New faculty spotlight: Carlos Gomez, MD

Carlos Gomez, MD

Carlos Gomez, MD, is a new faculty member at UNMC.

  • Name: Carlos Gomez, MD                          
  • Hometown: Neiva, Colombia
  • Title and department at UNMC/Title at Nebraska Medicine: Associate professor in the UNMC Division of Infectious Diseases and an infectious disease physician with Nebraska Medicine

Research/professional interests:

  • Infections in transplant and oncologic immunocompromised patients
  • Interventional clinical trials about newer antimicrobials and vaccines
  • Molecular diagnostics of opportunistic infections

How I fell in love with infectious diseases (ID) and microbiology:

In my third year as a medical student at the microbiology laboratory, while trying to focus the microscope lens to see for the first time an ova of Ascaris lumbricoides, I came across an ID fellow doing her micro lab rotation. She spoke about the scope of the ID practice. I did not know what ID docs exactly did and how it intersected with aspects of the host, the environment (nowadays known as social determinants of health) and the pathogen. As an ID specialist, one gets to work within a broad field of action, each with unique challenges, ranging from HIV/AIDS to antimicrobial resistance, emergent infections, pandemics and many more, all while practicing as a bedside clinician and investigator with close ties to the micro lab. At that time, I realized the ID field was my calling. Naturally, I applied for internal medicine residency with ID already engrained in my mind. The forthcoming years steered my interest towards the transplant and cancer population and its struggle with infection that follows immunosuppression.

Education:

  • Medical School, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, 2006
  • Residency, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), 2014
  • Fellowship, Infectious Diseases, Stanford University, 2016
  • Fellowship, Medical Microbiology, Stanford University, 2017
  • Fellowship, Immunocompromised Host and Transplant ID, Stanford University, 2018

Memberships:

  • International Society of Immunocompromised Host
  • American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy
  • European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases
  • American Society of Transplantation
  • Infectious Diseases Society of America   
  • American Society of Microbiology                                                                        
  • Colombian Infectious Disease Association

Three things people may not know about me:

  • I have played soccer for my entire life. My favorite player of all time is not a known superstar like Pelé, Messi, Ronaldo or Maradona. It’s Andrés Iniesta from Barcelona FC. He managed to make the difficult appear simple.
  • I used to dance salsa in Latin dancing academies and nightclubs.
  • I am a frustrated chef. To blow off steam, I love experimenting in the kitchen and tweaking recipes while listening to a podcast or an audiobook.

Clinic location: Multi Organ Transplant Clinic at Lied Transplant Center

For appointments and referrals: Call 402-559-4988

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