August 2023
Justin Mehr, PGY 1
I'm not particularly good at math, but I believe you're about 1.6% of the way through with your residency. How's it going so far?
It's gone well. I'm also not great at math, but hopefully the other 98.4% goes well too. I've been learning a lot. It's been fun to finally be on urology. So, so far so good. At least from my point of view, I think.
What was your first rotation?
It was emergency general surgery at Vandy.
Did you get to scrub any cases on that rotation?
I did! I scrubbed 1 case.
How many foleys have you placed in your residency so far?
I think only one so far, but I have placed three or four stents this week, which is exciting.
I love that. Can't wait to check your case logs. All right, so remind us where you're coming from.
I'm originally from Mission Viejo, CA which is a suburb in Orange County. I was born and raised there all the way through college then moved to Texas with my family and went to med school in Houston. And now here I am in Tennessee.
And you have some pretty awesome people in your family, if I recall correctly?
Yeah, my mom and dad are my biggest supporters as is my younger brother who is also the cooler sibling right now. He works in tech, but he's also a bodybuilder. He just competed in a national show. When I eat hospital cafeteria curly fries I think about what he would think. But sometimes you got to do what you got to do. The curly fries are good for mental health too.
Now interestingly, you said “right now” - is there ever a time that you were cooler than your brother?
Maybe when I was significantly taller than him, but once he hit his growth spurt and now he's possibly a little taller and he's, you know, competing and doing cool things like that. I give him the edge.
And you guys were college roommates, right?
Yeah, I was a senior and he was a freshman at UC Irvine and we lived together. The room we rented didn't have a kitchen, so I had to plug in a stove on the wall. It was a fairly small room, so the deal we made was that I got space in the morning to get ready while he would sleep an extra 30 minutes but I would make breakfast. That way we weren't running into each other. It was a lot of fun, amazing memories. He’s my best friend.
Yeah, that sounds great. All right. Do you remember when you had your “ah-ha moment” for urology? Did that occur in medical school and tell us a little bit about that?
Yeah, I remember my first exposure to it was working on research at the beginning of MS2 year but then in my second year I got to do a mini-rotation on it. And as a second year, you don't know much about many specialties because you haven't rotated yet, but there was just something about it. I'm big on gut feeling and I really enjoyed it. I went through all the third-year rotations and I still had that feeling of, this is what I'm meant to do. My MS4 sub-I and away rotations cemented that feeling.
Great - Well, we're glad you chose it. All right, you recently celebrated your birthday. Happy belated birthday.
Thank you. Thank you.
How was your celebration with the veterans?
It was great! We had Crumbl cookies and I got a very thoughtful card at conference, so I appreciate y'all doing that. But then I also scrubbed my first ever urology case. Doctor McCoy and I got to do a stent case together. So that was as good of a urologic birthday present I think I could have asked for.
Ha, and do you have a favorite consult in urology so far? One week in?
Well, usually the consults that I don't feel completely lost on what to do have been my favorite, but I would say the septic stone consults that you have to move quickly on have been my favorite so far.
Well you get a lot of reps with those. What are you most excited about living in Nashville?
I am most excited, honestly, to go see a couple of concerts. I haven't had a chance to get to any yet. I know it's not very Nashville-esque but I really wanted to go to Blink-182 a few weeks ago, but the timing just didn't work out. Hopefully a country concert soon, maybe even CMA Fest next year or something like that would be a blast.
Yeah, a lot of time in your pgy 2 year, so you'll be able to go to all the concerts.
Ha, I’ve gotta check the 2025 concert calendar then.
Any hidden talents you want to let us know about?
Not really a talent, but I do put together a pretty mean Photoshop if you need anything Photoshopped. I feel like I'm pretty good at that and keep my friends entertained. So let me know if you need something. Though it’s not particularly the most exciting talent.
No, that'll come in very handy here, especially around the time of chief roast. So we'll remember that for sure.
I'll be ready. I can't juggle or ride a unicycle or anything like that.
OK, so now we have a couple rapid fire questions, all right.
OK, I'm ready.
If you and Jackson were to go head-to-head in frxee throws, say, like the best of 20, who would win? I haven't seen Jackson shoot free throws yet, but I'm gonna pick Jackson for now because I don't want to start on the wrong foot when I come to Vandy Main.
You're at Hattie B's. Your options are southern, which is no heat. Mild, medium, hot. Damn hot. Shut the cluck up. What are you having? Mild. I've gone a little too far on the heat spectrum before and you know, my friends have seen the sweat that builds on my forehead, so we're sticking with mild.
OK. Can you name one song by Madonna? ...oh, Like a Virgin, Material Girl?
Wow, that's two - over-achiever. OK. What house in Hogwarts are you in? I have taken that test multiple times and it comes up Hufflepuff each time.
That’s my house too, I'm proud of you buddy. OK, tea or coffee? Coffee
Lucky number. Seven
Mountains or beach? Ah Beach, definitely beach.
OK. And favorite superhero? ...favorite superhero?... Batman. Kind of cliché.
No, can't go wrong with Batman. Two more, favorite book? ‘When Breath Becomes Air’ is a fantastic book. That's the one book that's ever made me cry.
That's a big one. OK. And favorite movie. Oh, ‘The Spectacular Now’ without a doubt
OK, awesome. Well thanks Justin!
Interview conducted by Kristen Scarpato, MD