General Surgery Residents

Chief Residents

Rachel Blitzer
Hometown: Long Beach, CA
MD: Dartmouth College
Research: Minimally Invasive Surgery
Mentor: Dr. Santiago Horgan

Rachel Jensen
Hometown: Berkeley, CA
MD: UC Davis
Research: Surgical Education
Mentor: Dr. James Korndorffer at Stanford

Sohini Khan
Hometown: San Jose, CA
MD: UC San Diego
Research: Pancreatic cancer
Mentor: Dr. Andrew Lowy

Jay Meisner
Hometown: Lincolnshire, Illinois
MD: University of Illinois
Research: Research fellow in the Esophageal and Airway Treatment (EAT) Center
Mentor: Dr. Benjamin Zendejas at Boston Children’s

Tom Mou
Hometown: Qingdao, China
MD: Vanderbilt University
Research: Trauma, Emergency general surgery, & Clinical informatics
Mentor: Dr. Todd Costantini

Rohini Patel
Hometown: San Diego, CA
MD: University of Arizona — Tucson
Research: Vascular surgery outcomes
Mentor: Dr. Mahmoud Malas & Dr. Andrew Barleben

Michael Turner
Hometown: Brawley, CA
MD: Oregon Health & Science University
Research: Fluorescence guided surgery
Mentor: Dr. Michael Bouvet

PGY4

Victoria Bendersky
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
MD: Duke University
PhD: Johns Hopkins University
Research: Transplant Surgery
Mentor: Dr. Dorry Segev at Johns Hopkins

Claire Bensard
Hometown: Denver, CO
MD: University of Utah
PhD: University of Utah

Karina Covarrubias
Hometown: El Paso, TX
MD: Johns Hopkins University
Research: Transplant Surgery
Mentor: Dr. Justin Parekh and Dr. Aleah Brubaker

Jorge De La Torre
Hometown: Mexicali, Mexico
MD: Tecnológico de Monterrey
Research: Pancreatic Cancer
Mentor: Dr. Rebekah White

Nicole Goldhaber
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
MD: Harvard University
Research: Healthcare Management and Quality
Mentor: Dr. Bryan Clary & Dr. Christopher Longhurst

Estella Huang
Hometown: Lisle, IL
MD: University of Illinois at Chicago
Research: Minimally Invasive Surgery
Mentor: Dr. Santiago Horgan, Dr. Garth Jacobsen, & Dr. Ryan Broderick

Kevin Li
Hometown: Somerset County, NJ
MD: UT Southwestern
Research: Pancreatic Cancer Immunotherapy
Mentor: Dr. Andrew Lowy

Ashwyn Sharma
Hometown: Kansas City, KS
MD: Johns Hopkins University
Research: Surgical Oncology – GIST, Computational Biology, Bioinformatics
Mentor: Dr. Jason Sicklick & Dr. Jill Mesirov

PGY3

Sophie Chung
Hometown: Naperville, IL
MD: Yale University
Research: Surgical oncology and outcomes
Mentor: Dr. Jennifer Tseng and Dr. Teviah Sachs at Boston University

Kristin Cox
Hometown: Bainbridge Island, WA
MD: University of Washington
Research: Fluorescence labeling of GI cancers
Mentor: Dr. Michael Bouvet

Alyssa Joachim
Hometown: Lodi, WI
MD: University of Wisconsin

Bradley Kawano
Hometown: Kailua, HI
MD: Duke University

Danae Olaso
Hometown: Maui, HI
MD: Duke University

Paul Park
Hometown: San Diego, CA
MD: UC San Francisco

Louis Perkins
Hometown: Newburgh, IN
MD: Indiana University
Research: Trauma and Emergency General Surgery
Mentor: Dr. Bruce Potenza, Dr. Todd Costantini, Dr. Jay Doucet, & Dr. Jarrett Santorelli

PGY2

Sami Abujbarah
Hometown: Phoenix, AZ
MD: Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine - Arizona

