Brunson Teaching Day and Resident/Fellow Graduation
Published on Thursday, August 10, 2023
Brunson teaching day highlights our graduating senior residents and their research projects that they worked on throughout their residencies. Each one crafted a presentation and delivered it during grand rounds in front of the residents and staff gathered in the UMMC School of Medicine. The following were this year’s projects:
• Beunca Graffree, M.D.—“Trauma Protocol for Anesthesia”
Mentor: Jeremy Rainey, D.O.
• Justin Cook, D.O.—“Electrical Anesthesia”
Mentor: Douglas Bacon, M.D.
• Marty Waddell, M.D.—“Contamination—Is It Real?”
Mentor: Stephen Stray, Ph.D.
• Steven Smith, M.D.—“Retrospective Review of Awake versus Traditional Craniotomy”
Mentor: Lakshmi Kurnutala, M.D.
• Hammad Baig, M.D.—“Pain Scores and Opioid Use for Reverse Surgeries with and without Interscalene Blocks”
Mentor: Oscar Alam-Mendez, M.D. and Michelle Tucci, Ph.D.
• Justin Mahaney, M.D.—“History of Regional Anesthesia”
Mentor: Tim Ziethen, M.D.
• Casey Orzechowicz, M.D.—“Perioperative Anesthetic Management of Patients with Aortic Stenosis and Pulmonary Hypertension”
Mentor: Bryan Hierlmeier, M.D.
• Wesley Dillard, M.D.—“Perioperative Anesthetic Management of Patients with Heart Failure”
Mentor: Bryan Heirlmeier, M.D.
• Devin Reed, M.D.—“Navigating Uncharted Waters: Retrospective Analysis of Oxytocin Shortage Effects on Cesarean Section Quantitative Blood Loss”
Mentor: Chawla Latoya Mason-Bolden, M.D., and Tim Ziethen, M.D.
• Tyler Shack, M.D.—“ERAS Protocol for Breast Reduction Surgery in Adolescents”
Mentor: Veronica Carullo, M.D., and Sarah Adams, M.D.
The anesthesiology attendings present at Brunson Teaching Day served as judges. Dr. Hammad Baig was awarded first place, Dr. Marty Waddell second place, and Dr. Steven Smith third place for their presentations respectively.
The graduation ceremonies for the residents and the fellows took place at the Two Museums downtown on Saturday, June 3rd. Dr. Claude Brunson, previous chair of the department, delivered the graduation address. Drs. Casey Orzechowicz and Wesley Dillard were recognized for their service to the department as Chief Residents for this past year. Awards were given to the resident in each class with the highest In-Training Exam (ITE) score—Dr. Mahmoodreza (PGY-1); Dr. John Campiche (CA-1); Dr. Shawn Deas (CA-2), and Dr. Tyler Shack (CA-3). Dr. Kayla Robinson was awarded the resident citizenship award, Dr. Justin Cook was given the colleague of the year award, and Dr. Wesley Dillard was presented with the resident of the year award.
The Fabian Award is given to a medical student who does well on their anesthesia rotation and has gone above and beyond to help promote understanding and anesthesia learning opportunities for the medical students. This year’s recipient was Renira Rugnath (MS-4 and currently now one of our PGY-1s).
Along with the senior residents mentioned above, the pain fellows, Drs. Oluwasegun Lijofi, Renee Marchegiani, Jared McCallum, Clayton Newell, Elliott Pennington; and the cardiothoracic anesthesia fellow, Dr. Annilin Severns, were all recognized. The Chair’s faculty awards went to Dr. Claudio Cesar Nascimento who received the Patricia Norman Professionalism Award and Dr. Tim Ziethen who received the John I. Lauria Resident Advocacy Award. Additionally Drs. Christiano Dos Santos and Tim Ziethen were awarded Teachers of the Year for the Residency. Drs. John Adams, Claudio Cesar Nascimento, Bryan Hierlmeier, Lakshmi Kurnutala, Adriana Martini, Gloria Rodriquez, Sara Robertson, and Christiano Dos Santos were the faculty who had the highest resident evaluation scores and were named to the Faculty Honor Roll.
Dr. Clayton Newell was applauded for his hard work as the pain fellowship chief resident, and Dr. Jared McCallum was awarded the ITE Excellence Certificate for obtaining the highest exam score in his class. Drs. Anand Prem and Walker Sturdivant was given the Pain fellowship Teachers of the Year by the fellows.
Congratulations to all our graduating residents and fellows!