Resident Update: Snowfall and Scalpels

Podcast Transcript

Paul Bryson: Welcome to Head and Neck Innovations, a Cleveland Clinic podcast for medical professionals exploring the latest innovations, discoveries, and surgical advances in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery.

Thanks for joining us for another episode of Head and Neck Innovations. I'm your host, Paul Bryson, Director of the Cleveland Clinic Voice Center. You can follow me on X, formerly Twitter, @PaulCBryson, and you can get the latest updates from Cleveland Clinic Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery by following @CleClinicHNI on X. That's @CleClinicHNI. You can also find us on LinkedIn at Cleveland Clinic Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, and Instagram at Cleveland Clinic Otolaryngology.

 In the fall, we kicked off our Residency Program Update podcast series with Dr. Lacey Magee and Dr. David Zimmer. And I encourage you all to go back and listen to that episode. And today I'm excited to speak with two more of our otolaryngology-head and neck surgery residents, Dr. Kash Arianpour and Dr. Sarah Benyo. Dr. Arianpour is a 5th year chief resident in our program, and Dr. Benyo is in her second year. Welcome to Head and Neck Innovations.

Kash Arianpour: Thanks for having us.

Sarah Benyo: Yeah, thank you.

Paul Bryson: Let's start by having you both share some background on yourselves for our listeners, where you're from, where you went to med school, what have you been up to in the program and over the past few months, and any highlights that you want to share about the experience. We'll start with Kash since you've been here a bit longer than Dr. Benyo, so take it away.

Kash Arianpour: Well, thanks so much for having us, Dr. Bryson. I am actually Canadian by background. I grew up in Vancouver, Canada, went to undergrad at the University of British Columbia, and then I pursued medical school at the William Beaumont School of Medicine in Michigan. So, I've been in the Midwest now over eight years.

Paul Bryson: And Sarah, how about you?

Sarah Benyo: Yeah, so I grew up in the Binghamton area in upstate New York. Went to undergrad at Hobart and Williams Smith Colleges, a small school on the Finger Lakes in New York. And then I went to Penn State for medical school in Hershey, PA, and now I can't believe I've lived in Cleveland over a year and a half now. Time goes by fast.

Paul Bryson: It really does go by fast. It's such an intense period in your lives, but also pretty exciting. Can you both share what's it like to live in Cleveland? I mean, we can talk about seasons, you're both from places that have seasons, but what's it been like to come to Cleveland, particularly from Canada via Michigan? But we'll start with you Kash. What's it been like to live here?

Kash Arianpour: I absolutely love Cleveland. For me, it was an easy transition, like you said, both from weather standpoint and just culturally coming from Michigan to here, but drastically different than Vancouver. We get a lot more snow here than I do back home, which is often surprising for people. But the weather here is awesome throughout the year, even in the winter, there's plenty to do both outdoors and indoors, and it's just easy living as residents. I think it's tough already at work, and so you don't want to have outside forces that are working against you as well. So, we don't deal with traffic. Cost of living is low, and as residents, our income goes a lot further, so we have more opportunities to kind of do fun things and do things like go to restaurants and places that we wouldn’t normally be able to afford to go.

Sarah Benyo: Yeah, I would say I grew up in a smaller town, went to college in a smaller town than med school in a smaller place, so it's been a really nice change of pace to be in a bigger city, but it's not overwhelming by any means. It's like you have all the big city amenities with, not to sound cliche, that small town feel. And I really like that about living here. There's so much to do in any season. The summers here are gorgeous on the lake. I'm a really big runner, so I love running outside. But I would say even in the wintertime there's plenty of outdoor activities, things going on throughout the city. Great restaurants, no matter the season, you're always going to find something to do, but it's also not an overwhelming place to be. And when you're a resident and you want to just hunker down on a weekend, you're not going to feel guilty for not going out and doing anything either. So that's kind of nice.

Paul Bryson: What are some of the highlights? What are your favorite things around the area? I know it can change over time a little bit, but what are some highlights?

