Message from Program Director
The Anesthesiology Residency Program at Westchester Medical Center (WMC), in affiliation with New York Medical College, has been continuously accredited since 1969. As of September 2020, we are a complete Categorical program. In the 2021 Match cycle, we will offer 10 categorical positions with an exciting curriculum focused on diagnosis, optimization and treatment of perioperative medical conditions.
The Faculty at WMC have subspecialized clinical and scholarly expertise with a strong commitment to resident education. Faculty and residents interact through clinical teaching, didactic and simulation sessions and workshops. A formal mentoring program helps our residents reach personal and academic goals and overcome challenges.
Our program takes great pride in providing our residents individually-tailored support, encouragement and experience while setting high, but achievable academic standards and professional practice goals.
The curriculum emphasizes interactive learning led by our most engaged Faculty; didactic sessions originate at WMC. We utilize simulation to prepare the residents for the ABA Applied Exam OSCEs, and for competent management of an expanding array of emergency and interdisciplinary clinical challenges. Approximately half the residents choose to pursue fellowship training; they receive personalized mentoring and match to excellent programs.
The clinical learning environment provides the opportunity to care for an acute and complex patient population, making our residents well trained. We are proud of our graduates; every year one or more remain in the department as Faculty.
We recruit hard-working, fun-loving, dedicated, reliable, self-aware and mature candidates who enjoy teamwork and are serious about taking exceptional care of patients. The diversity of our program reflects the inclusiveness of our candidate selection process.
Faculty and residents participate in the Recruitment Committee. We extend an interview invitation to approximately 10% of applicants. Good exam scores are predictive of academic success and challenging clinical rotations presage a smooth transition to residency.
We care about our residents’ well being and understand the importance of independent learning outside of the clinical setting. Our Faculty strives to provide the work-study balance that is necessary for our residents to excel. At WMC, weekday call begins at noon and consists of two residents and a newly established call Team Captain position that fosters greater independence and confidence.
We are strongly committed to your success in residency; you must bring the focus, drive and motivation. We want to train compassionate, dedicated doctors who are our teammates, colleagues and friends, and who take pride in all their professional activities.
Thank you for your interest in the Anesthesiology Residency Program at Westchester Medical Center/New York Medical College.
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A. Elisabeth Abramowicz, MD, FASA
Professor, Clinical Anesthesiology
New York Medical College
Residency Program Director
Westchester Medical Center
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Program Overview and Curriculum
The Fundamentals in Clinical Medicine (PGY-1) residents spend the year at WMC. Four-week block rotations include: Anesthesiology, Emergency Medicine, two blocks of Critical Care (Medical ICU, Coronary Care Unit), Neurological acute disorder management rotation, Pain Management, and Consultation Service in Internal Medicine Subspecialties (Cardiology, Pulmonary and Renal Medicine). A new rotation in Perioperative Patient Safety and Quality Improvement was launched in 2019-2020. The PGY-1 residents attend rotation-specific didactic sessions and Departmental sessions. Dr. Nigel Knox is Assistant Program Director for the PGY-1 level; as a Pain Management section member he often rounds in the hospital and has daily interactions with our first-year residents. Dr. Michael Jacoby, Pediatric Anesthesiologist, assists Dr. Knox.
The Clinical Anesthesiology (CA) resident training takes place at two rotation sites:
Westchester Medical Center
Westchester Medical Center (WMC), in Valhalla, NY, shares its leafy campus with New York Medical College. It is a Level 1 Trauma and Burn Center and a major hub for specialized care referrals. Here, we take care of patients from a very large catchment area stretching from the northern border of New York City to Delaware County, NY. WMC has a pediatric hospital (Maria Fareri Children's Hospital) with dedicated pediatric operating rooms. The new Ambulatory Care Pavilion, which opened in July 2019, added 10 new ambulatory Operating Rooms.
