Residency Leadership

Dr. Yanagawa is an Associate Professor of Thoracic Surgery and Director of the General Surgery Residency Program at UCLA. She is a member of the UCLA Thoracic Oncology Program Tumor Board as well as the UCLA Sarcoma Tumor Board, and has developed a thriving clinical practice in thoracic surgical oncology. She is a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Guidelines panel for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer/Mesothelioma/Thymomas and Thymic Malignancies.

Catherine Lewis, MD, MEd is an Associate Program Director for the General Surgery Residency Training Program and an Associate Professor of Surgery. She holds a Master of Education in the Health Professions and assists in the creation and administration of the resident education curriculum. Dr. Lewis is responsible for the intern-chief resident mentoring program (AKA S.T.A.M.P.), ABSITE remediation, and resident and faculty evaluations.

Areti Tillou, MD is the Vice Chair for Education for the School of Medicine and Department of Surgery and a Professor of Surgery. She has previously served as Associate Director of the General Surgery Residency Training Program. A talented acute care surgeon, Dr. Tillou is extremely involved in ensuring the highest quality education for surgical residents. She is responsible for resident teaching curriculum, including didactic sessions, dry skills labs, cadaver labs, and simulation sessions.

Mark Girgis, MD is the Associate Program Director for the General Surgery Residency program and Director of Robotic Surgery. He specializes in robotic approaches to surgical oncology in his clinical practice as well as research endeavor through technological advancements and ground breaking research. He is the PI of multiple clinical trials and his research focuses on the molecular pathophysiology of cancer and developing novel small molecules targeting cancer for radioligand therapy. 

James Wu, MD is an Associate Program Director, responsible for resident Mentorship and Career Development. Together with Dr. Tillou, Dr. Wu organizes the UCLA formal surgery curriculum. He is also an assistant professor and endocrine surgeon, with a clinical practice focused on thyroid, parathyroid, and adrenal disease. Dr. Wu manages the Endocrine Surgery Research Group, which is engaged in clinical trials, translational, and health services research pertaining to endocrine disease. 

Chi Quach is the Director of Surgical Education.  She provides support to all residency and fellowship in programs in the Department of Surgery.