Meet Erik Kneller

Soon after arriving at the Carver College of Medicine from Miami, Florida, Erik Kneller was struck by the kindness of the people at Iowa.

As a medical school graduate, Kneller will stay in Iowa to pursue residency training in general surgery at Central Iowa Health System in Des Moines. One of his career goals is to work on trauma surgery cases, focusing on providing exceptional patient care.

What attracted you to the Carver College of Medicine?

The college’s outreach program was emailing out-of-state people, making a big push to get different kinds of people from different states. They sent me an email one day, offering to cover some of the money for the flight to interview, and they waved the application fee. That was very nice, so I started to look at the school and became more and more impressed with its reputation. When I actually came out to visit, I was really happy with how the interview went and how nice the people were.

How did you choose general surgery for your specialty?

About two years into medical school, I became interested in general surgery because I was really impressed with my first, big surgery rotation. For me, it clicked while working in the Burn Unit at University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics. It’s a unit where people are really sick. For patients with really bad burns, they need to go into the operating room multiple times and often stay in the hospital for months. Surgeons have the ability to be hands-on, take them back to the operating room, and perform a procedure with the hope that it could save their life. It was very humbling.

Can you share a positive memory from medical school?

Because of COVID-19, there was a period of time where students couldn’t do their rotations. However, one of my favorite rotations was the first one after they started letting students back in: treating trauma cases. I was really impressed with how they managed to keep things safe for students while also getting them back into the swing of things. Students were safe from high-risk situations but still able to talk to patients and go to the operating room.

Do you have any mentors at Carver College of Medicine?

I had a couple of surgeons whom I was really happy to work with. One of them was one of the colorectal surgeons, Dr. Irena Gribovskaja-Rupp. She took me under her wing a lot. She was an amazing teacher, and I really appreciated her.

What are you looking forward to the most?

I was matched with Central Iowa Health System General Surgery Residency in Des Moines. I'm still interested in trauma and the patient care I saw in the Burn Unit. Also, I am really excited about Des Moines. I already got to meet their surgeons and their residents, and they seemed like a really nice group of people. Even when things were super busy and hectic, they supported each other, which is one of the things that originally attracted me to Iowa. I'm not surprised to see that they embody that, too.

What are your long-term goals for your medical career?

In the future, I’ll be deciding on what to specialize in, although I think I'll pick something with trauma care. A reasonably sized community hospital with a busy trauma department would appeal to me the most. Also, I just came off the Army Reserve as an enlisted guy, so I hope to go back to the military in some reserve or National Guard capacity after residency.