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Current Residents

PGY-5 Residents

Bejan Alvandi

MD: Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California

Hometown: Sacramento, CA
Undergrad: UC Davis
Medical/Research Interests: I am interested in working directly with underserved communities to deliver equitable and culturally-conscious healthcare. Within orthopaedic surgery, I am interested in spine, sports, and shoulder/elbow.
Why did you choose Northwestern: Northwestern Ortho's commitment to fostering a balanced, resident-centric training program is unparalleled. The camaraderie between residents and faculty across all years is second to none. Furthermore, rotating at both NMH and Cook County provides diversity in terms of treatment of musculoskeletal pathologies and patient populations.
Advice to prospective residents: Fit is everything. Choose a program that aligns with your personality and career aspirations.
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Colin Cantrell

MD: University of Alabama School of Medicine

Hometown: Madison, AL
Undergrad: Auburn University
Medical/Research Interests: Trauma and Adult Reconstruction
Why did you choose Northwestern: When looking into programs, I felt Northwestern provided a complete well rounded experience that is not uniform across the country. Northwestern provides a superior exposure to all aspects of orthopaedic care allowing every resident to gain a complete experience and choose the best future career path.
Advice to prospective residents: Gather information from as many sources as possible and try to construct your own individualized opinion because the needs and desires of different applicants, residents, and programs differ. In short, find the environment that suits you individually.
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David Christian

MD: Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California

Hometown: Oconomowoc, Wisconsin
Undergrad: Georgetown University
Medical/Research Interests: Specifically within orthopaedic surgery, my research and clinical interests include in arthroplasty, sports medicine, cartilage restoration, and trauma. Additionally, I’m interested in medical technology and innovation, medical education, and healthcare economics.
Why did you choose Northwestern: I chose Northwestern for many reasons including the program culture, diversity of clinical experiences, and location. I wanted a program with a collaborative, collegial environment in which senior residents actively mentor and teach junior residents and I immediately experienced that at Northwestern during my rotation as a student. I also sought a program that provided diverse clinical experiences through rotations in a variety of hospital settings and Northwestern provides that through rotations at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Lurie Children’s Hospital, and Stroger Cook County Hospital. Finally, having grown up in Wisconsin, I was excited about the opportunity to move back to the Midwest and live in Chicago during residency.
Advice to prospective residents: The advice I would give applicants for residency is to make a list of their priorities for residency and rank them in order of importance. Many factors such as operative experience, program location, service or apprenticeship model rotations, research opportunities, and clinical settings influence applicants’ residency choices. I believe it is important for applicants to find the program that is their best fit, and it’s valuable to decide based on programs that fulfill their personal preferences.
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Erik Gerlach

MD: University of Florida College of Medicine

Hometown: Goodyear, AZ
Undergrad: University of Arizona
Medical/Research Interests: I'm interested in patient reported outcomes, healthcare economics, quality improvement, and technology in orthopaedics.
Why did you choose Northwestern: I chose to train at NW because of the outstanding resident and attending camaraderie. The cohesiveness and sense of family amongst residents and faculty creates a program culture unlike any other. Department leadership provides excellent mentorship for career development with faculty going above and beyond to support resident's personal and professional interests. NW has unparalleled training and operative experience leading to a well-rounded surgical education within all subspecialties.
Advice to prospective residents: Choose a residency program that will fit with your professional and personal life goals, your personality, as well as your values and interests. Make sure to consider location, mentorship, research opportunities, operative experience and most importantly do you get a sense of belonging. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the program with current residents in varying PGY levels.
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Kelly Wun

MD: Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Hometown: Lakewood, CO
Undergrad: University of Colorado at Boulder
Medical/Research Interests: Current interests in spine. Currently, I have basic science-oriented interests in microbiome effect on healing and inflammation. Also interested in machine learning for text analysis and image analysis.
Why did you choose Northwestern: Home program. The program is hard-working, and the people are supportive. The faculty are well-connected and are dedicated to resident education and training. Chicago is a great city to train in.
Advice to prospective residents: Choose a place where you think you will fit in and thrive. Consider things like city, cost of living, proximity to friends and family, and need for transportation.
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PGY-4 Residents

Carly Williams

MD: Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine

Hometown: Mandeville, LA
Undergrad: Johns Hopkins University
Medical/Research Interests: My research interests are in global surgery, clinical outcomes, biomedical engineering, and medical device design.
Why did you choose Northwestern: chose Northwestern because it checked all of my standard boxes (mid-size program, healthy culture, academic program, surgical experience, good relationships between residents and with the faculty) and beyond (in Chicago, supported women in ortho, strength across all subspecialties, opportunities in global surgery). Ultimately, I felt like Northwestern was the right fit for me and where I would be successful in training to be the best orthopedic surgeon I can be.
Advice to prospective residents: Go with your gut – you will know when you feel like you fit in at a place. You shouldn’t choose your residency based on one person, but even one conversation can tell you a lot about a program. Also, find what you are passionate about and then find a program that will support and encourage that.
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Jeremy Marx

