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Medical College of Wisconsin Surgical Critical Care and Acute Care Surgery Fellowship Program

Surgical Critical Care Fellowship

The Surgical Critical Care (SCC) Fellowship is an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accredited one year fellowship with multiple track options such as one-year SCC only track, one-year SCC pediatric track and two-year combined SCC, and ACS Fellowship track.

The majority of the SCC fellowship year is spent at Froedtert Hospital in a 21-bed Surgical Intensive Care Unit with over 1700 admissions per year. During the SCC year fellows will learn to manage a wide range of surgical pathologies and become proficient in bedside procedures including percutaneous tracheostomies, lines, chest tubes, bronchoscopy, and Point of Care Ultrasound. Fellows will also have an opportunity to spend time in the cardiovascular intensive care unit where they will become familiar with mechanical circulatory support and ECMO.

In addition to these experiences, fellows will also have an opportunity to rotate through in the surgical intensive care unit at the Zablocki Veterans Medical Center as well as in the neuro intensive care unit and surgical intensive care unit at St. Luke’s Medical Center, a large community hospital.

Fellows in the SCC fellowship are employed by The Medical College of Wisconsin and Affiliated Hospitals (MCWAH).

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Apply via the SAFAS system

Acute Care Surgery Fellowship

The two-year Acute Care Surgery fellowship is designed to provide in-depth training for those interested in Trauma and complex Emergency General Surgery. During the first year the fellow will complete an ACGME accredited Surgical Critical Care fellowship.

The second year is accredited through the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST) and is structured to maximize the educational value of the Trauma and Acute Care Surgical services while also providing rotations on vascular surgery, thoracic surgery, and transplant surgery. During the second year the fellow will have the opportunity to rotate at a busy trauma center in Panama City. This international rotation is meant to expand the fellow’s view of global surgery and is a unique opportunity to experience how trauma care is provided outside of the United States. The fellow will gain experience in the administrative requirements necessary to run a trauma program, as well as experience with research and quality improvement programs. The second-year fellow will have a faculty appointment in the Department of Surgery and will experience graduated levels of responsibility but will always be on call with an attending surgeon.

Upon completion of this two-year fellowship the graduate will have a broad experience in Trauma, Emergency General Surgery, Critical Care, Trauma System/Center management, Global Surgery, and research. It is our intention to train the future leaders of the Trauma and Acute Care Surgery field regardless of whether they chose to practice at an academic medical center or community hospital.

The second year ACS fellow is employed as a faculty instructor through the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW).

View benefits

Apply via the SAFAS system

Didactics and Research

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Education

Fellow Fridays: Each week, fellows are excused from clinical responsibilities and spend the day in lectures and educational activities. These didactics are combined with the emergency medicine/anesthesia critical care fellows. The lectures are led by a multidisciplinary group of attendings including faculty in critical care, acute care surgery, neurosurgery, emergency, anesthesia, endocrine, pulmonology, as well as pharmacists and dieticians.

Blood and Coffee: These informal lectures occur bi-weekly and are a chance for attendings and fellows to meet and discuss interesting cases and review videos of challenging trauma resuscitations. This also allows for open discussions regarding career paths, financial planning, and advice regarding life as a trauma surgeon.

Journal Club: Once a month the surgical critical care, anesthesia critical care, and emergency critical care fellows have a combined journal club in which fellows discuss landmark papers.

Critical Care Insights: Each fellow is responsible for putting together a critical care review of a controversial topic once a year, which are then analyzed and discussed.

Ultrasound: Fellows spend one month on an ultrasound rotation where they undergo lessons followed by hands on experiences in the intensive care unit.

Resources: Fellows are provided textbooks in critical care and emergency surgery. The fellow has electronic access to all of the MCW library holdings and also has access to the SCORE critical care modules.

Research

The Division of Trauma, Acute Care Surgery and Critical Care at the Medical College of Wisconsin is highly active in research. We consistently contribute to new and important trauma/ACS literature, which is presented on a national and international scale. All fellows are encouraged to participate in research projects during their fellowship and the ACS fellow is required to submit an abstract to a national meeting. Each fellow is required to start a quality improvement project of their choosing. The trauma department has research meetings twice a month to discuss new ideas. Fellows are supported to travel to a trauma or critical care conference yearly. The ACS fellow attends the AAST Annual Meeting each year.

Learn about the Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery

 

Why become a fellow at MCW?

As a major academic medical center, and the largest research institution in the Milwaukee metro area, the Medical College of Wisconsin is a distinguished leader in the advanced training of physicians, researchers, pharmacists and health professionals. Together with its top-tier partner institutions, the Medical College of Wisconsin Affiliated Hospitals (MCWAH) puts you at the forefront of advancement that’s improving the vitality of society.

2024-2025 Current Fellows

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Simin Golestani, MD

Acute Care Surgery Fellow

Residency: University of Texas at Austin

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Elisabeth Loomis, DO

Surgical Critical Care Fellow

Surgery Residency: Summa Health Akron City Hospital

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Courtney Pokrzywa, MD

Surgical Critical Care Fellow

Surgery Residency: New York Presbyterian Hospital- Columbia University

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Marinda Scrushy, MD

Pediatric Critical Care Fellow

Surgery Residency: UT Southwestern Medical School

Past Fellows

Past Acute Care Surgery Fellows

2023-2024 Nathan Carlson, MD
2022-2023 Kathryn Haberman, MD

 

Past Pediatric Critical Care Fellows

2022-2023 Zachary Morrison, MD
2021-2022 Amanda Witte, MD
2020-2021 Christopher Laird, MD
2019-2020 Ali Mokdad, MD
2018-2019 Alessandra Landman, MD
2017-2018 Jose Salazar, MD
2016-2017 Ruchi Amin, MD

Past Surgical Critical Care Fellows

2023-2024 Simin Golestani MD
2023-2024 Weston Andrews, MD
2022-2023 Nathan Carlson, MD
2022-2023 Brittney Lemon, DO
2022-2023 Isaac Hanson, DO
2021-2022 Motaz Selim, MD
2021-2022 Kathryn Haberman, MD
2021-2022 Nolan Rudder, MD
2020-2021 Bennett Berning, MD
2020-2021 Rebecca Mitchell, MD
2019-2020 Amy Murphy, DO
2019-2020 Joshua Pearl, MD
2018-2019 Joseph Losh, DO
2017-2018 Charles Fehring, MD
2017-2018 Andrew Kamien, MD
2016-2017 Nathaniel Bonfanti, MD
2016-2017 James Cooros, MD

 

Reasons to live in Milwaukee

Milwaukee is a one-of-a-kind city with a vibrant and diverse culture, this charming, yet metropolitan must-see is just 90 minutes north of Chicago and nestled on the coast of Lake Michigan. Whether you’re catching a show at Summerfest, the world’s largest music festival, immersing yourself in the old world charm of the Historic Third Ward or taking in the sights and sounds of one of the many cafés, beer gardens or restaurants that line the city’s riverbank and shoreline, Milwaukee never disappoints. Find out why MCW residents and fellows take pride in calling Milwaukee home.

Contact Us

Laurie Hein

Laurie Hein, MD
Program Manager

(414) 805-6519
(414) 955-0072 (fax)

Tom Carver_Academic Profile-2

Thomas Carver, MD
Program Director

(414) 805-6519
(414) 955-0072 (fax)

Anu Elegbede, MD

Anu Elegbede, MD
Surgical Critical Care Associate Fellowship Director

Jeremy Levin, MD

Jeremy Levin, MD
Acute Care Surgery Associate Fellowship Director