Elizabeth Puthumana is spending eight weeks this summer with the Nebraska Outcomes Research Laboratory as a visiting scholar from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine.
Throughout the summer, Puthumana will be working on two projects under the mentorship of Karsten Bartels, MD, PhD, professor, vice chair of research and Lieberman Chair in the UNMC Department of Anesthesiology.
Puthumana was selected as one of 74 medical students nationwide to participate in the Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research’s Medical Student Anesthesia Research Fellowships program.
Puthumana said her parents instilled the value of helping others from an early age and many of her role models are in health care, both reasons she said led her to enroll in a six-year program at UMKC where she will earn her bachelor’s and medical degrees simultaneously.
“I always knew that I wanted a career in health care and volunteered in healthcare settings as a high school student,” she said. “I was so drawn to the sciences, and I loved the idea of a unique way to use the sciences — to heal people.”
Puthumana said she was drawn to anesthesiology while shadowing during medical school and that she loved not only the OR environment but the technical skill involved.
“I was studying for my board exams and found pharmacology and physiology came the easiest to me,” Puthumana said. “Anesthesiologists are experts in intubation and placing lines. They’re the people who are called when there’s a difficult airway, or there’s a difficult IV that needs to be placed.”
In collaboration with UNMC oncologic surgeon, Juan Santamaria, MD, Dr. Bartels and Puthumana’s first project is looking at industry payments to physicians and other providers — “for example, payments from a pharmaceutical company or a medical device company paying for things like dinner or travel,” she said.
The purpose of the study is to specifically investigate payments made to anesthesiologists and explore any differences by subspecialty, location or demographics. “Does gender play a role? Are men receiving more payments?” Puthumana said. “Are physicians who have been practicing for longer receiving more payments from these companies, and is it influencing their practice?”
The second project will look at hospital efforts to provide equitable care and if high-performing health systems in that realm are more likely to attract trainees.
“We’re seeing if equity efforts correlate with an institution’s ability to fill their residency spots and whether a hospital’s ability to provide equitable care is something that matters to applicants, and whether it has an impact on the institution’s overall attractiveness in the match process,” Puthumana said.
“I’m most excited to see how these projects go and see how the results turn out. I’m growing a whole new set of skills that I didn’t have coming into this program.”
Puthumana is looking forward to attending the American Society of Anesthesiologists annual meeting in October in Philadelphia, where she will present her findings.
Throughout medical school, a lot of her endeavors have been academic and service-based, so she is excited and honored to be selected as a research fellow, she said.
“I was introduced to research and started doing projects with mentors at my home institution, and I was motivated to apply for this program because I wanted to explore research specifically in the realm of anesthesiology,” Puthumana said. “I’m really happy to be at an institution that supports research endeavors for students – there are so many resources available here.”
“Giving enthusiastic learners opportunities to independently drive meaningful scholarly projects is critical to building, recruiting, and retaining the academic leaders of the future,” Dr. Bartels said. “Dr. Puthumana is certainly thriving at UNMC, and we are glad that she chose to spend her summer with our team.”
Puthumana said the program will give her a strong foundation going into residency and continuing a career as a researcher.
“The mentors I’ve met with have been amazing and all the research staff in the lab has been so helpful and supportive.”