COM resident of the month

Name: Kyle Schmidt, MD

Medical school you attended/year you graduated: UNMC – 2013

Residency/fellowship at UNMC: Neurosurgery residency

Program director: Ken Follett, MD, PhD

How long is your training program and how long have you been at UNMC:

Neurosurgery training program is 7 years.

I have been at UNMC for 9 years total (5 years of residency and 4 years of med school).

What do you like the most about your training program:

The educational environment created by the UNMC and Midwest Neurosurgery staff and fellow residents. Monthly neurosurgery cake day sponsored by Dr. Surdell is also a highlight.

What challenges do you foresee in graduate medical education in the future:

Of several, the top two:

–Further limitations on work hours, such as the 80-hour workweek, currently challenge adequate clinical exposure, especially with the increase in non-clinical and non-research burdens placed on residents by various entities.

–A shift toward larger health care systems nationwide and their willingness to involve students and residents, which will likely be guided by funding/finances.

List some accomplishments that you are proud of:

–Completing an interdepartmental research study evaluating the role of cilia in aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage and associated hydrocephalus.

–Receiving the 2013 Kenneth M. Browne Award (awarded to a medical student pursuing a career in neurosurgery).

Tell us three things about you that others may not know:

–I find agricultural manual labor thoroughly enjoyable when time allows.

–I enjoy taking to the sky as a private pilot.

–I completed UNL’s Feedlot Nutrition and Management program recently and continue to be involved in the family farm/ranch.