Name: Craig A. Piquette, MD
Medical school attended: University of South Dakota
Location of your residency/fellowship training:
University of Missouri, Columbia/St. Louis University
What residency/fellowship program at UNMC are you serving as program director for: Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
Number of trainees: 12
How long have you been the program director: 19.5 years
What made you chose to become the program director:
I liked working with fellows and had helped secure accreditation for the critical care portion of the program, so when the former program director decided to step down, I was offered the position and took it. I have never regretted it.
What challenges do you foresee in graduate medical education in the future:
Securing a stable base of funding for GME is the greatest challenge for training programs. Education is an investment in the future. Just as educating the medical students of the future is important, they are only the raw recruits who are turned into competent and responsible physicians through GME. The residency and fellowship programs also are an investment in the health care of our future, and it may suffer if GME is not funded adequately enough.
What are the strengths of your training program:
Our vision is superior pulmonary and critical training, and I believe we provide that. Our graduates are equally comfortable entering practice in an academic medical center or in the community. At Nebraska Medicine, we do it in a nurturing and supportive environment.
List some accomplishments that you are proud of:
I have led the program through four ACGME site visits and have overseen a doubling in its size from six to 12 fellows. Many of the more than 40 graduates during my tenure work in Nebraska or neighboring states.
I served as president of the Association of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Program Directors.
I served on the committee that wrote the milestones for all Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine programs.
Tell us three things about you that others may not know:
As a Boy Scout leader, I have climbed six 14,000-foot peaks in Colorado and paddled 50 miles through the Boundary Waters National Wilderness Area in Minnesota.
I grew up in Massachusetts and went to college at Boston University.
I enjoy landscaping and perennial gardens.