General Surgery Residency

Meet the Residents

PGY1

Connor Bridges, MD

Medical School: Gesiel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
Undergraduate Institution: Princeton University
Hometown: London, England
Interests: Soccer, running, trying new food, reading, enjoying the beach!
Research Interests: Healthcare disparities, cancer screening, predictive modeling

Sofia Fabrega, MD

Medical School: University of Arizona College of Medicine
Undergraduate Institution: Arizona State University
Hometown: Phoenix, Arizona
Interests: Baking, cooking, reading, taking photos of my dog
Research Interests: Transplant surgery, space medicine, public health

Max Frenkel, MD, PhD

Medical School: University of Wisconsin of Medicine and Public Health
Undergraduate Institution: Harvey Mudd College
Hometown: Plymouth, Minnesota
Interests: Cardiac surgery, congenital cardiac diseases, pickleball, golf course architecture, exotic pets
Research Interests: Functional genomics, high-throughput screens, single-cell sequencing, synthetic biology, personalized genomics

Kevin Gianaris, MD

Medical School: Indiana University School of Medicine
Undergraduate Institution: Johns Hopkins University
Hometown: Carmel, Indiana
Interests: Surfing, opera, traveling, archaeology
Research Interests: Cardiothoracic surgery, Transplant, Humanitarian response, Climate and Surgery

Priyanka Jadhav, MD

Medical School: University of California, San Diego School of Medicine
Undergraduate Institution: Northwestern University
Hometown: Pleasanton, California
Interests: Running, painting, cat-owning/anything animal related, light-hearted fiction
Research Interests: Pediatric surgery, machine learning applications in healthcare, border health and health equity

Jessie Jiang, MD

Medical School: University of Colorado School of Medicine
Undergraduate Institution: Emory University
Hometown: Chico, California
Interests: Pilates, hiking, going to the ballet or symphony, spending time with family
Research Interests: Surgical oncology, clinical outcomes, surgical education

Liza Rosenbloom, MD

Medical School: University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine
Undergraduate Institution: University of Michigan
Hometown: Ojai, California
Interests: Reading my kindle on the beach, sporting events, spike ball, beach volleyball, running, game nights, breweries, traveling, cooking
Research Interests: Trauma, global surgery, surgical education

Cameron Speyer, MD

Medical School: University of Michigan Medical School
Undergraduate Institution: Williams College
Hometown: Santa Monica, CA
Interests: Playing racket sports, going out to eat, hiking, baking, LA sports
Research Interests: Immunology, health disparities & epidemiology

PGY 2

Maya Alexis, MD

Medical School: University of Pennsylvania
Undergraduate Institution: Johns Hopkins University
Hometown: El Dorado Hills, CA
Interests: Snowboarding, painting, running, vintage radio shows
Research Interests: Acute care surgery, trauma surgery, high value surgical care

Sherrefa Burchell, MD

Medical School: Loma Linda University
Undergraduate Institution: Northern Caribbean University
Hometown: Montego-Bay, Jamaica
Interests: Traveling, learning new cultures, trying new foods (+ traveling to try new foods), anything with water, concerts/musicals, reading, knitting
Research Interests: Pediatric surgery, global surgery, public health

Ami Hayashi, MD

Medical School: University of California, Los Angeles
Undergraduate Institution: Stanford University
Hometown: Oxnard, California
Interests: Listening to podcasts, reading short stories, spending time with loved ones, showing people pictures of my cats
Research Interests: Global surgery, health equity

Emily Jones, MD

Medical School: University of California, Los Angeles
Undergraduate Institution: University of Pennsylvania
Hometown: Berkeley, California
Interests: Boxing, hiking with my dog
Research Interests: Anthropology of surgery, violence prevention, health equity

Vanessa Mora Molina, MD

Medical School: University of California, San Francisco
Undergraduate Institution: University of California, Santa Barbara
Hometown: Fowler, CA
Interests: Tennis, reading, painting, hiking with Maverick, traveling, trying new restaurants
Research Interests: Health disparities research, surgical education, improving access to surgical care for marginalized communities

Phifer Nicholson Jr., MD, MTS

Medical School: Duke University
Undergraduate Institution: Wofford College
Hometown: Plymouth, Minnesota
Interests: Music, cooking (and, of course, eating!), anything outdoors, reading
Research Interests: Ethics, health equity, religion and medicine, global surgery

Deepika Sarode, MD

Medical School: University of Southern California
Undergraduate Institution: University of California, Berkeley
Hometown: West Hills, CA
Interests: Biking, traveling, beach days, charcuterie boards, finding LA's best new restaurants
Research Interests: Medical device design, transplant immunology, education

PGY 3

Madison Betcher, MD

Medical School: Columbia University
Undergraduate Institution: Georgetown University
Hometown: Seattle, WA
Interests: Backpacking/hiking trips, skiing (but only on the west coast), scuba diving, exploring new cities, pick-up soccer
Research Interests: Pediatric surgery, global surgery, surgical outcomes-based research

