Past Clinical Scholars

Elliot Asare, MD

Dr. Asare was the first American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) Clinical Scholar-in-Residence at the ACS. He began his fellowship in July 2013 after completing three years of general surgery residency at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Dr. Asare’s work focused on a number of projects with the AJCC, including improving the prognostic ability of TNM stage by incorporating significant non-anatomic factors and working with AJCC staff and technical writers to improve and transform the next AJCC staging manual. He was also closely engaged with disease site expert panels, evidence-based medicine core and precision medicine core that were assembled for the 8th edition of the Cancer Staging Manual.

Dr. Asare completed his undergraduate education at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, VA, and his medical education at Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, DC. His career plans and interests are in surgical oncology, development of cancer survival prognostic tools, and establishing cancer registries in low-income countries.

Elizabeth Berger, MD, MS

Dr. Berger was an ACS Clinical Scholar-in-Residence from 2014 to 2016. Her focus at the ACS was in breast cancer research and outcomes. She is also a general surgery resident at Loyola University Chicago. While at the College, we worked with the National Cancer Database (NCDB) to evaluate recent trends of nodal dissection in early staged breast cancer after breast conservation and systemic therapy. Additionally, she assisted with the adoption and success of quality measures for improving care in breast cancer and worked closely with the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC) to evaluate outcomes of accredited centers. She is also collaborating on a longer-term project that is evaluating the effectiveness of routine surveillance versus symptom-based imaging on the detection of recurrence in breast cancer. Along with her other projects, she also worked with Dr. Bilimoria on the Illinois State Quality Improvement Collaborative with a focus on the educational component within each hospital and how to most effectively implement quality and process improvement education. While at the ACS, she completed a master’s degree in health services and outcomes research at Northwestern University.

Kristen Ban, MD, MS

Dr. Ban was an ACS Clinical Scholar-in-Residence from 2015 to 2017. Her interests broadly include health services and quality improvement research. Her health services research work included an evaluation of the ProPublica Surgeon Scorecard (individual surgeon public reporting) outcome measure compared to validated outcomes in ACS NSQIP. She was involved in the Illinois Surgical Quality Improvement Collaborative (ISQIC), where she helped develop a video coaching collaborative for colorectal surgeons. In addition, she performed a systematic review to update the ACS Surgical Site Infection Guidelines. In her second year of fellowship, she helped write a proposal for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to develop and implement enhanced recovery protocols across five procedures with a goal of impacting patient care on more than 1,000 service lines nationally. This proposal was funded, and she helped develop the enhanced recovery protocol and data collection platform for the colorectal cohort. She has done additional outcomes research in the area of enhanced recovery using data from the Enhanced Recovery in NSQIP (ERIN) Pilot. In addition to her research, she was involved in development of quality reporting measures for CMS and advised on an update to the ACS Surgeon Specific Registry.

Dr. Ban completed a bachelor of science at Duke University and obtained her medical degree from Loyola University Chicago after completing two years of translational research at the Curie Institute in Paris, France. She is currently a general surgery resident at Loyola University Chicago. During her research time, she completed a master’s degree in clinical research methods and epidemiology at Loyola University Chicago.

Julia Berian, MD

Dr. Berian completed a three-year ACS Clinical Scholar-in-Residence fellowship. She is currently a surgical resident at the University of Chicago Medical Center, IL. Dr. Berian received her medical degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. Her interests are in colorectal diseases and surgical care of the elderly patient.

Dr. Berian's primary focus during her research fellowship was the Coalition for Quality in Geriatric Surgery, building a comprehensive quality program for the surgical care of older adults. In addition, Dr. Berian helped to lead the Enhanced Recovery in NSQIP (ERIN) Pilot Project. She also worked closely with the Oncology NSQIP NCI Center Consortium as well as the Illinois Surgical Quality Improvement Collaborative. Dr. Berian has presented her work at national meetings and has published in high quality surgical journals.

During her research time, Dr Berian completed a master’s degree in health sciences and outcomes research through Northwestern University.

