COVID-19 Latest Updates



Anesthesiology Residency Program

Banner


Message from Program Director  

The Anesthesiology Residency Program at Westchester Medical Center (WMC) in affiliation with New York Medical College (NYMC) has been continuously accredited since 1969. Westchester Medical Center is the University Hospital for NYMC and shares its campus with the medical school. All faculty have academic appointments at NYMC and teach attending students.

In the 2023 Match cycle, we offer 13 PGY-1 and 3 PGY-2 (R) positions.

Hard-working, motivated, fun-loving, reliable, self-aware and mature candidates who enjoy teamwork and are serious about taking exceptional care of patients will be happy, successful residents here. Your emotional health and life-work balance matters at WMC.

The Program curriculum emphasizes early introduction to:

  • Point of Care Ultrasound with sessions in the whole-body simulator, including TEE
  • Fundamentals in Patient Safety and Quality Improvement project design 
  • Subspecialty rotations 
  • Truncal and extremity Regional Anesthesia 

Our program takes great pride in providing our residents individually tailored support, encouragement and experience while setting rigorous academic and professional practice standards. Formalized mentoring helps our residents overcome challenges and achieve personal and academic goals.

The Faculty at WMC have subspecialized clinical expertise. Strong commitment to resident education is reflected in active participation in mentoring, didactics, simulation and scholarly pursuits with residents. All didactic sessions originate at WMC. CA-1s have a separate series of didactic sessions, which focus on the scientific foundation of anesthesiology. Critical anesthesia didactics utilize mostly interactive learning. We utilize simulation to prepare the residents for the American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA) Applied Exam OSCEs, and for competent management of an expanding array of emergency and interdisciplinary clinical problems.

Approximately 50-70 percent of 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 starting early in residency. Westchester Medical Center, the University Hospital for NYMC, offers a full spectrum of surgical services, including:

  • Liver, kidney and heart transplant
  • Burn, trauma
  • A busy VAD and ECMO service
  • Complex Neurosurgery, including a Comprehensive Stroke Center
  • SOAP Center of Excellence OB Anesthesia services
  • All Pediatric specialties.

Over three years, residents spend five months training in an affiliated community hospital. Our residents are therefore uniquely prepared for practice in all settings and rank highly in employer surveys.

We are proud of our graduates; every year one or more remain in the department as faculty.

The diversity of our program reflects the inclusiveness of our candidate selection process, which benefits from a holistic application review by both faculty and residents. We are 40 percent female and 20 percent URM; our trainees hail from 13 states and Puerto Rico.

We extend an interview invitation to approximately 12 percent of applicants. Selection criteria intend to ensure a smooth transition to residency and fulfillment while in training, and include:

  • Academic achievement, broadly defined as predictive of success in training 
  • Evidence of scholarly pursuits and focused extracurricular activities 
  • Successful completion of clinical rotations in complex environments

We care about our residents' well-being and understand the importance of independent learning outside of the clinical setting. We provide the work-study balance that is necessary for residents to excel.

Our residents are always relieved of all clinical obligations to attend Grand Rounds and all didactic sessions. On weekdays, residents leave at 5 p.m. At WMC, the call team includes three residents. CA-1s and CA-2s report for weekday overnight call at 12 p.m. CA-3s are Call Team Captain and report for overnight duty at 4:30 p.m.; this role fosters independence and confidence, and teaches supervisory and organizational skills.

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.

A. Elisabeth Abramowicz, MD, FASA
Professor, Clinical Anesthesiology
New York Medical College
Residency Program Director
Westchester Medical Center


A. Elisabeth Abramowicz from WMCHealth on Vimeo.


Program Overview and Curriculum

The Fundamental Clinical Skills of Medicine (PGY-1) residents spend the year at WMC. In compliance with the ACGME requirements, part of the year is devoted to care of IM inpatients. 

Four-week block rotations include: 

  • Anesthesiology 
  • Emergency Medicine
  • Perioperative Patient Safety and Quality Improvement
  • Pain Management
  • PoCUS
  • Critical Care (2 blocks)

Two-week rotations include: 

  • Pre-Anesthesia Evaluation and Optimization Clinic 
  • Consultation Service in IM Subspecialties (Cardiology and Renal Medicine) 
  • Inpatient Internal Medicine (5 Blocks) and Night Float (3 Blocks)

Clinical Sites

The Clinical Anesthesiology (CA) resident training takes place at WMC, the main rotation site, and a community hospital in Danbury, CT.

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 anesthetizing locations, both OR and Non-OR. 

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 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.

The Regional Anesthesia Service performs over 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.

