and fall, Jackson in winter and summer.
What is your favorite place to ski?
Alta
What is the best restaurant in Salt Lake City?
Red Iguana
What is your favorite summer activity in Utah?
Mountain biking
What is your favorite hike in Utah?
Zion Park
Michael Campian, DO
Why did you choose PM&R?
I choose PM&R because I feel it is the best foundation for becoming an exceptional musculoskeletal physician. You get not only extensive knowledge of the musculoskeletal system but also the nervous system as well as addressing function.
What is your favorite aspect of academic medicine?
I enjoy teaching the residents about all aspects of the musculoskeletal system specifically musculoskeletal ultrasound.
What advice do you have for PM&R applicants?
You can't go wrong with any PM&R program, but I am a bit biased about our program here.
What advice do you have for PM&R residents?
Keep an open mind coming in and as you advance through training. You may feel like you "know" you want to do a certain thing but then realize once you are going through all the different rotation, you are interested in a completely different thing. You don't want to constrain yourself by being closed minded.
What is you life motto?
Relentless forward motion.
What is your favorite activity in Utah?
All activities: running, mountain biking, climbing and skiing.
What is your favorite mountain bike loop in Utah?
Any in Corner Canyon
What is your favorite weekend road trip from Salt Lake City?
Moab
What is your favorite place to ski?
Backcountry but I do enjoy lapping Snowbird.
What is the best concert venue?
Red Butte Garden
What is the best dog park?
Millcreek Canyon
What is your favorite summer activity in Utah?
Being outside and adventuring in the mountains.
What is your favorite hike in Utah?
This is a challenging question, maybe Alta-Brighton loop in the late spring.
Daniel M. Cushman, MD
Why did you choose PM&R?
I was debating between internal medicine and PM&R for awhile. I ultimately chose PM&R because it just had everything I liked, and had the best philosophy. I don’t regret it!
What is your favorite aspect of academic medicine?
I get to learn something new every day while still caring for patients. Teaching, research, and clinical care all fit together; it keeps me from getting bored!
What is the best advice you received during medical or graduate school?
Find the worst part about a specialty. If you can live with that, you’ve found your calling. Don’t choose a specialty in which you’ll “get through” the residency to get to the fun stuff. The residency should be what you enjoy.
What advice do you have for PM&R applicants?
Find a program that will challenge you and has faculty that will support you.
What advice do you have for PM&R residents?
You’ll hit a low early on. That’s normal. It only gets better as you go on. It’s much better to be challenged during residency when there are others to fall back on, than when you’re out on your own.
What is your favorite activity in Utah?
Cycling & trail running.
What is your favorite hike in Utah?
I just can’t get over that I live a mile from the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. I can go for an endless trail run from my house. Or, I can walk a mile to downtown.
Shane Dangerfield, MD
Advice for applicants and residents?
Your medical training has done a great job in teaching you to live your life in segments. Don't wish away the present (I wish I was in residency, I wish I was an attending, I wish I was retired.... I wish, I wish, I wish). Be present and enjoy the stage you are in. Take every moment to learn and grow, be humble, teachable, and most of all KIND.
Favorite Mt Bike loop?
Wasatch Crest, down Milcreek, up Big Cottonwood. Favorite Road bike loop: Emigration to Big Mountain, down East Canyon, through Morgan, up Trappers loop, down Ogden canyon (Super sketch... Be careful), and back around. Also, Farmington to Antelope island (In the Big Salty Lake)and back, especially if you can catch a sunset on the west side of the Island... Beautiful!
Favorite Weekend Road Trip?
Tetons/Yellowstone... Love it love it love it!!!
Best place to ski?
Alta Best place to board: Snowbird
Best Restaurant in SLC?
Rodizio grill (if you like meat) or Royal India (Bountiful). Skewered Thai is great as well.
Best hike near SLC?
Lake Blanche/Sundial peak. (Better when the snow falls.. Beware of angry moose), Don't tell anyone, but Bair Canyon is Awesome as well. I like to keep her hidden and all to myself. Again, spectacular when the snow falls.
Favorite summer activity in Utah?
