Karla Molinero — 2nd Year Solnit Fellow

Well hello there! I am a second year Solnit track fellow and I fast-tracked from residency at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York where I am originally from. Here is a typical day in the life for me!

I start my day around 5:30 am, take my amazing corgi pup on a walk before heading to my 6:30 am morning spin class at Joyride Cycling Studio only a few blocks away from me in downtown New Haven and jam out to EDM and get in a great workout. If it’s a Solnit day (Monday or Wednesday), I head out about 7:45 am, drop my pup off at doggie daycare and then it is off to Middletown for me. We start our multidisciplinary morning report at 9 am to hear about events from the prior evening/night and discuss any pertinent patient issues. Then the day can vary between care plan meetings, seeing patients, writing progress notes, finishing any psychiatric reports, supervision and attending weekly didactics. The best thing about Solnit is the time we have with our patients and the breadth of recreational and therapeutic activities the youth get involved in. Sometimes it can be hard to find downtime to chat because their schedule is packed! (But it’s completely fine to pull them when needed!). During my downtime, you can find me in the fellow’s lounge eating lunch and catching up with my colleagues. That room becomes our second home over the two years, and we become a very close group.

The day typically wraps up around 4:30p and I head back to New Haven and end the evening with a neighborhood walk or a trip to Union dog park. If I’m lazy and do not want to cook, there are plenty of restaurants downtown for take-out. Tuesday and Thursdays in terms of workflow changes given they are dedicated to my longitudinal outpatient clinic on Tuesday afternoons and specialty clinics (i.e. ADHD/Tourette’s, School Consults, Autism, Young Child) Tuesday/Thursday mornings. I use Thursday afternoons to work on a pilot study grant project focused on addiction research. It is wonderful having the support and flexibility to pursue that special interest as I am going on to Addiction fellowship after CAP. I find having a work/life balance completely achievable in the program, especially being call-free in the second year! I have met wonderful colleagues turned close friends and my Solnit Attendings have become mentors to me that I plan to remain in contact with throughout my career. I hope this gave you a good enough glimpse into life of a Yale Solnit Fellow! Don’t hesitate to ask any questions and best of luck!