On March 15, 2024, the Department of Psychiatry welcomed five new residents, including three soon-to-be UNMC College of Medicine graduates.
This June, the department will welcome Brittany Bamberg, MD, University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine; Jacob Dines, DO, Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine; Brett Jesse, MD, UNMC; Tony Le, MD, UNMC; and Jacob Moore, MD, UNMC.
Dr. Dines is currently a Navy flight surgeon with the VX-31 Dust Devils.
“I’m so excited to join this program,” Dr. Moore said. “There’s a need for mental health care doctors here, and I’m happy to fill it.”
Dr. Jesse said he was thrilled to continue his training in Omaha.
“So happy to stay at UNMC. There’s some amazing faculty and leaders here.”
Since the Department of Psychiatry residency program re-started in 2020, ten UNMC College of Medicine graduates have matched with the UMNC program. The program had two residents join from Creighton School of Medicine. Daniel Gih, MD, Department of Psychiatry Education Director, said one of the main goals when re-starting the residency program was to keep top medical students in the state for training.
“The top medical students at UNMC always match to top residency programs. We want to be competitive and keep them here,” said Dr. Gih. “Hopefully, we are sharing with them what our program is about and how we train at UNMC. We have a lot to offer.”
Dr. Gih was pleased with the new class but not surprised. As the program’s reputation grows, so does the number of honor students applying to train in the department.
“We strive to grow our reputation nationally,” said Dr. Gih.
Current residents have helped recruit new trainees as the program enters year five. Many participate in pre-interview social events and formal interviews. The residency program utilizes an interdisciplinary group of interviewers, and the selection meetings are open to all in the department.
“Everyone has gotten comfortable with the process,” said Dr. Gih. “We have a lot of built-up institutional wisdom on how things run—things we look out for and things we do well. Residents are now traveling to conferences, so they can compare our program to other programs.”
The program hopes to match with six residents in 2025, one more than this year, as part of a long-term plan to increase the number of psychiatrists the program produces.