Samantha Kretschmann, MD Reflects on Her Time as MWPSC Fellow

Samantha Kretschmann, MD

Samantha is a general surgery resident at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Previously she was an EMT and obtained a Master of Education focused on adult education. She is a research fellow at Children's Wisconsin under the mentorship of Dr. Katy Flynn-O'Brien focused primarily on trauma and burn research. Within the consortium she will be working on a variety of projects studying esophageal atresia/tracheoesophageal fistulas and pilonidal disease.

What were your academic highlights during your time as MWPSC fellow?

During my time as the MWPSC fellow, I continued a project started by the previous fellow, Dr. Bergus, prospectively evaluating long-term aerodigestive outcomes from our cohort of Type C EA/TEF patients. This led to two national presentations at AAP and ASC with a manuscript in progress. I have been responsible for data collection at Children's Wisconsin for all active projects, leading to me being the coauthor on numerous other projects that have been presented nationally and published through Journal of Pediatric Surgery (JPS). Finally, near the end of my time, I proposed a new project at the biannual meeting, which is currently under development. 

What did you find to be the main benefits of MWPSC fellowship?

Being the MWPSC fellow has not only expanded my research opportunities but, more importantly, has led to new connections with numerous faculty across the Midwest. The most meaningful part of the fellowship for me was the monthly mentorship committee meetings with a small, core group of faculty.