TRISAT Educational Consortium – Program Leadership

Elizabeth P. Scherer, MD, MPH, FACS

Assistant Professor/Clinical  | Medical Director, SICU, University Hospital | Program Director, Surgical Critical Care Fellowship

Dr. Scherer was born and raised in Austin, Texas. She attended Mount Holyoke College in Western Massachusetts where she earned a BA in Chemistry in 2004. She moved to New Haven, Connecticut following college where she attended Yale University School of Epidemiology and Public Health. She completed an internship between her first and second year at the Government Accountability Office in Washington, DC. In 2006, Dr. Scherer earned her MPH with a focus in Health Policy and Administration. She completed her basic science courses for medical school in College Station, Texas at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine. She had the opportunity to complete her clinical years at Scott & White in Temple and earned her MD in May of 2010. Dr. Scherer completed her General Surgery Residency at UT Health San Antonio in June 2015 after spending her last year as one of two peer-elected Administrative Chief Residents. Dr. Scherer completed the Surgical Critical Care Fellowship at the University of Texas Health Science Center in June 2016 and subsequently joined the faculty as an Assistant Professor in the Division of Trauma & Emergency Surgery. She is the Program Director for the Surgical Critical Care Fellowship and the SICU Medical Director for The University Hospital in San Antonio.

Rachel Freeman, MD

Assistant Professor/Clinical  |  Director, VA SICU  |  Anesthesia Critical Care Medicine Program Director

Dr. Freeman received her MD from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in May 2013.  She completed her Anesthesiology Residency Program also from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in June 2017 followed by a Critical Care Medicine Fellowship in August 2018.   She currently serves as a critical care intensivist at the VA SICU and University Hospital Center for Life.  She became Director of the VA SICU in 2020 and Program Director of the Anesthesia Critical Care Medicine in 2022.  At University Hospital, she specializes in liver transplant anesthesiology and is a member of the Liver Transplant Team.

Lt. Col. Luke J. Hoffman, DO, FACS

Lieutenant Colonel (P), US Army  |  Trauma/Surgical Critical Care and Acute Care Surgery Fellowship Program Director  |  Surgical and Trauma Intensive Care Director  |  Deputy Consultant, OTSG (61J)  |  San Antonio Military Medical Center

Dr. Hofmann received his medical degree from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. He completed his general surgery residency at the William Beaumont Army Medical Center, followed by fellowships in Trauma and Acute Care Surgery and Surgical Critical Care. Dr. Hofmann is board certified in both general surgery and surgical critical care. Dr. Hofmann continues to serve as an active duty Army surgeon and he has completed multiple combat surgical deployments in Afghanistan and in the Horn of Africa. He also served as the Chief of Trauma for the NATO Role 2+ Multinational Hospital in Kabul. When he was not deployed, he was the trauma medical director in El Paso Texas at the William Beaumont Army Medical Center. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor of Surgery at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. His research interests include shock, damage control resuscitation/surgery, and austere/global surgery.

Program Coordinators:

Debbie Schwartz
UT Health San Antonio Surgical Critical Care Fellowship Program Coordinator
Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma and Emergency Surgery

Vanessa Acosta
UT Health San Antonio Anesthesia Critical Care Fellowship Program Coordinator
Department of Anesthesiology

Shawana Clay
SAUSHEC Surgical Critical Care Fellowship Program Coordinator
San Antonio Military Medical Center (SAMMC)