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Surgical Education Fellowship


One Position Open for a Current Surgical Resident Interested in Medical Education

American College of Surgeons 
Accredited Education Institutes Fellowship in Simulation and Education in Surgery

We are recruiting for a Surgical Education Fellow to begin July 2024 at the Goodman Surgical Education Center (GSEC) in the Department of Surgery at the Stanford University School of Medicine. This is a funded, two-year position intended for a current surgical resident between the 2nd and 3rd or 3rd and 4th post-graduate year in an ACGME-accredited General Surgery program.

This is an American College of Surgeons – Education Institutes Accredited Fellowship in Simulation and Education in Surgery. The intent of the fellowship is to equip surgeons with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required for leadership positions in undergraduate and graduate medical education.

This fellowship program has trained surgical residents in education for over ten years and has established a track record in mentoring education research arcs, outstanding teachers, and careers in surgical education.

The fellowship consists extensive opportunities in education research, formal training in grant writing, medical education, curriculum design and implementation, program evaluation, and simulation as a teaching method. Opportunities to be involved in the administrative side of sim center operations are offered, active involvement in teaching medical students on the surgical clerkship is expected. This fellowship will also fund an MHPE degree (restrictions may apply).  

The application window opens May 1st, 2023.

To apply, fill out the online application: https://airtable.com/shrVMCfIZvYM8Av8B
A current CV, letter of interest, and two letters of recommendations are required. Deadline for receipt of materials for this opportunity is September 1st, 2023. Throughout the month of September, we will be inviting qualified applicants for a video interview shortly after review of appropriate applications. And if applicable, we may ask for in-person interviews.

If you have any questions regarding the application process or the program, please inquire with  
sugery-goodmancenter@stanford.edu.


About the Fellowship

Surgical Education Fellows, Drs. Ingrid Schmiederer and LaDonna Kearse behind-the-scenes during a simulated trauma scenario for the medical students. 

The Department of Surgery, under the mentorship of Drs. Tom Krummel and Sanjeev Dutta introduced a two year Surgical Education Research Fellowship in July 2007. This program was offered to surgery residents at Stanford who were interested in surgical education.  During this Fellowship, the resident spent two years designing, implementing, analyzing, presenting and publishing research projects in their field(s) of interest. Past projects have included research on surgical skills and, boot camps, and simulation in patient safety. Fellows accomplished formal training in medical education by attending the ACS surgeons as educator course and simulation training through the CISL course.  

Since 2009, the fellowship has been under the direction of James Lau, MD, FACS and has included new scholarship areas of gender differences in confidence levels of residents, curriculum design, emotional intelligence, learner feedback, warm-up, trends in evaluation, and clinical decision-making.  Works in these areas have been presented nationally and in manuscript form.

In September 2020, the role of Goodman and Fellowship Director was assumed by Dr. James Korndorffer. 

The fellows gain valuable experience in all aspects of designing, implementing, and evaluating several educational program curricula.  These include the General Surgery skills curriculum for residents and the skills program for the medical student Surgery Core Clerkship. Fellows have full access to and assist in the operational management of the Goodman Surgical Education Center and all its myriad of activities.

The Education Fellows also are expected to be examples nationally and present their works of scholarship locally at Stanford and at national meetings.  They meet and have access to surgical education leaders nationally and internationally by attending the ACS – Education Institutes Consortium Meeting and Postgraduate Course annually.  They attend Surgical Education Week (APDS/Association for Surgical Education) and ACS Clinical Congress if they present research projects. 

The fellows are intimately involved in the planning and implementation of the Department of Surgery Annual Residency Education Retreat every spring.  This includes selecting the keynote speaker and the two to three areas of educational focus for our residents and faculty.

