Lessons in Love
Nearly 40% of doctors have married other doctors or health care professionals, according to the American Medical Association. For many physician couples, medical school is where they met and fell in love. This is certainly the case for several Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) alumni, some of whom met their partners within the first few days of the first year of medical school. These couples have stayed the course through four years of medical school, the ‘couples match’ to secure residency programs in the same city, residency, fellowship, and now they are settled across the country with jobs and families and pets and an ardent desire to maintain work-life balance.
They remember fondly their days at VUSM, from Cadaver Ball to favorite parks and restaurants, and credit those mentors who supported them through it all.
First Impressions
Lara Phillips, MD’11, and Charles Phillips, MD’11, met at medical school orientation in 2007 while playing charades as an icebreaker. It was a race between teams to act out several subjects. Lara and Charles were on the same team, and when it was Lara’s turn for her team to jump on stage, their competitors had already done so and correctly guessed the topic.
Charles’ first words to Lara were, “The other team won before you got up there.”
“I thought Charles was calling me slow and disliked him immediately,” Lara said.
First impressions aside, Lara and Charles eventually became friends, often taking running breaks with each other. Within eight months, they were dating.
“We were different: Charles is a good Southern boy who loves barbeque, drives a red pickup truck, and dons cowboy hats on the regular,” Lara said. “I had grown up in New York, couldn’t understand some of the heavy Southern accents, missed my bagels and lox, and remained suspicious when other drivers waved at me when they were apparently just being friendly.”
Lara and Charles did share a few similar attributes. Both volunteered at Shade Tree Clinic, aspired to do humanitarian work, and were outgoing. Each appreciated the other’s sense of humor, and both made the other a better person. Charles introduced Lara to cliff jumping at Rock Island. They enjoyed Nashville’s nightlife with classmates and have fond memories of preparing skits for Cadaver Ball. They got engaged during the break between their third and fourth years of medical school when they went to Paris to visit Lara’s family, and Charles popped the question atop the Eiffel Tower.
Troy Gorman, MD’04, and Darcie Gorman, MD’04, met during VUSM’s Meet and Greet in 2000. Troy is from Bethpage, New York, and Darcie is from Huntsville, Alabama.
“I must say I was very happy when I saw Darcie’s hand was raised in response to the question, ‘Are you single?’ For me, there was an immediate attraction,” Troy remembers. “She had a great smile and fun personality. We began to spend a great deal of time together fairly quickly. I remember one of our first nights out together at The Pat McGee Band concert on the Vanderbilt campus. It was an outdoor show, and I was able to bring my dog, Tyler. I think Darcie may have fallen for Tyler first, but I think I followed closely after.”
Their favorite memories from VUSM include Cadaver Ball, camping and hiking near Nashville, participating with other classmates in the Music City Triathlon, getting engaged at Percy Warner Park, and marrying in Nashville with many classmates and some VUSM faculty in attendance.
“Our first “date” was a sushi dinner with our friend and classmate Yin Aphinyanaphongs whom Troy met before I did. Things just sort of progressed naturally, and I don’t even remember us having a serious conversation about the fact that we were officially a couple,” Darcie said.
Joe Real, MD’12, and Matt Zackoff, MD’12, met in Nashville just prior to the start of VUSM orientation.
“We met at the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium (now closed) when we randomly were partnered to play pool against some other
future classmates. We became close friends, subsequently depending on each other to navigate the challenges of medical school while also celebrating our successes,” Matt said.
Their favorite memories include going to Vanderbilt football games and working out in the Vanderbilt gym, including “some epic racquetball games.
“We loved going downtown to listen to country music — Paradise Park was a favorite — also now closed. Guess we’re getting old! We loved taking our dogs to the Centennial dog park, which was near where we lived, as well as taking them rafting.”
Couples Match and Residency
One of the highlights of medical school and one of the biggest challenges for couples is Match Day. According to the AAMC, the National Resident Matching Program® (NRMP) created Couples in the Match® in 1987. In the 2023 Main Residency Match, there were 1,239 couples participating. Of these couples, 1,095 had both partners match, and 114 had one partner match to residency training programs for a match rate of 93%, according to the NRMP.
Lara and Charles’ Class of 2011 was unique in that there were 11 intraclass couples — about 20% of the class.
