The MetroHealth System-Case Western Reserve University Program

Program Identity & Fit

MetroHealth/Case Western is an academic, university-affiliated anesthesiology program built around a Level I trauma center, regional burn center, and SOAP Center of Excellence for high-risk obstetrics, giving residents fellowship-level exposure to complex trauma, cardiothoracic, obstetric, and pediatric anesthesia without the presence of in-house fellows competing for cases. Each resident logs over 400 cases annually across main campus (23 ORs, 731 beds), ambulatory sites, a VA cardiothoracic month, and a Cleveland Clinic ICU rotation, reflecting a curriculum designed around graduated autonomy and "junior attending" responsibility by CA-2/CA-3 year. Research is genuinely embedded rather than peripheral—an NIH-funded trial, multi-center RCT participation, a dedicated Vice Chair of Research, research fellowship tracks, and an optional Clinical Informatics Track with structured deliverables each year—yet graduates split between competitive fellowships (pain, cardiothoracic, regional, critical care, pediatric) and direct academic or private practice. The program explicitly values applicants with strong, consistent academic performance and favors those who can thrive in a small (7-8 resident/class), mentorship-heavy, safety-net/inner-city clinical environment serving a underserved, high-acuity urban population.