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Chief Residents

Get to know our Chief Residents!

Chiefs ACP 2023


Jacob Baer, D.O.

I grew up in a Dallas/Fort Worth suburb before I moved to Stillwater, OK to complete my undergraduate degree in nutrition at Oklahoma State University. I developed a love for medicine which brought me to Kansas City to attend medical school at Kansas City University.  

Prior to matching at KU for internal medicine, I was able to rotate at KUMC to experience first-hand the incredible exposure to advanced and rare diseases. The residents also seemed genuinely happy despite going through the most difficult chapter of their careers. While residency was challenging, I created lifelong friendships with my coresidents while feeling supported by our chief residents and phenomenal leadership team.  

I am excited to spend chief year as one of the Chief Residents of Quality and Patient Safety at the Kansas City VA where I hope to learn more about process improvement and project management prior to starting cardiology fellowship. Additionally, I hope to pay forward the support and mentorship that was given to me as a resident. I look forward to meeting you on the interview trail and hope you consider our program!   


Stephanie Elberts, D.O.

I was born and raised in a suburb of Des Moines, IA and was first introduced to medicine by my mom, who is a nurse practitioner in palliative care. I went to undergrad at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities where I received a degree in Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development. I then went on to medical school at A.T. Still University in Kirksville, MO and completed my clinical rotations in Phoenix, AZ. I knew I wanted to do internal medicine after my 3rd year clinical rotations because I loved being exposed to so many different areas of medicine and being able to have variety in my future practice. I also met my now husband who is an emergency medicine physician while in medical school, and we couples matched for residency. When we were looking at residency programs, I knew I wanted to go to an academic center that had every fellowship available because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my career in internal medicine yet. On my interview day at KU, I felt at home and could tell that the people here genuinely care about each other from the way the residents interacted with each other and the kindness the faculty and program leadership exuded during my interviews. Since matching here, I have appreciated the program structure of the 3+1 week which allows us to focus on inpatient and outpatient care equally as well as the ability to customize your experience within the program. The different pathways available, particularly the hospitalist pathway and clinician educator pathway, have helped me realize that I am interested in a career as an academic hospitalist. I am so excited to continue this journey on as a chief resident this year and continue to work with our amazing residents and program leadership team! In my free time, I enjoy hiking, spending time outside, traveling, and trying out new restaurants and breweries!


Stijn Hentzen, M.D.

I grew up in Des Moines, IA before moving to Omaha, NE to start undergrad at Creighton University where I studied biochemistry. I knew I wanted to be in medicine since I was in 6th grade and I was fortunate to be able to attend the University of Iowa to complete my medical education. When going through the process of the Match, my wife and I wanted to find a place where I knew I would have great training as well as a flexible schedule and resident support because we were expecting a baby August of intern year. Residency at KU has exceeded my expectations. The program has a culture of resident support that extends from co-residents up to program leadership. The structure of training at KU allows us to individualize our 3-year experience and prepare for our careers after graduation. In my preparation for Heme/Onc fellowship, the program helped me identify mentors and research experiences essential to my fellowship application and preparation for practice in this subspecialty. I am thrilled to continue with the program as a chief resident this year to help our residents grow into incredible physician and to learn from our fantastic leadership team.


Nicholas Kettelkamp, D.O.

I grew up in eastern Iowa on a dairy farm. My formative experiences on the farm cultivated an interest in medicine and mechanics. This combination of interests led to a degree in biology at Iowa State. My interest in medicine was cemented following international experiences in healthcare. During my time at Des Moines University for medical school I developed an appreciation for all specialties and found the interaction of multiple organ systems to be fascinating. This ultimately led me to internal medicine.

On the interview trail, KU stood out as it offered all the amenities of a university program in addition to an exceptionally collegial atmosphere. During my time at KU, I witnessed the responsiveness of our program to resident concerns, tailoring of resident education to fit their needs and future goals, and a culture of teamwork between residents. I was able to fine tune my academic and clinical experience as needed to align with my goal of cardiology fellowship.

I look forward to my role as a chief to continue the work that has made my experience at KU great!


Samantha Starr, M.D.

I am originally from St. Charles, Missouri and I knew from a young age that I wanted to be a doctor. I was able to take engineering courses in high school and ultimately pursued a degree in biomedical engineering at The George Washington University where I volunteered at the GW Hospital and became an undergraduate TA in physics and engineering courses which ignited my passion for education. I stayed at GW for medical school but after 8 years away from my family and the Midwest, I knew I wanted to return for residency.  On the interview trail, KU stood out for a few reasons. First, the residents, program leadership, and faculty, were incredibly kind, enthusiastic about teaching residents, and proud of their work at KU and for the Kansas City community.  Second, KU had numerous educational pathways that allowed me to customize my education and focus on my personal goals: medical education and hospital medicine. Lastly, I knew I wanted to work at a VA hospital after doing multiple medical school rotations there and KU IM residents rotate at the Kansas City VA Hospital throughout their residency. My three years of residency at KU have solidified my match at KU.  I have continued to be impressed with our program leadership, the hospital staff and most importantly my co-residents which pushed me to stay for Chief year. During this year, I look forward to continuing to improve our program, providing support and mentorship for residents, and improving my medical education skillset to allow me to be a great academic hospitalist!


Rachel Werner, M.D.

I was born in the great state of Kansas fifteen minutes down the road from KUMC.  I travelled south to New Orleans for an undergraduate degree in Vocal Performance.  While I always enjoyed singing, turns out I hated practicing, so I added basic science courses during my senior year of first college and applied to an accelerated RN/BSN program in KC.  After completing second college and getting married, I moved to St. Louis so I could live on the wrong side of the state during the only period of my life the Royals have been good at baseball. I truly LOVED my career as a nurse, but ultimately felt called to medicine, which brought my husband and I back to KUMC for medical school.  The attendings and residents I met during my clinical years of medical school made the decision to rank the KU IM program #1 an easy one – the people were beyond welcoming, always happy to teach, and truly made me feel like a part of the team.   Additionally, the family friendly aspect of the program appealed to me as I started intern year with 2 kids under 2!  During the last 3 years, I have been supported as both a resident and as a new mom and I am so grateful for the culture we have within the KUMC IM program.  I applied to be a chief in hopes of paying forward the support that I received during my training and to help develop my teaching skills prior to starting my career in ambulatory medicine at KUMC next year.       

KU School of Medicine

University of Kansas Medical Center
Internal Medicine
Mailstop 1022
3901 Rainbow Boulevard
Kansas City, KS 66160
Phone: 913-588-6000
Fax: 913-588-3995