Karl Bilimoria, MD, FACS

Dr. Bilimoria was the first ACS Clinical Scholar-in-Residence. During his two years at the College, Dr. Bilimoria performed numerous studies focused on examining and improving the delivery of care for surgical oncology patients. He used the National Cancer Database (NCDB) for many of these notable studies. In addition, Dr. Bilimoria worked extensively on the ACS NSQIP to assess hospital surgical quality and developed multiple additional initiatives for ACS NSQIP. Dr. Bilimoria continues to be heavily involved with the ACS, ACS NSQIP, and the Clinical Scholars-in-Residence program.

Dr. Bilimoria earned his undergraduate degree from Northwestern University, Evanston, IL. He subsequently undertook a research fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD; attended medical school at Indiana University, Indianapolis; and completed his general surgery residency at Northwestern University, Chicago, IL. He was a surgical oncology fellow at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX. His long-term clinical interests are in melanoma and sarcoma, while his research will continue to focus on surgical quality improvement and health services research. (Presentations and Publications)

Brian Brajcich, MD, MS

Dr. Brajcich was an ACS Clinical Scholar-in-Residence from 2019 to 2021. He is a general surgery resident at Northwestern University. He received his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, OH, and his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA.

Dr. Brajcich’s interest is in surgical outcomes and quality improvement research in the fields of colorectal and oncologic surgery. He worked on the first ACS NSQIP-based randomized trial, which is studying antibiotic prophylaxis for pancreaticoduodenectomy. He is a research fellow at Northwestern University’s Surgical Outcomes and Quality Center where he obtained a master’s degree in Health Services and Outcomes Research. After he completes his training, he plans to pursue a career in academic surgery and surgical outcomes research.

Warren Chow, MD, MS

Dr. Chow was the James C. Thompson Geriatrics Surgical Fellow at the ACS. He started his tenure in the Clinical Scholars in Residence program in July 2010. For his research, he evaluated the performance of ACS NSQIP hospitals in surgical care for geriatric patients using risk-adjusted outcomes. He developed quality improvement strategies for geriatric surgery, including best practice guidelines. Dr. Chow also explored advanced statistical methods for modeling outcomes in ACS NSQIP.

Dr. Chow received his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA. He completed his graduate engineering studies at the University of California, Berkeley. His career interests are in vascular surgery.

Ryan Ellis, MD, MS

Dr. Ellis is a first-year ACS Clinical Scholar in Residence and a general surgery resident at Northwestern University, Chicago, IL. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, and his medical degree from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. As an ACS Clinical Scholar he will focus on surgical outcomes and quality in complex surgical oncology, specifically in management of pancreatic malignancies. Dr. Ellis is also working on identifying what factors patients prioritize when choosing hospitals and health care providers. He plans to pursue fellowship training in surgical oncology after residency, with the ultimate goal of establishing a practice at an academic medical center. In addition to his research, Dr. Ellis is also a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University’s Institute of Public Health and Medicine, where he will earn a master’s degree in health services and outcomes research.

Chelsea Fischer, MD, MS

Dr. Fischer was an ACS Clinical Scholar-in-Residence from 2019 to 2021. She is a general surgery resident at Loyola University Medical Center. Dr. Fischer received her medical degree from Drexel University College of Medicine and her bachelor’s degree in biology and studio art from Bucknell University. She also completed a master’s degree in Health Services and Outcomes Research at Northwestern University.

Dr. Fischer’s research interests include surgical outcome and quality improvement. Her work on the AHRQ Improving Surgical Care and Recovery (ISCR) program uses a collaborative to develop and implement evidence-based pathways to standardize perioperative care and improve patient outcomes. She also worked to help develop the ACS Quality Verification (QV) Program, a quality program to assist hospitals improve the process of providing and evaluating high quality surgical care. She plans to pursue a career in academic surgery and hopes to incorporate clinical outcomes and quality improvement research into her future practice.

Melissa Hornor, MD, MS

Dr. Hornor was the ACS John A. Hartford Foundation James C. Thompson Clinical Scholar-in-Residence from 2016 to 2018. Dr. Hornor received her medical degree from The Ohio State University and her bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from Ohio University, Athens. Her research focused upon the improvement of the quality of surgical care within the geriatric surgery population specifically through the ACS quality program the Coalition for Quality in Geriatric Surgery (CQGS). She also investigated outcomes after trauma and emergency surgery within the older patient population.

