The BerbeeWalsh Department of Emergency Medicine offers a fellowship for physicians interested in Critical Care Transport and Retrieval Medicine with UW Health Med Flight. The fellowship prepares physicians to become effective helicopter EMS (HEMS) medical directors by combining hands-on flight experience with academic, administrative, and research training.
Founded in 1985, UW Health Med Flight is one of the nation’s most established and respected critical care transport services — and one of the few that has always flown with a physician-nurse-pilot team. Its long history and national reputation, paired with the University of Wisconsin’s fully accredited emergency medicine residency program, provide the foundation for this fellowship.
Fellows gain extensive flight experience, serving as the sole physician on nurse-pilot-physician teams. This firsthand perspective is critical for future medical directors to understand the unique challenges and capabilities of air medical transport. Many residents only receive limited or no flight exposure during training; this fellowship ensures deep experience in both patient care and the realities of flight operations.
In addition to flight duties, fellows build skills in program leadership, quality improvement, education, and research. Training includes administrative and academic components of both flight and emergency medicine programs at a major academic center. Fellows also attend Medical Director courses at the Air Medical Transport Conference (AMTC) and engage in collaborative research at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.
Graduates leave prepared to lead HEMS programs or pursue additional training in ground EMS, ensuring safe, effective, and innovative care in the prehospital setting.
Compensation & Benefits
Our total rewards and employee services packages go beyond traditional benefits to help you balance your work and life needs. Packages include comprehensive health and supplemental benefits, a competitive salary, travel funds, and support to pursue education. Learn more about GME Compensation and Benefits 
Program Details
Available Positions: 1-2
Program Length: 1 year
Start Date: July 1, 2026
NRMP Match: No
Appointment: Clinical Instructor
Moonlighting: Available
“This year was incredibly unique in so many ways. I was surrounded by extraordinarily good people who have helped to set me on a career path in EM and prehospital medicine, got to practice work that I love in incredibly cool environments, and had the privilege of meeting and caring for people all over Wisconsin and beyond. I am so grateful to UW for this experience!”
—Matt Heffernan, MD, 2024-25 RCCT Fellow
About Med Flight
For nearly 40 years, UW Health Med Flight has been a trusted leader in air and ground critical care transport across the upper Midwest. Operating 24/7/365, the program completes more than 2,300 transports annually using three EC-145 helicopters and two critical care ambulances. Accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems (CAMTS), Med Flight is recognized nationally for providing one of the safest and most advanced transport services in the country.
Med Flight partners with FAA-certified Metro Aviation, Inc. to operate and maintain its aircraft and is among the few U.S. programs that routinely staff flights with a licensed physician alongside a nurse and pilot. Ground units are equipped as mobile ICU/NICU, and the program supports specialized Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) and Organ and Tissue Donation (OTD) transport.
Our Faculty & Crew
Fellows train alongside a multidisciplinary team of emergency physicians, critical care nurses, respiratory therapists, and other specialists. Faculty include national leaders in prehospital and transport medicine, such as a past president of the Air Medical Physician Association (AMPA) and a former advisor to the U.S. Department of Transportation. They teach in internationally renowned courses like the U.K.’s Anaesthesia Trauma & Critical Care (ATACC) program, conduct research advancing prehospital care, lead prehospital informatics, and bring experience from world-class services like London Air Ambulance.
Our Health Care System
Med Flight is part of UW Health, the academic health system of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Clinical operations are integrated with UW Health’s University Hospital — a Level I Adult and Pediatric Trauma Center, Certified Burn Center, Comprehensive Stroke Center, and Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO) Center of Excellence. U.S. News & World Report has consistently ranked UW Health hospitals as the best in Wisconsin, underscoring the strength of the system supporting Med Flight and graduate medical education.
Fellowship Director
Ryan Newberry, DO, MPH
Assistant Medical Director, UW Health Med Flight
Assistant Professor, Emergency Medicine
A native of northwestern Illinois, Dr. Newberry was a firefighter/paramedic for the Freeport and Rockford, Ill. fire departments as well as a critical care flight paramedic for OSF LifeLine Helicopter prior to attending the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army. He is a graduate of the San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium emergency medicine residency program at Brooke Army Medical Center, where he completed subsequent fellowships in EMS and Disaster Medicine.
Dr. Newberry holds board certifications in both Emergency Medicine and EMS and has experience working in both community settings and academic medical centers. He maintained a strong interest in prehospital medicine throughout his military career, serving as the program director of the Military EMS and Disaster Fellowship in San Antonio, TX, as well as an associate medical director for the UT Health Emergency Health Sciences Office of the Medical Director and the San Antonio Fire Department from 2016-2022.
In additional to his accomplishments domestically, Dr. Newberry was also the first American to complete the flight physician secondment (fellowship) with the world-renown London’s Air Ambulance, as well as the first international candidate to challenge and complete the U.K.’s Medical Emergency Response Team (MERT) selection course. A combat veteran, Dr. Newberry completed several deployments with U.S. Army Forward Resuscitation and Surgical Teams, as well as a tour with the British Army.
In addition to his clinical and teaching roles, Dr. Newberry actively engages in scholarship. His research interests include advanced trauma procedures, cardiac arrest resuscitation, damage control resuscitation, and mass casualty incident response.
Current Fellows & Alumni
- Dana Darling, DO (2025-26)
- Christian Hext, MD (2025-26)
- Megan Yank, MD (2025-26)
- Jesse Conterato, MD (2024-25)
- Matthew Heffernan, MD (2024-25)
- Mikko Sayre, MD (2024-25)
- Katherine Connelly, MD, DRTM (2023-24)
- Nicholas George, MD, DRTM (2023-24)
- Bryce Taylor, DO, MS (2023-24)
- Matthew Stampfl, MD (2022-23)
- Craig Tschautscher, MD, MS, DRTM (2022-23)
- Zachary Forcade, MD (2021-22)
- Madison Tustian, MD (2021-22)
- Allie Hurst, MD, MS (2020-21)
- Eric Ohlrogge, MD (2020-21)
- Jordan Imoehl, MD (2019-20)
- Nick Lepa, MD (2019-20)
- Britton Hopkins, MD (2018-19)
- Conrad Williamson, MD (2018-19)
- Brian Jennett, MD (2017-18)
- Andrew Cathers, MD (2015-16)
- Cynthia Griffin, DO (2014-15)
- Ashley Brown, MD (2012-13)
- Sabina Modelska, MD (2011-12)
How to Apply
Application Process: Email your CV, a personal statement detailing your research interests and career aspirations, and 2-3 letters of recommendation to Dr. Ryan Newberry at rknewber@medicine.wisc.edu.
Candidates must have graduated in good standing from an ACGME-accredited emergency medicine residency program and must be board-certified or board-eligible in emergency medicine by the time of employment.
Please direct application process questions to:
Kristina Maynard
Emergency Medicine Fellowship Coordinator
University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics
kmaynard@medicine.wisc.edu