Kash Arianpour: Yeah, so for me, I mean I think breaking it down in summertime, I live right by the lake, so going biking and running in the area, that's really what it comes down to. And I made an active decision to live a little further away from the hospital, but to be close to the water in the wintertime. I mean, we have sports forever here in Cleveland, so going to Cavs games, early winter, going to football games. So, I think the entertainment industry here is just awesome as far as being able to go out and see some sports. We're lucky enough to have several attendings who also either have season tickets or regularly participate in Cleveland sports, and so they're kind enough often to get us involved if they have extra tickets or unfilled seats, et cetera. So, it doesn't get better than that.

Sarah Benyo: And for me, like I said, I'm a big runner, but I would say the Cleveland Metroparks, even in the wintertime, usually do a really good job of keeping the paths cleared from snow. So, I'm going to run a half marathon next year, so I know this winter I'm going to hopefully be running a fair bit outside, but also, we have an awesome art scene here in general, the Cleveland Museum of Art is massive. I've been there a couple of times and feel like I haven't even hit everything. So definitely this winter I'm hoping to go there and the botanical gardens over that way, nice and warm in there to get out of the cold. But also, the theater district, I have not yet been to a show. I need to keep an eye on what's coming into town soon, but there's always musicals or plays that are going on. And the first place they come after going to New York is Cleveland, the 2nd biggest arts district, which is really awesome for the city.

Paul Bryson: Yeah, it's been amazing to see just what comes through. And it's surprising sometimes when you search for things, you're like, oh, I didn't know that that was here. Or coming to town and the theater scene, I think the sports scene that you mentioned, even the comedy scene, there's a few places to see things that are pretty good. And I guess back to the sports, I understand that there's some sports activities that occur in the residency program. I've heard talk of pickleball, and I understand that there's also some golf that occurs?

Sarah Benyo: Yeah, there's always a lot of sports. I know there's a group of them that play pickleball pretty regularly, and we had a softball team this year, which was really fun. And you play on the volleyball team?

Kash Arianpour: Yeah, I think we've been playing volleyball now three years in a row, and that's through both the winter as well as summer months. So, in the summer we do beach volleyball, and then in the winter we're indoors with each league having a different level of competitiveness. But you can imagine, put a bunch of residents in one room, it gets pretty competitive.

Sarah Benyo: We're not competitive.

Paul Bryson: Yeah, no, it sounds like a lot of fun. I'm always amazed to hear about what you guys are up to and the pictures and the stuff and it's good. There's definitely like an esprit de corps I think that you can, as a staff member, you can kind of feel with y'all.

Well, we're heading into 2024 already, the academic year we're almost halfway through. What are you both looking forward to? Sarah, as you continue to grow into the program, you're getting closer to being a senior resident, and Kash you're going to be heading out. So, what's going on in ‘24 for you guys?

Sarah Benyo: So, I would say especially in second year, I've gotten a lot more involved with research, particularly within the Division of Laryngology. And so hopefully I'm looking forward to going to a conference next year and just working more on this research. And it's been really nice to form mentorship connections with some of the staff and the fellows as well. So just continuing to build those connections moving forward. I would say in second year, our rotations are a lot of the big heavy hitters. We do consults, we do pediatrics, head and neck. And so, moving into third year, I'm excited to dive a little bit more into some of the other subspecialties like facial plastics, otology, to get a little bit of taste of those as well. So those are all good things to be looking forward to.

Paul Bryson: Yeah, I wanted to ask too, we started a night float program this academic year. What's been the take on that change?

Sarah Benyo: I'm on my night float rotation right now, and it's always an adjustment getting used to the sleep schedule. But other than that, I think it's a really great benefit for quality of life with everyone. And you're the only one here at night, but you always have your senior resident that you can call anytime. And we have a great rapport with our junior and senior residents, so I never feel shy about reaching out about something I'm uncertain about. And then it's nice, we come to education on Wednesdays, so we get to be with the rest of the group and see everyone, and that's always a nice way to end that night on Wednesday morning.

Paul Bryson: Yeah, yeah. That's great. It's glad, I'm glad to hear it. Yeah, Kash. How about you?

Kash Arianpour: So chief year is definitely very different. It's very exciting. It's sort of what you envision surgical residency to be. You're operating pretty much every single day, but the perspective changes. You start to think a little bit about cases differently. It's not a matter of, okay, what are the steps? What are we doing here? It's okay if I needed to do this on my own in less than a year, where would I start or how would I have done this differently? And so, it's almost a self-test every single day. So, I'm excited for that. I'm excited of the challenges that come forward that are coming in the near future. I'm pursuing a fellowship in facial plastics reconstruction at Thomas Jefferson, so that's where I'll be next year in Philadelphia for a year. So, I'm literally looking forward to all the challenges that are ahead.

