of the department , administrative work and resident recruitment – and a glimpse at what she might want for herself for the future .
“ It really opened my eyes to how much I enjoyed academic medicine . We have medical students in the OR with us every day , and as a resident I was a teacher to these medical students . I realized how much I enjoyed the teaching aspect , those were my favorite days in the OR , getting to talk through the physiology and pharmacology of what we ’ re doing . Plus , I had a group of people around me who were great colleagues that I knew were going to make my job enjoyable every day , so it seemed like a natural place to land as full-time faculty .”
In 2015 , she started at UofL as faculty and has been here ever since . From the clinical side , she ’ s not picky about her favorite cases . “ Any procedure where I can get my hands on a needle is something I enjoy ,” she laughed . Whether it ’ s epidurals and spinals or peripheral nerve blocks , those cases are her happy place . Most of her clinical time is spent in OB anesthesia , allowing her to tap into the joy of her once-desired specialty . Getting to practice that physiology and take care of those patients gives her a nice mix of both . She also enjoys that it is one of the few subspecialties where a lot of the time the patient is awake , and she can sit and talk with them throughout the procedure .
( l to r ) Dr . Maggard and family at Throo the Zoo 5K run / walk ; Family portraits ; Dr . Maggard , husband John , and daughters Lily and Reese .
“ Most of the time , it ’ s the happiest day of their life . So , I love getting to be a part of that and experiencing all the joys around delivering a baby . I love the variety of procedures in OB anesthesia and experiencing the instant gratification of taking someone ’ s pain away with an epidural while they ’ re in labor . Even something as simple as taking pictures of them with their new baby , brings a whole lot of joy to me .”
While OB cases are her favorite , she sees everything from ENT , to endoscopy , to trauma , to vascular . She currently covers at University Hospital , the VA , Jewish Hospital and occasionally at Med Center South .
“ It ’ s completely different every day , that ’ s one of the reasons anesthesia is so fun . I get to work with a lot of cool people . Every day I ’ m working with a different subspecialty , so I get to form relationships with a lot of great surgeons .”
Another large part of her time is devoted to her role as Anesthesiology Residency Program Director , a position she took on in 2019 . While a good portion of her work deals with ACGME accreditation and ensuring residents meet milestones to graduate , the highlights for her come from hands-on time with the residents . Starting at the very beginning with recruitment , they receive on average 1,000 applicants , of which they interview about 120 , to select 12 residents per year . While this is a large task , Dr . Maggard enjoys this part of her job , getting to know the applicants and telling them all about what
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