New faculty spotlight: Wesley Burdiek, MD

Wesley Burdiek, MD

Wesley Burdiek, MD, is a new faculty member at UNMC.

Hometown: Silver Lake, KS

Title and department at UNMC: Assistant professor, UNMC Department of Anesthesiology

How I became interested in anesthesiology: Firstly, I had fantastic mentors that were anesthesiologists, and I seemed to get along with the personalities of anesthesiologists. I originally wanted to be an internist as I enjoyed hospital medicine, but desired to have some procedural skills as well. Once I found out there was an option to do procedures and critical care with anesthesiology, I was hooked.

Education:

  • Coffeyville Community College, Associate of Science (2010 – 2012)
  • Emporia State University, Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (2012 – 2015)
  • University of Kansas School of Medicine – Wichita, MD (2016 – 2020)
  • Anesthesiology Residency, University of Kansas – Wichita (2020 – 2024)
  • Critical Care Anesthesiology Fellowship, University of Nebraska Medical Center (2024 – 2025)

Medical interests: Critical Care, extra corporeal life support, mechanical circulatory support devices, medical education

Professional Memberships: American Medical Association, International Anesthesia Research Society, American Society of Anesthesiologists, Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists

How I fell in love with anesthesiology: I very much enjoy the OR workflow and the wide variety of cases we take care of; every day is very different. Seeing real time physiology and intervening to acutely correct derangements or pain is very rewarding.

Three things people may not know about me:

  • I was a college athlete – a left-handed pitcher at community college before focusing on medicine.
  • I have 3 kids – one during each phase of my medical education/training.
  • My wife and I are high school sweethearts.
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