Letter of recommendation

Dear Selection Committee,

It is with pleasure that I write in support of Dr. Ryan Rossos’s application for your Chronic Pain Management fellowship program. I am a physician executive with over 15 years of clinical, research, and leadership experience in anesthesia and healthcare. I have a track record of developing physician leaders and academic faculty, and from this experience I strongly believe Dr. Rossos possess attributes that will enable him to thrive in his chosen field. I have worked with Dr. Rossos in both the clinical and research settings. Dr. Rossos started his first day of anesthesia residency at Riley Children’s Hospital which by many resident’s accounts is a tough place to begin. He handled the transition well and was noted to have “very good skills for a brand new CA1”.It was obvious he maximized opportunities earlier in his training to prepare for residency. Further, he was well prepared for cases, read up on relevant topics, had inquisitive questions, always presented himself in a professional manner, and you can tell he cared about his patients. Ryan also takes criticism well, is teachable, and applies lessons learned on his next patients.

What sets Ryan apart from his peers is his intellectual curiosity and willingness to extend his learning beyond what is required. I recently learned that Ryanenjoys reading books on non-anesthesia related topics. He has a background in psychology and enjoys learning about decision making and how leaders are made. He has a thirst for knowledge and is always seeking to understand mind, teams,and human biases more completely. Ryan has a genuine interest in the administrative side of medicine, and I believe these attributes will serve him well in the future. Another one of Ryan’s attributes that stands out is that he likes to mentor his junior resident’s and students. He would frequently allow them to do his procedures and teach them through the process. He is well liked by his staff and peers; he’s known as affable and a natural team player. He is hard working and technically strong.

Residency is a grueling process of long days, sleepless nights, and high-pressure situations. Impressively Ryan consistently used his precious free time to develop himself and advance the field of medicine by doing research. We have worked together on multiple research projects with one currently submitted for publication. He is now spearheading his own project with my mentorship in the field of chronic pain management. We have plans to work on additional projects as he advances through residency with more elective time. He is motivated and organizationally strong with helping to recruit other members of his residency class to assist him with the research. Few residents have the independence, aptitude, and drive to largely put out a paper on their own. I believe Ryan will likely have a strong future in research.

In conclusion, I am happy to give Dr. Rossos my highest recommendation for your fellowship program. Given his enthusiasm and eagerness to learn about multiple arenas I offered to write Ryan a letter of recommendation before he even asked. I have no doubt he’ll take away meaningful knowledge and skills and continue to enhance the field of Chronic Pain Management. From my experience, he will be an asset to your program as a learner, mentor, and researcher who will leave your program and your patients much better than then when he came.

Sincerely,