Nathaniel M. Birgenheier, MD

Languages Spoken: English

Dr. Birgenheier is an anesthesiologist who focuses on cardiac anesthesia and the use of echocardiography (ultrasound of the heart) both in the operating room and in the outpatient setting. He is a board-certified anesthesiologist qualified to provide anesthesia for all types of surgery and procedures who has advanced training in providing care for patients having cardiovascular or thoracic surgery.

Briefly, I have a B.A. in Neuroscience from Colorado College. As an undergraduate, I was fascinated by the developing brain, and pursuing this degree fulfilled my medical school prerequisites in a much more interesting way than the more traditional "pre-med" requirements. As an undergraduate, I was able to investigate the way in which neurons interact and connect with one another. Anesthesiology provides fantastic clinical application for such a background, and I have a special interest in how our anesthetics affect or alter neuronal connections. I have a particular interest in post-operative cognitive dysfunction.

Throughout medical school, I was convinced I'd be an Internal Medicine physician. As I advanced in my training, I found myself particularly drawn to the hospital setting, and mostly to taking care of patients who are critically ill. With my background in Neuroscience and my predilection for critical care, Anesthesiology was a natural fit.

During my Anesthesiology residency at the University of Utah, I took advantage of the unique opportunity to become an expert in perioperative echocardiography which was made possible by our Chairman as well as several other fantastic teachers in the department. I once again found myself most interested in taking care of critically ill patients and decided to pursue cardiac anesthesia and advanced training in echocardiography. I have now completed a fellowship in echocardiography and have joined our cardiac anesthesia team here at the University of Utah.

My current academic interests include resident education, especially in regards to teaching perioperative and transthoracic echocardiography. I am a certifed echocardiographer and enjoy the application of this subset of expertise in the operating room. I am also currently working on several projects that relate to our perioperative echocardiography group and hoping to help establish academic recognition for the group of experts here. Finally, I am involved with our preoperative evaluation clinic which will hopefully be taking on a more direct role in the perioperative management of patient's medical concerns around the time of their surgery.