Annual Pub 2023 FINAL - Flipbook - Page 34
K I R K K E R K O R I A N S C H O O L O F M E D I C I N E AT U N LV
LIFE COMES FULL
CIRCLE FOR RESIDENT
BY ROBIN BIFFINGER
F
or Casey Roehr, MD, a fifth-year resident in the
department of orthopaedics at the Kirk Kerkorian
School of Medicine at UNLV, seeing patients and
performing surgeries at University Medical Center
(UMC) brings everything full circle.
“My mom worked at UMC and actually had me here,”
says Dr. Roehr. “It’s kind of a crazy story … I was born here and now
I do surgeries here.”
Born and raised in Las Vegas, Dr. Roehr went to Eldorado High School,
attended UNLV for pre-med biology, and went to the University of
Nevada, Reno (UNR) for medical school, doing his third- and fourthyear clinicals at UMC, and then stayed on for his residency at UMC.
His ties with UMC go even deeper. “My mom worked at UMC for 23
years. She started in the lab, then became lab director and then went
into administration. She worked her way up the ranks.”
Even though his mom was in healthcare, Dr. Roehr’s interest in
medicine was actually sparked by his dad, a veterinarian. “I watched
him do surgeries when I was in elementary and middle school during
the summer, and I would clean kennels and watch him take care of
animals. That was what prompted my interest in medicine.”
With a fascination in medicine already developing, his participation
in sports was what moved him toward orthopaedics.
“I grew up playing baseball and sports and injured my elbow and
injured my shoulder and had teams of orthopaedic surgeons, and
that just piqued my interest. Then, when I got into medical school
my 昀rst summer, I rotated down here with Dr. Saldana, who was a
trauma surgeon along with Dr. Wentz. I started shadowing those
guys over the summer, and I was pretty much hooked.”
Throughout his residency, Dr. Roehr really came to appreciate the
level of training that he gets at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine.
Each year, residents from medical schools nationwide participate in
courses held at sites throughout the country, having the opportunity
to compare their skills.
“When you go to national courses, you never really know where you
stand. Interacting with the residents in other courses,” he says. “I
realize how good our training is here. You see where you are on the
playing 昀eld because you get exposed to residents from all over
the country. There’s hundreds of residents at these programs and
they’re asking questions and you’re doing technical skills and you
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really realize that, even though we’re a new program,
I feel like our training is above and beyond most
programs in the country.”
A different course is taken each year. In
his second year, he learned about basic
fracture skills. Third year offered a
tumor/oncology course where he
did nothing but musco-skeletal
tumors. He was able to pick his
own course the fourth year and
chose an advanced fracture
course. In his 昀fth year, he did
cadaveric dissection and got
experience putting plates
and screws on broken
bones.
Nearing the end of his 昀nal
residency year, what’s it
like looking back on his
journey? “Orthopaedics
is such a broad field,”
says Dr. Roehr. “We do so
many different rotations,
so many different fields
… you have foot and ankle,
joint replacement, trauma,
spine surgery, hand surgery,
you have to essentially do the
whole body. In the 昀nal year, it
昀nally all comes to fruition. It9s
like you’re trying to understand
everything, but there’s so much,
it9s like drinking from a 昀re hydrant.
Finally, during your 昀fth year, it all
culminates in the end and it starts to
click. I think it clicks for everybody at a
different time but, for me, you start to feel
comfortable in the operating room, comfortable
with procedures, comfortable with injuries … and
you just become more con昀dent.=
Dr. Roehr will complete his residency and graduate in the last
