Emmett E. Whitaker III, MD
Dr. Emmett Whitaker is a pediatric anesthesiologist at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, where he serves as an Associate Professor and Research Track Program Director. He specializes in providing anesthesia for neonates, infants, children, and teens undergoing surgical or diagnostic procedures, with particular expertise in infant spinal anesthesia.
Dr. Whitaker earned his medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, completed an internal medicine internship at the University of Maryland, and pursued his residency and fellowship at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Whitaker’s research focuses on developing optimal anesthetic care for infants and neonates. His lab is working to determine how blood pressure should be managed under general anesthesia, with emphasis on maintaining optimal organ perfusion. He is funded by the National Institutes of Health to study the vascular determinants of hypotension in anesthetized neonates and infants. He is also researching new ways to monitor pediatric regional anesthesia.
Specialized Programs and Tracks
The joint Anesthesiology and Emergency Medicine training program offers a unique opportunity for trainees to obtain dual-board certification in two highly complementary fields. Both fields offer high yield training in procedural skills and critical care management. When merged together, they offer a trainee the ability to practice in any setting, from their entry to the ED, a trip to the OR, or the ICU. In addition, the ability to work across departments will serve to encourage both inter-professional education and collaboration, as well as scholarly work. These graduates will have a unique opportunity to work as a dual or triple boarded physician in either an academic or community setting, and bring a broad skill set to rural or low resource settings.
Both the American Board of Emergency Medicine and the American Board of Anesthesiology have approved our program, making it the 1st nationally approved program of its kind. Unique to the program at Johns Hopkins, trainees will spend their final year in longitudinal niche development, allowing increasingly focused work in popular areas such as critical care, ultrasound, international medicine and medical education.
Here, you will find all the information you need to decide if our program, with its unique experiences and opportunities, is the right match for you.
The Mission
The mission of the Johns Hopkins Combined Emergency Medicine and Anesthesiology Residency Program is to foster the clinical, humanistic and professional development of a distinctive graduate, able to amplify the strengths of both fields and positively impact change in the field of medicine through innovation and national leadership.
Program Complement
Two residents per year for a total of five years of training.
Our Aims
- Recruit and retain top candidates from a diverse applicant pool.
- With experienced faculty mentorship, inspire residents to develop and hone passion and expertise from within the two specialties of emergency medicine and anesthesiology.
- Produce compassionate and engaged physicians who care and advocate for their patients and communities.
- Train well-rounded clinicians with high emotional intelligence and versatility.
- Create an environment that promotes wellness and resiliency.
- Develop critical skills around lifelong learning.
- Nurture future leaders in emergency medicine, anesthesiology and beyond.
Leadership
Program Director: Michael Richard Ehmann, M.D., MPH, MS: (PD in Emergency Medicine)
Associate Director: Laeben Lester, MD
Associate Director: Jed Wolpaw, MD (PD in Anesthesia)
Visit the categorical program in Emergency Medicine here:
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/emergency-medicine/combined-residency
Visit the categorical program in Anesthesia here:
https://anesthesiology.hopkinsmedicine.org/residency/
Rotation Outline
Year 1: Emergency medicine internship as part of categorical emergency medicine program (see categorical program for rotations)
Year 2: 3 blocks of basic anesthesiology; 2 blocks of emergency medicine; 1 block each of general OR, trauma anesthesiology, neuro anesthesiology, OB anesthesiology, acute pain, and pain clinic; 0.5 block each of research and advanced ultrasound
Year 3: 4.5 blocks of emergency medicine; 1.5 blocks of general OR; 1 block each of surgical ICU, pediatric anesthesiology, cardiac anesthesiology, and OB anesthesiology; 0.5 block each of remote anesthesiology, pre-operative anesthesiology, pediatric emergency medicine, and burn ICU
Year 4: 5 blocks of emergency medicine, 1.5 blocks of general OR; 1 block each of pediatric ICU, mixed ICU (surgical, trauma, orthopedics, neurosurgery, oncology), cardiac anesthesiology, OB anesthesiology, regional anesthesiology; 0.5 block of post-operative anesthesiology
Year 5: 7.5 blocks of EM; 1 block each of general OR, neuro anesthesiology, pediatric anesthesiology, and elective; 0.5 block of pediatric emergency medicine
Application Requirements
- ERAS application
- 1 EM SLOE
- 1 anesthesiology letter of recommendation (anesthesiology or ICU rotation acceptable)
- Results of USMLE Step 1 or COMLEX Level 1
- Application information can be found here.