John Deng
Hometown: Springfield, IL
MD: UC Los Angeles

Blackberrie Eddins
Hometown: Beaumont, CA
MD: Northwestern University

Thomas Handley
Hometown: London
MD: Imperial College School of Medicine

Ruth Laverde
Hometown: Miami, FL
MD: UC San Francisco

Gabrielle Rajulu
Hometown: Houston, TX
MD: University of Texas Health San Antonio

Nikita Thareja
Hometown: Saratoga, CA
MD: UC San Diego

Interns

Jessica Della Ripa

Hometown: Castaic, CA
MD: UC San Diego

Brittny Flynn
Hometown: Portland, OR
MD: Oregon Health & Science University

David Hu
Hometown: Hamden, CT
MD: Dartmouth College

Yash Huilgol

Hometown: San Diego, CA
MD: UC San Francisco

Federico Palacardo
Hometown: New York, NY
Med School: Weill Cornell Medicine

Lauren Poston
Hometown: Tulare, CA
MD: Case Western Reserve University

Allie Yan
Hometown: Middleton, Wisconsin
Med school: University of Chicago

Research Fellows

Mark Antkowiak
Hometown: Walnut Creek, CA
MD: Northwestern University
Research: GI Stromal Tumors
Mentor: Dr. Jason Sicklick

John Austin
Hometown: Irvine, CA
MD: Stanford University
Research: Trauma and Emergency General Surgery
Mentor: Dr. Jay Doucet, Dr. Allison Berndtson, Dr. Laura Haines, Dr. Jarrett Santorelli, Dr. Jessica Weaver

Javier Bravo Quintana (Prelim)
Hometown: Mexico City
MD: Universidad Anáhuac Escuela de Medicina
Research: GI Cancer surgery enhancement through fluorescence
Mentor: Dr. Michael Bouvet

Asimina Courelli
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
MD: UC San Diego
Research: Pancreatic Cancer
Mentor: Dr. Andrew Lowy

William Johnston
Hometown: Houston, TX
MD: Baylor College of Medicine
Research: Trauma - resuscitation, ARDS, pulmonary contusions
Mentor: Dr. Todd Costantini

Nicholas Neel
Hometown: San Dimas, CA
MD: UC San Diego
Research: Machine learning, Colorectal Surgery, Gastric Cancer
Mentor: Dr. Samuel Eisenstein, Dr. Winta Mehtsun

Kim Nguyen-Ta
Hometown: San Diego, CA / Lincoln, NE
MD: UC San Diego
Research: Pancreatic Cancer
Mentor: Dr. Rebekah White

Parisa Oviedo
Hometown: Irvine, CA
MD: UC San Diego
Research: VA Chief Resident in Quality and Safety, fellowship
Mentor: Dr. Bruce Potenza

Sean Perez
Hometown: Upland, CA
MD: Boston University
Research: Surgical Informatics, Health Disparities, Education
Mentor: Dr. Bryan Clary & Dr. Christopher Longhurst

Graham Spurzem
Hometown: Novato, CA
MD: UC San Diego
Research: Minimally Invasive Surgery
Mentor: Dr. Santiago Horgan & Dr. Ryan Broderick

Away-Research Fellows

Wyeth Alexander
Hometown: Cleveland, OH
MD: University of Pittsburgh
Research: Cardiac Transplant
Mentor: Robert Bartlett at University of Michigan

Ana Maria Dumitru
Hometown: Bucharest, Romania / John’s Creek, GA
MD: Dartmouth University
PhD: Dartmouth University
Research: Pre and Postnatal Gene Therapy
Mentor: Dr. Bill Peranteau at CHOP

Alexander Zhu
Hometown: Norman, OK
MD: Duke University
Research: Thoracic Surgery and Outcomes, Wearables, Lung cancer screening
Mentor: Dr Chi-Fu Jeffrey Yang at Massachusetts General Hospital