During her research time, she completed a master’s degree in health sciences and outcomes research at Northwestern University, Chicago, IL. She is a general surgery resident at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus. Her surgical interests lie in trauma, acute care surgery, and surgical critical care. Her professional goal is to pursue a career in academic surgery and to combine quality improvement and clinical research with her clinical practice.

Lina Hu, MD, MS

Dr. Hu was an ACS Clinical Scholar-in-Residence from 2017 to 2019. She is a general surgery resident at the University of California, Los Angeles. She received her medical degree from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, and her bachelor's degree in bioengineering from Rice University, Houston, TX. During her research time, she also completed a master’s degree in health services and outcomes research at Northwestern University.

During her two years at the College, she contributed to the launch and ongoing work of the Improving Surgical Care and Recovery (ISCR) program, an AHRQ-funded national collaboration to implement and spread the use of enhanced recovery pathways across multiple surgical specialties. In addition, she helped in developing the ground work for the Optimal Resources for Surgical Quality and Safety program. She is interested in pursuing a career in academic surgery and hopes to combine her interest in quality improvement and health services research with her clinical practice.

Haejin In, MD, MBA, MPH

Dr. In joined the ACS as a Clinical Scholar in Resident in November 2012. Her research interests focused on health outcomes research including cost effectiveness, patterns of resource utilization, identification and implementation of best practices, and issues of incentive alignment in medicine with a particular focus in cancer care. Her prior research includes a National Cancer Institute funded postdoctoral fellowship with the Program in Cancer Outcomes Research Training (PCORT) at the Massachusetts General Hospital at which time she worked with the Center for Surgery and Public Health at Brigham and Women’s Hospital Center and the Center for Outcomes and Policy Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. During her time at the ACS, Haejin explored methods to improve the ACS National Cancer Database (NCDB) and patterns of care in cancer recurrence.

Dr. In was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, and earned her medical degree from Dongguk University, South Korea. She completed her general surgery residency training at Boston University Medical Center. She also holds a masters in business administration from Boston University and a masters in public health from Harvard University.

Angie Ingraham, MD

Dr. Ingraham was an ACS Clinical Scholar-in-Residence from July 2008 to June 2010. Her research focused on patient- and hospital-level outcomes following emergency general surgery procedures using data from ACS NSQIP. She also worked with leaders in surgery to study outcomes following traumatic injuries using the National Trauma Data Bank. Finally, Dr. Ingraham supported various ACS programs and collaborated with numerous ACS staff members; specifically, she assisted with the development of the Trauma Quality Improvement Program, served on the Definitions Committee of the ACS NSQIP, and coordinated the development and publication of the ACS NSQIP Best Practice Guidelines and Case Studies.

Dr. Ingraham studied biology at Truman State University, Kirksville, MO, and completed medical school at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, IL. She was a general surgery resident at the University of Cincinnati, OH, and an acute care surgery fellow at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, PA. Dr. Ingraham is currently an assistant professor in the division of trauma, acute care surgery, and burn and surgical care at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison. (Presentations and Publications)

Mila Ju, MD

Dr. Ju joined the ACS Clinical Scholars-in-Residence Program in July 2012 after finishing three years of integrated vascular surgery training at Northwestern University. Her work as a Clinical Scholar involved several surgical quality improvement projects, such as ACS Comprehensive Unit-Based Safety Program (CUSP) pilot, ACS Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Surgical Care Survey (S-CAHPS) project, and National Quality Forum and Physician Quality Reporting System initiatives development.

Dr. Ju received her MD from the University of Kansas and her bachelors in biomedical engineering from Washington University in St. Louis, MO. She is the first resident to enter the 0-5 Integrated Vascular Surgery residency program at Northwestern in 2009, and will finish her training in 2016.

Jason Liu, MD, MS

Dr. Liu was an ACS Clinical Scholar-in-Residence from 2015 to 2018. He is a general surgery resident at the University of Chicago Medicine. He received his medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University. In collaboration with the Americas Hepato‐Pancreato‐Biliary Association (AHPBA), he has designed the first randomized registry trial in surgery for surgical care.

During his time as a scholar his research focused on performance measurement methodology and PROs. He plans on pursuing a career in surgical oncology. With the efforts of Larissa Temple, MD, FACS, and Andrea Pusic, MD, FACS, he lead the development of the new patient‐reported outcomes (PROs) portal for ACS NSQIP and the other ACS registries. He was also involved with incorporating PROs into episode-based alternative payment models led by Frank Opelka, MD, FACS, in the ACS Division of Advocacy and Health Policy.

