Residents
Christine Kerr
Hometown: Gainesville, Fl
Undergraduate: Dartmouth College
Medical School: West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine
Medical interests: General anesthesia, pediatrics, OB
Favorite weekend destination: Bar Harbor/Acadia national park
Why Maine Medical Center: I fell in love with the city and the program during my interview. I'd never been to Maine before and it just felt like home while I was here. The residents seemed genuinely happy and the family-like atmosphere definitely stood out to me from other programs. Also, the training residents receive at Maine Med was unlike any program I'd been to. I know I will be well prepared to practice anesthesia at the end of 4 years.
Celebrity I most resemble: Hillary Swank
If I wasn't a doctor, I would be the host of my own Food Network show with my twin sister, Danielle called "Twice Baked". Featuring mainly desserts!
Danielle Kerr
Name: Danielle Kerr
Hometown: Gainesville, FL
Undergraduate: Dartmouth College
Medical School: West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine
Interests / Hobbies: I was a competitive swimmer for 15 years and I still love swimming and staying active outside. Baking and interior decorating are my favorite stress relievers. I also love exploring new restaurants with my fiancé, Matt.
Favorite place in Maine: Acadia National Park
Medical interests: General Anesthesia/Peds
Favorite weekend destination: Crescent Beach State Park or hiking in the White Mountains
Why Maine Medical Center: I felt like I was at home here on my interview despite being so far from my family in Florida. The residents and attendings were so welcoming and seemingly very happy. There is no doubt that the training at Maine Medical Center is exceptional and the residents feel well prepared and confident in their skills. The close-knit family feeling along with the high case volume and exposure to a variety of subspecialties is what ultimately sold me on coming here. I love Portland and everything it has to offer especially the proximity to great hiking and so many local restaurants.
If I wasn’t a doctor, I would be a… Bakery Owner/Interior designer
Favorite restaurant in Portland: There are so many great options! Independent Ice Co. and Nosh two of my favorite places for burgers/American style food. For international cuisines, N to Tail is a fantastic Korean BBQ restaurant- their Korean fried chicken is unreal.
Derek Bunch
Hometown: Odgen, Utah
Undergraduate School: Weber State University
Graduate School: Tulane University
Medical School: Western University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific Northwest
Why Maine Medical Center: During my away rotation at MMC I very quickly found myself surrounded by kind, intelligent, and highly motivated individuals. I was drawn to the people and culture of MMC and the surrounding Portland area.
Interests: When not at the hospital I enjoy spending time with my wife, daughter, and two dogs. In the summertime we enjoy paddle boarding on the nearby rivers. I also enjoy brewing beer, fermenting kombucha, and baking bread. And as of recently we got into the hobby of raising backyard chickens.
Ruslan Abdukalikov, D.O.
Hometown: Almaty, Kazakhstan
Undergraduate School: Eastern Connecticut State University
Medical School: University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine
Why Maine Medical Center: I really enjoyed my anesthesiology rotation here during my last year of medical school and was thrilled to match into this program. The residents here manage fellowship level cases, which allow for a very broad exposure to both pediatric and adult patients. Attending physicians here are experts in their field and are very willing to pass their knowledge to residents.
Interests: Spending time with family and friends, yard work, camping, hunting, shooting at the range, and riding my Harley.
Meredith Peck
Name: Meredith Peck
Hometown: Holderness, NH
Undergraduate: Smith College
Medical School: Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine - Harlem
Interests / Hobbies: Soccer, Running, Hiking, Biking, and playing in the water with my dog Iliad
Medical interests: Anesthesiology, Pain Management
Favorite weekend destination: New Hampshire 4000 footer
What did you do before medical school: I studied protein electrostatics in the biophysics department at Johns Hopkins University and coached U13 girls soccer
Personal goals: Compete in an Iron Man, own 5 dogs at once, live abroad
Why Maine Medical Center: The mentorship I received on my 1 month rotation exceeded my expectations and I knew I wanted to learn from these docs
If I wasn't a doctor, I would be a… Anthropologist
Travis Barker
Hometown: Yarmouth, ME
Undergraduate: Union College
Medical School: Tufts University School of Medicine – Maine Track
Interests / Hobbies: I am a Boston sports fan through and through. I love to watch and play soccer and hockey. I enjoy going hiking and fly fishing. In the winter, I like to escape to the mountains and ski whenever I can. There are few things better than going to the beach on a day off in August with a good book. Finally, spending time with my fiancé and our cat.
