Vital Times 2019 - 42

Naval Medical Center San Diego
By Sara Gonzalez, MD
Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD), which
is affectionately called "Balboa" to its nearly 100,000
beneficiaries, is home to the Navy's West Coast Graduate
Medical Education Anesthesiology Program.

Meet the Residents
The Department of Anesthesiology welcomed six CA-1
residents in July:
*	 LT Yousef Ahmed, MD, served as the Dive
Medical Officer on Naval Amphibious Base
Coronado
*	 LT Erica Anstett, MD, completed her transitional
year internship at NMCSD
*	 LCDR Susanna Byrne, DO, served as the Mobile
Diving Salvage Unit-1 Dive Medical Officer
aboard Joint Base Pearl Harbor, HI
*	 LT Joshua Johnson, MD, served on the USS
Tortuga as their Medical Officer at Norfolk, VA
*	 LT Amarateedha LeCourt, MD, served as the
flight surgeon for Marine Light Attack Helicopter
Squadron 369 and Marine Medium Tilt Rotor
Squadron 364 at Camp Pendleton
*	 LT Christopher Rendina, DO, served as the Dive
Medical Officer for Naval Special Warfare Unit
ONE at Naval Hospital Guam

Ships in the Sea
As we welcomed the new class, we parted with our
Class of 2019. LCDR Carlos Casamalhuapa, MD,
joined the Anesthesia staff at Camp LeJeune, NC, as
a part of 2nd Medical Battalion. LCDR Milan DangVu, MD, attached to 1st Medical Battalion at Camp
Pendleton close to NMCSD. LCDR Jessica Santucci,
MD, will serve as staff on the beautiful island of Guam
at the Naval Hospital. LCDR Scott Seider, MD, is also
assigned to an island paradise as staff at Naval Hospital
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

42 | CSA Vital Times

LCDR Gene Smith with his two daughters during the Anesthesiology
Department's Family Day

Education and Academics
The CA-2s and CA-3s continued their great mentorship
by quickly assimilating all the new CA-1s. The senior
residents split their training time between NMCSD,
Rady Children's Hospital, Kaiser San Diego, UCSD,
and USC.
Many of the residents are interested in Global Medicine
and participate in biannual medical trips to Tecate,
Mexico, or aboard the US Naval Hospital Ships. LCDR
Byrne travelled to Tecate, Mexico, with Lynne Sterni,
MD, as a part of the Smiles International Foundation
medical mission trip.
The program revised the monthly Resident Education
Day curriculum to include Point of Care Ultrasound
(POCUS) instruction and training with designated staff
as subject matter experts.
Some recent academic projects by residents:
*	 PACU Extubation Project by Drs. Kiner, CA-2,
Kramer, CA-2, and Smith, CA-2
*	 Evaluation of Post-Operative Narcotic
Utilization in Enhanced Recovery Patients
Vital Times 2019

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