The Critical Care Fellowship at the University of Nebraska Medical Center offers a broad-based clinical experience including, but not limited to:
- Surgical Intensive Care Unit
- Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit
- Medical Intensive Care Unit
- Neuro Intensive Care Unit
The fellowship provides training and mentorship to future critical care anesthesiologists to allow them to excel clinically and to become leaders in education and research. We are committed to providing the highest quality experience and education for each of our trainees.
The fellowship is ACGME-accredited and offers four fellowship positions each year. Given the clinical volume and complex patient population at UNMC, the fellow will have an abundance of experience and personalized education.
All graduates of the fellowship sit for the Critical Care Examination by the American Board of Anesthesiology.
We are proud to share that our program has a 100% pass rate on the American Board of Anesthesiology’s Examination in Critical Care by all of our outgoing fellows on their first attempt.
Faculty
Faculty in the Department of Anesthesiology
- Shaun Thompson, MD, Program Director of Critical Care Fellowship, Medical Director of ECLS Services, Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, UNMC
- Daniel W. Johnson, MD, FCCM, Medical Director-Cardiovascular ICU, Assistant Director of Nebraska Biocontainment Unit, Critical Care Division Chief, Associate Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, UNMC
- Amanda Arnzen, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, UNMC
- Karsten Bartels, MD, PhD, Vice Chair of Research, Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, UNMC
- Joseph Baus, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, UNMC
- Stephen Brannan, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, UNMC
- Lucas Deschenes, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, UNMC
- Erin Etoll, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, UNMC
- Zahid Iqbal, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, UNMC
- Shelley Iverson, DO, Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, UNMC
- Steven J. Lisco, MD, FCCP, FCCM, Chair of Department of Anesthesiology, Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, UNMC
- Joseph Pawlowski, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, UNMC
- Sean Rajnic, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, UNMC
- James N. Sullivan, MD, Medical Director-Post Anesthesia Care Unit, Associate Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, UNMC
- Dennis Thiel, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, UNMC
- Levi Zehr, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, UNMC
Associated Faculty
- Daniel Kalin, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, UNMC
- Elizabeth Mahal, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, UNMC
- Thomas Perry, DO, Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, UNMC
Lecture Series
Critical Care fellows will participate in didactic lectures and conferences related to critical care medicine three times per week. Conferences include lectures dedicated to Critical Care fellows, multidisciplinary Quality Assurance and Morbidity & Mortality conferences, and Grand Rounds lectures provided by visiting professors. Fellows will also participate in Journal Club once a month and attend ICU administration committee meetings.
Rotation Roster
- Critical Care Surgery and Trauma
- Critical Care Anesthesiology: Focuses on critically ill cardiology, cardiac surgery, vascular surgery, thoracic surgery, and surgical oncology patients
- Critical Care Medicine White: Focuses on critically ill neurology, neurosurgery, and general medical patients
- Critical Care Medicine Red: Focuses on general medical critical care
- Echocardiography Boot Camp
- Renal
- Radiology
- Research
- Elective Rotations
Electives include but are not limited to: Radiology, Echo Boot Camp, Echo Reading Room, Blood Bank, Emergency Medicine, Anesthesiology, Ultrasound, Advanced Ultrasound, Advanced Echocardiography, Respiratory Therapy, Renal, Infectious Diseases, Transition to Practice, CHF Cardiology, EP Cardiology, Cardiac Surgery, ECMO, and ICU Administration.
Critical Care Ultrasonography
All fellows will receive comprehensive training in critical care ultrasonography. The fellowship will utilize a combination of computer-based didactics, state-of-the-art simulation and direct hands-on training to ensure that all graduating fellows are capable of applying all of the modalities of point-of-care ultrasonography in their critical care practice:
- Echocardiography (Transthoracic and Transesophageal)
- Lung /Pleural ultrasonography
- Focused assessment with sonography for trauma (FAST exam)
- Screening for DVT
- Ultrasound for vascular access and other procedural guidance
Several faculty members are active teachers at national ultrasound and echocardiography conferences, including those sponsored by the American Society of Echocardiography and the Society of Critical Care Medicine. Our fellows benefit greatly from this in house expertise.
Multiple faculty members, current fellows, and former fellows have passed the National Board of Echocardiography’s Examination of Special Competence in Critical Care Echocardiography (CCEeXAM) in 2021, with more on track to pass the 2022 CCEeXAM. Fellows at UNMC can expect to successfully complete the CCEeXAM either during their fellowship or in the year immediately following fellowship
The Application Process
- Positions available (2024-2025 Academic Year): 4
- Applicants that have successfully completed an ACGME-accredited residency program in Anesthesiology or Emergency Medicine and are interested in Critical Care Anesthesiology are encouraged to apply.
- Please note change: The Centralized Application Service (CAS) is provided through the San Francisco Match. All applicants must register through the San Francisco Subspecialty Match.
- (Registration opens on November 1, 2022, for applications for the 2024-2025 academic year).
- Once you are registered, the CAS application form will be available online to you in your SF Match Account Profile.
- For more information, please review the CAS Instruction Manual.
- Those applicants selected for a formal interview will be invited to interview between January 1 and April 30, 2023.
- The University of Nebraska Department of Anesthesiology participates in the SF Match for placement of critical care anesthesiology fellow positions and will submit their rank list in compliance with its deadlines.
Current Status of Recent Graduates of the Fellowship
- Chandni Ravi, MBBS - Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University, Augusta, GA
- Patrick Ward, DO - Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology Fellowship, UNMC, NE
- Levi Zehr, MD - UNMC, Omaha, NE
- Emma Nash, MD - Emergency Medicine & Critical Care, Aurora St. Luke's, Milwaukee, WI
- Thomas Perry, DO - UNMC, Omaha, NE
- Sean Rajnic, MD - UNMC, Omaha, NE
- William (Cole) Wrisinger, DO - private practice anesthesiology, Kansas City, MO
- Chen (Brian) Zhao, DO - University of Birmingham, Birmingham, AL
- Stephen Brannan, MD - UNMC, Omaha, NE
- Karolyn Fox-Dahl, MD - MidPlains Anesthesiology and Critical Care Group, Kearney, NE
- Zeid Kalarikkal, MD - Emergency Medicine and Critical Care, Aurora St. Luke's, Milwaukee, WI
- Tal Sandler, MD - Valleywise Health, Phoenix, AZ
- Byron (Blake) Gorman, DO - Ascension Via Christi St. Francis, Wichita, KS
- Danielle Cummins, MD - Indiana School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN
- Megan Folsom, MD - University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS
- James Harris, DO - Winchester Anesthesiologists, Inc., Winchester, VA
- Joseph Baus, MD - UNMC, Omaha, NE
- Jared Staab, DO - University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS
- Dan Kalin, MD - UNMC, Omaha, NE
- Shaun Thompson, MD - UNMC, Omaha, NE
- Abel Luksan, MD - Regional West Medical Center, Scottsbluff, NE
Program Contacts
For more information regarding the Critical Care Anesthesiology Fellowship Program at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, please contact:
Shaun Thompson, MD
Program Director
UNMC Critical Care Anesthesiology Fellowship
984455 Nebraska Medical Center
Omaha, NE 68198-1145
Mary Bernhagen, Coordinator
UNMC Critical Care Anesthesiology Fellowship
986890 Nebraska Medical Center
Omaha, NE 68198-6890
Phone: 402-559-7370