Is UNM Throwing Another Neurosurgery Resident Under the Bus to Protect Highly Paid Faculty/Attending Doctors?
According to reports from sources at UNM’s Hospital, leadership of the School of Medicine (SOM) is about to sever its ties to yet another resident doctor in its the Neurosurgery Residency Program.
Syed F. Kazim, MD, PhD, Resident Physician, has been notified the school will not renew his contract to continue in his residency training in the Department of Neurosurgery.
Dr. Kazim is the second resident to be separated from the program since last year.
The Neurosurgery Residency Program has a history of in-fighting and turbulence among its faculty, resulting in failing to provide the resident learner physicians with full access to supervised medical experience.
Resident learners at UNM SOM have also registered their concerns about the safety of patients relative to the decisions of attending physicians to use certain medical devices.
Last year, Dr. Samantha Varela, who completed her pre-residency medical school studies at the UNM SOM in 2023, filed a Human Rights Complaint with the state, alleging the University essentially turned a blind eye to, among other things, the discrimination she experienced in the residency program – as other physicians made racist comments suggesting she was the token Hispanic in the program.
As The Candle reported last December, UNM settled Dr. Varela’s Human Rights Complaint.
Since November 2022, Dr. Kazim filed several communications to the SOM’s Dean Patricia Finn, the leadership at the UNM Neurosurgery Program, and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), raising concerns about the availability of faculty physicians for learners, as well as bullying and racially motivated mistreatment.
In May of 2024, several medical support staff confirmed the mistreatment of Dr. Kazim to the UNM Learning Environment Office, via a complaint that revealed, “Dr. Kazim has been subjected to toxic work environment and has been humiliated on purpose … have been witness to mental torture and abusive behavior that Syed has been subjected to … The abusive and biased behavior that Syed has been subjected to during peds rotation is completely unacceptable, and such harassment is contrary to the UNM’s goal of equal learning opportunities for everybody.“
Sources have suggested to The Candle that Dean Finn and other leaders, despite their public claims of embracing diversity and transparency, were upset that residents had the audacity to voice their concerns.
This is a developing story, and The Candle will be providing more detail regarding what appears to be a another resident-learner-doctor victimized by the cronyism, infighting and turf battles of highly paid physicians who are supposed to be the teachers.
Saturday – The UNM School of Medicine Neurosurgery Residency Program’s History of Failing Resident and Fellow Doctors-in-Learning.
According to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), UNM’s SOM Neurosurgery Residency program should be providing “a learning and working environment in which residents have the opportunity to raise concerns, report mistreatment, and provide feedback in a confidential manner as appropriate, without fear of intimidation or retaliation.”
Sunday – UNM SOM Faculty failures to act on patient safety concerns raised by resident learners.
According to the ACGME Common Program Requirements, “Faculty members are a foundational element of graduate medical education – faculty members teach residents how to care for patients … Faculty members ensure that patients receive the level of care expected from a specialist in the field. They recognize and respond to the needs of the patients, residents, community, and institution. Faculty members provide appropriate levels of supervision to residents to promote patient safety.”
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