“I guess you could say our admission committee did an awesome job to choose a very compatible class,” Lara said. “For many of us, the preparation for the Match meeting in our third year of medical school encouraged several ‘define the relationship’ discussions among the couples.
“To commit to a couples match was like, if you can commit to be with this person for the next three to seven years, why not commit to them for life? And so, not surprisingly, there were several proposals among our class in the final year.”
The pair matched to their first choice, remaining at Vanderbilt for Charles’ pediatrics residency and Lara’s emergency medicine residency.
Kara Brown, MD’11, and Marlon Joseph, MD’11, met during their undergraduate years at the University of Miami where he was a year ahead of her. Thus, he started at VUSM in 2006, and she followed in 2007. The proposal took place during Second Look Weekend in spring 2007 before Kara started at Vanderbilt.
“I think I actually skipped part of an evening activity to mingle with faculty and other prospective students, and Marlon took me over to the Opryland Hotel and proposed to me instead,” Kara said.
They married over winter break of Kara’s second year and Marlon’s third, so the decision to enter couples match was not a difficult one, although the application process was grueling.
“Couples match was stressful as Marlon had a more competitive specialty with fewer programs (Med-Peds) compared to me (psychiatry),” Kara recalls. “He had taken a gap year, so we were able to couples match together. We wound up in Chicago — me at Northwestern and him at Rush.”
Ellie Gordon, MD’10, and Dan Spratt, MD’10, agree that the couples match was an incredibly challenging experience. They met as first-year medical students and caught each other’s eye early on. They spent extra time together as they both tested into the advanced biochemistry class.
“I remember Dan was striking,” Ellie said. “He was handsome and incredibly intelligent, and I was too intimidated to even look him in the eye! We went from talking about med school, to getting to know each other, to spending nights talking about everything. In this way we began to really get to know each other and became good friends. After a couple of months, Dan asked me out on what would be our first date: to make tacos at his apartment.”
Fast-forward to the fourth year of medical school and Match Day.
“We coordinated as many interviews as possible, trying to successfully navigate through a couples match in radiation oncology and dermatology,” Dan recalls. “This was at the peak of when both were two of the most competitive specialties to match into. We each went on approximately 30 interviews, and our final rank listing was over 100 long given all the permutations,” he said.
“We were incredibly fortunate to match into wonderful residencies, both in New York City,” Ellie said. “Dan went to Memorial Sloan Kettering for radiation oncology, and I attended New York University for dermatology. The elation we felt on Match Day was undescribable!”
Mentors
The first mentor Lara met was Lewis Lefkowitz, MD, professor of Preventive Medicine, emeritus, who conducted her VUSM admission interview.
“He and his wife, Judy, became my family away from home during my time in Nashville. We visited Judy during our 10-year reunion,” Lara said. She and Charles admired other Vanderbilt faculty couples such as Bonnie Miller, MD, and Bob Miller, MD, and Amy Fleming, MD, and the late Geoffrey Fleming, MD.
Kara and Marlon also looked to other couples for support and guidance.
“Madan Jagasia, MD, was another really important mentor. He and his wife are both physicians in academics, and I remember him giving advice on work-life balance for dual physician couples that we took to heart as we started considering having children more seriously,” Kara said.
Dan and Ellie remember instructors Art Dalley, PhD, and Jeannette Norden, PhD, for sharing “not only their expertise in their respective fields but their true unending love for medicine.”
Joe and Matt were assigned to the same advisory college — Chapman — led by Barron Patterson, MD, and Beth Ann Yakes, MD, who would publish a paper related to the VUSM wellness program with the couple.
“We often see Barron at national conferences. He keeps up with our daughters, and we remember to send pictures whenever they are wearing Vandy football attire,” Matt said, adding that he was close with Geoffrey Fleming, MD, given their shared clinical and research interests. “We are so grateful for his mentorship over the years and the profound impact he had on so many VUSM students.”
Work-Life Balance
Years spent in training, student loan debt, long working hours and raising families can be a challenge for dual-physician households (and for most dual-income, early-career couples whether they are physicians or not). Striking a balance often takes compromise, couples say.
“Life with two physician parents is very difficult, but we also know that there are several other professions whose schedules are trickier than ours to navigate. For instance, all the nurses that we work with who work night shifts and a lot more weekends than we do certainly have bigger challenges with child care and family responsibilities. We got good at asking for help when the kids were much younger,” said Darcie Gorman.
