We are excited to welcome Dr. Calvin Albrecht as a new fellow in our Infectious Diseases program! Dr. Albrecht joins us following training in internal medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Read on to learn more!
Where did you go to residency?
I completed residency at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, New York. Rochester is an old industrial former boomtown in upstate New York and is known for its fanatic fandom of the Buffalo Bills. I couples-matched there with my wife (Elizabeth Jilek), who is also a fellow here at UNMC. She is in the pediatric track of the palliative care fellowship. We are both originally from Wisconsin. I am from just north of Milwaukee originally – I highly recommend visiting if you have not yet been.
Tell us about the position you are starting.
I am so excited to be joining the infectious diseases fellowship here at UNMC! I look forward to taking care of infections, both common and rare, and learning from a great team of mentors.
Why did you choose to come work at UNMC?
I chose to come train at UNMC for several reasons: to be closer to family (returning to the Midwest is so exciting and comforting), to explore a new city (Omaha has been great so far – I especially like the riverfront), & to learn from fantastic teachers. I was so impressed on my interview day by the ID physicians here & their passion for teaching. The antimicrobial stewardship program/team here is great, and to have access to the internationally-renowned biocontainment unit here is a great opportunity.
What makes you excited about working in ID?
ID is such an interesting field. You get to subspecialize while also not limiting yourself to being the expert in one body system. I like that it requires you to take a holistic view of patients, including what they do and are exposed to outside of the hospital/clinic. It is detective work for sure and can be very rewarding in that way. You get to meet and take care of vulnerable patient populations; this is a humbling and exciting opportunity. You get to be with intellectually curious people (ID lives up to its reputation of being the nerdiest specialty for sure in my opinion, and that is not a bad thing)!
Tell us something about yourself that is unrelated to medicine.
In terms of interests outside the hospital, I am a huge political nerd. I participated in a program in high school called Boys State (you get to work with other high schoolers to create mock city, county, and state-level governments – it’s a really neat program). I am also a movie buff. Must-see movies, in my opinion, are The Aviator (Scorsese), Vertigo (Hitchcock, of course), and (for the more adventurous) Mulholland Drive (David Lynch’s masterpiece).