Mount Sinai West Hospital

Located on the Upper West Side of New York City, it provides our CA-3 residents with a special interest in OB Anesthesia an elective, four-week rotation on a very busy OB service with a mix of lower and higher complexity deliveries. 

Education and Curriculum

Salary and Benefits

Resident Life


Current and Past Residents

2022-2023 Anesthesiology Residents

PGY-1

Shuchi Gaur, MD

New York Medical College

Eileen Hu, MD
Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

Elizabeth Kim, MD

CUNY School of Medicine

David Lewis, MD

New York Medical College

Michael Mackey, MD

Stony Brook University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine

       

Egor Smirnov, MD
Saint Petersburg Pavlov State Medical University

Julia Sokel, MD
SUNY Downstate Medical Center College of Medicine

Cordell Spellman, MD

Medical College of Wisconsin

Vincent Tang, DO

New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine

Ailan Zhang, MD, PhD

Sun Yat-Sen University

 

PGY-2

Yveline Blot, MD

CUNY School of Medicine

Darrel Brennen, MBBS
University of the West Indies Faculty of Medical Sciences, Jamaica                   

Peter Hamilton, MD

Texas A&M University System Health Science Center College of Medicine

Kevin Hui, MD

New York Medical College

Andrew Hwang, MD

Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine

       

Bianca Jambhekar, MD, MPH
New York Medical College

Humza Jamil, MD
New York Medical College

Cristian Jimenez, MD

New York Medical College

Daniel Tuchman, MD

New York Medical College

Alexandra Vazquez, MD

CUNY School of Medicine

 

PGY-3

Shubham Agrawal

UC San Diego School of Medicine

Nana Agyepong
University of Vermont School of Medicine                   

Jonas Harley

University of Oklahoma College of Medicine

Samantha Kahn

NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine

Jenna Littmann

Commonwealth School of Medicine (PA)

       

Sally Ratliff
Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, Erie

Patrick Reddy
Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine

Ediricardo Rodriguez

SJB School of Medicine – Puerto Rico

Robert Sutter

University of New Mexico School of Medicine

R. "Jeanne" Tong

University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health

PGY-4

Jasmine Bajwa

UNE CoOM

Phillip Chin

NYIT CoOM
                       

Alexander Eng

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine


Liana Grosinger

New York Medical College

Thejas Hiremath

Medical College of Georgia

         

Zoe Li

NYIT CoOM

 

Cezar Lisov

Touro NYC

 

Talia Strulowitz

New York Medical College

Ron Varkey

NYIT CoOM

Michael Waterhouse

NYIT CoOM

 

What Recent Graduates Are Doing Now

About 40-50% of recent graduates have pursued a fellowship, while the remaining graduates are more excited to begin their careers as attending anesthesiologists. Among our graduates who applied for fellowship, most have matched within their top three choices.

Fellowship  

2022 Graduates (10)

  • ACTA/Critical Care: NY Presbyterian Hospital (Weill Cornell)
  • Neuroanesthesia: UCSF
  • Critical Care: University of Michigan and Cedars Sinai Hospital, LA, CA
  • RAAPM: Yale New Haven Hospital
  • Pediatric Anesthesia: Yale New Haven Hospital and Children's National Hospital in Washington, DC

2021 Graduates (8)

  • Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology (ACTA): Mount Sinai Med. Ctr., NY
  • ACTA/Critical Care: NY Presbyterian Hospital (Weill Cornell)
  • Pediatric Anesthesiology: UT Southwestern Dallas
  • Regional Anesthesia and Acute Pain Medicine: Westchester Medical Center

2020 Graduates (10)

  • Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology: U of Rochester, NY
  • Pediatric Anesthesiology: U of Rochester, NY
  • Regional Anesthesia and Acute Pain Medicine (RAAPM): Dartmouth, NH and 
  • RAAPM: Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
  • OB Anesthesia - Brigham and Women's, Boston, MA

2019 Graduates (10)

  • ACTA: Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, NY
  • Pediatric Anesthesiology: University of Michigan and 
  • Pediatric Anesthesiology: Cincinnati Children's
  • Regional Anesthesia and Acute Pain Medicine (RAAPM): U of CT/Hartford and
  • RAAPM: UPMC, PA

2018 Graduates (8)

  • Regional Anesthesia and Acute Pain Medicine: Brigham and Women's, MA
  • Critical Care: U of Pittsburgh (UPMC), PA
  • Pain Management: Mount Sinai Medical Center, NY

2017 Graduates (10)

  • Pain Management: Johns Hopkins Medical Center, Baltimore, MD
  • Pediatric Anesthesia: U of Pittsburgh and 
  • Pediatric Anesthesia: U of Iowa
  • Critical Care: Brigham and Women's, MA
  • Regional Anesthesia and Acute Pain Management: U of CT/Hartford