Our caseload includes a full profile of cardiac, interventional pulmonary and thoracic, complex orthopedic, neurosurgical and solid organ transplant interventions, to name the busiest services. We have a large heart failure and ECMO referral program. Trauma orthopedics and general surgery provide our residents a great variety of “open” cases. Residents participate in minimally invasive and robotic interventions in gynecologic-oncology, urology, colorectal, endocrine and thoracic surgery, as well as complex cardiac and neurological endovascular interventions, both pediatric and adult.
The Acute and Chronic Pain Management care rotations cover both the pediatric and adult inpatients and outpatients, including complex consultations for patients in the Burn ICU.
WMC is a leader in Telemedicine. The Director of Telehealth, Corey Scurlock, MD, is an anesthesiologist and Faculty member. Elective rotations in tele-critical care and TEE are offered to senior residents.
The Regional Anesthesia Service performs 3,500 peripheral blocks per year including many advanced truncal blocks.
CA-3 residents with an approved IRB protocol may be eligible for an elective research rotation of up to six-month duration.
Danbury Hospital
Danbury Hospital in Danbury, CT, is a large community hospital. Most cases at Danbury are elective, and clinical services focus on standardized clinical pathways within the perioperative surgical home.
Typically, the first of the two required Obstetric and Cardiac Anesthesiology rotations are assigned at Danbury. General Anesthesiology rotations for CA-1 residents and ambulatory anesthesiology rotations are offered there as well.
Four residents rotate at Danbury every month. Housing is provided onsite.
Education and Curriculum
Salary and Benefits
Resident Life
Faculty
Peter Panzica, MD
Associate Professor and Chair of Anesthesiology, NYMC
Director of Anesthesiology Clinical Services
WMC
Resident Education
A. Elisabeth Abramowicz, MD, FASA
Professor
Residency Program Director
Neuroanesthesia
Irim Salik, MD
Assistant Professor
Associate Residency Program Director
Pediatric Anesthesia
Nitin Sekhri, MD
Assistant Professor
Clinical Competence Committee Chair
Section Chief, Pain Management
Sarah Smith, MD
Assistant Professor
Grand Rounds Committee Chair
Core Program Evaluation Committee Chair
Cardiac Anesthesia
Nigel Knox, MD
Assistant Residency Program Director for PGY-1 Year
Pain Management
Michael Jacoby, MD
Assistant Residency Program Director for PGY-1 Year
Pediatric Anesthesia & Pediatric Regional Anesthesia
Andrew Iskander, MD – WMC 2006
Associate Professor
Simulation Director
Pediatric Anesthesia
Garret Weber, MD
Assistant Professor
Medical Student Clerkship Director
Preoperative Assessment Clinical Director
Michael Rahimi, MD – WMC 2018
Assistant Professor
Medical Student Clerkship Associate Director
General Anesthesia
Jason Lai, MD
Assistant Professor
Danbury Hospital Anesthesiology Rotation Director
General/Regional Anesthesia
Clinical Leadership
Matthew Wecksell, MD, FASA
Associate Professor
Clinical Director
Section Chief, General Anesthesia
General/Neuroanesthesia
Debra Lederman, DO
Assistant Professor
Director of Departmental Quality Improvement
General Anesthesia
Samuel Barst, MD
Associate Professor
Section Chief, Pediatric Anesthesia
Alexander Mittnacht, MD
Professor
Section Chief, Adult Cardiac and Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesia
Associate Director, WMC
Jeff Xu, MD
Associate Professor
Section Chief and Fellowship Director
Regional Anesthesia & Acute Pain Management
Sangeeta Kumaraswami, MD
Assistant Professor
Section Chief, Obstetric Anesthesia
Saman Yaghoubian, DO – WMC 2015
Assistant Professor