Sharing a cool summer evening on the back porch with my wife and children.. Also, I love hammering up a canyon on my Road Bike. Love those long summer days!
Ali Flis, MD
Why did you choose PM&R?
I love encouraging people to push their limits - PM&R lets me help patient's set goals and achieve them. It is the perfect blend of internal medicine and musculoskeletal medicine to keep me intellectually curious throughout my career.
What is your favorite aspect of academic medicine?
I love learning. Academic medicine allows you to collaborate across specialties and be in a constant growth mindset.
What advice do you have for PM&R applicants?
Look for a program that will help you grow as a physician and develop the skills you need to achieve your personal goals
What advice do you have for PM&R residents?
Stay curious. Use residency to explore and learn as much as possible.
What is your life motto?
Never settle...you should always strive to be better
What is your favorite activity in Utah?
I initially came to Utah for the winters and skiing but the summers filled with biking, hiking, and camping are what keeps me here.
What is for favorite mountain bike loop in Utah?
I love the trails in Park City. With over 450 miles of single track in the area, it is hard to choose just one…
What is your favorite weekend road trip from Salt Lake City?
Steamboat, CO is the perfect place to escape to for a quick weekend. It is a great resort town and ski area in the winter and endless gravel roads for cycling in the summer.
Where is your favorite place to ski?
Anytime you can ski with the TRAILS program, it is a great reminder of all the good that is done in PM&R.
What is your favorite summer activity in Utah?
Camping in the Uintas
Kevin Park, FAAPMR, MBBS
Why did you choose PM&R?
I completed Internal Medicine residency. Along my residency training I wanted to focus on improving patient’s quality of life and field of PM&R allowed me to do just that.
What is your favorite aspect of academic medicine?
Academic medicine helps me to always stay up to date on the latest information. It gives me the ability to ask questions and search for answers. Lastly, it helps me collaborate with brilliant minds in medicine.
What is the best advice you received during medical or graduate school?
Residency is hard, when picking a residency program, go to a place where they make you feel like a family. Your fellow residences will become your second family and your best support system.
Bradeigh Godfrey, DO
Why did you choose PM&R?
I was initially drawn to the combination of the musculoskeletal and neurologic systems that is found in PM&R, then fell in love with the focus on function and supporting our patients in achieving their goals. I love that the field allows me to have longstanding relationships with my patients and work in teams with therapists (PT, OT, SLP) and other healthcare professionals. I also love that PM&R allows me to do a variety of things during my work week, from clinical care to procedures to electrodiagnostics (EMG).
What is your favorite aspect of academic medicine?
I love teaching residents and medical students, and supporting them in achieving their goals. Working with trainees forces me to stay on top of my field and continuously improve my own practice. I love the relationships and friendships I have made with residents and students, and watching them grow and succeed is one of the best parts of my job.
What advice do you have for PM&R applicants?
Look for a program that has the kind of people you want to hang out with: the kind of residents you want to associate with, and the kind of attendings you want to someday become.
What advice do you have for PM&R residents?
Residency feels really long when you’re in it, but it’s such a short time period in your life. Take the opportunity to ask questions, learn as much as possible, and absorb as much knowledge as you can. Soon enough you’ll be in practice and on your own, so don’t rush the learning process.
What is your life motto?
This quote from Theodore Roosevelt: “It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who…at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly.”
Especially this line: There is no effort without error or shortcoming. If you want to achieve anything great, you have to be willing to fail, and fail again, over and over, and still continue working until you reach your goal.
What is your favorite weekend road trip from Salt Lake City?
In the summer: Bear Lake. In the spring/fall: Moab.
What is the best restaurant in Salt Lake City?
I have loved Red Iguana since I was a kid and it’s still my favorite food in the valley. Their mole poblano is heaven.
What is your favorite hike in Utah?
In all of Utah, Calf Creek Falls in Escalante. In the Salt Lake area, Grandeur Peak in Millcreek canyon.
Michael Green, DO
Why did you choose PMR?