 

Current Fellows

Ananya Anand, MD

(2022 - 2024)

Dr. Anand is a general surgery resident at Stanford and is currently spending her Professional Development time as a Surgical Education Fellow. She is originally from the Bay Area and is thrilled to continue working at Stanford during her PD time to improve the educational experiences of the medical students and residents. She received her BSc in Neuroscience from Brown University, her MSc in Health, Population and Society from the London School of Economics, and then returned back to Brown for her medical degree. She is also pursuing her Masters degree in Health Professions Education at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Dr. Anand has a deep passion for teaching and her current research interests include improving wellness in residency, bettering surgical culture, optimizing faculty feedback of residents, and making residents better educators.

email: ananya_anand@stanford.edu

Connie Gan, MD

(2023 - 2025)

Dr. Gan joins us from Portland, OR, where she completed 2 years of General Surgery residency training at Oregon Health and Sciences University. She is originally from Cleveland, OH and received her B.A. in Probability and Statistics Math and Biology and M.D. from Washington University in Saint Louis. Dr. Gan’s interest in surgical education stems from coaching competitive swimming and years of teaching. Her current research interests span bias in assessment, integration of simulation to enhance technical and communication skills, and intraoperative communication

email: cgan@stanford.edu

Past Fellows

 

Rachel Jensen, MD (2021-2023)

Dr. Jensen joins us from San Diego, CA, where she completed 3 years of General Surgery residency training at UC San Diego. She is originally from Berkeley, CA and is excited to be back in Northern California for a few years. She received her BS in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior from UC Davis and then went on to receive her medical degree also from UC Davis. Her interest in surgical education stems from years of tutoring and a keen interest in how people learn best. Her current research interests include assessment of proficiency of surgical skills, impact of teaching style on performance, simulation, and the impact of early exposure to surgery on career choice/satisfaction.

 

LaDonna Kearse, MD (2020 - 2022)

Dr. Kearse joined us from Washington, D.C., where she received her BA in Biological Sciences: Neurobiology & Physiology at the University of Maryland-College Park and her medical degree from Howard University College of Medicine. She has completed two years of General Surgery residency training at Howard University Hospital. Her current interests include the integration of technology and simulation to enhance surgical training, develop individualized learning pathways, and improve patient outcomes. She is currenly back in her institution as a senior resident finishin up her General Surgery residency.

Ingrid Schmiederer, MD (2019 - 2021)

Dr. Schmiederer joined us from the suburbs of Philadelphia, PA, where she graduated from Drexel University College of Medicine, after completing a BA in History from John Hopkins University. She had completed 3 years of General Surgery Residency training at New York-Presbyterian Queens Hospital. She is currently back in her instutition as a senior resident finishing up her General Surgey residency.

 


Tiffany Anderson, MD (2018 - 2020)

Dr. Anderson joined us from Gainesville, Florida where she attended the University of Florida (UF) for her undergraduate and graduate medical school degrees. She has also completed three years of her General Surgery residency and a one year Surgical Critical Care fellowship at UF. During her Surgical Education Fellowship at Stanford, she completed a Masters of Health Professions Education (MHPE) degree from the University of Illinois-Chicago. She is back in Florida currently doing her residency in UF. Her research interests involved the ultilization of technology and simulation to improve patient centered communication.

 


Edmund Lee, MD (2017 - 2019)

Dr. Lee was a General Surgery resident at Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital in New York, NY. He completed his PGY-2 year prior to starting as a Surgical Education Fellow at the Goodman Surgical Education Center. He completed his undergraduate education at Rutgers University and his M.D. from Rutgers – New Jersey Medical School. He worked toward a Masters of Health Professions Education (MHPE) degree from the University of Illinois-Chicago. He is currently doing his residency in Inova Fairfax located in Northern Virginia. Dr. Lee’s research interests include explorations in emotional intelligence, development of novel platforms for learning, and professional development of surgical residents.

 


Brittany Hasty, MD (2016 - 2018)

Dr. Hasty is a General Surgery resident at Loyola University Medical Center just outside Chicago, IL. She completed 2 years of clinical residency before completing a 2-year Surgical Education Fellowship at Stanford University where she obtained internal and external grant funding and contributed to the medical education literature. Additionally, she completed her Master's in Health Professions Education from the University of Illinois Chicago. She decided to take an additional research year in order to continue to do research in in-situ simulation and patient outcomes. Prior to entering residency, she completed her undergraduate education at the University of South Florida and earned her M.D. from Boston University School of Medicine.

