Fellowship program director of the month

Name: Wendy Grant, MD

Medical school attended: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Location of your residency/fellowship training: University of Utah for general surgery, then UNMC for abdominal transplant surgery

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

Number of trainees: One per year

How long have you been the program director? Eight years

What made you chose to become the program director? I believe in educating the future of our specialty. Our fellowship program is one of the oldest in the country with Dr. Alan Langnas being the first fellow — starting his fellowship in 1988. I was honored to be asked to continue the long tradition of training excellent transplant surgeons and leaders in our field. Also, I really love being a transplant surgeon and want to help others get to do what I do.  

What challenges do you foresee in graduate medical education in the future?  I think that program directors, faculty and residents are in a tricky spot with so many conflicting directives. In the surgical specialties, the residents have to learn the medicine of their field and how to operate. Being able to operate is the cornerstone of being a surgeon. And this takes repetition and experience. We need to continue to give our fellows operative and clinical thinking autonomy within the realms of supervision so that they have the confidence to start their careers by hitting the ground running.

What are the strengths of your training program? We pride ourselves on teaching our fellows how to take care of patients and how to operate. Not only do we train our fellows in the transplant operations (kidney, pancreas, intestine and liver), but we are one of the few training programs in the country that are accredited to train in hepatopancreaticobiliary surgery. We also pride ourselves on making the fellows feel that they are an essential part of the team — there are nine of us – 7 surgeons and 2 fellows.  Our fellows also learn to work with the whole interdisciplinary team. 

List some accomplishments that you are proud of:  

• Our tradition to give our graduating fellows art from a local artist — usually with a path/journey theme along with their certificate of completion of their fellowship.
• That we help our fellows grow as surgeons and people during their two years with us. That the OR staff think that our fellows are incredible! That all of us surgeons keep in touch with our previous fellows on a regular basis. We are family.
• Being an integral part of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons — our accrediting institution and now certifying institution for Abdominal Transplant Surgery. This year for the first time ever we are offering a path to certification for transplant surgeons.

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

• My COVID distraction has been fancy Lego construction kits and jigsaw puzzles.
• Fall is my favorite time of year because I love being outside in flannel shirts and flipflops by a campfire.
• My amazing family — two high schoolers who are amazing band kids, amazingly kind kids and very patient kids, an incredibly supportive and patient husband and our hound, Magie.