Our beautiful surroundings in New Mexico are certainly one of the draws for many of our residents and faculty (see “Do I have to rock climb to match at UNM” below). This also overlaps with “What is Life in ABQ like?”. In short, faculty and residents enjoy the terrific weather that New Mexico offers--and many socialize by being outdoors for a variety of activities, including running, cycling, climbing, camping, fishing, and skiing. 

New Mexico has a very long, rich cultural history to learn about. The earliest known inhabitants in New Mexico stretch back to ~11,000 BCE with the Clovis people (artifacts found near Clovis, NM) to more recent ancestral pueblo and Mogollon cultures. There is a vast number of historic archaeological sites to visit including Bandelier, Chaco Canyon, and Mogollon. In more recent history (meaning the past 500 to 1000 years!), New Mexico was inhabited by many different indigenous peoples (now represented by 23 different federally recognized tribes in NM). More recently, the Spanish came to New Mexico in 1598 (from New Spain, now (old) Mexico) creating the oldest capital in (now) the US in Santa Fe (still the capital!). Other peoples have since come to New Mexico, making Albuquerque a diverse city within a minority-majority state. With all this history, there are countless places to explore. See https://www.newmexico.org/ for more information and ideas.

The food culture in New Mexico is also unique. New Mexican cuisine while related to Mexican food, it is distinct--with a focus on the New Mexico chile (our state question is “Red or Green?”). In addition to New Mexican food, nearly all other cuisines can be discovered around the state. Santa Fe offers a large number of higher end restaurants. We encourage you to investigate it when you can! (For more casual browsing from a distance, try nmgastronome.org for a list of restaurants and cuisines around the state.) It’s also hard to mention eating in Albuquerque without noting its craft beer scene. It has exploded over the last decade as one of the top states in the country for craft breweries per capita - but maybe more importantly, a high density of award-winning brews!

New Mexico is also a major artist hub with many galleries in and around the Albuquerque and Santa Fe areas. Albuquerque is a hotspot in the nation for urban art and has one of the oldest public art programs in the country with organizations like Los Muros de Burque passionately spreading the word. Art crawls are a fun way to spend time with family and friends. Santa Fe hosts several major art festivals every year, including the International Folk Art Market, Indian Market, and the Traditional Spanish Market. 

In addition to art, New Mexico has a vibrant local and regional live music scene, heavily latin-influenced, but the global influence is embodied in the annual ¡Globalquerque! world music celebration. Even if you are not into opera, tailgating with a cross-section of Santa Feans in your jeans or a ball gown, seeing the last rays of sun through the back of the open-air stage, followed by a world premiere by renowned opera singers is a fairly unparalleled experience.

The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta in early October is a site like no other. For one week, the skies over Albuquerque are filled with hot air balloons. Mass ascension events can have over 500 balloons in the air.  

We have a crew of faculty and residents who are ardent knitters. One of our residency grads, Bronwyn Wilson, has a terrific following on instagram. Check her out! (https://www.instagram.com/casapinka/)

For sports enthusiasts, Albuquerque’s 310 sunny days per year make it a great place for year-round participation or spectation. Many residents and faculty are already ardent supporters of NM United, our new USL pro soccer club who played their first games in the 2019 season. There is also pro baseball, pro indoor football, minor league soccer, and pro basketball starting in 2019. The UNM Lobos also have several worthy teams to follow, including Division 1 football, Men’s & Women’s basketball and Women’s soccer. We have the largest covered BMX facility in the world, hosting pro BMX riders from around the world. 

And for those with children, there are a ton of great ways to entertain and educate kids in Albuquerque, with a world-class zoo, botanic garden with a G-scale railroad and castle, museums, aquarium, parks, open-spaces, urban and foothill trails, indoor climbing gyms, skate parks, and family-oriented festivals & outdoor concerts. 

What efforts towards diversity and inclusion is the residency program making? 

We consider this a top-down effort that begins at the institutional level with hiring decisions, policies, financial support and cultural norm setting, proceeds through departmental hiring with some of the same considerations, and then learner recruitment. Of course this all happens concurrently but without support from the top is very difficult to accomplish. After 30 years with one of our emergency physicians at the helm of the institution as the HSC Chancellor / Dean of the SOM and Executive Vice President, the institution is splitting those two functions apart and currently hiring for both. Last year the institution hired two women in top leadership. Kate Becker came in as UNM Hospital CEO and has been an energising force for UNM hospitals, and our new University President, Garnett Stokes, has been busy with outreach around the state. Diversity and inclusion has been one of the strongest considerations in our ongoing selection of the new EVP. At the departmental level, our chair has set social justice and diversity as our primary goal for the next 5 years. Cameron Crandall is one of our senior leadership as longtime Vice Chair for Research and also serves as the Associate Vice Chancellor for HSC LGBTQ Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and JP Sanchez joined our department in July as our Vice Chair for Diversity and Inclusion. Dr. Sanchez is a national leader in diversity and we are really looking forward to working with him to shape our departmental efforts. At the program level, last year we began considering our recruitment process in terms of effect on diversity. This is an ongoing process, and one which we hope will wrap up this year, although this recruitment season has thrown a wrench into that. So we are trying to systematically address diversity among our residents, but also plan to continue to work closely with Drs. Sanchez & Crandall and our other institutional resources to include education efforts, culture components, and communication encouragement.

Albuquerque is a diverse, livable, mid-size city with a low-cost of living, and unbeatable access to the outdoors. There is a vibrant and growing food and brewery scene in Albuquerque. Many residents live within walking or biking distance of the hospital. The average rent in Albuquerque for a 1 BR is $922/mo as of July 2020, but with roommates or a partner you can pay significantly less. Housing prices in Albuquerque are so affordable that it's not uncommon for residents to buy a home. 
Outside of Albuquerque, Santa Fe is an hour-drive with its renowned arts and cultural scene, Taos is 2½ hours through some of the most scenic driving in the country. New Mexico has dozens of state and national parks, cultural monuments, and beautiful outdoor recreation areas.

https://www.visitalbuquerque.org/
https://www.newmexico.org/
https://youtu.be/ZzRLNZFBV0w
https://youtu.be/LwHFYwB5SJA
https://youtu.be/Btx-DfE8-Io

We’ve described a lot of what Albuquerque and New Mexico have to offer above under “What types of social activities do your residents, staff and faculty engage in?”.

No! Access to the outdoors is one of the things that draws many people to New Mexico. Many of our residents enjoy different types of outdoor recreation (and it makes for great recruiting pictures) but outdoor prowess is by no means a prerequisite to matching at UNM or enjoying life in Albuquerque. But we have been known to make converts out of indoor-oriented interns!

Supporting our residents' families is critical to supporting our residents. Many of our residents have young children at home, we also have faculty members who had their children while they were residents here with us. 

If a resident or their partner is pregnant, the institution provides 2 weeks of parental leave and allows an additional 2 weeks of sick leave plus 2 weeks of annual leave or FMLA, which can be combined. The ACGME requires 46 weeks of training to get credit for an academic year. If a resident wanted to take more than 6 weeks of leave, their training would need to be extended and we would work with them to facilitate the completion of their requirements.