Mentor Spotlight: Crystal Totten MD

Dr. Crystal Totten is a general surgeon at the University of Kentucky Healthcare in the Division of Gastrointestinal and Minimally Invasive Surgery and is an associate professor of surgery at UK College of Medicine. Additionally, she holds positions as Co-Vice Chair of Professionalism and Integrity, Medical OR Director of Good Samaritan OR, and Fellowship Director for GEMS Advanced GI MIS Fellowship. Dr Totten received her medical degree and completed her general surgery training at the University of South Florida and went on to complete a fellowship in minimally invasive surgery and abdominal wall reconstruction at UK in 2016. She returned to UK in 2018 where she specializes in laparoscopic and robotic procedures and has interests in swallowing disorders, hiatal hernia and abdominal wall reconstruction. She is a member of the American College of Surgeons, the Society of American and Gastrointestinal Surgery, and the American Hernia Society. 

Mentor Spotlight: Dr. Cornelia Griggs

Dr. Cornelia Griggs is a pediatric surgeon, critical care specialist and assistant professor in surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. Dr. Griggs is the surgical director of the MGH Pediatric Weight Center as well as Quality and Safety Chair for the Division of Pediatric Surgery, Surgical PICU Director, and the Director of Pediatric ECMO. She is a health services researcher with a focus on the treatment and prevention of severe pediatric obesity and childhood injury prevention. She is also currently finishing a master’s degree in clinical effectiveness at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Griggs is also an author. Her first book, The Sky Was Falling, a national best-seller, was published in March of 2024.

Mentor Spotlight: Dr. Amanda Baright

Amanda Baright, DO, FACOS, FACS graduated from Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine, she completed her general surgery internship and residency at Metro Health Hospital in Grand Rapids, MI. She currently serves as the Chair of Surgery at Campbell University School of Osteopathic Medicine. Including an undergraduate Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine fellowship at KCOM, she has nine years of experience in undergraduate medical education. She enjoys advising future osteopathic medical students on pursuing careers in surgery and anesthesiology, incorporating OMM into practice, and teaching simulation medicine.

MENTOR SPOTLIGHT: Stacey Darwish

Ms. Stacey Darwish (MBChB, FRCS) is a Consultant Spine Surgeon based in the National Spine Injuries Unit (NSIU @nsiuresearchgroup), Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, St. Vincent’s University Hospital, and Mater Private Network in Dublin, Ireland. She was awarded an MBChB from the University of Glasgow and continued her medical training by earning her FRCS in Trauma and Orthopaedics from the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh. She then furthered her training and expertise by embarking on fellowships in both paediatric & adult deformity (Scottish National Deformity Service, Edinburgh) and complex adult spine surgery (National Spine Injuries Unit, Dublin), focusing on evolving technologies including navigation and robotics. As both a nationally and internationally renowned researcher, Ms. Darwish is currently interested in research topics revolving around trauma, frailty, and evolving surgical technology. Most recently she was integral in the commencement of mixed reality navigation in Mater Misericordiae University Hospital.

Mentor Spotlight: Dr. Trista Reid

Mentor Bio: Dr. Trista Reid did her undergraduate training at Johns Hopkins University, followed by Medical School, a Master's in Public Health, and General Surgery Residency training at The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (UNC). She completed her Trauma Critical Care Fellowship at Stanford University and returned to UNC as an attending. She is currently the General Surgery Residency Program Director. Her research interests include Health Disparities in race/ethnicity and gender, Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO), Global Surgery, and Surgical Palliative Care. She has built mentorship programs at UNC and is highly involved in both medical student and resident education.

Mentor Spotlight: Brittney Williams, MD MPH

Mentor Bio: Brittney Williams is from Newark, NJ and attended Howard University for undergraduate education and medical school. She completed her General Surgery residency at UNC Chapel Hill, during which she obtained her MPH in global public health and was an NIH Fogarty Global Health fellow. She is now a Thoracic Surgery fellow at Emory University.