Mohamed Gabir, MD, MPP

Medical School: Harvard Medical School
Undergraduate Institution: Washington University in St. Louis
Hometown: Aurora, CO
Interests: Soccer, Hiking, Escape rooms, board games, Random adventures in LA
Research Interests: Global surgery, Health Equity, Trauma Surgery, Health policy

Elisabeth Hain, MD

Medical School: University of Versailles-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, UFR Simone Veil. 
Hometown: Paris, France 
Interest: music, cooking, eating, traveling 
Research Interests: transplant, health equity

Serena Lofftus, MD

Medical School: Tufts University School of Medicine
Undergraduate Institution: Boston College
Hometown: Rochester, NY
Interests: Skiing, sailing, perfecting my mom’s Korean food recipes, surgical oncology
Research: outcomes research in cardiac surgery and tumor immunology

Alykhan Premji, MD

Medical School: University of Tennessee Health Science Center
Undergraduate Institution: Duke University
Hometown: Knoxville, TN
Interests: Public Health & Global Surgery, swimming/biking

Carter Prentice, MD

Medical School: University of Pennsylvania
Undergraduate Institution: University of Wisconsin
Hometown: Brighton, MI
Interests: Spikeball, hiking, climbing, live music, ice cream, burritos
Research Interests: Health equity and disparities, improving access to surgical care among marginalized communities

Haley Tupper, MD, MPH

Medical School: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Undergraduate Institution: University of Pennsylvania
Hometown: Seattle, WA
Interests: Soccer, skiing, health systems design, my dog

Kyla Wright, MD

Medical School: New York University, Grossman School of Medicine
Undergraduate Institution: University of Washington
Hometown: Spokane, WA
Interests:Live music, hiking, flea markets, collecting vinyl, contemporary dance
Research Interests: Clinical outcomes, health equity, endocrine surgery, education

PGY 4

Mariah Blegen, MD

Medical School: University of Rochester School of Medicine
Undergraduate Institution: Macalester College
Hometown: Deephaven, MN
Interests: Implementation science, YouTube yoga, camping, propagating my succulents
Research: Disparities in lung cancer screening

Nikhil L. Chevru, MD

Medical School: Georgetown University
Undergraduate Institution: Princeton University
Hometown: Marietta, GA
Interests: Playing saxophone and drums, Atlanta sports, Cardiothoracic surgery

Tess Huy, MD

Medical School: Saint Louis University School of Medicine
Undergraduate Institution: Washington University in St. Louis
Hometown: Leamington, Ontario, Canada
Interests: Traveling/backpacking, baking, quality improvement research, undecided career interests
Research: Quality improvement

Joon Park, MD

Medical School: David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Undergraduate Institution: UC Berkeley
Hometown: Pleasanton, CA
Interests: Basketball, biking, surgical oncology, coffee
Research: Pancreatic cancer

Jordan Rook, MD, PhD

Medical School: Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Undergraduate Institution: University of Denver
Hometown: Colorado Springs, CO
Interests: Pediatric surgery, exploring new neighborhoods, cities and restaurants with my family!
Research: Improving health through policy

Young-Ji Seo, MD

Medical School: David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Undergraduate Institution: University of California, Berkeley
Hometown: Corona, CA
Interests: Hiking, classical piano, endocrine surgery, minimally invasive surgery
Research: Healthcare outcomes, clinical trials

Nicholas Siena, MD

Medical School: Thomas Jefferson University
Undergraduate Institution: Temple University
Hometown: Philadelphia
Interests: Trauma and acute care surgery, experiencing as much of Los Angeles as is possible, trying to learn golf
Research: The semantics of cancer, philosophy of medicine

PGY 5

Mark Bailey, MD, PhD

Medical School: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Undergraduate Institution: UC Berkeley
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Interests: Coffee, Running, Literature
Research: Virology, Vaccine development, Oncolytics

Bennet Cho, MD

Medical School: Harvard Medical School
Undergraduate Institution: Columbia University
Hometown: Buena Park, CA
Interests: Working out, eating, spending time with family
Research: Clinical trials and cardiac surgery outcomes research

Hattie Huston-Paterson, MD

Medical School: University of Pennsylvania
Undergraduate Institution: University of Oxford
Hometown: Lawrenceville, NJ
Interests: Health Justice, Structural Violence, Workforce Diversity, Surfing
Research: Thoracic Trauma

Kyle Klingbeil, MD, MS

Medical School: University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Undergraduate Institution: University of Iowa
Hometown: Estherville, IA
Interests: Cycling, traveling, cooking, meditation/yoga and surgical oncology
Research: Oncology - Sarcoma Metabolism

Amanda Labora, MD

Medical School: University of Pennsylvania
Undergraduate Institution: Brown University Hometown: Miami, FL
Interests: Latinx health, POCUS, surgical critical care, hiking and baking

Garrett Salzman, MD

Medical School: Keck School of Medicine of USCl
Undergraduate Institution: Macalester Collegee
Hometown: Glendale, CA
Interests: Acute Care Surgery, professional sports (Go Rams!), BBQing
Research: Health services research focusing on emergency surgery in geriatric patients.

