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Please be advised that the PEC will be closed today, January 7. We apologize for any inconvenience.

General Surgery

Program Overview

  • ACGME-accredited 5-year program
  • 20 categorical positions – 4 open positions each year
  • No preliminary positions
  • 257 beds with 16 ICU/CCU beds
  • 6 operating rooms
  • 1 dedicated endoscopy suite

Our Team

Sheldon Genack, MD, FACS

Chairperson, Department of Surgery, Chief of ENT Surgery

Dmitriy Kim, DO, FACS

General Surgery Residency Program Director
Chief of General Surgery

Michael Pearsall

Program Coordinator
Email: mpearsal@ehs.org
Tel: 718-869-7000

Rotations

Surgery 1 Rotations

St. John’s Episcopal Hospital – 11 months

  • General Surgery
  • Breast Surgery
  • Colorectal Surgery
  • Vascular Surgery
  • Thoracic Surgery
  • ICU

Surgery 2 Rotations

  • St. John’s Episcopal Hospital – 10 months
  • Mount Sinai Brooklyn – 1 month
    • General Surgery
    • Vascular Surgery
    • Robotic Assisted Surgery
    • Bariatric Surgery

Surgery 3 Rotations

  • St. John’s Episcopal Hospital – 5 months – Endoscopic Surgery
  • Mount Sinai Brooklyn – 2 months
  • Nassau University Medical Center – 2 months
    • Trauma
    • SICU
    • Burn
    • Plastics
  • New York Presbyterian-Columbia Campus – 1 month
    • Transplant
    • Hepatobiliary
  • New York Presbyterian-Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital – 1 month – Pediatric Surgery

Clinics/Office

  • St. John’s Medical Group Specialty Practice, 19-09 Plainview Avenue, 2nd Floor, Far Rockaway, NY 11691
    • General Surgery
    • Vascular Surgery
  • St. John’s Medical Group, 105-38 Rockaway Beach Blvd, 2nd Floor, Rockaway Park, NY 11694
    • General Surgery
    • Colorectal Surgery
    • Breast Surgery

Scheduled Education Sessions

  • Daily morning rounds
  • Daily resident presentations – SCORE-based curriculum
  • Weekly Thursday morning education conference
    • 4 hours protected time
    • Chief rounds
    • Morbidity & Mortality Conference
    • Grand rounds
    • Tumor board
    • Skills lab
    • Journal Club Conference

Educational Resources

  • Medical Library
  • Surgical Access Digital Resource
  • Truelearn
    • ABSITE Prep
    • PGY5s – Board Exam Prep
  • SCORE
  • JOMI
  • Newly opened Clinical Learning Center & Simulation Lab

Certifications

  • Program-funded
  • Basic Life Support/Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (BLS/ACLS) – certified during orientation and recertified every 2 years
  • Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) – certified during internship; required for PGY2 advancement; recertified in PGY5
  • Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) – certified during PGY2; required for PGY3 rotation
  • Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS) – certified during PGY3
  • Fundamentals of Endoscopic Surgery (FES) – certified during PGY4

Post-Graduate Fellowships

  • University of Texas Medical Branch – Surgical Critical Care & Burn
  • Maimonides Medical Center – Advanced GI & Minimally Invasive Surgery
  • Detroit Medical Center – Vascular Surgery
  • Deborah Heart and Lung Center – Vascular Surgery
  • University of Southern California – Transplant Surgery
  • John Hopkins – Critical Care/Burn & Reconstructive Surgery
  • Michigan State University – Vascular Surgery
  • Cleveland Clinic at Akron General Hospital – Breast Surgical Oncology
  • Preston Memorial Hospital – Minimally Invasive Surgery & Bariatrics
  • Grant Medical Center – Breast Surgical Oncology

Our Residents

PGY-5 Residents

Craig Biegel, DO

Hometown: Lynbrook, New York
Medical School: New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine
Interests: MIS, General Surgery

Isaac Buff, DO

Hometown: Long Beach, New York
Medical School: New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine
Interests: Trauma/Surgical Critical Care

Michael Chin, DO, MPH, MS

Hometown: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Medical School: Philadelphia College of Medicine
Interests: Cosmetics/Plastic Surgery

Umair Haider, MD, MS

Hometown: Beaumont, Texas
Medical School: St. George’s University School of Medicine
Interests: Colorectal and General Surgery

Judy Wong, MD, MS, MPH

Hometown: Brooklyn, New York
Medical School: St. George’s University School of Medicine
Interests: MIS/General Surgery

PGY-4 Residents

Lauren Bishop, MD

Hometown: Greenville, South Carolina
Medical School: Ross University School of Medicine
Interests: General Surgery

Masaru Fujimoto, MD

Hometown: Boise, Idaho
Medical School: Ross University School of Medicine
Interests: Trauma/Surgical Critical Care

Andrew Lehman, DO

Hometown: Vacaville, California
Medical School:
Interests: Vascular Surgery

Michael Zornes, DO

Hometown: Orange Park, Florida
Medical School: William Carey College of Osteopathic Medicine
Interests: Cosmetic Surgery

PGY-3 Residents

Christopher Abdo, MD

Hometown: Paradise Valley, Arizona
Medical School: University of Arizona – Phoenix
Interests: General Surgery

Nathan Kang, DO

Hometown: Princeton, New Jersey
Medical School: Touro Harlem
Interests: Vascular Surgery

Gagandeep Samra, MD

Hometown: Portland, Oregon
Medical School: St. George’s University School of Medicine
Interests: MIS/General Surgery

Maria Sava, DO

Hometown: Mereni, Moldova; Brooklyn, New York
Medical School: Western University of Health Sciences
Interests: Breast Surgery, Surgical Oncology

PGY-2 Residents

Valerie Fiore, DO

Hometown: Flushing, New York
Medical School: LECOME Bradenton
Interests: Vascular Surgery

Zachary Onkeo, MD

Hometown: Dallas, Texas
Medical School: St. George’s University School of Medicine
Interests: MIS/General Surgery

Patricia Palanca, DO

Hometown: Jersey City, New Jersey
Medical School: Kansas City University
Interests: MIS/General Surgery

Adelso Tejada Jackson, MD

Hometown: Santiago, Dominican Republic
Medical School: Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra
Interests: Colorectal Surgery, Colorectal cancer outcomes and research

PGY-1 Residents

Brent Hochstein, DO

Hometown: Townsend, Delaware
Medical School: Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine
Interests: Trauma/Surgical Critical Care

Clara Straus, DO

Hometown: Queens, New York
Medical School: Touro College of Medicine
Interests: Breast Surgery

Saeed Vazirian, MD

Hometown: Ahvaz, Iran
Medical School: St. George’s University School of Medicine
Interests: Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery

Scott Walter, MD

Hometown: Herndon, Virginia
Medical School: Ross University School of Medicine
Interests: General Surgery