Dr. Julie Samora is a pediatric hand surgeon at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, OH, where she is Associate Chief Quality Officer and director of quality improvement within the department of orthopaedics. She received her orthopaedic training at Ohio State University and completed a fellowship in hand and upper extremity surgery at Harvard.  She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University, a Master of Music at Yale University, and an MD/PhD at West Virginia University, where she concomitantly earned a master of public health and public administration.  Dr. Samora is a founding member of Pride Ortho, has previously served on the Board of Directors of the Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society (past president) and the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America (member-at-large), and is currently on the BOD of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.  She has published more than 150 peer-reviewed manuscripts and is co-editor of the Springer textbook: Quality Improvement and Patient Safety in Orthopaedics.  Dr. Samora has a passion for providing safe, efficient, culturally sensitive, and excellent patient care, focusing on best practices and quality improvement initiatives.

Dr. Laura DiChiacchio is a current cardiothoracic surgery fellow at the University of Utah Hospital. She will graduate in June and then join Cedars-Sinai Medical Center as an advanced fellow in thoracic transplantation and mechanical circulatory support. She completed her general surgery training at the University of Maryland/R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, MD. She is a graduate of the Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, where she completed a PhD in Biophysics, Structural & Computational Biology before falling in love with surgery at the end of her clinical rotations. During her general surgery training, she spent two years as a post-doctoral research fellow in the cardiac xenotransplantation laboratory of Drs. Muhammad Mohiuddin and Bartley Griffith, cementing her relationship with cardiac surgery and thoracic transplantation. She is a happy wife and proud mother to her son Henry.

Dr. Meredith Baker MD, pediatric surgeon and attending physician at Maine Medical Center, grew up in the state of New Hampshire. She recounts following her veterinarian father around in childhood and that for as long as she can remember, she wanted to be a “doctor for human children.” However, it was not until medical school that she realized the type of doctor for children she wanted to be was a pediatric surgeon.

Dr. Christen Russo is an attending orthopaedic surgeon and associate professor at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC). She specifically focuses on pediatric orthopaedics, and outside of the clinic she has established herself as a prominent leader and mentor within the orthopaedics community. Dr. Russo graduated from Georgetown University with a B.A. in English Literature & Literary History, after which she earned her M.D. at SUNY Downstate. She completed a general surgery internship at Brown University followed by orthopaedic surgery residency at SUNY Downstate and pediatric orthopaedics fellowship at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital/CUIMC. In addition to her clinical and university positions, she currently serves as the President of the Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society, an organization that aims to support women and minorities in pursuing careers in orthopaedic surgery. 

Physician Scientists are uniquely positioned to bridge scientific discovery and clinical care. As such, our training involves learning clinical skills, understanding how to design and test hypotheses, as well as mastering the art of writing and presenting our findings. While these are crucial for developing our clinical-care skills and research acumen, there are innumerous other professional opportunities that physician scientists often partake in, including national or institutional leadership, medical/graduate education, outreach and mentorship, policy/advocacy, industrial consulting, and entrepreneurship. As such, training MD-PhD students often requires a personalized approach that empowers them to gain the skills necessary for their unique career interests.

Dr. Jennifer Plichta is a breast surgeon at Duke University Medical Center, in Durham, North Carolina. She graduated from Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, Indiana and completed her residency at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois. She completed her fellowship training in breast surgical oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Plichta is an Associate Professor of Surgery and Population Health Sciences at Duke University, and she serves as the Director of the Breast Risk Assessment Clinic and Co-Director of the Clinical Cancer Genetics Program at the Duke Cancer Institute. In addition, Dr. Plichta takes time to mentor many students throughout different stages of training at Duke University School of Medicine. She also helps to educate her local community about breast cancer and breast health.

Mentor Spotlight: Dr. Minerva Romero Arenas

Dr. Romero is an Endocrine and General Surgeon at NYP Brooklyn Methodist Hospital. She is an Assistant Professor of Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College. Dr. Romero Arenas completed a fellowship in Oncologic Surgical Endocrinology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX. She completed her General Surgery Residency at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore. She earned her Medical Doctorate and Master of Public Health degrees from The University of Arizona College of Medicine and the Zuckerman College of Public Health. She studied Cell Biology and French at Arizona State University as an undergraduate.

An Interview with Dr. Diana Gabriela Maldonado Pintado