Name: T.J. Lockhart, MD
Medical school attended: University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine
Location of your residency/fellowship training: Washington University in St. Louis / Barnes-Jewish Hospital / St. Louis Children’s Hospital
What fellowship program at UNMC are you serving as program director for?
Pediatric Anesthesiology Fellowship director
Number of trainees: One to two
How long have you been the program director? One year
What made you choose to become the program director? I had been the associate fellowship director for the past many years and recently transitioned to program director this past academic year.
What challenges do you foresee in graduate medical education in the future? For the past couple of years, anesthesiology fellowships have shown a decline in the number of applicants matching into the various subspecialties. This is especially true with pediatric anesthesiology programs across the country. We must think outside the box to be able to attract residents to pursue these avenues in the context of many factors attracting them away from academia into private practices immediately after graduation. The importance that fellowships add to further build their skillset and diversify their career path is not always apparent to learners.
What are the strengths of your training program? We are a smaller program that can tailor our education to meet the needs of our learners. The case numbers our fellows are achieving speaks volumes regarding the various advanced surgeries and procedures that our fellows take part in as the care team. While other programs with similar case volumes may add more fellows to take advantage of the numbers, we purposefully stay small to allow for flexibility. We can make sure our fellows are part of the best cases at both UNMC and Children’s Nebraska to ensure they leave our program having a sound foundation for future success.
List some accomplishments that you are proud of: We currently have the first ACGME-accredited, exceptionally qualified international anesthesiology fellow at UNMC. The pathway for achieving this was a unique challenge, especially for a new program director, but it has brought amazing depth and cultural growth to our fellowship. I also am proud of our division and department’s focus on simulation in education and their support as we grow educational opportunities using this medium. Locally and nationally, more of our faculty members are training current and future anesthesiologists using simulation-based methods.
Tell us three things about you that others may not know:
- I graduated from a very small high school in southwest Iowa. There were only 27 people in my class. Go Sidney!
- I am a lifelong Iowa Hawkeyes fan despite how difficult it is at times.
- I grew up with three sisters and am now blessed to have two daughters keeping me on my toes!