2016 Graduates (10)

  • OB Anesthesia: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, MA
  • Pain Management: Johns Hopkins Medical Center, MD and 
  • Pain Management: Mount Sinai Medical Center, NY
  • Pediatric Anesthesia: U of Michigan and 
  • Pediatric Anesthesia: Nemours Children's, DE

Private Practice/Academic Positions

  • Northern NJ
  • Manhattan/Brooklyn/Queens/Bronx, Westchester County, NY
  • Boston, MA
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Bay Area, CA and Los Angeles, CA
  • Denver, CO
  • Miami, FL

2021 Graduates

ASA 2019 - last in-person meeting. 12 Residents presented their work

2020 Graduates


Faculty

Peter J. Panzica, MD
Associate Professor and Chair of Anesthesiology, NYMC
Director of Anesthesia Services
Adult Cardiac and Thoracic Anesthesia

 

WMC Resident Education

A. Elisabeth Abramowicz, MD, FASA
Professor
Residency Program Director
V-Chair for Education
Neuroanesthesia 

Irim Salik, MD
Associate Professor
Associate Residency Program Director
Pediatric Anesthesia

Nitin Sekhri, MD
Assistant Professor
Clinical Competence Committee Chair
Section Chief, Pain Management

Sarah Smith, MD
Grand Rounds Committee Chair
Core Program Evaluation Committee Chair
Cardiac Anesthesia

Iyabo Muse, MD, FASA
Asoociate Professor
Assistant Residency Program Director for PGY-1 Year
Regional Anesthesia and Acute Pain Management

Garret M. Weber, MD
Associate Professor
Medical Student Clerkship Director
Pre-Procedural Testing and Optimization Director

Michael Rahimi, MD – WMC 2018
Assistant Professor
Medical Student Clerkship Associate Director
Chief, Acute Pain Management 

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 J. 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
Associate Professor
Section Chief, Obstetric Anesthesia

Saman Yaghoubian, DO – WMC 2015
Assistant Professor
Section Chief, Transplant Anesthesia

Clinical Faculty

Jewel Alleyne, MD
Assistant Professor
General Anesthesia and Critical Care Medicine

Corrie Amos, MD
Assistant Professor
Clinical Competence Chair Vice Chair for Senior Residents
Regional Anesthesia and Acute Pain Management

Mosses Bairamian, MD – WMC 1991
Assistant Professor
General and Ambulatory Anesthesia

Gabriel Bonilla, MD – WMC 2012
Assistant Professor
PACU Director, Rotation Director
General Anesthesia and Regional Anesthesia and Acute Pain Management

Kar-Mei Chan, MD
Assistant Professor
Pediatric Anesthesia

Olena Chon, MD
Assistant Professor
Pediatric Anesthesia

Draginja Cvetkovic, MD
Associate Professor
Adult Cardiac and Thoracic Anesthesia Fellowship Program Director
Adult Cardiac and Thoracic Anesthesia

Tara M. Doherty, DO
Assistant Professor
Regional Anesthesia and Acute Pain Management Fellowship, Clinical Competence Chair, Medical Student Advisor
Pediatric Anesthesia & Regional Anesthesia and Acute Pain Management

Kevin Donnelly, MD
Assistant Professor
Adult Cardiac and Thoracic Anesthesia

Jessica Dworet, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor
General and OB Anesthesia

Cheng S. Feng, DO
Assistant Professor
Adult Cardiac and Thoracic Anesthesia

Karen T. Francois, MD
Assistant Professor
Advanced Airway Management Rotation Director
General Anesthesia and OB Anesthesia

Alina Genis, MD – WMC 2019
Assistant Professor
GME Wellness Subcommittee Member, Resident PBLI Rotation
General Anesthesia and OB Anesthesia

Catherine Gruffi, MD
Assistant Professor
Pediatric Anesthesia

Jian Hou, MD
Assistant Professor
Transplant and General Anesthesia

Ashley M. Kelley, MD
Assistant Professor
Pediatric Anesthesia

Nigel Knox, MD
Assistant Professor
Pain Management

Shelley B. Kramer, DO
Assistant Professor
Non-Operating Room Anesthesia 

Keshav Kubal, MD - WMC 1974
Assistant Professor
General Anesthesia

Ethan H. Leer, MD – WMC 2014
Assistant Professor
Patient Safety and PBLI Resident Curriculum Director
General Anesthesia and Transplant Anesthesia

Chester Li, MD – WMC 2019
Assistant Professor
General Anesthesia

Michael A. Lyew, MD
Associate Professor
Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesia

Joey M. Mancuso, DO
Assistant Professor
GME Wellness Subcommittee Member
General and OB Anesthesia

Toni Manougian, MD, MBA
Assistant Professor
Section Chief, Critical Care Medicine
Critical Care Medicine

Cameron Marshall, MD
Assistant Professor
Pain Management

Bhupen J. Mehta, MD – WMC 2015
Assistant Professor
Pediatric Anesthesia & Pediatric Cardiovascular Anesthesia

Shinae Namkoong, DO – WMC 2020
Assistant Professor
General Anesthesia

Angelique Nicolai, MD – WMC 2012
Assistant Professor
Transplant and General Anesthesia

Wen-Hui Ou, MD – WMC 2006
Assistant Professor
General Anesthesia

Bernadette Pasamba-Rakhlin, MD
Assistant Professor
Chief, Anesthesia Endoscopy Services, Non-Operating Room Anesthesia Rotation Director
Non-Operating Room Anesthesia

Isabel Pesola, MD
Assistant Professor
Pediatric Anesthesia

Suryanarayana M. Pothula, MD – WMC 1992
Associate Professor
Adult Cardiac and Thoracic Anesthesia

Laurence J. Rosenberg, MD, MBA
Assistant Professor
General Anesthesia

Kaya K. Sarier, MD, MBA
Assistant Professor
Adult Cardiac and Thoracic Anesthesia

Victoria Shapiro, DO
Assistant Professor
Ambulatory Anesthesia Rotation Director
General and Orthopaedic Anesthesia

Valeriy Shulin, DO
Assistant Professor
General Anesthesia

Ammar Siddiqui, MD
Assistant Professor
Clinical Competence Chair Vice Chair for Junior Residents
Pain Management and Regional Anesthesia and Acute Pain Management

Iwan P. Sofjan, MD
Assistant Professor 
Service Chief, Database Management
Adult Cardiac and Thoracic Anesthesia and Transplant Anesthesia

Alla Spivak, DO
Assistant Professor
Adult Cardiac and Thoracic Anesthesia

George E. Storer, MD
Assistant Professor
General Anesthesia and OB Anesthesia

Paolo Trubiano, MD
Assistant Professor
Adult Cardiac and Thoracic Anesthesia 

Shivakeerthy S. Ubranimath, MBBS – WMC 2002
Assistant Professor
Section Chief, Neuroanesthesia
Neuroanesthesia

Anrew Villion, MD
Assistant Professor
Co-Associate Director, Surgical Critical Care Fellowship, PoCUS Rotation Director
General Anesthesia and Critical Care Medicine

Richard Yeom, MD
Assistant Professor
Adult Cardiac and Thoracic Anesthesia


News and Achievements

On our first try, Westchester Medical Center's CA-2 Resident, Shubham Agrawal, M.D. and Mentor, Ammar Siddiqui, M.D. won the 22nd Annual Bragging Contest at the 76th Post-Graduate Assembly of the New York State Society of Anesthesiologists (NYSSA), a large, international meeting held annually in New York City.

At the podium, Dr. Agrawal presenting
At the podium, Dr. Agrawal presenting 
Dr. Agrawal with Mentor, Dr. Siddiqui, and Bragging Contest Moderator, Dr. Joshua Heller from Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.
Dr. Agrawal with Mentor, Dr. Siddiqui, and Bragging Contest Moderator, Dr. Joshua Heller from Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City
 

 

 


How to Apply

This program participates in NRMP and accepts applications only through ERAS.

In the 2023 Match, we offer 13 positions in the Categorical Track – 2157040C0 and 3 R (physician only) positions with a start date of July 1, 2023.

Medical Students: a complete application consists of

  • ERAS Common Application Form
  • ERAS Supplemental Application 
  • Medical school transcript
  • Official USMLE transcript with Step I (or Pass) and Step II CK scores
  • Dean's letter (MSPE)
  • Personal Statement - please include information about you that the other elements of the application do not relay. This helps us decide whether you could be successful in the Anesthesiology Residency at WMC.
  • At least three letters of recommendation from clinical faculty who have direct (best) or composite knowledge of the applicant's performance. We do value letters from Anesthesiologists.

Applicants who are already in training MUST provide a letter of recommendation from the current Program Director.

All attempts will be made to schedule the interview on a date that is convenient for the selected candidate. Applicants will have protected time to interact with our residents in a break-out session.

Off-cycle applicants are considered only if there is a vacancy posted on the AAMC's FindAResident website.

Contact Us

All correspondence should be directed by email to:

Ms. Asia Latt, BS, C-TAGME
Education Administrator
Residency Program Coordinator
Asia.Latt@WMCHealth.org