History of the Chief Resident Association of Baltimore (CRAB)

History of the Chief Resident Association of Baltimore (CRAB)

Eduardo Lacson, MD, FACP (currently a nephrologist in Boston) formed CRAB in conjunction with his Co-Chief Ronilda Covar, now in medical informatics in Boston. They both finished the internal medicine residency at Harbor Hospital Center program in 1996. They were married at the end of their senior year, and now have two children. Eduardo and Ronilda thought up the acronym for the organization and really brought people together throughout Charm City. Dr. Dobbin Chow played a significant and key role in bringing Doctor's Dilemma™ to Maryland and helped Eduardo and Ronilda get that off the ground. The first Doctor's Dilemma™ competition was at GBMC in 1996.

Dr. Richard Williams, current Program Director at Harbor Hospital Center, has also been an important part of the CRAB group since its inception. It is through the guidance of Dr. Williams that the CRAB was able to accomplish so many of their activities. Since its inclusion as part of the ACP Maryland Chapter, Dr. Williams has continued to act as a mentor to our CRAB members and, as always, a valued member of this group.

CRAB was developed as a venue for chief residents to share experiences, resources and ideas. The hope was to facilitate communication and collegiality between programs in the city. The Baltimore metropolitan community has a unique opportunity in that there are 11 internal medical residency programs in a small geographical area. It was felt that a group such as CRAB would allow for a flow of information and communication among these programs. CRAB began to meet on a monthly basis with many of the dinners hosted at area restaurants. CRAB was able to implement a number of different activities over the years, including funding for Health Care for the Homeless, hosting a CRAB Olympics, and providing workshops for residents on a variety of subjects. In 2003, CRAB became part of the ACP Maryland Chapter, thus allowing for not only financial support of its activities, but also the capability of developing and planning additional activities for residents in the metropolitan area. During the past few years CRAB has focused on a number of programs including the development of a Survival Guide for Spouses, a communication system among the programs in the area, the 1st CRAB award presented at the Mulholland-Mohler Associates meeting, a Student Doctor's Dilemma planned and implemented solely by CRAB, and a survey on morning reports.

The CRAB "family" continues to grow with the addition and participation of the Army/Navy Chapters which are located in Bethesda. We look forward to continued additions to our CRAB activities and are delighted to see the activities of CRAB growing each year.