Favorite place in Maine: Portland – there are few things you can’t do within 30 minutes of Portland.
Medical interests: Critical Care, Cardiac Anesthesia, and Medical Education.
Favorite weekend destination: Sugarloaf Mountain
Favorite Maine activity: Hiking
Craziest / Best / Worst Job: Best: Ice Cream Scooper for Ben and Jerry’s. Worst: Dishwasher for a BBQ joint.
Why Maine Medical Center: Maine Medical Center is filled with professional, caring, and medically talented individuals that strive to work and excel in a team environment. The hospital has integrated itself into the fabric of Portland and Maine, and patients and their families have come to rely on the unparalleled care and support that MMC provides. The Anesthesia Department at MMC is staffed with individuals that have trained at a variety of places and have achieved at the highest levels of medicine and anesthesiology. Yet, each individual is engaged, enjoys teaching and works to assist each resident succeed. The size of the residency and department allows you to quickly make connections and friendships, tailor your learning, and continue to improvement as a clinician. The wide catchment area and large proportion of medically underserved individuals that come to MMC results in a particularly robust and complex case mix that continually stretches your knowledge, starting in your intern year. Finally, Portland and Maine offers an excellent life outside of the hospital; with local beaches, excellent hiking, great east coast skiing, numerous delicious restaurants and food, abundant beer, both ocean and fresh water fishing, and likely any activity you may be interested in doing.
Celebrity I most resemble: Travis Barker (at least so far as you never meet me, see me, or ask me to play the drums).
If I wasn’t a doctor, I would be a…most likely – a Professor and/or laboratory scientist, but I wish my answer would be an Outdoors Guide or Ski Instructor.
Favorite restaurant in Portland: Blue Rooster Food Co – late night tater tots, life does not get much better.
Heather Turcotte
Hometown: North Yarmouth, ME
Undergraduate: UNE
Medical School: UNECOM
Interests / Hobbies: running, baking, drinking coffee, chasing my two daughters around
Medical interests: chronic pain management, medical education
Favorite weekend destination: Rockland, ME
What did you do before medical school: I was a physical therapist!
Why Maine Medical Center: When I rotated at Maine Med during medical school, I knew that this was the program for me. The clinical experience and training are excellent. The faculty are friendly, welcoming, and highly experienced. Resident education is clearly a priority, with one day every week dedicated to didactics and simulation. And finally, the residents are a close group of people who truly care about one another and have busy, rich lives outside of the hospital.
Jay Kellegrew
Hometown: Chelmsford, MA
Undergraduate: University of Maryland, College Park
Medical School: Albany Medical College
Interests / Hobbies: All things sports! Running and playing golf and soccer. Watching my favorite teams on TV like the Sox, Pats and Tottenham Hotspur. There's nothing better than a morning on the links followed by a nice local Maine brew, some good seafood, and watching a game on TV!
Favorite place in Maine: The pool at my grandmother's house with my family
Medical interests: Anesthesiology with an emphasis on pediatrics and critical care
Favorite weekend destination: Cape Cod
Favorite Maine activity: Trying out the area breweries. There is such a great food and drink scene in Southern Maine for me to explore.
Craziest / Best / Worst Job: I worked as a microbiologist handling stool testing. Great experience but quite smelly. It was both the best and worst job ever!
Why Maine Medical Center: It was a friendly place that both my girlfriend and I could train in a challenging yet supportive learning environment near our families.
Favorite restaurant in Portland: Have not tried many yet, but Portland Lobster Company is my favorite so far. Send any recommendations you have my way!
Gasper Gasperlin
Hometown: Born in Slovenia, but grew up in St. Louis, MO
Undergraduate: McGill University
Medical School: Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences
Interests / Hobbies: I love spending time in the outdoors be it hiking, camping, climbing, or just snoozing in a hammock. I’m always looking for a new adventure and am excited to try a couple of new hobbies now that there is water around and mountains a little bit closer. On inside days, I like to cook but love to eat. I’m also never far from my Kindle loaded up with probably one hundred books that are “next.”
Medical interests: I enjoy critical care medicine, global health and global surgery, point of care ultrasound, and free online access to medical education.
Favorite Maine activity: Hiking!
Why Maine Medical Center: I was fortunate enough to rotate at MMC at the beginning of my 4th year of medical school and absolutely loved it! Everyone I interacted with at the hospital was so kind and the residents were spectacular. Combined with the top-notch education from some extraordinary faculty, the endless bounty of amazing food and craft beverages in Portland, and how the state most definitely lives up to its license plate moniker, “Vacationland,” I was sold pretty quick!