I chose PMR because it was the best fit for me. I love all branches of medicine, but the cool thing about PMR is that you treat the entire person as a whole. Peds Rehab has a very diverse patient population which makes it such a fun branch of medicine. No two patients are the same, so no two days are ever the same. It doesn't ever get boring! I like solving problems and treating the entire patient while having fun with it.
What advice do you have for PMR residents?
The best advice I have for PMR residents is to be open to everything. Be willing to ask questions and try new things. You might find passion in places you never thought of. You won't ever have to make a big life decision on day one, so get exposure to all aspects of what PMR is and what it has to offer.
What is your favorite activity in Utah?
I love the yearlong outdoor adventure. Every season has something to offer from jump roping outside to sledding, and from hiking in the mountains to skiing down them. There is always something to do and new things to discover.
Pam Hansen, MD
Why did you choose PM&R?
It was the one field I found where the focus was empowering the patient.
What is your favorite aspect of medicine?
All of the lives I get the privilege of being a little part of.
What is the best advice you received during medical school?
To continue to take care of myself during this busy time of life and to remain balanced and healthy.
What is the best advice you received during residency?
To try to learn from every patient what makes their life most meaningful.
What advice do you have for PM&R residents?
Don't spend your career chasing money or prestige of big titles. It is an easy trap to fall into and these goals will prevent you from ever being totally free. Follow your passions.
What is your life motto?
Impact someone's life in a positive way every day.
What is your favorite activity in Utah?
Running.
What is your favorite weekend road trip from Salt Lake City?
Bear Lake, we have a cabin there and it is my happy place.
Where is your favorite place to ski?
Solitude. I don't like waiting in lines.
What is the best restaurant in Salt Lake City?
Lai Cai Noodle house, Thai food. So good.
What is the best concert venue?
Red Butte Gardens! Outdoors, beautiful and great line-up of concerts every summer.
What is the best dog park?
My dog's favorite is Wasatch Hallow. So that is where she usually brings me.
What is your favorite summer activity in Utah?
I love paddle boarding on Bear Lake. The water is crystal clear and you can see the fish swimming deep below you. When you look up you see the mountains. It is a little slice of heaven.
What is your favorite hike in Utah?
Lake Blanche has always been a favorite. I love hikes that end with a lake and a beautiful view.
If you are not at work, where can we find you?
Running the trails or in my yard with my family, my dog and a glass of inexpensive wine.
Zachary L. McCormick, MD
What is your favorite aspect of academic medicine?
The energy of communal curiosity, collaboration, and constantly pushing the boundaries of our current knowledge.
What is your favorite activity in Utah?
Anything to do with the mountains!
Where is your favorite place to ski?
We have so many incredible ski resorts, but it's hard to beat Alta and Snowbird... can I choose two?...
Toni Roberts, DO
Why did you choose PM&R?
I loved neurology but wanted to do more to improve the quality of life of the patients, so PM&R was a perfect fit.What is your favorite aspect of academic medicine?
Watching residents on the steep learning curve of electrodiagnostic medicine. It’s fascinating how much they learn in 3 short years.
What is your life motto?
Start each day with a grateful heart
What is the best concert venue?
USANA Amphitheater
What is your favorite summer activity in Utah?
Paddle boarding, swimming, boating or anything to do with water.
David Steinberg, MD
Why did you choose PM&R?
Loved the practical, collaborative, and holistic nature of PM&R. My interests are particularly focused on neurorehabilitation but musculoskeletal, sports, and spine care. I enjoy procedures but also cognitively based endeavors. Enjoy working collaboratively with an interdisciplinary team to help patients overcome devastating neurologic injuries physically, psychologically, and socially. PM&R provided a synergy between so many of my interests, and I love the people, systems, and processes that are utilized in an inpatient rehab program.
What is your favorite aspect of medicine?
I enjoy the creative and integrated work of building teams and improving systems of care. I appreciate most the trust and opportunity that is created when as a physician I’m welcomed into the sacred world of another human being with the intent and potential to make a positive impact.
What is the best advice you received during medical school?
“Go where the sick patients are.” This advice from a trusted professor in undergrad helped me understand that studying medicine was an immersive and transformational journey that would ask of me to intentionally seek knowledge and opportunity. One had to make decisions that would allow you to both be of use and be exposed to growth opportunities.
