A Push with Purpose

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When Cheryl Silverbrook, MD ’13, RESD ’17, BS ’09, heard that her residency director, Jennifer Keller, MD, MPH ’07, was moving to a new position — director of the Division of Education at the George Washington University (GW) Medical Faculty Associates Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology — she wanted to do something special. What she didn’t expect was how successful that something special would be.“In talking with my co-residents, we decided that we wanted to recognize [Dr. Keller’s] service to the residency program over the last 10 years,” Silverbrook recalled. “We [kept asking], ‘What would she want?’ She’s such a giving person, we didn’t think she would really want a gift or anything like that, and we started thinking, ‘What’s something we could contribute to that would be meaningful for her?’”
Silverbrook reached out to Nancy Gaba, MD ’93, RESD ’97, Oscar I. and Mildred S. Dodek and Joan B. and Oscar I. Dodek Jr. Professor and Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS), and the two brainstormed, eventually settling on the idea of a gift to the OB/GYN Resident Education Fund in Keller’s honor. The fund, Gaba explained, enhances the education experience for residents; it supports educational tools, such as simulators for rarer clinical conditions, as well as research projects, online resources, and travel for conferences or international medicine missions.
“I said, ‘I tell you what. If you can get all the residents in your class to make a donation, I’ll match it,’” Gaba said. “Cheryl and I are both competitive people, and [the idea] started taking on steam, and then I said, ‘I’ll try to get all of the faculty to donate.’”
Gaba turned to Sheetal Sheth, MD, RESD ’10, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at SMHS, to get faculty support, while Silverbrook called on her ...

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