A: This team stormed the competition to make it to the Medical Jeopardy 2016 finals.
Q: Who is Penn’s department of Medicine?
For the first time ever, Penn’s department of Medicine resident Medical Jeopardy team tied for second place in the nation in the American College of Physicians (ACP) Doctor’s Dilemma, also known as Medical Jeopardy!
The annual competition held earlier this spring in Washington, DC, is a hallmark program for ACP. The competition brings together up to 50 teams comprised of some of the brightest medical residents from across the United States and around the world in a friendly, but highly competitive, environment.
The Penn team, coached by David Aizenberg, MD, associate program director of Penn's Internal Medicine Residency and an assistant professor of Clinical Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine, included residents Michael Ayers, MD; Hari Shankar, MD; Roland Li, MD; and Christopher Reilly, MD. They handily won the first two rounds of competition against teams from the U.S. Air Force, Saudi Arabia, Quebec, Arizona, Kansas, Ontario, the U.S. Army, and Massachusetts. After three days of competition, four teams, including Penn, moved on to the final round to compete for the coveted championship trophy, known as the Osler Cup, named for the "Father of Medicine" William Osler, who created the first residency training program that would teach new doctors the clinical skills they would need to become skilled physicians.
“Penn is a tremendous academic powerhouse, but traditionally we have never performed well in this competition,” Reilly said. “We went into the first round just hoping to enjoy ourselves, but we quickly discovered that our diverse set of skills enabled us to answer a wide range of questions correctly and quickly.”
Formatted similar to the popular television game show, contestants are provided clues and then must answer in the form of a question to receive points. The clues ranged from general medical knowledge to challenging and sometimes obscure medical trivia. Here are just a few examples:
A: The cause of cardiomyopathy in heavy drinkers of Canadian whiskey.
Q: What is Cobalt?
A: Cadmium poisoning in a Japanese patient with bone pain.
Q: What is Itai-Itai disease?
A: Cardiomyopathy associated with selenium deficiency, particularly in China.
Q: What is Keshen's disease?
“I could not be more proud of our team,” Aizenberg said. “They prepared extensively for this competition – finding time after work and on their days off to practice as a team. Each of their scopes of knowledge is truly remarkable.”
The victory was the culmination of six months of hard work and training that included two previous competition victories – the regional tournament on November 14, 2015, where Penn beat out the four-time returning national champions, Albert Einstein Medical Center. On December 5, 2015, Penn became the state champions and earned the right to represent Pennsylvania to compete for the Osler Cup at the national ACP meeting.
“Doctor’s Dilemma inspired me to learn new things and really hone in on my skill set,” Shankar said.
The 2016 finalists included residents from hospitals in Indiana, Maryland, New Jersey, and Penn.
The Osler Cup competition was held on the last day of the ACP conference with hundreds of audience members cheering the teams along. Penn held the lead for some time during the final, but in the end, the team tied for second place. The fact that they did correctly answer the final clue gives the team confidence in a victory next year.
Final Clue: Name for a syndrome of cognitive decline associated with chronic repetitive trauma to the head
A: What is Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy?
“We are disappointed that we didn’t bring home a championship, but we are already preparing our team strategy for next year and will be back in the finals and ready to win,” Aizenberg said.
“I’d advise any hopefuls for joining our team next year to brush up now by reading Harrison’s Principals of Internal Medicine,” Shankar jokingly added.
Congratulations to the 2015/2016 Medical Jeopardy team, we will be cheering you on as you prepare for the 2016/2017 competition!
Want to see if you have what it takes to join Penn’s Medical Jeopardy team? Test your knowledge and practice your skills with ACP’s online practice tests.