Date published: May 5, 2023

May Resident Spotlight: Julia Hyman, MD

Name: Julia Hyman
Residency track: Internal Medicine (IM) 
Year: PGY3
Hometown: Newton, MA

In this month’s Resident Spotlight, we feature Julia Hyman, MD, a third-year Internal Medicine resident, originally from Newton, MA. Dr. Hyman is recognized for going above and beyond for her patients, approaching them with great professionalism and kindness. One of her many accomplishments is that she helped plan a wedding for a patient in palliative care, who expressed the wish to be married before they passed away. We recently caught up with Dr. Hyman to learn more about her work and her favorite things to do during her downtime. 

What are your clinical and research interests? 
I am interested in global health, palliative care, addiction medicine, and infectious disease. After completing residency in the summer, I am doing the HEAL Initiative Fellowship (Health, Equity, Action and Leadership) through UCSF, which is a clinical fellowship in Global Health. I will spend 1 year on Navajo Nation in Arizona, working with the Indian Health Service, and 1 year in Rwanda, working with Partners In Health. I am absolutely ecstatic and reasonably, but appropriately, terrified having lived the vast majority of my life within a 10-mile radius with a 50-mile distance from home being the farthest away I have lived. However, I majored in Primatology in college and studied monkeys in Uganda, and did a QI project on severe mental illness in Malawi with Partners In Health during medical school. 

What makes UMass a great place for your residency? 
Dr. Kopec makes UMass IM most special due to his deep love and care for the residents and the program itself. A close second are my colleagues and attendings, who make the experience enjoyable. Then come the patients, who make the residency meaningful. 

Favorite Hobby? 
I love playing soccer. Mostly, I am happiest on my days off spending time with my family or soaking up relaxation time watching TV in my wonderful bed at home. Does sleeping count as a hobby? During residency, sleep as a hobby seems reasonable. 

Favorite thing to do in Worcester/Worcester area? 
I play indoor soccer at Teamworks in Northborough. I’ve played weekly since my intern year, more recently on a UMass-heavy team. It has kept me sane, kept me active, kept me social, and kept me feeling like myself - even during my intern year during deep COVID times.