What is the best advice you received during residency?
“Invest in Starbucks.” First store was close to RIC in downtown Chicago. Everyone loved it. Oh yeah… also “Always put the patient’s needs first.” And “The team meeting is to the rehab doctor what the confessional is to the priest.”
What advice do you have for PM&R applicants?
Be genuine and look for a place where you can be the best version of yourself.
What advice do you have for PM&R residents?
Develop your lifelong learning habits, organizational skills, and communication skills. Be sure you are not only delving deeply into specific areas of knowledge but also maintaining a broad awareness and interest in other subjects and the world.
What is your life motto?
“A ship is safest in harbor, but that’s not what a ship is made for.”
What is your favorite activity in Utah?
Planning our next outdoor adventure. Hiking with my wife and new puppy, Little Bear.
What is for favorite mountain bike loop in Utah?
Crest Trail was amazing! Always love the BST and Park City. Just discovered Corner Canyon.
What is your favorite weekend road trip from Salt Lake City?
Heading to Loft Lake Trail in Uintas. For a longer excursion have headed to Flaming Gorge and the Green River.
Where is your favorite place to ski?
Alta #1, Solitude #2
What is the best restaurant in Salt Lake City?
Curry Fried Chicken on State St. Also love Eva on South Main.
What is the best concert venue?
Red Butte Gardens
What is your favorite hike in Utah?
Love hiking in Mill Creek on an off-leash day with our puppy. Especially love hiking from Butler Fork to Gobblers Nob Trail when the wild flowers are in bloom.
If you are not at work, where can we find you?
In SLC either home or hiking/biking the BST
Susan Garstang, MD
Why did you choose PM&R?
I loved everything in medical school, but was particularly interested in Neurology, Internal Medicine, Orthopedics, and Rheumatology. But none seemed exactly right. Then I stumbled across the field of PM&R [during Neurology, where it seemed to be a location where many of the patients got to go] and sought out a rotation on Inpatient Rehab. My first day I attended a Team Conference, and it was a “light bulb moment” for me – definitely the way I wanted to practice medicine, in a team, talking about goals and function. Doing rotations further cemented my desire to care for the types of conditions seen in PM&R, in a setting that made me want to come to work every day excited to see the patient’s progress.
What is your favorite aspect of academic medicine?
Teaching students and residents, of course!!! 😊 I love helping people learn, and feel supported while doing so. It also keeps me current on knowledge, and lets me share my skills and wisdom with others in a way that uses my experience to the benefit of many (instead of letting others figure stuff out on their own).
What is the best advice you received during medical or graduate school?
“Find your people”. This is how to figure out what is the best fit for your interests, or at least a big part of figuring things out; it applies to choosing a residency, and also to choosing an area of PM&R to focus on (or a fellowship, or even a job after training). When you find a group of like-minded providers, who care about the same things you do, and whose interests and values resonate with you, then you are generally going to enjoy the work as well.
What advice do you have for PM&R applicants?
Understand how the Match algorithm works; it really does favor the applicant (you!). So don’t second guess your worth or ability to go to a certain program. Just rank the programs in the order you want to attend. But also remember that PM&R is competitive, so rank all programs that you might want to go to so that you do match in PM&R.
What is your life motto?
“Wag more, bark less.” Try to avoid being unnecessarily dramatic or vocal about things; take the good in each day and enjoy every interaction at its face value.
What is your favorite activity in Utah?
Camping with my husband and doggies in our teardrop trailer. There are so many places to camp in Utah in the National Forests, and lots of climate diversity; you can go into the mountains in the summer to beat the heat (Mirror Lake Highway, or the high Uintas, or the Sawtooth range in Idaho) and then in the winter you can head south (Goblin Valley or Snow Canyon or any of the FIVE National Parks in Utah). Utah has so much geologic diversity, it will take you several years to explore even some of it.
What is the best restaurant in Salt Lake City?
We like Skewered Thai, Red Iguana, or Bombay House; yummy, inexpensive, casual. So many options, though!!!
