Graduation/Best Clinical Research

Even though the residents don't finish until June 28th, the Scripps Graduation dinner was held today!

It was at the Hyatt in UTC, free wine and beer, FREE yummy dinner (surf (swordfish) and turf (nicely cooked medium rare filets)!), and dessert.

Us with Dave's fellow R3 Carl and his girlfriend, Jill

Dave, Richard (R2), and future intern Derek (he rotated with Dave as a med student and was AWESOME -- a valuable recruit for Scripps!)
my bro Ben and Neill joined us for the festivities

Another R3 Mansur and his wife, Lucy, talking to Dr. Higginbottom (a very brilliant physician, I must say)
Luminaries from Scripps
Proof of completion!!!!
And the biggest biggest surprise came later in the evening. At every graduation, there are a couple awards given out to members of the graduating class. One of which is for the best research project performed during their residency. Scripps is one of the few residencies that requires their residents to perform a research project during their program. I have no idea when they had time to do this... But Dave managed to spend some time working on angiogenesis in Quigley's lab in TSRI with a great postdoc, Veronica. And he managed to win the award!!!! It came as a big shock to him, and I really wished I caught the goofy grin on his face on camera.... But you'll just have to settle for a picture of the plaque. (Oh, and it came with a $500 check!)
Dr. Higginbottom presented the award. It was really great and he briefly described Dave's project. I'm very impressed by this man because we recently had dinner with him and had a nice conversation about science and research. Wow, what a sharp mind. He asked me about my project and was very fascinated by it, and even asked me to come give a talk to the residents in the fall (he wants someone to give the residents a perspective on the linkage between bench to bedside, and a timeline of how LONG the bench side can take)! Unfortunately for me, he definitely remembered it, and announced it to everyone at the dinner as part of his congratulatory speech to Dave!!!!... But I also really like him because he told Dave that Dave gave the BEST presentations out of all the residents (and meant it genuinely), that Dave was able to explain basic science to clinicians with no research background, which is no small feat!... And he encourages Dave to find a way to link his research mind to his clinical responsibilities in the future... Awwww, I'm so proud of my Dave.