Pullman Regional Hospital announces three new residents

Three new medical residents will join Pullman Regional Hospital’s Family Medicine program in June, hospital officials announced Friday.

Kelsey Mader, Karly Perin, and Tuarum Shakir were selected from more than 500 residency applicants representing 235 medical schools. Of those, hospital officials interviewed 53 applicants for the positions.

A medical residency is a type of post-graduate training required for doctors after they complete medical school. Residents and hospitals rank their top candidates, who are then matched by an algorithm.

Over the course of their three-year residencies, Mader, Perin and Shakir will see and treat patients alongside family medicine doctors Molly Thompson and Brenna Harris. 

Mader brings experience working as a certified nursing assistant at an Alzheimer’s Disease-focused facility, work volunteering for a charitable clinic and experience as a volunteer translator for Hands for Haiti. 

Perin previously served as a volunteer for medical missions in Mexico that provided medical, optometry and dental work. She impressed interviewers with her energy and excitement to do something new, Thompson said.

“When you think about residencies, and medical education, going toward something new is not necessarily the safest choice,” Thompson said. “So, someone’s saying that they are excited to be that innovator, that’s memorable.”

Shakir’s experience includes work as a CNA (certified nursing assistant) at the Snoqualmie Valley Hospital. She also volunteered at a refugee center in Kent, and, during her undergraduate at the University of Washington, served as a founding member of a university club that evolved into a nonprofit providing hot meals to the food-insecure.

Residents also will go through clinical rotations in specialties, including pediatrics, surgery, emergency medicine and obstetrics.

The three are the second cohort to join PRH’s residency program, joining Dr. Bolu Olawuyi, Dr. Jeffrey Ward, and Dr. Mohammed Younes.

Training more family medicine residents is especially exciting because there’s a national shortage of primary care providers, Thompson said.

“Family medicine, it’s really the basis of our medical system,” Thompson said. “To train that next generation and make sure that we’re still taking care of our population, that’s exciting and crucial.”