October 2024
Brian Cortese, MD
OK, I heard Ruchi convinced you to come here, so tell me how she convinced you and how have you been joining your intern year so far?
So I think that goes back to my first interaction with Ruchi and how I met her. So when I was a clerkship student, did a 2 week urology rotation and I got exposed to her and at that point we didn’t really know each other or didn’t have any knowledge about each other’s interest in health policy or anything like that. And then, she was a 4 at that time and eventually when I did my home sub-I rotation, there were several weeks where I was with on Ruchi who ended up coming here. And then through the grapevine, when I was on a year out in business school, I got a cold email from Ruchi where she said she had a conversation with Dr. Chang in the OR talking about how expensive abiraterone is, I know you are someone who declared interested in business and health policy and asked if I wanted to collaborate on some projects. Then we wrote a few papers, Mark Cuban visited Vanderbilt, and all these crazy shenanigans. And of course, I was interested in like going here as I was pretty interested in high volume, 5-year programs that cared that I did things outside of, you know, just clinical medicine. I felt like Vanderbilt had the faculty within various leadership positions so I felt that if I was going to spend 5 years in one place, I wanted to be surrounded by the people that were interested in the fact that I had outside interests. So it helped that Ruchi was able to help show me that this was the right place, and that she had to come from Penn, which is where I was coming from. So she was able to kind of whisper those kind of dealings of like, which is the best place to go to.
So eventually I ended up deciding that, you know, if I came here on my sub, I really didn't like the people I certainly would not come here, but I absolutely loved all the residents.
Yeah, you better love us!
I knew if I was going to spend 5 years I wouldn’t want to spend it with other people, so yeah.
That's awesome. Shout out to Ruchi for the recruitment! Has there been anything that surprised you since coming here about residency or urology?
I think that has surprised me now that I am resident is just how the faculty do look to more senior resident as like, you know, colleagues and certainly they look at everybody as colleagues, but when it comes to a lot of the decision making and about like the trajectory of where patients are going and kind of the day-to-day, I was very impressed by how sort of a resident run Vanderbilt is. And I think I saw it when I was here as a sub-I and certainly, you know, it stuck with me and showing me that like, hey, you're really being seen as almost junior faculty when you're the chief resident.
Yeah it's kind of nerve wracking. I'm kidding - it's great! A good experience for sure. What's been your favorite case so far?
Just because it was on a whim and it’s my favorite case overall, but I was on the floor for Vandy Main and it was a radical orchiectomy with Natalie and Dr. Joyce. It was just a day I was on the floor and didn’t have much to do at that time and I was asked to scrub in and then Natalie just like walked me through the case and I was able to like 95% of the steps and Natalie was like explaining everything and Dr. Joyce was there asking questions, but it was really just like me and my chief going at it and it was like super fun. It was 2 weeks into residency that I was doing this so it was great! I also love that case just because it's anatomically it, it's kind of beautiful. You know, you have the inguinal ring and you open it up and you have the nerve that you want to avoid. So it's just like at every point, there's like something that I learned very much in medical school that was like very present. And I just I like the full circleness of it. It’s such a clean operation in my opinion.
Oh, I love that. So great. OK, we're going to talk about not work now. What do you like to do for fun?
Outside the hospital, I am a huge concert goer. Even this past Friday night, I went at saw Vance Joy on a whim at the Ascend Amphitheater which was super fun. That was a big thing for me growing up in high school and college, and in medical school it was a little difficult just cause of like time and stuff. But live music is one of my loves, I also really love exercise. Back in medical school I did a few marathons which was a huge part my fitness journey. So huge runner, it’s been a little bit more tough cause it’s so hot here. But I'm hoping when the when the winter comes and it cools down I'll be able to like go for runs after work.
I’m a huge fan of cooking. That is something that I’ve always been taught and grown up with is that we almost never went out for dinner. Cooking is one of the big things my family always did. My dad is the Italian side so learning all those dishes and sauces and all that kind of stuff. And my mom is always such a wonderful cook as well. So I think those are kind of my main things. And of course just hanging out with friends and traveling and all kind of the other the other hobbies that people have. But I would say those three are my kind of big interest outside of the hospital.
Do you have any unusual skills or less known hobbies that you want to share?
I learned how to do Rubik’s Cubes back when I was in elementary school. So I did 3x3 and 4x4 Rubik’s Cubes and I can still do the 3x3 one which is kinda fun It’s all just muscle memory.
How fast?
At my peak I was at like less than 30 seconds, but now I’m like 2 or 3 minutes. But that was a big thing I did with friends in school, we could “speed cube” which is super on brand for me.
Haha that’s funny. We are going to have to watch you do it one day and maybe find you a competitor.
If you have one around and it ever ends up in in the in the common area for the residents it'll be solved. You’ll just hear clicking in the back haha. But yea I think that's like my most unusual kind of skill. I feel like I'm not great at music or singing or anything like that, so that’s probably one of my weird skills.
I love it – at least you have one. Okay, how would you spend your ideal day off?
Wake up a little early. Make myself a big breakfast. I’m a big fan of pancakes. Have some coffee. Workout in the morning. And I would explore a new part of the city – so whether it be like the Farmer’s Market that I did with Sabrina (my significant other), that past week, or something new within the city. Then find someplace to grab lunch, like a quick bite. I like food trucks. And then in the evening, I would have probably have dinner and drinks with friends and then that night just kind of wind down and watch a TV show or movie. I’m currently watching the Bear and the Office so those are the shows I wind down to.
OK, time for rapid fire:
Favorite travel destination: I would say Italy. I went and did Cinque Terre with Sabrina back in May of 2022 and that was like the best thing. Great mix of hiking, amazing food, sights were absolutely beautiful so anywhere for me that’s near water and of course Italy has such bomb food.
Go to bar order: Buffalo chicken wings with a Lager or a Pilsner for beer and then French fries.
Longest race: 26.2 miles. It was the Philadelphia and I did it twice.
Favorite thing to cook: Absolute love cooking salmon, ideally on the grill. If I could have that with a farro arugula salad that’s chefs kiss. Well, all of your chiefs eat salmon so think about that. Just letting you know
Favorite ice cream flavor: I think Ben and Jerry’s Tonite Dough or Phish food.
High school superlative: It was “best to bring home to mom and dad”. Which I think is also on brand.
Okay now will do this or that:
Read or watch TV? Watch TV
Salty or sweet? Salty
Cats or dogs? Dogs
Music or podcast? Music
Truth or Dare: Truth
Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year’s: Christmas
interview conducted by Leah Chisholm, MD