When Jorge Gálvez, MD, was nearing the end of medical school at Yale, he received an email from the dean of students. A short one.
“Come see me in my office,” it read.
With the trepidation any student would feel, he presented himself before the dean. But she simply wanted to share a letter she had received from a patient.
The woman had been at the hospital for an elective mastectomy. Dr. Gálvez, taking an anesthesiology elective, had clasped the woman’s hand and said a few words of encouragement as she was taken into the operating room.
The Gálvez file
Dr. Gálvez was born in Caracas, Venezuela, and immigrated to the United States at the age of 11. He studied biology, photojournalism, chemistry and Spanish before embarking on his medical education at Yale, where he completed both medical school and training in anesthesiology.
Prior to joining Children’s and UNMC, Dr. Gálvez was an attending anesthesiologist in the department of anesthesiology & critical care medicine at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where he also served as assistant professor of anesthesiology & critical care at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. His additional areas of expertise include clinical informatics, neonatal anesthesia, pediatric airway management, craniofacial reconstruction and advanced techniques for vascular access. He is a leader in the field of biomedical informatics, specifically in the implementation and optimization of electronic health record systems for pediatric perioperative care, both nationally and internationally.
Furthermore, he has developed an interest in pediatric medical device development and has collaborated with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration through the Pediatric Medical Device Consortium Program.
-Children’s Hospital & Medical Center
It was something he always did. He didn’t even remember the specific patient who had written the letter.
But, for the first time, he realized the impact the gesture had made.
“Right before surgery, that’s an important time, it’s a frightening time,” he said. “And as anesthesiologists, that’s when we connect.”
Dr. Gálvez arrives at UNMC and Children’s Hospital & Medical Center determined to continue to have a powerful impact. He will serve as division chief of pediatric anesthesiology at Children’s, and the Jane Kugler, MD, and Douglas Vonderfecht, MD, Family Professor and vice chair of pediatric anesthesiology in the UNMC Department of Anesthesiology.
“Dr. Galvez has an outstanding track record in both the clinical and academic domains,” said Steven Lisco, MD, chair of the UNMC Department of Anesthesiology. “He is a talented and trusted leader. We look forward to seeing Dr. Galvez’ presence positively impacting the institution and community.”
Dr. Gálvez said he wasn’t looking to make a job switch in the middle of a pandemic, but the expertise and talent at UNMC and Children’s convinced him to join the staff. As division chief, one of his main goals will be to recruit and grow excellent clinicians and faculty members.
“I am so excited to have Dr. Galvez join our team,” said Christopher Maloney, executive vice president, chief clinical officer and physician-in-chief at Children’s. “He brings excellent clinical skills and leadership and his commitment to data science is welcomed as we continue our drive to become a data-driven, decision-making organization.”
He also hopes to use his expertise in biomedical informatics to support and improve patient care. He holds a masters’ in biomedical informatics from Oregon Health and Science University and is board-certified in clinical informatics, and his academic career has focused on developing clinical decision support tools to guide policy implementation and improve clinical practice.
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“There’s a great deal of interest in advancing clinical informatics within the pediatric perioperative environment, including critical care and neonatal care at Children’s and UNMC,” he said.
“I am excited to bring my expertise to Omaha and explore program development and collaboration throughout the institution, including the University of Nebraska at Omaha College of Information Science & Technology and the faculty in biomedical informatics and bioinformatics. I look forward to collaborating with faculty, doctoral, graduate and undergraduate students to advance the field of pediatric perioperative clinical informatics.”
In addition, he found the Omaha community a welcoming one. Dr. Gálvez, who has a son on the autism spectrum, was impressed by the embrace, not just of the hospital and university community, but the wider Omaha community. School officials took time to meet with him about their programs; others discussed the many community resources.
“My son has been my best teacher,” he said. “Health care settings are really stressful for him. My obligation is to help children with medically complex needs in a way that’s not stressful to them. This is central to how I care about patients.
“But listening to children and families, and meeting them where they’re at, that’s one of the joys of working in pediatrics,” he said.
Bienvenido
Edibaldo Silva, MD, PhD
Surgical Oncology
Welcome!
A well deserved promotion!!! Dr. Galvez has worked extremely hard to get where he is today. Children's Hospital, University of Nebraska at Omaha Medical Center, and the city of Omaha and surrounding area are lucky to have him. Not just because he is our Son-in-Law, our family has been following his career the last 15 years. His accomplishments and dedication are amazing! He definitely is a leader in his field and he is a bright, rising star in the world of Anesthesiology and Medicine.
Timothy and Debra J. Klucinec