Sarah Benyo: We're going to miss you guys.

Paul Bryson: Yeah. Yeah. It's always a little bittersweet, right? For sure. When the chief’s graduate.

Kash Arianpour: Yeah, we talk about a lot. And every day you try and actually be a little bit more mindful of, look, this might be the last time you get to do this one particular thing with this one person or so we try and live in the moment for sure, because starting to feel it.

Paul Bryson: Yeah, it really accelerates. I feel like once the holidays end and all of a sudden, it's February and oh gosh, now it's April, and it really does kind of pick up in the first part of the year. So yeah, definitely drink it in. It's a special time for sure.

I asked Dr. McGee and Dr. Zimmer in our last episode, what made you want to match with us? It's interesting, right? We're going to be entering into interview season, we're going to have candidates come in, it's nice. We're going to be in person this year. So, you get to show potential colleagues where you work, what it's been like. So, I guess I'd have a couple parts to this. What did you think when you wanted to match with us, and then now that you're here, how has it hopefully met your expectations or perhaps even exceeded them?

Kash Arianpour: So, I can answer first. This is a very easy one for me. When I interviewed here, you hear the name Cleveland Clinic, you look at the roster and you look at everyone involved and you're like, wow, leading edge, every single staff we have, they're innovating, they're doing things that are pushing the boundaries of sort of what's being done. And so, I had an expectation that I'm going to meet some really intimidating people that are going to be hard to connect with. It's just naturally what I thought. So, when I interviewed here, for me I was lucky enough that it was in person, and I'm grateful that we're switching to in person this year. I was immediately shocked by the level of kindness, the humility, and how easy it was just to connect and get along with our staff. And that was evident to me right from the get-go. And that was what made me want to come here. I could see myself working in that environment and learning in that environment.

So now I can fast forward almost four and a half years later, and if anything, that feeling has even solidified further, meeting other fellows, meeting other residents from other programs. I just got back from a trauma course, and you talked to these other residents, and I think what we have here is super unique in terms of our relationship with our staff and the culture. So that is 100 percent how I feel.

Sarah Benyo: And I would say I was in the virtual interview era two years ago now, and those relationships that they even shown through in the virtual platform, just seeing how the residents interacted with one another, all of my conversations with staff were very natural, and they all just wanted to get to know you, and they clearly had great rapport with one another. And being in that very collaborative environment where you're going to be comfortable asking your staff questions and they're going to want to teach you, and there's just great open communication. That's something that I really was looking for. And I think now being here for a year and a half, it's completely exceeded my expectations and the opportunities we have in the operating room from the get-go, the training we get, it's just phenomenal. And I feel like I've grown so much, and I can't wait to see where the next few years take me.

Paul Bryson: Yeah, it's great to hear it. I do think we have a pretty special place, and I think it's nice to hear that that sort of lived experience is like that too. I feel like my own colleagues are pretty approachable, pretty regular folks. So, I'm glad that it's going well. And you both are settled in, or in Kash's case, you've settled in, and settled out, and that's okay. That's the way it's supposed to go. So I really appreciate both your taking time out of your busy day to come and to do the podcast and to talk about it, and I hope you both have good holidays.

Sarah Benyo: Thank you.

Kash Arianpour: Thanks so much.

Paul Bryson: For more information on our Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Residency Program, and to watch a video highlighting the program and living in Cleveland, visit ClevelandClinic.org/HeadAndNeckResidency. That's ClevelandClinic.org/HeadAndNeckResidency. You can also follow our residency program on Instagram CCF OHNS Residents. That's CCF OHNS Residents. Dr. Arianpour and Dr. Benyo, thanks for joining Head and Neck Innovations.

Thanks for listening to Head and Neck Innovations. You can find additional podcast episodes on our website clevelandclinic.org/podcasts. Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, BuzzSprout, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Don't forget, you can access real-time updates from Cleveland Clinic experts in otolaryngology – head and neck surgery on our Consult QD website at consultqd.clevelandclinic.org/headandneck. Thank you for listening and join us again next time.