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 Corey W. Iqbal, M.D.
Program: General Surgery, Mayo Clinic in Rochester
Hometown: St. Louis, Mo.
Medical School: University of Missouri - Kansas City
What attracted you to surgery?
Throughout medical school I was always impressed at how capable and confident the general surgery residents were at handling any medical problem facing their patients. I once read an editorial that commented that the smartest and most capable physician in any teaching hospital is the Chief General Surgery Resident. In what other field is the physician so intimately involved in the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of disease?
What attracted you to Mayo Clinic for residency training?
When I first arrived at the Mayo Clinic, I was in immediate awe at the sheer beauty of the downtown buildings where the tradition of patient-centered care was palpable. I met several of the residents and was surprised at how candid and approachable they were - they were people that I knew I would enjoy working with. After one of them took me on a tour of the hospitals and I saw the breadth of cases that the residents were getting exposed to, I knew this is where I wanted to train.
What makes the Mayo Clinic General Surgery Residency unique?
It is the Mayo Clinic. A name does not become so entrenched in the mainstream as synonymous with first-class health care without justification for it. Mayo Clinic does not attract the brightest and most compassionate clinicians without a reason for them wanting to be here. To work in an environment where everyone's attitude is doing what's right for the patient makes my job a joy. I appreciate this even more having interviewed for a pediatric surgery fellowship where I had the opportunity to get to know many residents from around the country. I’ve heard how unhappy some are with their programs; duty hour violations that they were expected to lie about; poor operative experience; lack of good cases; lack of support from their staff and the allied health, it made me realize how fortunate I am to train at this institution.
Anything surprise you about Mayo's program?
As a medical student, my mentors discouraged me from ranking Mayo Clinic #1 because they told me I would never get to operate. They were wrong. During one of my fellowship interviews I was asked to walk the interviewer through a case I had recently done. I walked him through an Ivor-Lewis esophagogastrectomy. His response was, "I misjudged Mayo Clinic. I have never had an applicant walk me through such a complex procedure and describe the technical aspects so well. I believe you did that case; and I believe that your operative experience at Mayo must be outstanding." We operate here ... a lot.
The other thing that has impressed me is the research opportunities and the research support from the institution. I have more than 25 publications and people ask me how I managed to be so productive. The secret is to train at a place like the Mayo Clinic where the research opportunities are endless. Residents at other programs who manage to get involved in research then struggle to get time off to present their research at meetings. I’ve never had that problem here. In fact, my program director passed on a free trip to Switzerland so I could go in his place and give a talk on a manuscript we had published together. How many other program directors would do that? Aside from Switzerland, Mayo Clinic has supported my travels to more than 20 other meetings throughout the U.S., Canada, and even Paris over my six years here.
What is living in Rochester like for you?
Rochester is great. I grew up in a big city, went to medical school in a big city and still enjoy living in Rochester. I arrived in Rochester single, but met an incredible woman who I married three years ago. I never worry about my wife's safety. I know all of my neighbors on a first name basis because when we moved into our home they came over and introduced themselves. The neighbor kids come over almost daily to play with the dogs in our backyard. My wife and I have a social life with a close circle of friends that gets together regularly for dinner, BBQs, parties, etc. We play on a coed softball team; enjoy bicycling on Rochester's bikeways; and I keep active in other organized sports including soccer, basketball, and touch football. We don't go up to the Twin Cities much because, quite frankly, we don't need to. There's enough here in Rochester to keep us entertained. Perhaps the most important thing is that you can afford to live in Rochester. The cost of living is great, especially when you compare our stipend to other programs.
What does your future look like right now?
My last six years at Mayo Clinic have set me up for a successful academic career in pediatric surgery. I am one of six residents from Mayo Clinic that has matched into the most competitive surgical fellowship in the last five years. And that is without having a pediatric surgery fellowship within our institution. There is no other training program that can claim that type of success. I will be doing my fellowship at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City.
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