New faculty spotlight: Wesley Burdiek, MD

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

• Name: Wesley Burdiek, MD
• Title and department at UNMC: Assistant professor, UNMC Department of Anesthesiology
• Hometown: Silver Lake, Kansas

How I became interested in anesthesiology: 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, because 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, 2010-12
• Emporia State University, bachelor of science in biochemistry and molecular biology, 2012-15
• University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita, MD, 2016-20
• Anesthesiology Residency, University of Kansas-Wichita, 2020-24
• Critical care anesthesiology fellowship, UNMC, 2024-25

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; every day is different. Seeing real time physiology and intervening to acutely correct derangements or pain is 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 three kids – one during each phase of my medical education/training.
• My wife and I are high school sweethearts.