Name: Sara May, MD
Medical school attended: UNMC
Location of your residency/fellowship training:
- Residency: Internal medicine at UNMC
- Fellowship: Allergy and immunology at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
What residency/fellowship program at UNMC are you serving as program director for?
Allergy and immunology
Number of trainees:
For our first year, this academic year we took two fellows and matched one fellow for next year. We will alternate between two fellows and one fellow every other year.
How long have you been the program director?
Officially, since July of 2022 when the program started. But I started working to get the program approved, funded and finally open when I came here as a faculty member in 2015.
What made you choose to become the program director?
Currently, there is a shortage of allergists and clinical immunologists throughout the state of Nebraska and surrounding areas. Since 2015, when Creighton closed, there was no longer a training program in Nebraska. I felt it was very important to start this, and in order to reach this goal I needed to be the program director. Also, as cliche as it sounds, I love to teach, especially when I literally see the “light bulb” moment occur with a fellow in training, where they are able to take basics science information and apply it to the evaluation and treatment of a complicated patient. It is so cool to see!
What challenges do you foresee in graduate medical education in the future?
Funding seems to be the biggest challenge at this moment, and I foresee it continuing to be a challenge. In addition, effectively teaching trainees in the modern era with different exposures in life around technology.
What are the strengths of your training program?
- All faculty are approachable allowing fellows to have better “bedside learning.”
- Thriving, progressive division with leadership support that facilitates change to improve education and the training program.
- Our program is brand new and therefore much easier to mold as needed to improve the program for the fellows’ education and experience.
- Nursing support that allows fellows to focus on patient care and education.
- Dedicated time and focus for didactics.
List some accomplishments that you are proud of:
- Starting a brand-new fellowship that has been successful at recruiting outstanding and diverse fellows.
- Mentoring fellows in allergy and immunology, but also life.
- Developing an effective didactic program.
- Facilitating and mentoring programs actively applying for a new allergy and immunology fellowship.
- Multidisciplinary care of patients including a dedicated clinic with Dr. Barnes, program director for ENT, for our most challenging patients.
- Growing Village Pointe allergy to a thriving clinical location for allergy.
- Starting allergy and immunology at the Omaha VA.
- Developing a drug allergy program at Nebraska Medicine.
- Helping the antimicrobial stewardship improve antibiotic use by improving drug allergy education, processes and guidelines at UNMC.
Tell us three things about you that others may not know:
- I have twin boys who are 7 and a 2-year-old son. Twins run in my family.
- I love Jazzercise and do this for exercise multiple times a week.
- If I did a second career, I would become a professional shopper.