Edward Shipper, MD (2015-2017)

Dr. Shipper joined the Goodman Surgical Education Fellowship after completing his PGY-2 year in general surgery residency at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, TX.  He graduated from Princeton University with a degree in history before completing medical school, also at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio.  His research interests include applicant evaluation and selection in undergraduate and graduate medical education. 


Laura Mazer, MD (2014-2016)

Dr. Mazer is a General Surgery resident at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston, MA. She completed her PGY-3 year before starting as the Surgical Education Fellow at the Goodman Simulation Center in July 2014. Prior to entering residency, she completed her undergraduate education at the University of Chicago and earned her M.D. from Emory University. She also completed a Master’s of Science in Clinical Research at Emory, with the support of an NIH TL1 grant. She is in her year second year as a Surgical Education Fellow and is working on her Master of Health Professions Education (MHPE) degree from the University of Illinois-Chicago.  Dr. Mazer's research interests include resident assessments, curriculum development for graduate medical education, and nontechnical skills training.  


Vivian de Ruijter, MD (2014-2016 Surgical Education and Innovation Fellow)

Vivian de Ruijter earned her MD degree from the Erasmus University in The Netherlands. She performed a research fellowship in Digestive and Minimally Invasive Surgery at the IRCAD in France. During her fellowship in France she had the opportunity to gain valuable knowledge in hybrid minimally invasive strategies and medical device development. Besides working in several medical device related research studies, she developed an educational program named BEST (Business Engineering and Surgical Technologies) cross-pollinating minimally invasive interventional strategies, providing online and onsite courses in surgical innovation for students in medicine, engineering and business. Through these projects Vivian gained vast experience in project management, medical device development, curriculum development, and conducting research studies in animal and human subjects. Her research interest are within the field of surgical education, surgical innovation and emerging technologies.


Cara Liebert, MD (2013-2015)

Dr. Liebert completed the Surgical Education Fellowship during her professional development years in the Stanford General Surgery Residency Program. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, earned her M.D. degree from Stanford School of Medicine, and completed fellowship training in Advanced GI/Minimally Invasive Surgery at the VA Palo Alto. Dr. Liebert recently joined the Stanford Department of Surgery faculty as a Clinical Assistant Professor. She holds several educational leadership roles, including the Assistant Clerkship Director for the Surgery Core Clerkship, Director of the Balance in Life Program in the Department of Surgery, Co-Director of Professional Development for the General Surgery Residency Program, and Associate Site Director at VA Palo Alto.  Her current research focuses on the assessment of entrustable professional activities (EPAs) and novel assessment platforms for clinical decision-making.  


Julia Park, MD (2012-2013)

After completing the General Surgery Residency Program in the Department of Surgery at Stanford, Dr. Park entered her fellowship in Minimally-Invasive Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital. Prior to entering medical school at New York Medical College, Dr. Park was involved in research at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.  She pursued her interest in medical education as a Education Fellow for the Department of Surgery here at Stanford for one year.  Dr. Park's current research interests include gender differences in resident evaluations and surgical clinical decision making.


Dana Lin, MD (2011-2013)
Dr. Lin was born and raised in upstate New York and received her medical degree at University at Buffalo School of Medicine. She completed her general surgical residency at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, subspecialty training in endocrine surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital, as well as a fellowship in surgical education at Stanford School of Medicine.  She is currently the curriculum director of the Goodman Simulation Center at Stanford, where she is invested in designing and implementing skills curricula for medical students and residents, creating mobile software to enhance surgical training, and conducting research in surgical education.  She also holds faculty positions at both Stanford Health Care and VA Palo Alto where she practices general and endocrine surgery.


Aarthy Kannappan, MD (2011-2012)

Lou Salamone, MD (2010-2011)

Yulia Zak, MD (2009-2011)

Tim Plerhoples, MD (2009-2011)

Eliza Long, MD (2008-2009)

Rich Parent, MD (2007-2009)