Section Chief, Transplant Anesthesia
Deven Lombardia, CRNA
Chief CRNA
Clinical Faculty
Jewel Alleyne, MD
Assistant Professor
Critical Care/General Anesthesia
Corrie Amos, MD
Assistant Professor
Regional Anesthesia Rotation Director
Regional Anesthesia & Acute Pain Management
Mosses Bairamian, MD – WMC 1991
Assistant Professor
Ambulatory Anesthesia
Gabriel Bonilla, MD – WMC 2012
Assistant Professor
PACU Rotation Supervisor
General Anesthesia/Regional Anesthesia
Kar-Mei Chan, MD
Assistant Professor
Pediatric Anesthesia and Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesia
Draginja Cvetkovic, MD
Associate Professor
Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesia Fellowship Director
Cardiac Anesthesia & Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesia
Tara Doherty, DO
Assistant Professor
Pediatric Anesthesia & Pediatric Regional Anesthesia
Kevin Donnelly, MD
Assistant Professor
Cardiac Anesthesia
Jessica Dworet, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor
General Anesthesia
Cheng Feng, DO
Assistant Professor
Cardiac Anesthesia
Karen Francois, MD
Assistant Professor
Airway Management Rotation Director
General Anesthesia
Alina Genis, MD – WMC 2019
General Anesthesia
Catherine Gruffi, MD
Assistant Professor
Pediatric Anesthesia
Jian Hou, MD, MS, MA
Assistant Professor
Liver Transplant/Regional Anesthesia
Ashley Kelley, MD
Assistant Professor
Pediatric Anesthesia
Shelley Kramer, DO
Assistant Professor
General Anesthesia/Endoscopy
Keshav Kubal, MD - WMC 1974
Assistant Professor
General Anesthesia
Albert Kwon, MD
Assistant Professor
Pain Management and Regional Anesthesia and Acute Pain Management
Ethan Leer, MD – WMC 2014
Assistant Professor
PBLI Rotation Director
General Anesthesia
Chester Li, MD – WMC 2019
General Anesthesia
Michael Lyew, MD
Associate Professor
Pediatric Anesthesia and Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesia
Uchenna Madubuko, MD
General Anesthesia
Joey Mancuso, DO
Assistant Professor
General Anesthesia
Toni Manougian, MD
Assistant Professor
Critical Care Rotation Director
Critical Care/General Anesthesia
Bhupen Mehta, MD – WMC 2015
Assistant Professor
Pediatric Anesthesia & Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesia
Shinae Namkoong, DO - WMC 2020
General Anesthesia
Angelique Nicolai, MD – WMC 2012
Assistant Professor
Liver Transplant/General Anesthesia
Wen-Hui Ou, MD, MS – WMC 2006
Assistant Professor
General Anesthesia
Bernadette Pasamba-Rakhlin, MD
Assistant Professor
General and Non-Operating Room Anesthesia
Joshua Pearlman, MD
Assistant Professor
General Anesthesia
Suryanarayana Pothula, MD – WMC 1992
Associate Professor
Cardiac Anesthesia
Olena Pryjdun, MD
Assistant Professor
Pediatric Anesthesia
Laurence Rosenberg, MD
Assistant Professor
General Anesthesia
Diana Santiago, MD
General Anesthesia
Kaya Sarier, MD
Assistant Professor
Cardiac Anesthesia
Victoria Shapiro, DO
Assistant Professor
General Anesthesia/Regional Anesthesia
Valeriy Shulin, DO
General Anesthesia
Iwan Sofjan, MD
Assistant Professor
TEE Elective Rotation Director
M&M Conference Supervisor
Cardiac Anesthesia
Alla Spivak, DO
Assistant Professor
Assistant Fellowship Program Director in Regional Anesthesia and Acute Pain Management, Critical Care
George Storer, MD
Assistant Professor
General Anesthesia
Paolo B. Trubiano, MD
Assistant Professor
Cardiac Anesthesia
Shivakeerthy Ubranimath, MD – WMC 2002
Assistant Professor
Rotation Director, Neuroanesthesia
General Anesthesia/Neuroanesthesia
Andrew Villion, MD
Critical Care and PoCUS
Maureen Cooney, DNP, ANCC, ASPMN, NBCHPM
Pain Management
Mario Inchiosa, Jr., PhD
Professor of Pharmacology, Research Professor of Anesthesiology
Research