Outstanding faculty: Kristin Wakin, MD

Kristin Wakin, MD, an assistant professor in the department of anesthesiology in UNMC College of Medicine, will receive the Outstanding Teacher Award during the annual faculty meeting to be held virtually on April 18, beginning at 3 p.m.; details are available on the faculty senate page online.

• Name: Kristin Wakin, MD 
• Title: Assistant professor 
• Joined UNMC: 2018 
• Hometown: Omaha

What are the greatest rewards of teaching? 

The greatest rewards of teaching are getting to know our anesthesiology residents on a personal and professional level and watching them grow throughout their training into outstanding clinicians.  

What are the biggest challenges you face as a teacher? 

The biggest challenge with teaching is recognizing that not all trainees learn in the same fashion, so one method of teaching may be helpful for some and not others. Working closely with residents in the clinical setting has allowed me to get to know them on a personal level and cater my approach toward teaching in a way that suits their individual learning style.   

Describe a moment in your career when you knew you chose the right occupation. 

During residency, I participated in a mission trip to Rwanda, providing anesthetic care for patients undergoing thyroidectomies secondary to lack of iodine in their diet. Many patients walked for days to have their goiters removed surgically. Some goiters not only caused difficulty with swallowing and breathing, but their physical appearance also led to ostracism by their peers. After the surgeries were completed, the patients left with the brightest smiles that expressed their appreciation better than any words could have. This was one of the most rewarding experiences of my career that really reinforced to me why anesthesiology is the perfect fit for me. 

How do you know when you’ve been a successful teacher? 

One of the best feelings as an academic anesthesiologist is teaching residents early on in their training difficult anesthetic concepts or how to do various clinical procedures and then going on to see them not only excel at performing those procedures independently but also explaining those same challenging concepts with ease to junior residents and medical students.