Stefano Correa, DO

Where are you from?

Miami, FL

What are your personal interests/hobbies?

I really enjoy weight training, reading classic literature, basketball (the Miami Heat) and futbol (soccer). I am looking forward to adding hiking to my list sometime within the next three years.

What are your professional interests?

I have a strong desire to work with underserved populations but outside of that I really want to gain more experience with the many different opportunities available to see what I truly want to pursue within EM.

Why did you choose UA EM?

If you look through the different class years, as I did before rotating here, you will see many residents allude to how incredible the people are. This was exactly my experience! I remember having a phenomenal shift with Dr. Ryan Miller (PGY-3 at the time of writing this) as a medical student. He made me feel welcome almost immediately. He empowered me to push myself and to think and plan as if I were the primary caregiver from presentation to disposition. I learned tremendously from him and I knew then that I wanted to be exactly like him with patients and with medical students one day. If this was the program that trained him then this was a program I sincerely wanted to be a part of.

Favorite activity in Tucson, or what attracted you to Tucson besides the residency program?

When I was researching emergency medicine residencies, I knew that I wanted to be in a geographic location with a strong Hispanic representation. My parents emigrated to the U.S. from South America before I was born so being a Hispanic was very influential to my upbringing. Additionally, having lived my entire life in South Florida means I have never experienced winter before and frankly would not survive outside of perpetual warmth. Tucson provided both of these things in addition to the beautiful scenery and friendly people.

What are your non-medical goals during residency?

My goal during residency is to embrace the new challenges inherent with moving to a new place far from what one is familiar with. I have lived in South Florida my entire life. I have seen enough palm trees to last a lifetime. I have even become completely unfazed by the popular “Florida man…” news headlines. Growing up and living in the same place for such a long time tends to bring you a myopic view of life. When I flew to Tucson (for the first time) for my audition month I stepped outside of the airport and saw my first cactus ever. I was in awe. When I left the airport, my eyes immediately caught sight of the mountains on the horizon. It was surreal. It is much harder to focus on the trivialities of every day when you’re surrounded by such majestic views constantly reminding you of something profoundly more meaningful.