Max Trojano, MD

Medical School: Penn State College of Medicine

Academic Interests: Medical education, toxicology, patient experience, palliative care

Why ORMC: They say to “go with your gut.” But the people who take stock in this conventional wisdom likely never had to endure a virtual residency interview season. By the midpoint, I was sure that I was not going to come across a program that truly hit me in the feels. But somehow, ORMC broke through the artificiality and came across more genuine than I thought possible. How they did it felt like magic, but in reality, it came down to three tangible elements: 1) the welcoming faculty; 2) the enthusiastic residents who seemed like they were having a blast (yes, over Zoom!); and 3) the overarching spirit of La Famiglia, which coming from a large Italian family, made me feel right at home while being 1,000 miles away. When it finally came time to make my decision about where to spend my next chapter, my gut was screaming Orlando so loudly that what I thought would be a complicated choice become remarkably easily.

Hobbies & Interests: The active stuff: surfing, CrossFit, triathlon. The artsy stuff: woodworking and cinema. The guilty pleasures: sleeping-in, intense games of Catan, lounging on the beach with my family, coffee snobbery, watching anything my YouTube feed tells me to.

Favorite on shift snack / beverage: Some sort of protein bar and cold brew!