MD: Georgetown University School of Medicine

Hometown: Dallas, TX
Undergrad: Troy University
Medical/Research Interests: I would like to analyze patient outcomes for single and multi-level Spine Surgeries and research amputation techniques that decrease limb and prosthetic pain thereby leading to increased function and mobility for Veterans.
Why did you choose Northwestern: Northwestern Orthopedics gives the opportunity to obtain experience at Cook County and work at the main hospital. This diversity along with elective and trauma surgical experience makes Northwestern a very balanced program. As a former Special Operations military member, I was drawn to the emphasis that Northwestern places on developing leaders within the field.
Advice to prospective residents: Consider the personalities and mentality of the faculty and residents that you would like to spend the next 5 years with, and whether the organization will provide an environment where you can both learn and excel. Consider the didactics, surgical skills, and research opportunities that each program offers.
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John Carney

MD: Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California

Hometown: Laguna Niguel, CA
Undergrad: University of California Los Angeles
Medical/Research Interests: Orthopaedic trauma, radiation exposure in healthcare, medical education
Why did you choose Northwestern: Northwestern offers a diverse set of clinical experiences that prepares its residents for any future practice setting. The faculty are experts in their respective fields and passionate about resident education. The camaraderie among residents is second to none.
Advice to prospective residents: Look for a program with a positive culture where the residents push each other to be better every single day.
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Joseph Tanenbaum

MD: Case Western Reserve University

Hometown: Albany, NY
Undergrad: Dartmouth College
Medical/Research Interests: I'm interested in the intersection between orthopedics and health policy
Why did you choose Northwestern: had three criteria when evaluating programs during interview season: 1) Ample training opportunities, with the chance to run a high volume trauma service during residency, 2) family-like atmosphere among the residents with faculty that took a genuine interest in the well-being and success of trainees, 3) research resources (and their availability to orthopedics residents) of the larger university beyond just what the department could offer. Northwestern excels in all three areas, so the decision to rank Northwestern highly was easy for me. Also, and this point cannot be overstated, Chicago is an incredible place to live and work.
Advice to prospective residents: We are all very lucky that outstanding clinical training is widely available across many orthopedics programs. With that in mind, when deciding between programs, my advice would be to look for "your people." You don't have to rotate somewhere to get a sense of the culture fit (though it definitely helps!) with faculty and co-residents. I didn't rotate at Northwestern, but within ten minutes of the pre-interview social event, I felt that I would fit in with the culture here. I'd also advise you to reach out to faculty at the programs you are considering with specific questions about your interests and your passions and incorporate their response into your decision making. To that end, I felt that the faculty at Northwestern were (and are) committed to helping me get where I want to go in my life and career, not just where they think I should go, which is rare among mentors.
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Michael Kavanagh

MD: Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

Hometown: Lake Forest, IL
Undergrad: University of Notre Dame
Medical/Research Interests: Trauma, clinical outcomes, opioid use
Why did you choose Northwestern: While rotating as a medical student, I was extremely impressed by the people throughout the program. In addition, the sense of community, exceptional training opportunities, dedication to education and service, and location in Chicago all drew me to Northwestern.
Advice to prospective residents: Seek out a program with a strong culture and values well-aligned with your own.
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Stephen Devlin

MD: University of Maryland School of Medicine

Hometown: Severna Park, MD
Undergrad: University of Maryland at College Park
Medical/Research Interests: Orthopedic Surgery The use of simulation in training orrthopedic surgeons
Why did you choose Northwestern: While doing an away rotation at Northwestern, I got an inside look at resident culture, attending-fellow-resident interactions, and resident education. The resident culture creates a sense of real friendship and family. The attendings are brilliant educators and enjoyable to work with. The didactic curriculum is extensive and effective. All of these reasons led me to choose Northwestern for my residency training. Getting to live in Chicago certainly helps too.
Advice to prospective residents: Work hard. Ask questions. Be honest to yourself about what you value in a training program.
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PGY-3 Residents

Emily DeMaio

MD: Emory University School of Medicine

Herbert Stride

MD: Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University of Chicago

Jason Tegethoff

MD: University of Missouri School of Medicine

Jennings Dooley

MD: University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine

Mark Plantz

MD: Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Michael Peabody

MD: Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

PGY-2 Residents

Andrew Furman

MD: Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Ashwin Madhan

MD: Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Clayton Welsh

MD: University of Central Florida College of Medicine

Elianna Fred

MD: Chicago Medical School, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine & Science

Rachel Bergman

MD: University of Michigan Medical School

Tyler Compton

MD: Medical College of Wisconsin

PGY-1 Residents

Breanna Polascik

MD: Duke University

Henry Hilow

MD: University of Michigan

Joshua Peterson

MD: Northwestern University

Patrick England

MD: Washington University

Samuel Johnson

MD: Vanderbilt University

Stiles Donaldson

MD: Georgetown University

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