| Medical School: Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences | Career Goals: NICU fellowship |
| Hometown: Rochester, MN | Email: jwilcken@salud.unm.edu |
Why UNM is My Choice for Residency: I honestly never thought of living in Albuquerque and did not know much about the city when I applied here. However, I knew I wanted to come here for residency pretty quickly on my interview day. The first aspect that stuck out to me was also the most important aspect when finding the right residency for me. This was the people of the residency. I felt like I could truly be happy working with these people, as they seemed to be supportive of one another, motivated to learn and work hard, and were overall a happy bunch of people. The next things were the location of the program, right next to the Sandia Mountains, and the size of the city. I love to be outdoors and I love the fact that there are so many outdoor activities to do here that are so close to the city. I have time to explore on my days off even after several days of work. An added bonus to these two aspects is that Albuquerque has a diverse population of people. We are able to work with people from the city and patients from rural NM where they have far fewer resources. Due to a combination of these three aspects, I knew UNM was the right fit for me!
Favorite Things About UNM: My favorite aspect is definitely the people. I like my co-residents, attendings, and really all the people I work with at UNM! I love that after work I can walk out my front door to a path in the foothills!
Favorite Things About NM: There are so many day trips that one can take from Albuquerque. I love to hike, mountain bike, camp, and ski!