Resident program director of the month

Name: Shannon Lynch, MD

Titles:

• Associate professor, UNMC Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences and Department of Neurological Science
• Director of education, UNMC Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences
• Ophthalmology residency program director
• Neuro-ophthalmology division chief

Medical school attended:

University of Southern California – Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles

Location of your residency/fellowship training:

• Ophthalmology residency at Drexel, Philadelphia
• Neuro-ophthalmology fellowship, University of Iowa, Iowa City

What residency/fellowship program at UNMC are you serving as program director for?

I am the director of education for the department of ophthalmology which includes being the residency program director for the ophthalmology residency program as well as the director of medical student education.

Number of trainees:

Currently two per year, but we are looking to expand. Since we now have an integrated internship, that makes a total of eight residents.

How long have you been the program director:

I became the program director July 2019 but was previously the associate program director for many years.

What made you chose to become the program director:

I was asked to become the program director by the residents when the last program director left the department. Since education of our next generation is a priority for me, I gladly accepted the opportunity. I love working with the residents and helping them to achieve their potential.

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

• Obtaining financial support for most residents as the need for physicians grows.
• Finding a way to teach an ever-expanding volume of material without increasing time spent in training.
• Balancing work and wellness.
• Development of an educational core faculty with the appropriate training, financial support and protected time for educational activities away from clinical and research expectations.
• Promoting inclusivity and diversity across the specialties to effectively meet the needs of our increasingly diverse patient population.

What are the strengths of your training program:

We have an amazing group of residents who are eager to learn. Our growing faculty attracts a diversity of patients ensuring that our residents get not only a robust surgical experience but see a variety of pathologies to enhance their education. The cumulative graduated autonomy in our program allows our residents to be great general ophthalmologists the day they graduate or to succeed in the subspecialty fellowship of their choice.

List some accomplishments that you are proud of:

• Providing quality education to residents and medical students during a pandemic.
• Recognition from my patients for not only delivering expert care, but for having the ability to educate them about their condition so that they can be an informed participant in their own health care.
• Creating an integrated internship for our program.

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

• Although no one in my family is a physician, I’ve wanted to be an ophthalmologist since I was in high school and a neuro-ophthalmologist since I was in my sophomore year of college.
  
• I had never been to the Midwest before I did my fellowship training in Iowa and had never been to Nebraska before I came here to join the faculty in 2005.

• Prior to the pandemic, I loved to travel. I am hopeful that I will be able to plan a trip soon with my family or friends.