Member Spotlight

Academy Member Since 2019
Associate Professor, UNMC Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, College of Medicine
Bio

What do you do at UNMC?
I am a laryngologist—an ear, nose and throat specialist that really loves the throat! My clinical practice focuses on voice, airway and swallowing. I love to teach learners in any stage of development from any department or discipline. My current research is focused on living life with tracheostomy. An effort I couldn't have taken on without the IAE!

Tell us about your educational research interests and teaching role.
I have been collaborating with a number of IAE folks to fine tune a concept of a "minimally viable course"—a course the isn't perfect and actually changes in response to feedback and learner group/experience level. The first concept we have is the cricothyrotomy course—we engaged education researchers from the beginning. We held a petting zoo for the course and kind of workshopped it from many different perspectives. We collected outcomes and it just evolves each time. We give this course to anyone, from 4th year medical students in the residency prep course to ENT residents and Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellows. It is so fun to precept and teach with different faculty and share experiences. We are currently working on a tracheostomy focused course which we have done for first year medical students, residents in PM&R, CCM fellows, etc.

What is one of your favorite/memorable teaching moments?
We recently turned off the lights during drills at the end of cricothyrotomy course and had the students close their eyes while Dr. Veach and I each took away one key tool from each group. We turned dimmed lights back on and watched how the students addressed the missing equipment under time pressure. It was amazing to watch the groups of individuals become teams after several drills. And it turns out, dimming the lights is a key variable in emergency airways for some reason. That was an unexpected innovation that seemed to work.

Share a favorite Academy experience.
Honestly, asking for help when I have no idea what direction to move in next. I know I can always email Dr. Culross, Dr. Beam, Dr. Wardian, Dr. Howell, Teri Hartman and many others. It means so much to me. I am from a small department and it is just wonderful to be able to reach out for some guidance.

What do you enjoy doing in your free (non-work) time?
Airboating. It is the most serene and amazing activity. So many bald eagles. The Platte River is incredible. It changes and moves. It is super cool someone figured out a boat that doesn't need water. Apparently we have a lot of airboats in Nebraksa. Try it!