Each spring Washington University School of Medicine and the general surgery residency program challenges residents to participate in friendly competition to test their laparoscopic skills at the Top Gun competition. The competition is held in the Washington University Institute for Surgical Education (WISE). The 2025 WISE Top Gun competition was held on Wednesday, February 5.
The winner of WISE Top Gun is entered to compete at the national Top Gun competition at the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) annual meeting, which will be held at Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, California from March 12 to 15. WashU Medicine has ranked highly nationally, with several winners throughout the years, attesting to the program’s excellent curriculum and training.
The format of the competition was a three round elimination tournament, starting with three standard skills tests: the peg transfer, the bean drop and knot tying. Education fellows Blake Beneville, MD, and Abby Hatcher, MD, monitored and kept scores for the participants.
“We haven’t had a chance to participate in Top Gun yet, since we’ve been post-call in past years,” says Hatcher. “I look forward to testing my skills in the future.”
Final Five
After the first round, the five remaining competitors were Will Gerull, MD (PGY-4), Tsehay Abebe, MD (PGY-4), Abby Chmiel, MD (PGY-2), Natty Doilicho, MD (PGY-2), and Leonardo Diaz, MD.
The top five then took part in two tests to challenge their laparoscopic skills further. The first was a test to lace a length of rope through ten loops, following the indicated direction, while always having one grasper holding the rope and never allowing it to drop. The second test was to perform the standard peg transfer at an angle, simulating a more realistic use of the laparoscopic tools.
“I’d like to do the rope skill test,” says Beneville. “It looks really challenging. The final test is very stressful but satisfying to do it well. The angled peg transfer is probably the most useful to practice for surgery.”
“We considered utility when planning the skills tests,” says Hatcher. “It’s supposed to be fun, but it’s also meant to teach for utility and developing on skills.”
Top Three
The three finalists were Doilichio, Diaz and Gerull. The audience of residents and faculty watched on the monitors in the main room at WISE, as the finalists took turns on the surgical robot for the final test. In this round, the contestants competed in making paper planes using an Intuitive Da Vinci surgical robot. After each contestant finished the test, they reconvened in the main room to launch their paper planes with an audience present.
WISE education service coordinators, Angelia DeClue and Karen Schubert developed the Top Gun skills tests, keeping them secret to avoid any unfair advantage to any of the participants. “Just keeping with the Top Gun theme, I thought we could make a paper airplane,” says Karen, discussing the final round’s test. “I thought it would be a little easier, but it turned out to be quite challenging.”
“We try to make it technical, standard and fun,” says DeClue. “One of the tests in the second round and the final test are completely new to the residents each year.”
The WISE education fellows helped set up the tests and tried them out before Top Gun. “Blake and I practiced the paper airplane test before Top Gun,” says Hatcher. “It was a lot of fun and completely unique. They haven’t used the robot in Top Gun in prior years so I think that was a lot of fun.”
Each of the top three contestants received a Top Gun pin as their prize for making it to the final round of the competition.
Top Gun
Gerull took first place, after the robotic paper airplane folding skill test. “Top Gun is always one of the most fun events of the year for residents, getting to engage in some friendly competition,” says Jennifer Yu, MD, MPHS, who is the general surgery residency program director. “It’s exciting to see Dr. Gerull represent our program at SAGES in March.”
“While I spent a good amount of time in the WISE lab as a former education fellow, one thing I have learned is that the best way to get good at something is to practice regularly,” says Gerull. “Not just once for a longer duration. So I try to regularly practice my surgical skills in the WISE lab when I can to keep my skills up.”
The Runners Up
Doilicho placed second, having also placed second at Top Gun 2024 as an intern. “I thoroughly enjoyed the comptetition,” says Doilicho. “It was a great chance to come together and push our technical skills forward together. I plan to practice the offset peg transfer further—maybe even at a full 180°— to hone my spatial orientation, which I think will make me a safer and more versatile laparoscopic surgeon.”
As an intern in the general surgery residency program, Diaz continues to prove the high caliber of our department’s surgical education. “I had a blast,” says Diaz. “Especially with the origami airplane challenge—it was the most fun. The peg transfer with the lateral view, on the other hand, was the toughest and something I’d love to practice more for future Top Gun events. But hands down, the best part was the amazing team. Karen, Angie, Blake, Abby, and the rest of the crew made the experience unforgettable with their energy and enthusiasm.”
Congratulations to everyone who participated in the annual friendly competition and congratulations to Gerull, who will be competing at the national SAGES 2025 Top Gun competition later this spring.