Program: General Surgery Residency Program, Vancouver
What attracted you to your field?
General Surgery is a high-intensity field that offers physiological and pathological breadth, and where technical skills are closely balanced with medical knowledge and judgment. It is very rewarding to directly impact patient care in different settings, whether it is acute care in the trauma bay or in an elective setting with a scheduled surgery.
I love the multidisciplinary nature of our field and our exposure to several sub-specialties. The very nature of modern surgical practice requires that surgeons remain in a perpetual state of learning, continually adapting to evolving evidence and new techniques. The variety that general surgery offers keeps me excited to come to work every day and work with my team.
What is your favourite moment from your time at UBC?
I really enjoyed traveling around British Columbia during my community rotations as well as exploring different exercise studios, restaurants and coffee shops with my co-residents and supervisors. One of my favorite memories is the week I spent with my co-chief residents in Tofino for our general surgery Royal College exam review course.
What is one piece of advice you have for students entering your program?
Trust your struggle during residency. Surgical residency can be very challenging at times, but with the struggle comes reward. It is a privilege to learn how to operate on and take care of patients to make a difference in their lives.
Tell us briefly about your research in layperson’s terms, and the impact you hope it will have?
I am interested in clinical research and have completed several projects including evaluating surgical margins in pancreas tail cancer, oncological safety of nipple-sparing mastectomies in the surgical treatment of breast cancer and improving the management of complex colorectal polyps.
Beyond these clinical outcome studies, my research interests extend more broadly to health systems. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I studied how one breast center in Vancouver adapted to the ongoing healthcare changes by performing more cases under regional anesthesia — numbing only the area of the body that requires surgery. This improved the operating room efficiency, which augmented its capacity in dealing with clinical demand, and the center has continued this practice beyond the pandemic. I hope to continue being involved in research that directly impacts patient care.
What’s next for you?
I am pursuing a Hepatopancreaticobiliary and Abdominal Transplant fellowship at the University of Toronto following my general surgery residency to further specialize in complex surgeries performed to treat cancer and diseases of the gastrointestinal system. I hope to return to British Columbia to practice upon completion of my fellowship.