Annual Pub 2023 FINAL - Flipbook - Page 22
K I R K K E R K O R I A N S C H O O L O F M E D I C I N E AT U N LV
CHIEF RESIDENT
VIBES WITH VEGAS
BY NICK BARNE T TE
hile some children dream of becoming the athletes,
actors, or pop stars they see on TV, Paige Smith, DO,
“had an inkling” from a young age that she would
be like one of the stars from her favorite show. “As
a child, I never sat still,” Dr. Smith, chief resident
of the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV
Department of Emergency Medicine, recalls. “My mother hated that
because my brother would sit there and read a book or play with his
Legos, and I’d be running around. She could never get me to sit still except
when I would sit down to watch this show on TLC called, ‘Life in the ER.’”
W
This early interest in emergency medicine led Dr. Smith to work as a
wilderness 昀rst responder, ski patroller, EMT, and emergency room scribe.
Dr. Smith “loved every bit of” seeing emergency medicine in practice
from these varied angles.
With professional experience under her belt, Dr. Smith then earned a
doctorate in osteopathic medicine from the West Virginia School of
Osteopathic Medicine. No stranger to high-intensity work environments,
Dr. Smith joined the U.S. Air Force (USAF) during her time in medical
school and was accepted into USAF’s Health Professions Scholarship
Program.
As a fourth-year medical student, Dr. Smith had a signi昀cant say in where
her rotations would be. After spending time rotating throughout the
mid-Atlantic, she completed a stint at the University of California, Davis
– drawn to their active duty emergency medicine residency program –
and 昀nally found herself at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine and
University Medical Center (UMC) for the same reason.
The school of medicine and UMC staff she worked with immediately
attracted her to a residency in the school’s USAF active duty emergency
medicine program. “It’s nice working here because a lot of our faculty are
prior military or are still involved, so there’s a lot of good mentorship for
the military residents to see where we want to go with our careers after
graduation,” Dr. Smith says. “Having that mentorship is also really helpful.”
For Dr. Smith, another attractive aspect of the residency was its location.
Having channeled her childhood restlessness into fast-paced work – “I
don’t know if it’s adrenaline seeking; I just like being on the go all the time,”
she muses – the Las Vegas Valley matches Dr. Smith’s tireless energy.
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