A Chat with the Program Director - Lisa Farmer, MD

Hello, I am happy you are interested in a career in anesthesiology and looking at our program. I was born and raised in Galveston, completed medical school and anesthesiology residency here at UTMB, stayed on as faculty, served as the UTMB associate program director for 14 years, became the program director in 2020, and the Vice Chair of Education for the department in 2024. In addition to gulf coast living, the high-quality patient care, stimulating educational environment, and comradery within our department keeps me excited to come to work every day.

As program director, my goal is to provide residents with innovative educational experiences to develop into excellent board-certified anesthesiologists while maintaining a supportive learning environment. We have a diverse group of faculty ready to share knowledge and provide mentorship to residents. Our department is the first autonomous academic anesthesiology department in the United States founded in 1942. We graduated our first resident, a female, Emilia A. Hoeflich, MD in 1944. We have an extensive alumni network practicing in almost every state.

UTMB is a dynamic institution that has grown to four campuses along the gulf coast providing an opportunity for our residents to learn in both an academic and private practice like setting.  UTMB was named one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals® by Fortune Magazine in September 2023. UTMB was also ranked in the top 2% of research institutions for NIH funding in February 2023.

At UTMB, resident education comes first. Our integrated patient care and didactic experiences allow our residents to achieve clinical excellence as perioperative physicians balanced with congenial work environment and protected time for education.

This residency provides one of the most extensive didactic programs found anywhere in the United States. Our faculty put an enormous amount of time and effort into providing educational conferences that covers content tested on the ABA BASIC, ADVANCED, and APPLIED exams. We use a variety of learning formats including in-person and recorded lectures. In addition to these departmental lectures, clinical subspecialty rotations have their own didactic opportunities. Residents also complete simulation experiences yearly in our interprofessional Health Education Center, equipped with a state-of-the-art Human Patient Simulator.

Through the ERAS, we offer 16 positions in our 48-month categorical training program and reserve 4 positions in our 36-month clinical anesthesiology program. Our categorical program is unique in that we integrate the internship with clinical anesthesia rotations over the first 2 years of training. This allows our residents to jump into the operating room and start thinking and practicing like an anesthesiologist right out of medical school. One-on-one mentoring in the first month progresses toward autonomy and ‘Junior Faculty’ status as skills and judgment mature.

I encourage you to look at our website for more details and please feel free to contact us with questions. Good luck in the match!