The ACGME-accredited Anesthesia Critical Care Program at UTMB, the
oldest medical school in Texas, has an extraordinary faculty that
promotes collegial and patient-centered care. Our program, whose alumni
are practicing nationwide, has been accredited since 1995. Fellows
embarking on a career in academics or in private practice benefit from
the comprehensive and innovative training program we offer.
One such innovative feature is our multidisciplinary journal club, in
which fellows from accredited Surgical and Pulmonary Critical Care
programs present contemporary articles and promote interdisciplinary
education. In addition to the more traditional Anesthesiology applicant,
we also have Maternal-Fetal-Medicine fellows, and we are receptive to
the ABA plan to include emergency medicine physicians, all of whom would
be eligible to attain board certification.
During the year-long program, fellows manage patients from a wide
variety of clinical, surgical, and medical sub specialties including
transplant, trauma, neurosurgery and neurology, cardiothoracic,
vascular, and ob/gyn, among others. Fellows have the opportunity to work
with professionals at the highest level of training in this
multidisciplinary environment. In addition, UTMB is designated as a
Level I Trauma center; we have an
exceptional Respiratory Therapy program; and our fellows collaborate
closely with PharmD fellows, nutritionists, primary teams, etc. in our
semi-open ICU setting. Further, we encourage the use of ultrasound and
the most up-to-date monitoring devices in the management of the unit,
and we foster a familiarity with vascular devices, such as ECMO, LVAD,
IABP, in the SICU. Finally, we place primary emphasis on
evidence-based practices.
Similar to the majority of the other 51 accredited critical care
programs, we have participated in the San Francisco Match since its inception a few years ago. The
common application used by a majority of the programs can be found on
the SOCCA website. Our program is accredited for two fellows and, on
occasion, may accommodate off-cycle applicants.
The first MOCA-certified simulation center is on campus and is
available to fellows throughout the 12-month training program. The
simulation center will be working on developing critical care scenarios
to enhance education and hands-on training for many critical care
devices, such as LVAD, IABP, ECMO, ventilators, etc. To further enhance
education and cooperative learning we offer a weekly departmental
M&M in both surgery and anesthesiology. Our educational curriculum
also offers a research elective in which fellows have the opportunity to
participate in one of the following:
- Dr. Prough's research has been funded by the National Institutes
of Health, the Department of Defense, the Moody Foundation, and other
sources. He is currently the Co-Principal Investigator of the Moody
Project for Translational Brain Injury Research, which is focused on
using experimental models to identify potential treatments for patients
with acute and chronic traumatic brain injury. Other ongoing research
projects involve the development of optoacoustic technology, which he
co-invented, to provide continuous, noninvasive measure of blood
oxygenation in newborn infants, fetuses during labor and traumatic
brain injury victims. He is currently studying a novel technology,
which recently received the Sheikh Zayed Prize for Pediatric Device
Innovation, for identifying the precise position of endotracheal tubes
in patients without using chest radiographs. His publications include
original research on responses of the cerebral circulation to traumatic
brain injury and hemorrhagic shock, cerebral circulation during
cardiopulmonary bypass, and innovations in noninvasive monitoring. He
has published more than 100 book chapters, over 250 original
peer-reviewed articles, and made more than 500 presentations at
conferences and other professional meetings.
- The investigational intensive care unit, funded by NIH and DOD,
headed by Perenlei
Enkhbaatar, MD, PhD, is a 24/7 ICU for Translational Research
Studies, where state-of-the-art medical techniques and novel treatment
strategies are developed for the critically ill patient.
- The molecular pharmacology laboratory, headed by Dr. Csaba Szabo.
This laboratory, funded by the NIH, JDRF and the ADA, focuses on the
molecular pathogenesis of critical illness, with special emphasis on
vascular dysfunction and cellular metabolic failure and employs
state-of-the-art tools of cell biology, molecular biology, molecular
pharmacology and cell-based screening.
- Resuscitation Research Laboratory, directed by George Kramer,
PhD, funded by NIH, U.S. Army, Office of Naval Research and industry,
conducts clinical, animal and engineering efforts into smart "decision
support" and autonomous care resuscitation systems for trauma and
critical care. www.utmb.edu/rrl
For further information please contact our coordinator, Heronica Alexander, at hdalexan@utmb.edu. Our ACCM fellow website will be available through our anesthesiology home page anesthesia.utmb.edu.