The Emergency Medical Services Fellowship welcomes one fellow each year to Mayo Clinic's campus in Rochester, Minnesota. Learn more about our fellow and what they think about the program and the Rochester community.

Stephen Ferguson, M.D.

Medical school: St. George’s University, Grenada, WI
Residency: Emergency Medicine, HCA West Florida Brandon Hospital, Brandon, FL
Hometown: Gainesville, Florida
Clinical areas of interest: Medical education, simulation, prehospital critical care
Research areas of interest: Cardiac arrest quality improvement, protocol development and implementation, prehospital airway management

What drew you to Mayo Clinic for fellowship training?

Mayo Clinic is a world-renowned center for state of the art care. I wanted a combination of urban, suburban, rural, and critical care transfer services. All are offered here by a diverse staff genuinely engaged in my education as the fellow. In addition, each member of the faculty brings a niche to the table — USAR, firefighting, disaster medicine, military medicine, and more.

What makes this program unique?

Mayo Clinic Ambulance Service (MCAS) operates ground 911 and critical care flight teams across a large area of Minnesota and portions of neighboring Wisconsin. The fellow is an integral part of medical direction, protocol development, provider training, and online medical control. Several remote areas with BLS ambulance service surrounding Rochester depend on MCAS for ALS intercept or online medical control, another facet of prehospital care lacking in many urban systems. Apart from diverse experiences in Minnesota, the fellowship offers a month-long rotation at Mayo Clinic's campus in Arizona. This offers a reprieve from the winter months, while you participate with our Arizona faculty to plan a very large event medicine response and see their respective EMS services. As a fellow, you also have the opportunity to teach residents and visiting learners under the emergency medicine department. I have found this to be especially rewarding as Mayo nurtures a robust educational focus. There is never a shortage of support when producing lectures or research.

What is living in Rochester, Minnesota, like for you?

The move to Rochester from Florida has so far been great for my family. We have two small children and the city has a seemingly infinite number of parks, linked by a robust trail system. You can walk across the city in some places and never leave a park. There are numerous rivers and lakes for paddling or swimming (yes, it is warm enough to swim here in the summer). People in the area are friendly and traffic is nearly non-existent. Everything in Rochester is 12 minutes away or less.

What are your hobbies and interests outside of medicine?

My wife is also an emergency physician and works for Mayo Clinic, so much of our off time is spent entertaining our 3-year-old daughter and 8-month-old son. As for hobbies, I enjoy woodworking, engine repair, cooking, barbequing, and exploring outdoors. Rochester has thus far been a great place to do each one.

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