This June, the general surgery residency program celebrated the graduation of seven trainees.
Congratulations to the recent graduates:
- Sydney Beache, MD
- Faiz Gani, MD
- Britta Han, MD
- Annie Hess, MD
- Paul Kepper, MD
- Maria Martinez, MD
- Jorge Zarate, MD
The closing of an academic year in the general surgery residency consists of chief talks lectures, a visiting professorship, and a graduation banquet and awards ceremony.
Chief talks
The graduation season kicked off on May 28 with a series of “chief talks.” The annual lecture series features chief residents addressing trainees, faculty and family alike, offering a summary of their lived experiences and insights, gathered over the past several years of their time in residency. They shared thoughtful anecdotes, providing a prospective roadmap of their upcoming endeavors in fellowships, surgical practice and beyond.
Evarts A. Graham Visiting Professor
Herbert Chen, MD, chair of the Department of Surgery at University of Alabama at Birmingham Heersink School of Medicine presented the Evarts A. Graham Professorship Lecture at Wohl Clinic’s Clopton Auditorium on June 25.
Chen, the chief surgeon at UAB Hospital and Health System addressed residents in a speech titled Changing Culture: Lessons from the Iceberg is Melting. Chen discussed the difficulties of restructuring a surgical education program to meet and exceed the expectations envisioned. He addressed everything from the moment he decided to accept the offer to lead UAB, through their program’s award-winning educational achievements.
The purpose of the Evarts A. Graham Lecture is to provide professional insights through a lecture and conversation for trainees on the cusp of entering their professional practice outside of the educational environment to reflect on their own experience within the context of the surgical profession, broadly.
Graduation banquet
The Department of Surgery convened at the Royal Sonesta Chase Park Plaza hotel to celebrate the graduating chief residents.
Residents, fellows, faculty, staff and family all gathered for an intimate graduation ceremony. The congregation enjoyed cocktails, followed by department awards to the faculty and mentors.
John A. Olson, Jr., MD, PhD, who is department chair and the William K. Bixby Professor, gave opening remarks and welcomed everyone at the ceremony. He addressed graduating residents and their families to offer congratulations for the milestone they each achieved.
“One thing I’d like to remind everyone here is that we don’t arrive at a moment like this alone,” Olson said. “We are all here because someone cared about us enough to encourage us to stay the course.”
After Olson’s toast to the chief residents, Jennifer Yu, MD, the program director for the general surgery residency, offered some acknowledgements to the administrative chief residents, Kepper and Hess. “You gave so much of yourselves, including time and effort to make our program and the lives of your colleagues a lot easier,” Yu said. “Along the way, I learned a thing or two from you as well, so I thank you for all that you did.”
Department awards
At the banquet, several awards were given to residents and faculty as a celebration of the past academic year.
The Keith D. Amos Memorial Award was presented to Paul Kepper. The award recognizes a senior resident who embodies leadership and dedication to their colleagues, and focuses on education of their juniors, as well as a devotion to improving the lives of patients through education, service and outreach.
The Eugene M. Bricker Teaching Award was presented to Britta Han. This award recognizes a chief resident who demonstrates skills and passion for teaching. The award is presented by rising chiefs.
On behalf of the graduating chiefs, Kepper and Hess then presented the Evarts A. Graham Teaching Award to Matthew J. McHale, DO. This award recognizes a faculty member who demonstrates great commitment to education by the general surgery residents.
McHale was also presented the Jeffrey F. Moley Mentorship Award. This award is given to a faculty member whom the graduating residents regard as exemplary for mentorship, leadership, character and surgical judgement.
The Tim & Kim Eberlein Humanism in Surgery Award was presented to Matthew R. Rosengart, MD, MPH, director of resident research. The chief residents bestow this award to a faculty member who demonstrates a commitment to humanism in surgery through their efforts to improve the lives of residents and the community who they serve.
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Before transitioning to the chief resident recognition portion of the evening, Yu announced that the Department of Surgery will be establishing an award in the name of Brad Warner, MD, and asked for a moment of silence to honor the memory of his recent passing.
Chief resident recognition
Each graduating chief resident was introduced by a faculty presenter.
Wise presented Sydney Beache, MD, MPHS. Beache earned her medical degree from University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine before entering the general surgery residency program. While in residency, she pursued the Master of Population Health Sciences degree and earned a T32 training grant to investigate the role of community-based interventions in improving lung cancer screening outcomes. Beache will continue her training in a colorectal fellowship at the Ohio State University.
Rosengart presented Faiz Gani, MBBS. Gani earned his medical degree from Aga Khan University in the port city of Karachi, Pakistan, before beginning fellowship training in surgical oncology at Johns Hopkins University. After graduating from the general surgery residency program at WashU Medicine, he is returning to Baltimore to pursue a complex general surgical oncology fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center.
Arnab Majumder, MD, introduced Britta Han, MD, MS. Han attended University of Michigan Medical School. She quickly decided she wanted to pursue general surgery training and entered residency training at WashU Medicine. Han pursued the integrated cardiothoracic surgery program in her third year of residency training. She will continue fellowship training in cardiothoracic surgery at WashU Medicine.
The couple of Kerri Ohman, MD, and J. Westley Ohman, MD, jointly introduced Annie Hess, MD. Hess earned her medical degree from Tulane University School of Medicine in Louisiana. Hess was involved in the curriculum committee and an ethics fellowship, as well as being an administrative chief during residency training. She will continue training at WashU Medicine in the vascular surgery fellowship.
McHale introduced Paul Kepper, MD, MS. Kepper was a lifelong New Orleans native until he entered residency training at WashU Medicine. He earned his medical degree at Louisiana State University. During his residency he collaborated with the Department of Genetics, performing basic science research alongside the late Brad Warner, MD. Kepper will continue his surgical education in the minimally invasive surgery fellowship at WashU Medicine.
Michael Brunt, MD, introduced María del Pilar Martínez Santos, MD. Maria earned her medical degree from Universidad Iberoamericana in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She then completed clerkships at Mayo Clinic, Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Virginia Commonwealth University, and the Medical College of Georgia. She is pursuing a complex gastrointestinal surgery fellowship at Methodist Richardson Medical Center in Texas.
Michael M. Awad, MD, PhD, introduced Jorge Zárate Rodriguez, MD. After traveling the world for his undergrad at New York University’s Abu Dhabi and New York City campuses, Zárate earned his medical degree at WashU Medicine. He worked closely with Awad, who was then Dean of Medical Student Education. As such he shadowed Awad in the OR several times, finally deciding that he would pursue the residency training. Zárate helped develop the Surgical Prehabilitation and Readiness (SPAR) program, which has helped to improve patient outcomes across all divisions of the Department of Surgery. Jorge is pursuing a colon and rectal surgery fellowship at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.
Each resident expressed gratitude to their faculty mentors and provided short reflections on their time in residency at the Department of Surgery.
Olson provided closing remarks. His parting wishes for residents under the department’s tutelage were, as always: “Trust the process, embrace the opportunities, and savor every experience.”