Darcie recently changed jobs so that she could cut back, because having two full-time physicians who are in specialties that involve night and weekend call was “just plain impossible,” she said.
“We don’t really think that balance is an accurate word to describe trying to juggle it all. Some days you are a better parent, some days you are better at taking care of yourself, and some days your patients come first.”
Troy offers advice to younger couples facing similar stressors. “My recommendation is to have good help early on, whether it be a nanny or family help. I think it’s important to support your spouse in their passions as well. Make sure you find time to continue to do the things you love. For us, that included running, hiking and biking. It is also helpful to try to find jobs that may have a little flexibility, so both parents can be involved with the activities and demands of raising children in an ever-evolving world.”
Residency, fellowship and job opportunities often take physician couples away from their extended families and their assistance. Matt and Joe have come to think of their former VUSM classmates, Emily Cooperstein, MD, and Amil Allen, MD, who also work at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, as family.
“They are the very best ‘aunties’ to our girls!” Joe said.
Where Are They Now?
Today, Charles Phillips, MD, is the associate medical director for data and analytics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and Lara Phillips, MD, is clinical associate professor at Thomas Jefferson and director of Wilderness Medicine. After moving to Philadelphia, the couple welcomed two children, now ages 7 and 5, and a dog.
“We enjoy traveling and introduced our kids to activities we love like skiing, hiking and snorkeling,” Charles said. “Work and life balance is tricky, but we are lucky to have a supportive family who’s helped with our crazy schedules.”
Troy Gorman, MD, has been employed by Intermountain Health since finishing his training, and Darcie Gorman, MD, worked for Intermountain for 12 years, and recently returned to the University of Utah where she is clinical assistant professor in the Division of Gastroenterology. They have two children, ages 12 and 10, and a dog and two cats.
“I was open to meeting my lifelong partner in medical school, but wasn’t necessarily banking on it,” said Troy. “In addition to being my girlfriend, Darcie quickly became my best friend. I think it was really cool to be able to go through that medical school adventure together.”
Kara Brown, MD, has her own private psychiatric practice in New Orleans, and Marlon Joseph, MD, is working for Ochsner Health System doing outpatient care and teaching students at the University of Queensland, Ochsner’s affiliated medical school. The couple has one son, age 6.
“Going through medical school with a partner/spouse in medicine is a blessing and a curse,” Kara said. “It was so hard managing demanding schedules and carving out time in a fairly young relationship which came with a lot of stress. However, it was aways nice to have someone who just simply ‘got it’ and didn’t need explanation of what it meant to be a medical student.”
Matt Zackoff, MD, and Joe Real, MD, gravitated toward pediatrics, and both matched at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, despite not participating in the couples match.
“During residency, we recognized how rare and extraordinary our relationship was and decided to give our love story a chance. Things unfolded from there — we were married in June 2016 and have adopted two (perfect) girls, ages 3 and 6 months,” Joe said.
Joe works in general pediatrics and is associate program director for the Academic General Pediatrics Fellowship, and Matt works in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Cincinnati Children’s and serves as program director for the Critical Care Fellowship Program and associate medical director for the PICU. They co-lead the digital training efforts in Cincinnati Children’s Center for Simulation and Research.
“Personally, we enjoy traveling. We spent five weeks in Europe during our fourth year of medical school with VUSM alums Emily Cooperstein and Amil Allen. We hiked to Choquequirao Archeological Park in Peru for our honeymoon. We celebrated the end of residency by traveling to Thailand and China. Our greatest personal accomplishment has been the adoption of our daughters. Our travels now typically include an annual trip to Disney World.”
In 2021, Dan Spratt, MD, was recruited to be chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Case Western Reserve and University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Ellie Gordon, MD, was also recruited to Cleveland to join the faculty at Case Western Reserve University and work at University Hospitals where she leads a team in medical dermatology, focused primarily on patient care and resident education. They have two sons, ages 10 and 6.
“Dan’s role as Derek Zoolander in our class’s reenactment of the fashion show walk-off scene for the Cadaver Ball 2007 will always remain the source of a great laugh! There are countless amazing memories we shared during those four years, both through the journey of becoming doctors and falling in love,” Ellie said.