Favorite restaurant in Portland: whatever the next one I go to will be!
Personal quote: (100 words or less): “Fortune favors the bold”
Talitha Budi
Hometown: Appleton, WI
Undergraduate: Saint Louis University
Medical School: Saint Louis University
Interests / Hobbies: I love hiking, ice skating, martial arts, painting, cooking, gardening, carpentry
Favorite place in Maine: It's so hard to pick just one! A cold winter day skating on the pond in Deering Oaks Park probably wins so far though.
Medical interests: Again, it's hard too pick just one because I've loved all my experiences so far, but probably regional anesthesia is my favorite.
Favorite weekend destination: Hiking in the White Mountains
Personal goals: Hike every mountain range in the North East, backpack through Olo canyon
Craziest / Best / Worst Job: I was a dog sitter on the side in med school. It was perfect! Basically a way to raise spending money while getting time to study and play with dogs.
Why Maine Medical Center: When I arrived for my interview, it happened to be the coldest day of the year in early January. Despite this, all the residents and faculty I met were happy to meet my and introduce me to their city. They obviously loved where they worked. I decided I could be happy here as well.
If I wasn't a doctor, I would be an… artist. I love to paint and work with my hands to build things. My favorite so far has been the pot for chives I chiseled out of an old tree stump in the back yard.
Personal quote: "If it's worth doing at all, it's worth doing well."
Yussr Ibrahim
Hometown: Houston
Undergraduate: University of St. Thomas
Medical School: University of Texas Medical Branch
Interests / Hobbies: spinning, fashion, traveling (pre-COVID)
Favorite place in Maine: Bar Harbor
Medical interests: Chronic pain
Why Maine Medical Center: Exposure to vast amounts cases allowing for strong clinical training, great attendings, strong family feel within the department
Suzanne Wendelken
Originally from Oklahoma, graduated from Dartmouth College (BA in Engineering Physics, and MS in Biomedical Engineering) and the University of Utah (MD, PhD in Biomedical Engineering). Current research interests include neural stimulation for pain control, brain-machine interfaces, physiological signal processing, and medical device innovation.
Hobbies include cycling, swimming, skiing, kayaking, hiking, ice hockey, and sampling local coffees, beers, and foods. I am the proud human of three insane feline fur babies Archimedes, Thunder, and Apollo.
Margaret Carroll
Year in program: PGY-1
Hometown: Aledo, Texas
Undergraduate: Baylor University
Medical School: University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio
Interests / Hobbies: Anything outdoors! Mostly running, mountain biking, climbing, and occasionally wakeboarding. When inside, I enjoy delving into Irish Studies and reading classics.
Medical interests: pediatrics or cardiothoracic (so far!); medical humanities
Personal goals: to find a group of fellow ultrarunners in Maine, compete in a triathlon, find a great dog, and get more involved with medical humanities.
Why Maine Medical Center: I chose MMC for the people. Having had virtual interviews, it was really difficult to get to know a place. Consequently, I relied heavily on my interactions with faculty and residents in choosing a program. The people here blew me away. They were fun to talk to, they seemed to have a wide range of interests, and they appeared to be genuinely happy here. Each of those inklings was confirmed the first day I set foot on campus here. It truly is the best place to be.
Jacob Longfellow
Year in program: PGY1
Hometown: Farmingdale, ME
Medical School: University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine
Interests/Hobbies: Collecting antiques, restoring old homes, raising chickens, hiking,
numismatics
Favorite place in Maine: Two Lights State Park
Medical interests: Anesthesiology and critical care medicine
Personal Goals: To live every day to the fullest!
Why Maine Medical Center: I chose MMC because I wanted to work with happy people in a happy place.
Michael Finke
Year in program: PGY1
Hometown: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Undergraduate: University of Minnesota
Medical School: Pacific Northwest University
Interests/Hobbies: Outside of medicine I enjoy an active lifestyle playing soccer, tennis, skiing, and running. I also enjoy traveling whenever time allows, dabbling in photography, and exploring new places and local food with my wife and 1-year-old son.
Favorite place in Maine: Acadia National Park
Why Maine Medical Center: Maine Medical Center stood out as having a particularly special anesthesiology program—one with excellent attendings, tailored training, a breadth of cases, and all amidst one of the most beautiful regions of the country. Furthermore, the kind and familial culture makes for an ideal training environment.