Match Day 2019 ushered in a new group of surgery residents, while saying goodbye to others who will soon leave UAB for different programs across the country. With 98 percent of students matching into residency positions, UAB students will continue their medical educations at 89 institutions across 30 states.

In an ongoing series, the Department of Surgery will feature incoming and outgoing trainees for all UAB Surgery programs. This week, learn about the Cardiothoracic Surgery Residency Program and its new and graduating residents.

Hello:

UAB celebrates a successful recruitment for residents this year in its 37 residency programs. A total of 216 new residents, representing 67 U.S. and 26 international universities, will begin this summer in programs at Birmingham, Huntsville, Selma and Montgomery.

This year, the Cardiothoracic Surgery Residency Program welcomes two new residents onto its traditional two-year pathway: Osman Hashmi, M.D., and Sasha Still, M.D. After finishing up their general surgery residencies at the University of South Alabama and Baylor University, respectively, Hashmi and Still will soon make the move to UAB where they will join our cardiothoracic program as PGY-6s.

In addition to these two traditional-pathway residents, the Cardiothoracic Surgery Residency will bring in two existing UAB general surgery residents as PGY-4s via its new integrated 4/3 pathway: Vanessa DiPasquale Miller, M.D., and Brett Melnikoff, M.D.

Instated last year by Benjamin Wei, M.D., after he was named director of the Cardiothoracic Surgery Residency, this new 4/3 pathway allows residents to begin their cardiothoracic surgery training while they are still finishing their general surgery training here at UAB. General surgery and cardiothoracic surgery residents Adam Witcher, M.D., and Evan Garner, M.D., are also currently on the 4/3 pathway and will soon move from PGY-4s to PGY-5s within both programs, allowing them to complete their last year of general surgery training and their second year of cardiothoracic surgery training within the same time period at UAB.

As Wei originally proposed with the creation of this new 4/3 pathway, the Cardiothoracic Surgery Residency now comprises eight residents, increasing its total number of trainees by six since last year.

Incoming Residents:

Goodbye:

After spending two years on the Cardiothoracic Surgery Residency’s traditional pathway, the program’s only outgoing resident this year, Rajat Kumar, M.D., is preparing to leave UAB for private practice.

With his American Board of Thoracic Surgery certification in tow, Kumar will soon head back to North Carolina to work as a thoracic surgeon at Novant Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte, which is only about two hours from where Kumar completed his general surgery training, at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, before coming to UAB.

Outgoing Resident: