Anesthesiology

Fellowships

For Fellowship applications please contact:

Cardiac Anesthesia  Paul Pagel, MD, PhD
Critical Care Medicine  Sylvia Dolinski, MD
Neuroanesthesia  Kathryn Lauer, MD
Obstetrical Anesthesia  Anita Maitra D'Cruze, MD
Pain Medicine  Stephen E. Abram, MD
Pediatric Anesthesia  Susan Staudt, MD
 

In general, emphasis will usually be clinical adult cardiovascular anesthesia. Major vascular surgery, particularly involving ascending and descending thoracic aortic aneurysms, will also be part of the fellowship. Other subspecialty rotations may be arranged. Initially each fellow will function with a resident in the heart room to become familiar with general techniques and procedures. Special rotations in conjunction with the Cardiovascular Medicine Section may be permitted to become familiar with the basics of transesophageal echo. The fellow will be expected to participate in clinical research undertaken by the cardiovascular anesthesia group.

All types of adult and pediatric cardiac surgery are performed at MCW Affilliated Hospitals. The Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at MCW is noted for cardiac transplantation, aortic surgery and use of left ventricular assist devices and bridges to transplantation.

Principal Faculty: Paul Pagel, MD, PhD
 

Critical Care Medicine

The Anesthesia/Critical Care Section is made up of four dedicated critical care anesthesiologists who oversee the care of surgical patients in the 22 bed mixed surgical-medical intensive care unit at the Zablocki Veterans' Administration Hospital.  Three of the four intensivists are also subspecialty trained in cardiac anesthesia while the remaining faculty is board certified in Internal Medicine and Pulmonary/Critical Care in addition to Anesthesiology.  This unit provides post-operative care for major vascular and a wide variety of general and subspecialty surgical patients. Although this unit is considered an "open" unit, there is a very close collaboration with the surgical services.

This critical care fellowship is designed to provide a multidisciplinary experience in taking care of the critically ill. The experience encompasses airway and ventilator management, placement and management of invasive hemodynamic monitors, management of a variety of drug infusions, nutritional support and medical ethics exposure.  To that end, there is a structured educational curriculum which includes:

VA-SICU/MICU conferences: Every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday at 11-12:00 am or 1:30-2:30 pm.  On Mondays, an attending of either the MICU or SICU service gives a lecture on a critical care topic. The audience includes medical and surgical residents, fellows and medical students. It is intended to supplement bedside teaching.

 

On Tuesdays, a journal club is held where a resident, fellow, medical student leads the discussion on an important topic of critical care.

 

On Thursdays, either a SICU or MICU attending presents an interactive conference based on a critical care case.

FMLH SICU conferences: Every Wednesday at 12:00 pm.  Each first Wednesday of the month, a faculty member lectures on a critical care core curriculum topic. The other Wednesdays are dedicated to case conferences, journal clubs and fellow lecture.

FMLH MICU conference: Every Friday at 12:00 pm.  One Friday a month is a conference led by a critical care attending, one is a case conference lead by a critical care fellow, one is a Morbidity/Mortality conference.

FMLH Combined Critical Care Conference: Every 3rd Thursday of the month at 12:00 pm.  This is conference is attended by all the critical care sections including Anesthesiology, Trauma, Medicine and Neurology.

An optional second year of anesthesiology- critical care research is also available.

Principal Faculty: Sylvia Dolinski, MD
 

The critical care fellowship is a one-year ACGME-approved Critical Care Medicine Fellowship. The fellow rotates through the VA hospital as well as the trauma (SICU), medical (MICU) and neurointensive (NICU) care  units at Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital. The training is truly multi-disciplinary in nature due to working under the direction of faculty from Pulmonary/Critical Care, Trauma/Critical Care and Neuro/Critical Care. The exposure is broad and includes medicine patients, transplant, trauma, vascular, general, cardio-thoracic and neurosurgical patients. The fellow is the leader of a team composed of anesthesiology, surgery, medicine, neurology and emergency medicine residents. Call at the VA-SICU is home call. Call at FMLH/MICU is from home and rotated among the fellow and pulmonary/critical care fellows. During the FMLH/SICU rotation, the fellow takes q 4 home call. The fellow has administrative control of ICU beds.

The fellow rotates approximately 4 months out of the year through the VA-SICU, 2-3 months through the FMLH MICU, 2-3 months through the Trauma-SICU, and 1 month through the NICU.  The remaining 1-2 months are electives which can be spent in research, PICU, electronic ICU and/or TEE.  If the fellow elects to spend time in research he or she may choose to base this research in either ongoing clinical or basic science research activities, or to develop his/her own independent line of research.  It is expected that the fellow be able to prepare the research data in abstract form for presentation at a national meeting of anesthesiology or critical care physicians, as well as assist in the preparation of a manuscript for publication

Neuroanesthesia Fellowship
The Anesthesiology Department of the Medical College of Wisconsin offers a 1-2 year fellowship in neurosurgical anesthesiology.  This program is designed to provide both clinical and research experience in neuroanesthesiology. 

The clinical base of the fellowship is Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital, which provides a good clinical experience in intracranial surgery (>300 non trauma craniotomies (approx. 60/year of intracranial vascular surgery, approximately 80 trauma craniotomies/year) and spine (>500 cases/ year). Froedtert Hospital is the regional trauma center for the state, with a dedicated 12 bed neurointensive care unit. The program also includes neuroanesthesia experience at the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, which houses the regional pediatric trauma center, as well as a center for photodynamic therapy. 

Flexible rotations are offered in neurophysiologic monitoring, neurointensive care, and neuroradiology.  The fellowship is tailored to suit the needs of the fellow.

The research base of the fellowship will be at the laboratory facilities of the Medical College of Wisconsin. Our department is home to one of the largest NIH funded research programs in anesthesiology in the country with an NIH funded research training program.  Other sources of support include American Heart National, National Science Foundation and VA Merit Review as well as pharmaceutical and industrial research support. Interests of the faculty include both basic science and clinical research projects. Areas available for basic science research are widely diverse that include but are not limited to funded brain slice and microcirculation research techniques, such as laser Doppler flowmetry, intravital microscopy, and functional MRI.

Fellows are expected to participate in a research project during their training, and will function as instructors, as well as participate in teaching with the Department of Anesthesiology.

Duration of Fellowship training: 1-2 years
Number of faculty in Neuroanesthesia:  9
Number of faculty in Critical Care:  3
Maximum number of fellows per year: 1

The contact person, and director of Neuroanesthesia is

Kathryn K. Lauer, MD
Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
Medical College of Wisconsin
9200 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53226
phone: (414)259-2715
fax:      (414) 259-1522
email: klauer@mcw.edu
 

Obstetrical Anesthesia
The MCW Obstetrical Anesthesia section offers a 6 or 12-month fellowship designed to provide both clinical subspecialty training and clinical research opportunities. This fellowship is designed to meet the needs of those interested in either an academic career or clinical practice.

The fellowship consists of rotations at two locations, providing care for healthy and high-risk parturients. The primary hospital is a private facility (obstetric anesthesia is managed by the MCW academic group) with approximately 4,000 deliveries per year. The fellow will also have some responsibility at the academic institution Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital.

The fellow will have the opportunity to participate in clinical research undertaken by the obstetrical anesthesia group. Current research activities include combined spinal/epidural for labor and cesarean sections, ephedrine for hypotension prophylaxis during spinal anesthesia. The fellow will also have the opportunity to participate in medical student and resident teaching under the supervision of the obstetric anesthesia faculty.

Principal Faculty: Anita Maitra D'Cruze, MD
 

Pain Medicine
The Medical College of Wisconsin offers a one-year Pain Medicine Fellowship that provides instruction and experience in managing acute, chronic and cancer pain. Fellows rotate through the Pain Clinics at the Froedtert, VA and Childrens Hospitals. Comprehensive, multidisciplinary pain management is provided in all three institutions. Emphasis is on comprehensive management, and a wide range of treatments is offered, including standard nerve block procedures, fluoroscopy-guided blocks, neurolytic blocks, medication management, psychotherapy, physical therapy, RF and cryoanalgesia, implantable technologies, and other interventional techniques. An extensive didactic program covers a wide range of clinical and basic science topics. Fellows are encouraged to participate in the planning and implementation of clinical research involving acute, chronic and cancer pain patients. Extensive support for clinical research is available within the department and through the Medical College. Faculty are involved in laboratory investigation of mechanisms of chronic neuropathic pain, and fellows willing to extend their training beyond one year can participate in bench research.

Applicants should supply a CV, a personal statement, and at least three letters of recommendation. These letters should address performance during their residency program, and should include information on performance during pain medicine rotations. Applications are accepted through December, or until all positions are filled. Applicants should contact:

Stephen E. Abram, MD
Pain Fellowship Program Director
Department of Anesthesiology
Medical College of Wisconsin
9200 W. Wisconsin Ave.
P.O.Box 26099
Milwaukee, WI 53226-3596
Tel: (414) 805-6124 Fax: (414) 805-6147
sabram@mcw.edu

Pediatric Anesthesia

Interested candidates should have completed or be entering their final year of Anesthesia, a US Anesthesia Residency and (if applicable) have completed all Visa requirements prior to beginning their fellowship; including Step 3 of the ECFMG.

Children's Hospital of Wisconsin is the only freestanding pediatric hospital in the State of Wisconsin and serves a geographic area comprising parts of four other states. The Hospital provides a full range of services including heart/lung and liver transplantation, Level 1 trauma care center, and a very active world renowned congenital heart surgery program. In all, approximately 18,000 anesthetics were performed in 2005 in 13 operating rooms, 3 out-of-OR locations, and a freestanding Surgicenter. There is a 30 bed Pediatric Intensive Care Unit in which three of our pediatric anesthesiologists attend, as well as a pediatric Comprehensive Pain Management Center, which is staffed by our faculty. We currently have 26 faculty members, many with dual certifications in Pediatrics and Anesthesiology.

Our ACGME Accredited fellowship program is structured to meet the anticipated requirements for subspecialty certification in pediatric anesthesiology. The core of the training program involves the care of pediatric patients in the operating rooms or other anesthetizing locations and intensive care units, and includes out-of-OR anesthetics, pre-anesthesia evaluation, post anesthesia care, pain management and advanced life support for neonates, infants and children. Eight months are spent in the general and cardiac OR's, one month each in Pain and PICU services, The remainder of the time is spent with personalized choices of further pediatric cardiac anesthesia or PICU, pulmonary, cardiology, neonatology, pediatric pain management or research.

We provide health and malpractice insurance, four weeks of vacation, and one week approved educational travel assistance is available. An optional 2^nd year  provides the candidate with the opportunity for training in basic science or clinical research. Basic science research in anesthesiology and related areas of physiology and pharmacology is conducted at several sites and is under the direction of David C. Warltier, M.D., Ph.D.

Please send or FAX a current curriculum vitae with your letter of introduction directly to the address below. Applications are accepted at any time and travel reimbursement is available.

Susan Staudt, M.D.

Section of Pediatric Anesthesiology

Children's Hospital of Wisconsin

P.O. Box 1997, M.S. 735

Milwaukee, WI 53201

Email: sstaudt@chw.org

FAX: (414) 266-6092

Phone: (414) 266-3560