The relationship between the Department of Pediatrics and the Department of Anesthesiology is a strong one with close collaboration between the program director of pediatrics, Nicole Shilkofski, and the program director of anesthesiology, Jed Wolpaw. For this combined program, Dr. Shilkofski serves as the program director and Dr. Wolpaw serves as the associate program director. Candidates for combined training should have thought carefully about their intended career goals, since this combined program adds an additional year of training and requires commitment to achieving and maintaining Board certifications in both specialties and subspecialties. Candidates considering combined training must be committed to a life-long career in the care of children with complex illnesses and needs. The combined training option is ideal for students wishing to complete training with a fellowship in pediatric critical care medicine and/or pediatric anesthesiology; however, combined training is not required to obtain pediatric critical care training or pediatric anesthesiology training. Interested individuals can train in pediatric critical care medicine after completing a pediatric residency, and those interested in pediatric anesthesiology fellowship training can do so after completing an anesthesiology residency. Another career option for combined trainees is subspecialization in pediatric pain medicine. However, combined program trainees are not guaranteed fellowship positions.
Typical trainees are very highly motivated individuals desiring the opportunity to be advocates for children and are also willing to spend some time training in the care of adults (required anesthesiology training). We look for candidates who have prepared diligently to make a well-informed decision about the personal commitment required for combined training and have a love of children that supersedes the cost of the longer training time. At Hopkins we have years of experience in training doctors who have completed separate pediatric and anesthesiology residencies. We know that we produce extremely well-prepared doctors in the subspecialty areas of pediatric critical care medicine and pediatric anesthesiology. Our graduates are all over the country. Consider joining pediatric and anesthesiology training programs that are among the oldest and most renowned in the country, now combined to formally integrate residency training into a five year program that ensures eligibility for Board certification in both pediatrics and anesthesiology. The NRMP number for this combined program is: 1242726C0.
The program is approved by the American Board of Pediatrics and the American Board of Anesthesiology. To view their information on the requirements for these programs please choose a link below:
Please feel free to continue to view the rest of this site to get to know the Department of Anesthesiology at Hopkins. Also, feel free to view the website for the Department of Pediatrics for more information on what makes their program one of the best in the nation.
The Critical Care Scholars Track is designed to accelerate the careers of future anesthesiology-trained intensivists. Exposure to the care of patients with critical illness at Hopkins is unparalleled. The core program is centered on surgical intensive care environments: the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU, 16 beds), the Weinberg Intensive Care Unit (WICU, 20 beds), and the Cardiac Surgical Intensive Care Unit (CSICU, 15 beds). Additional rotations in the Neurosciences Critical Care Unit, Neurovascular Critical Care Unit, Medical ICU, Pediatric ICU, Oncology ICU, and Burn ICU are also available. Beyond these ICU experience, other rotations in critical care-related fields are available, such as renal medicine, infectious disease, cardiology (cardiomyopathy or EP services), critical care nutrition, interventional pulmonary, echocardiography, and others.
