Department and Faculty
/prod01/channel_2/media/mccms/content-assets/academics/residencies-and-fellowships/neurocritical-care-fellowship-florida/department-and-faculty/neurocritical-care-fellowship-fl-1024X512-WF2495302_0002.jpg)
The Division of Neurocritical Care at Mayo Clinic's campus in Jacksonville, Florida, is a highly integrated, collaborative group of staff from the departments of Critical Care Medicine, Neurology, and Neurosurgery. Members of the division specialize in patient care, education, and research of people with neurological disorders and diseases affecting the nervous system.
The reputation of Mayo Clinic leads to a high-volume practice with a high proportion of patients with complex and challenging medical problems. The experience of the faculty, coupled with the high-quality, integrated, and efficient practices of all clinical and laboratory specialties, makes Mayo Clinic one of the finest clinical practices of medicine in the world.
Faculty
The faculty members for the Neurocritical Care Fellowship include experts with special training and expertise in the evaluation and treatment of acute and emergent neurological disorders. Fellows work closely with faculty throughout the fellowship, as well as with colleagues who specialize in critical care, neurosurgery, neurology, anesthesia, nursing and neuroradiology, to deliver comprehensive care.
Each consultant or faculty member has considerable experience in evaluating and treating patients with complex critical neurological disorders, and each has individual clinical and research interests and expertise. Faculty members have also published in numerous peer-reviewed journals and contributed to many well-known textbooks.
 |
Christopher Kramer, M.D.Program Director
What is your commitment to trainees? As the Neurocritical Care Fellowship Program Director, my commitment to trainees spans from a mentor and advocate to a facilitator and confidant. I am passionate about facilitating the development of physicians who are not only competent, but well-rounded and content, aligned with their personal goals, proficient in delivering excellent and compassionate patient care, and confident as role models and leaders in healthcare.
What do you like about teaching trainees at Mayo Clinic? The privilege of educating trainees is one of the most prominent factors in my decision to pursue academic medicine. I have been fortunate to have had several mentors (many at Mayo Clinic) who have had a profound impact on my educational and career development and aspire to aid other trainees in the same manner to realize their potential.
Share something unique about yourself. I am an avid outdoor, travel, and adventure enthusiast. I also have a soft spot for my 5-year-old daughter and labradoodle.
|
 |
Lauren Ng, M.D.Associate Program Director
What is your commitment to trainees? I want our fellows to have the best possible training here and strive to provide the type of mentorship they need to make sure they are all successful when they graduate.
What do you like about teaching trainees at Mayo Clinic? Every class of fellows brings unique personalities, experiences, and backgrounds that make teaching trainees a joy at Mayo Clinic. One of the strengths of our fellowship is the camaraderie we have among all the ICU providers and the fact that we all work together as a team. I am involved with various quality improvement projects including improving our ICH care and also have an interest in bioethics and serve on the Ethics Subcommittee at Mayo Clinic.
Share something unique about yourself. I am a foodie and love international travel but right now I am enjoying life at the beach with my family.
|
 |
W. David Freeman, M.D.Division Chair
What is your commitment to trainees? One hundred percent to our fellows. They are truly the next generation of neurointensivists to care for our Neuro ICU patients. Also, once upon a time, I was one of them and I always remember this. I believe teaching is an opportunity to take the best parts of each attending for the fellow to make their own in a new and incredible way. They will go on to learn new skills and become great Mayo-trained neurointensivists.
What do you like about teaching trainees at Mayo Clinic? I love every part of it. Getting to know them personally and seeing their particular interests in various aspects of patient care, and interest in particular disease populations for research or teaching, and/or helping be a mentor to them in whatever they need to help them grow as a person, physician, and a professional.
Share something unique about yourself. I am a magician. I like to do card tricks and other simple ordinary object magic to “break the ice” or as a “brain break” to add levity to the day.
|
 |
J. Brent Peel, M.D.Neurocritical Care
What is your commitment to trainees? I believe the most important commitment I have to trainees is to help be their guide. I am passionate about teaching the fundamentals of neurocritical care and critical thinking. My goal is to guide the trainees in logical analysis and pragmatic application of the literature to provide the best possible individualized care to the patient at hand.
What do you like about teaching trainees at Mayo Clinic? We have some of the brightest trainees in the world and the dialogue between learners and myself continually pushes me to be a better educator and human.
Share something unique about yourself. I love working out, martial arts, and philosophy. My wife and I love the beach and spending time with our three dogs.
|
 |
Perry Bechtle, Jr., D.O.Neurocritical Care
What is your commitment to trainees? I have worked in a variety of clinical roles in a number of different departments over my 27-year career at Mayo Clinic including the Dept of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine as the Division Chair for Neurosurgical Anesthesiology for two decades, The Department of Neurosurgery as a clinical educator and research collaborator supporting their residency requirements in perioperative medicine, the Department of Executive Medicine as an Aviation Medical Examiner and my current role in the Division of Neuro-Critical Care Medicine. My commitment to trainees is to ensure that every single day they experience the real magic of the Mayo Clinic Model of Care: playing a critical role on a truly multidisciplinary team that works seamlessly across numerous departments horizontally, and across technical and clinical roles vertically on behalf of our patients. This approach is much talked about but rarely experienced in a smooth-running, fast-paced, real-time, data-driven clinical service. As well, as an anesthesiologist, I’m committed to ensuring every trainee is genuinely comfortable, confident, and skilled in complex airway management techniques and equipment, sequence and use of anesthetic induction agents and hemodynamic stabilization, spinal and neuraxial procedures, invasive lines of all sorts, physiologic monitoring, etc.
What do I like about teaching trainees at Mayo Clinic? The environment for advanced learning at Mayo Clinic is truly amazing and is at the forefront of medical education worldwide in both scale and technology. Teaching trainees daily on rounds, teaching technical and non-technical skills as well as mentoring trainees over time have been an inseparable part of my life since I was a resident myself. Mayo Clinic sets us both up for success with the proper staffing and time to teach well, in addition to the equipment, facilities, software, and administration required to have a well-organized and highly effective training program.
Share something unique about yourself. My wife and I are lifelong offshore sailors with a love for coastal cruising and the more remote areas of the Bahamas. I also have a deep interest in industrial safety, teamwork skills, and habitual excellence in high-consequence industries. This stems from my prior work at Johnson Space Center and Kennedy Space Center as a Space Shuttle Launch and Recovery physician, my aviation experience as a former U.S. Navy Blue Angels Officer, and my work as the ‘Air Boss’ for the 2013 America’s Cup with Team Oracle. I am an aerobatic pilot and a U.S. Merchant Mariner holding a Coast Guard 100-ton Master Captain License.
|
Advisers and mentors
You are assigned a faculty adviser or mentor at the beginning of your fellowship who can provide comprehensive educational advice and personal support. The adviser or mentor also serves as a contact point, introducing you and your family to Mayo Clinic and the communities in which you will train.
Visiting professors
Many prominent professors visit Mayo Clinic each year and present their work during lectures. Fellows are encouraged to take full advantage of these opportunities to interact with experts from other academic centers.