COM resident program director of the month

Name:  Tiffany Tanner, MD
 
Medical school attended: UNMC College of Medicine
 
Location of your residency/fellowship training:
General surgery residency – UNMC
Minimally invasive and bariatric surgery residency – St. Luke’s Hospital, Kansas City, Missouri
 
What residency/fellowship program at UNMC are you serving as program director for:  General surgery residency
 
Number of trainees: 32
 
How long have you been the program director: Six months
 
What made you chose to become the program director:
I enjoy surgical education. There is nothing more rewarding than watching trainees mature – not only in their professional development, but also as individuals. Residents spend 5-7 years in our program and frequently have many exciting life events such as entering into relationships and having children. I consider it a privilege to be able to help mentor trainees through this time.
 
What challenges do you foresee in graduate medical education in the future: 
We as physicians are being asked to do more with less. This also is true for graduate medical education. I foresee technology helping with innovative training strategies.
 
What are the strengths of your training program: 
We are lucky to have such amazing people in our program – from our trainees to our staff and faculty.
 
Our trainees work as a team and as family to take care of each other. Our staff go above and beyond to make sure things run smoothly and they are present to support our residents. Faculty truly care for and want the trainees to succeed. They help involve the residents in research projects, allow them to care for their patients, and help our trainees land the jobs and the fellowships that they want.  
 
Our program also has multiple practice settings, which expose the residents to a diverse patient population and surgical practice settings.
 
We have a comprehensive simulation curriculum that encompasses robotic, endoscopic, laparoscopic, endovascular and open procedures.
 
List some accomplishments that you are proud of:

1. That our residents become leaders in their communities and their field.
2. That they are able to have families and personally develop while they are here for their professional development.
3.  Our residents also stay in contact with us after they graduate from our program.

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

1. I have two wonderful daughters – Emma, 3, and Madison, 1.
2. I am a twin. My twin sister, Jessica Haverkamp, has a PhD in immunology and works for Merck in Boston.
3. My grandfather, John Tanner, was a physician.