All residents accepted into the Critical Care Scholars Track are accepted into the Adult Critical Care Fellowship training program. Prior to fellowship training in critical care, a traditional Clinical Base Year and Clinical Anesthesia years CA-1 through CA-3 are completed. Four months of ICU time during CA-1 and CA-2 years is scheduled into the Critical Care Scholars Track. Critical Care Fellowship, reserved for the CA-4 year at most traditional fellowship programs, will be divided up between the CA-3 and CA-4 years. Completion of this program provides the opportunity to be American Board of Anesthesiology eligible for both anesthesiology and critical care medicine.
This track is specifically targeted towards applicants interested in careers in academic critical care medicine and who will benefit from early and longitudinal professional mentorship along with the opportunity to identify and solidify research areas of interest early in the residency program. Longitudinal learning experiences designed particularly for critical care scholars and current fellows are also included in the Critical Care Scholars Track. Additional information about the traditional Critical Care Fellowship may be found here.
The Research Scholars Track is designed to cultivate the next generation of physician-scientists in the field of anesthesiology. The Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at The Johns Hopkins University has excelled in providing leadership and innovation in all aspects of discovery including its creation, dissemination, and application. Our faculty includes world-class investigators (MD, MD/PhD, and PhD scientists) conducting multidisciplinary research in a number of research areas with major programs in Cardiovascular, Cerebrovascular, Neuroscience, Pulmonary, Pain, Patient Safety and Health Outcomes, and Perioperative Research. Building on the rich history of Hopkins leadership in medical discovery, the Research Scholars track has been designed to enrich the research pursuits of clinician-scientists in training. Furthermore, it is the first stage in an accelerated pathway for individuals deemed to have great potential for and commitment to a career pathway as leaders in academic anesthesiology.
Research Scholars are selected during the residency application through a concurrent application process. During interviews or at separate mutually convenient times, applicants to the program will meet with faculty who have expertise in their area of research interest as well as with faculty who have successfully followed a career pathway similar to what the applicant envisions. Each Research Scholar’s schedule is tailor-made by the residency program in consultation with the Scholar’s scientific mentors and the departmental research leadership to maximize protected research time and to allocate time in order to best support the Scholar’s individual project. Research scholars can do 6-18 months of dedicated research time during their training. The emphasis during the residency years is on identifying mentorship, designing and piloting a project, and engaging with the institutional and national research community. The program is designed to interface seamlessly with a progression to a period of protected research time during a clinical fellowship and/or a junior faculty appointment supported by our highly successful NIH T32 Training Grant Program. Scholars are then expected to progress to mentored career awards (FAER or other foundations, NIH K08, Johns Hopkins CSA, etc.). Junior investigators in the department have a high rate of success in obtaining these awards, due to national recognition of the strength of our research environment, the plethora of outstanding research mentors available to our junior faculty, as well as rigorous internal review and oversight.
The department makes a strong resource commitment to the career development of the individuals selected for the Research Scholars Track. In recognition of the sacrifices that are required to build a career as a physician-scientist, and our high expectations of individuals in this track, the Scholars receive a stipend in addition to the traditional base salary during the residency years.
During residency, travel to scientific conferences is supported by the department, in order to promote engagement with the anesthesiology research community. After residency, through the T32 grant, Scholars have the opportunity to take two years with a 75% commitment to research while earning a salary at the junior faculty level. Tuition coverage is available for further coursework or degree programs that are necessary to the Scholar’s progression. Internal department mentored career grants are available during the junior faculty stage to help support personnel and material costs for the Scholar’s project through our newly instituted and well funded “Stimulating and Advancing ACCM Research” or StAAR Grant program.
Residency applicants who would like to apply for the Research Scholars Track should check the appropriate box on ERAS and contact the program. Starting in July, 2025, this program will be a 5 year track including intern year and 4 subsequent clinical anesthesia years with the opportunity to do 12-18 months of research during that time. Inquiries about the program or the application process are encouraged, and should be directed to the Director of the Residency Research Scholars Track, Dr. Emmett Whitaker, [email protected].
The Johns Hopkins Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine has a wealth of opportunities in the international arena. Check out some of our international programs below!