Mary Lacy, MD
Associate Residency Program Director
Associate Clerkship Director
University of New Mexico School of Medicine
How long have you been a member of AAIM?
I joined AAIM when I became the Associate Clerkship Director at the University of New Mexico in July of 2017. Since then, I have learned so much from the resources AAIM offers for both the clerkship and the residency program.
What is your favorite part of your job?
Truly, the variety. Something in my new role as an APD that I really love is hearing from residents directly about what needs to be better – whether it be during my time on wards or in an advisee meeting - and coming up with practical pathways to make improvements. We may not get there quickly and it may not be perfect, but I really love trying to drive those improvements in an iterative way.
How has the AAIM membership been of value to you and your career?
In so many ways. I went to Fall APDIM last year (2019) and loved the pre-course for new program/associate program directors. It was so great to see my own program director from residency (Ken Steinberg) kick start that meeting and then to have another program director share a very inspiring story about a preliminary resident who had decided to stay in medicine and transferred programs – particularly because I slowly realized this resident was one of my own advisees! Another thing I appreciated at that meeting was that AAIM felt like an organization where there were so many incredibly accomplished women helping to lead the way and inspire us all. In terms of resources, I’ve really appreciated that AAIM helped me figure out how to restructure our departmental letters in a standardized way, how to teach sub-interns, and most recently how to take on chairing our Program Evaluation Committee.
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