We are pleased to present the members of the 2018 AAS Aspiring Leaders Development Program. These individuals will, over the course of their program year, engage with high-potential academic surgeons to develop and implement leadership competencies, supported with associated high quality mentorship, in order to impact personal, team and organizational goals.
Our 2018 class and their matched mentors are listed below – Congratulations to all!
Amanda Arrington, MD, FACS, is a clinical assistant professor with the University of Arizona Department of Surgery, Division of General Surgery, Section of Surgical Oncology. She is also Vice Chair of Community Outreach and the Arizona State CoC Cancer Chair. Her research interests include disparity trends in relation to cancer and surgical care through the changes in Health Policy. She has recently started a Masters program in Health Care Management at the UA Eller College of Management. Her program mentor is Clifford Cho, MD.
Dr. Daniel I. Chu MD is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He completed his undergraduate at Yale and medical school at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. After residency at Boston University Medical Center, he completed a colon and rectal surgery fellowship at the Mayo Clinic. His research interests focus on identifying, understanding and reducing health disparities in surgery. His program mentor is Adil Haider, MD MPH.
Dr. Andrew Hoel is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Vascular Surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and the Medical Director of Surgical Services and Northwestern Memorial Hospital. His clinical, academic and administrative work are aligned in optimizing value in care delivery to surgical patients. His program mentor is Scott LeMaire, MD.
Dr. Nader Massarweh is an Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Michael E DeBakey Department of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine. He works full-time as a Surgical Oncologist at the Michael E DeBakey VA Medical Center where his clinical interest include the surgical care of patients with various solid organ malignancies with an emphasis on utilization of minimally invasive techniques. His academic interests include surgical health services research and the evaluation of surgical quality improvement initiatives. His program mentor is Adam Berger, MD FACS.
Erika Newman, MD is an Assistant Professor in the section of Pediatric Surgery and Surgical Director of the Mott Solid Tumor Oncology Program at the University of Michigan Medical School. Dr. Newman focuses her career both clinically and in her translational oncology laboratory on discovering new innovative treatments for children with high-risk neuroblastoma. In her role as Associate Chair for Faculty Development in the Department of Surgery at Michigan Medicine, Dr. Newman is committed to faculty advancement in clinical care, research, education, and strategizing organizational changes that allow all surgeons an equal and inclusive opportunity to achieve excellence. Her program mentor is Melina Kibbe, MD.
Mayur B. Patel, MD, MPH is an Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Division of Trauma, Emergency General Surgery, and Surgical Critical Care at Vanderbilt, who has trained at Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt’s School of Medicine, Duke’s Residency in Surgery, Vanderbilt’s Fellowship in Acute Care Surgery, and Vanderbilt’s Master of Public Health. With R01 funding from the National Institute of Health (NIH) and support from Vanderbilt’s Critical Illness, Brain dysfunction, and Survivorship (CIBS) Center, his research focuses on Intensive Care Unit (ICU) delirium, traumatic brain injury (TBI), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), long-term cognitive impairment, and dementia. His program mentor is Justin Dimick, MD MPH.
Dr. Carrie Peterson is a Colorectal Surgeon at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She is a Wisconsin native who completed her General Surgery training at UC-San Diego, followed by a Colorectal Oncology fellowship at Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a Colorectal Surgery fellowship at NYP-Cornell Medical Center in New York. She returned to the Medical College of Wisconsin in 2014 where her clinical focus is on minimally invasive and robotic techniques for colorectal surgery, with an emphasis on colorectal malignancies. She is Associate Program Director for the general surgery residency and is Associate Vice Chair for Quality as well as the Patient Safety and Quality Office for the Department of Surgery. Her research investigates alternative strategies to managing postoperative pain and clinical outcomes after surgery. Her program mentor is Lillian Kao, MD MS.
Lawrence Andrew “Drew” Shirley MD, MS, FACS is the Ward Family Professor of Surgery in the Division of Surgical Oncology at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, and the Program Director of their Complex General Surgical Oncology Fellowship. His clinical practice focuses on the surgical management of endocrine disease, including thyroid, parathyroid, and adrenal diseases. His laboratory investigates novel biomarkers and treatment targets in the microenvironment of thyroid cancer. His program mentor is Herbert Chen, MD.
Victor M. Zaydfudim, MD, MPH is an Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Division of Surgical Oncology at the University of Virginia. Dr. Zaydfudim’s primary clinical interests include benign and malignant diseases of the liver, pancreas, and bile ducts as well as upper gastrointestinal malignancies and retroperitoneal sarcomas. His primary research interests include clinical and health services outcomes research and public health initiatives aimed to improve healthcare delivery and practice. His program mentor is Timothy Pawlik, MD MPH PhD.