PGY3 General Surgery Residents
Our PGY3 Residents
Categorical
Jae Cho, MD
Boston University School of Medicine
Jae's hometown is Austin, Texas. He graduated from the BA/MD program at the Boston University School of Medicine, double majoring in medical science and economics. In medical school, he was elected to AOA and Gold Humanism Honor Society and served as the President of the AOA chapter. He was passionate about advocating for his classmates on the Student Committee on Medical Student Affairs (SCOMSA). Additionally, Jae served on the medical student Governing Council for Massachusetts, in the American Medical Association and as co-chair for the Asian Pacific American Medical Students Association. He is very interested in legislative advocacy and community service. He was selected to participate in the Heart, Lung, and Blood fellowship from the NIH to study stem cell differentiation to lung progenitors. Jae’s interests include biking, spikeball, basketball, music, and machine learning. His clinical interests are in surgical oncology.
Dwight 'Doug' Harris, II, MD
University of Kentucky College of Medicine
Doug comes from Kentucky, graduating from the University of Kentucky with a BA in Chemistry and a BS in Biology. Doug undertook his medical studies at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, where he was elected to AOA. During medical school, Doug served as class representative, representative to the Lexington Medical Society as a member of the AMA student chapter, and a volunteer advisor for a program that exposes students from underserved areas in Kentucky to careers in medicine. Doug pursued research in cardiothoracic surgery, has yielded multiple publications and presentations. Dwight's hobbies include fishing, deep sea/offshore fishing, kayaking, hiking, horseback riding, and walking his dog.
Thomas Hirsch, MD
Medical College of Wisconsin
Thomas's hometown is Springfield, Massachusetts. He received his BS from Northeastern University, majoring in Behavioral Neuroscience. He subsequently matriculated to Medical College of Wisconsin where he was elected to AOA and the Gold Humanism Honor Society. As a medical student, Tom studied the role of bacterial enzymes that trigger the generation of hydrogen sulfide, which protect bacteria against antibiotics and strategies to disable these enzymes to enhance their susceptibility to antibiotic treatment. Tom enjoys playing the guitar, sports, independent films and filmmaking. His clinical interest is pediatric surgery.
Anusha Jayaram, MD, MBA
Tufts University School of Medicine
Anusha was born in Singapore, grew up in Sydney, Australia, and went to high school in Ohio. She went on to attend New York University for a BA in Anthropology, while also competing on the tae kwon do team, studying abroad in London and Peru, and being a resident assistant. After college she worked as a research assistant in the Department of Surgery at Mount Sinai, and volunteered as an ED patient advocate for survivors of sexual assault and intimate partner violence. She went on to attend Tufts University School of Medicine for a combined MD/MBA with the Brandeis Heller School for Social Policy and Management, where she served on the admission committee, graduated with research honors, and developed her passion for improving access to surgical care. Anusha was the National Chair for the Global Surgery Student Alliance, where she led efforts to improve and expand global surgery education and resources and advocated on a national level for funding for surgical care. She also completed a research year as a Paul Farmer Global Surgery Research Associate at the Harvard Program in Global Surgery and Social Change working on projects related to access to urgent and emergent blood needs, antiracism in global surgery, and developing global, virtual workshops for national surgical planning. Anusha has been recognized for her efforts as a Boston Congress of Public Health’s 40 Under 40 in Public Health, receiving the Consortium of Universities for Global Health Dr. Wasserheit Young Leader award, and the Association for Surgical Education’s Promising Medical Student Surgery Education Research Award. She enjoys reading, playing piano, live music, going spinning, and spending quality time with her loved ones.
Sarah-Ethel “Sally” Justus, MD, MBA
Harvard Medical School
Sally hails from small-town Lula, Georgia. Growing up in a medically underserved region, she has always been passionate about health care delivery for disenfranchised populations. At Harvard College, she spearheaded the joint medical/public health hybrid brigade model through medical missions to Honduras, Panama, and Nicaragua. In the field, she organized teams of ~40 students in public health initiatives such as the construction of septic tanks and latrines, triaging patients awaiting evaluation by supervising physicians, and developing curricula for community public health workshops. During her gap years at Columbia University, she directed a Phase II clinical trial studying a novel therapeutic drug for Stargardt Disease, a rare inherited retinal dystrophy, and she investigated the application of CRISPR in cell and mouse models to slow progression of genetic conditions like Retinitis Pigmentosa. In medical school, she was selected to pursue the combined MD/MBA program, where she served as the MD/MBA Club Co-President and Vocal Director of the Harvard Business School Show, a student-written and -produced annual musical. In her free time, Sally enjoys practicing guitar, biking, playing frisbee, exploring restaurants in Boston with her fiancé, and playing with their puppy, Lula, named in honor of her hometown.
Leah Ott, MD
Tulane University School of Medicine
Leah's hometown is Edmonton, Alberta. She received her BS in Physiology from McGill University, conducted research in valvular heart disease at the McGill University Research Institute, and subsequently pursued research in T cell immunobiology at the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy of Baylor College of Medicine. These studies led to four peer-reviewed publications. Leah received her MD from Tulane University School of Medicine, where she was elected to AOA and the Gold Humanism Honor Society. She was active in student organizations, volunteered in student run clinics for the underserved, and participated in the Tulane's LCME re-accreditation process. Leah enjoys baking, reading, sewing, downhill skiing and soccer. Her clinical interest is trauma and critical care.
Lucas Reckard-Mota, MD
Howard University College of Medicine
Lucas's hometown is Belo Horizonte, Brazil. He enrolled in the BS-MD program at Howard University, where he earned his BS in Biology summa cum laude and was elected to AOA with induction into the Charles R. Drew Honors Society. Lucas was the recipient of the Howard University Academic Achievement Award for highest pre-clinical academic performance, as well as the Howard University Trustee Scholarship for clinical and academic performance. Lucas pursued several research projects focusing on the role of socioeconomic factors on surgical outcomes with multiple presentations and publications. He volunteered with So Others May Eat to support the homeless, was Vice President of Volunteer Training for a student run clinic, and served as a peer educator. He enjoys playing the guitar, piano, soccer and hiking. His clinical interest is vascular surgery and health disparities.
Stephen Wang, MD
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Stephen's hometowns are Philadelphia and Wilmington. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in Biology, and subsequently pursued pulmonary research in the Schwab Laboratory. Stephen received his MD from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where he was elected AOA and active in a number of volunteer activities, including a student-run clinic and homeless shelter, teaching and peer mentorship, and the Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association. Stephen's hobbies include cooking, badminton, building computers, cooperative gaming, and skiing.