Whitt Virgin-Downey, MD, MBA

Medical School: Stanford Medical School/Business School
Undergraduate Institution: Harvard University
Hometown: St. Louis, MO
Interests: Music, Basketball, Frisbee, Organizational Design
Research: Hospital Administration

Mark Yost, MD

Medical School: Harvard Medical School
Undergraduate Institution: UCLA
Hometown: San Jose, CA
Interests: Ice Hockey, Global Health, Trauma/Critical Care, Dogs
Research: MPH and Global Surgery Project(s)

Research Residents

Dominic Amara, MD, MS

Medical School: UCSF
Undergraduate Institution: UC Berkeley
Hometown: Sonoma, CA
Interests: Data science, running, lifting, skiing
Research: Transplant/oncology, translational/clinical informatics, precision medicine

Simon Esteva, MD

Medical School: Texas A&M
Undergraduate Institution: University of Texas at Austin
Hometown: Austin, TX
Interests: Traveling, concerts, going out to new restaurants and bars, house plants, cooking and video games
Research Interests: Outcomes and clinical research in either thoracic surgery or MIS, surgical education

Kelsey Haddad, MD, PhD

Medical School: Washington University School of Medicine
Undergraduate Institution: University of Notre Dame
Hometown: Philadelphia, PA
Interests: Donuts (food in general), hiking/backpacking, any form of workout class
Research Interests: technology in medicine, bio/device design, health disparities, impact of environment on human health

Jamie Ko, MD

Medical School: University of California, Los Angeles
Undergraduate Institution: Yale College
Hometown: Honolulu, Hawaii
Interests: Reading, coloring, classical violin, long-distance running, figure skating
Research Interests: Health equity and policy

Kera Kwan, MD

Medical School: University of California, Los Angeles
Undergraduate institution: University of California, Los Angeles
Hometown: Lake Forest, CA
Interests: Rock climbing, crochet, hiking, camping, house plants, pugs
Research Interests: Health services research, including colorectal cancer screening and outcomes, LGBT health disparities

Jose Luis Lopez, MD

Medical School: University of California, San Francisco
Undergraduate Institution: California State University, Fresno
Hometown: Clovis, CA
Interests: Fútbol, Art/galleries, Live music, Skateboarding, Ice cream, Health equity
Research Interests: Health equity, optimizing access to surgery and improving surgical outcomes for marginalized communities, improving surgical education/culture

Tyler McCaw, MD, PhD

Medical School: University of Alabama School of Medicine
Undergraduate Institution: North Carolina State University
Hometown: Birmingham, AL
Interests:
Research: Surgical oncology and basic: CD8 T cell response to and differentiation in solid tumors

Andrew Melehy, MD

Medical School: Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Undergraduate Institution: Northwestern University
Hometown: San Diego, CA
Interests: Snowboarding, hiking, camping, tennis
Research: Health services, clinical research informatics, data-driven research, transplant

Cray Noah, MD

Medical School: Harvard Medical School
Undergraduate Institution: Georgia Tech
Hometown: Houston, TX
Interests: dancing, lifting, sailing, cliff jumping, sports, sushi, crypto
Research Interests: machine perfusion of transplant organs, drone delivery of organs, medical devices, immunotherapy

Whitney Orji, MD, MS

Medical School: University of Pennsylvania
Undergraduate Institution: Rice University
Hometown: Pflugerville, TX
Interests: Health equity/justice, global surgery, reading, creating the perfect playlist, being outside
Research: Health equity in surgery

Terrance Peng, MD

Medical School: University of Southern California
Undergraduate Institution: Boston College
Hometown: Edison, NJ
Interests: Making music, time with family, cooking, hiking, soccer, waving hello to dogs on the street
Research Interests: Health services and outcomes research, thoracic surgical oncology, medical/surgical education

Brittany Robinson, MD

Medical School: UCSF
Undergraduate Institution: Yale University
Hometown: Temecula, CA
Interests: Scuba diving, vinyl collecting, hiking, ice cream
Research: Global surgery, trauma, health equity (specifically access to surgery and surgical outcomes)

Carolyn Smullin, MD

Medical School: University of California, Los Angeles
Undergraduate: UC Berkeley
Hometown: Eureka, California
Interests: spending time with my family, long runs, going to the beach, traveling, reading
Research: Intestinal failure, multivisceral transplantation, transplant immunology

Michael Srienc, MD, MS

Medical School: University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine
Undergraduate Institution: University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Hometown: Lake Elmo, MN
Interests: Trying new restaurants, being outdoors, spending time with my family, surgical oncology
Research: Basic science or translational research related to oncology with a preference to work with proteins

Serena Zheng, MD

Medical School: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Undergraduate Institution: University of Southern California
Hometown: La Canada Flintridge
Interests: scuba diving, wildlife photography, backpacking/traveling, skiing, tennis
Research Interests: subclinical significance of circulating tumor cells; racial disparities in oncology, at the population and molecular levels