AMONG PEERS
ALPHA OMEGA ALPHA MEDICAL HONOR SOCIETY
Pritzker News
Now a resident, Sho Yano, MD’12, PhD’12, blends in for the first time — and likes it. BY DARCY LEWIS
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early a year into his residency in pediatric neurology at the University of Chicago Medicine, Sho Yano, MD’12, PhD’12, believes his patients and their families see him as simply another competent, caring member of the pediatric neurology team. Yano, the youngest person ever to receive a medical degree from the Pritzker School of Medicine, relishes the relative anonymity. “I don’t make a habit of telling patients my age and they don’t ask,” he said. “To them, I’m just their doctor and I like that.” At 22, Yano no longer stands out among fellow residents as he did when he entered Pritzker at 12, or Loyola University Chicago at 9. “I’ve wanted to be treated as a peer since I was in college — that’s a courtesy everyone deserves,” he said. “My colleagues know how old I am, but that doesn’t affect my professional life.” Of course, the rigors of residency offer an equalizing influence. Yano has completed a variety of rotations including general pediatrics, specialty pediatrics and some clinic rotations, including adolescent medicine, pediatric pulmonology and ambulatory pediatrics. And he has faced the inescapable reality that not all patients survive. “I lost a patient in the NICU,” he said. “I’d had training in how to cope, but nothing can really prepare you for a death.” Despite the pain of losing his tiny patient, Yano remains convinced that pediatric neurology is where he belongs. “In neurology, many kids have conditions we cannot cure and intervening is actually the wrong thing to do,” he said. “But we can
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PHOTO BY ROBERT KOZLOFF
Sho Yano, MD’12, PhD’12, in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit at the University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital.
always use a team-based approach to do many things for the whole person and the family long term.” With his PhD in molecular genetics and cell biology, Yano sees his ultimate path at the crossroads of science and medicine. “In my PhD program, I worked on DNA replication in E. coli, which has almost no clinical relevance but was an interesting basic science project,” he said. “I still want to be a medical scientist specializing in pediatric neurology. Now I just have to figure out to apply these skills to neurology problems.”
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICINE AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DIVISION
he University of Chicago Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society Class of 2013 has announced faculty, housestaff and alumni award winners. This year, three of the honorees are from the University of Chicago Medicine Department of Obstetrics/Gynecology: Sabrina Holmquist, MD, MPH, assistant professor and director of the third-year medical student clerkship in obstetrics/gynecology; Samantha Pace, MD, fourth-year resident; and Michael J. Hughey, MD, clinical educator at the affiliated NorthShore University Health System. Hughey received the Volunteer Clinical Faculty Award, which recognizes a community physician for teaching excellence. “It’s unusual for a small department such as ours to have so many people honored at one time,” said Sandra Valaitis, MD’89, chief of gynecology/reconstructive pelvic surgery. “We are very proud of this recognition and feel this is a reflection of the dedication to teaching that our residents and faculty provide to Pritzker students.” AOA students also elected Daniel Rubin, MD, assistant professor of anesthesia; housestaff Juan Camilo Barreto-Andrade, MD, and Sherise Ferguson, MD’06, both of the Department of Surgery; and alumni Donald D. Brown, MD’56, MS’56, Department of Embryology, Carnegie Institution of Science; and James E. Bradner, MD’99, Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Department of Surgery. A list of the 2013 inductees, announced last fall, can be found at pritzker.uchicago.edu/ current/students/aoa.shtml.