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.
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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
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