Meixi Ma, MD, MS

Dr. Ma was an ACS/John A. Hartford Foundation James C. Thompson Geriatric Surgery Research Fellow from 2018 to 2021. She is a general surgery resident at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). She studied biology and photography at the University of Pennsylvania, after which she spent two years working for a NYC art dealer before returning to UAB for her medical degree.

Since becoming an ACS Clinical Scholar, she obtained a master’s degree in health services and outcomes research from Northwestern University (NU). Her work through the Geriatric Surgery Verification (GSV) Program focused on improving care and outcomes for older adults and development of ACS’s first program-based curriculum for implementation and clinical practice. Additionally, as a research fellow at the Surgical Outcomes and Quality Improvement Center, she studied surgical education and trainee wellbeing through the SECOND Trial. She plans to pursue a career as an academic colorectal surgeon.

Jessica Liu, MD, MS

Dr. Liu was an ACS Clinical Scholar in Residence from 2017 to 2019. She is a general surgery resident at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. She received her medical degree from Emory University and her bachelor’s degree in biology from University of Florida, Gainesville. During her research time, she also received a master’s degree in health sciences and outcomes research through Northwestern University. She plans to pursue fellowship training in endocrine surgery after residency. Her interests broadly include quality improvement research and resident education on quality improvement.

During her time at the ACS, she worked on national implementation of enhanced recovery pathways following surgery in multiple surgical specialties through the Improving Surgical Care and Recovery (ISCR) program, an AHRQ-funded initiative. She also performed multiple research projects in endocrine surgery and other health service outcomes research projects and worked with the Surgical Outcomes and Quality Improvement Center (SOQIC) at Northwestern. Her long-term career goals include pursuing a career in academic surgery and incorporating health services and outcomes research and quality improvement into her clinical practice.

Ryan Merkow, MD, MS

Dr. Merkow was an ACS Clinical Scholar-in-Residence from 2010 to 2013 after completing three years of general surgery residency at the University of Colorado Denver. As a Clinical Scholar, he worked on several surgical quality improvement initiatives, including developing the ACS NSQIP Procedure Targeted program, the ACS Risk Calculator project, and National Quality Forum initiatives, and worked with the Food and Drug Administration to evaluate and improve bariatric surgical quality in the U.S.

Dr. Merkow completed his undergraduate education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and medical education at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine. He was a general surgery resident at the University of Chicago (2010–2015) and currently is a fellow at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, NY. His career plans and interests are in surgical oncology, surgical outcomes, and health services research. (Presentations and Publications)

Sanjay Mohanty, MD, MS

Dr. Mohanty began his tenure as the ACS/American Geriatrics Society (AGS) James C. Thompson Geriatrics Surgical Fellow in 2013 after completing two years of general surgery residency at Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, MI. During his time at the ACS he worked on several geriatrics-related projects, including developing a set of best practice guidelines for the perioperative care of geriatric patients, determining the risk factors for postdischarge institutionalization following surgery, and understanding the location preferences of patients receiving complex surgical care. He also participated as a member of an AGS-sponsored panel developing Clinical Practice Guidelines on Postoperative Delirium.

Dr. Mohanty completed his undergraduate education at the University of Michigan and medical education at Indiana University. His career interests are in geriatric surgical outcomes, quality improvement, and oncology.

Jennifer Paruch, MD

Dr. Paruch began her Surgical Oncology Scholar-in-Residence at the ACS in July 2012 after completing three years of general surgery residency at the University of Chicago. As a Clinical Scholar, she has worked on several surgical quality improvement initiatives, including the ACS NSQIP Risk Calculator, a review of program accreditation, developing cancer quality measures, and evaluating hospital performance for cancer surgery.

Dr. Paruch completed her undergraduate education at the University of Chicago and medical education at the University of Michigan. Her career plans and interests are in surgical oncology, surgical outcomes, and surgical ethics.

Ravi Rajaram, MD

Dr. Rajaram was the Surgical Oncology Scholar-in-Residence at the ACS from 2013 to 2015 with a focus in surgical outcomes and quality improvement research as they relate to general surgery and surgical oncology. He also has a career interest in thoracic surgery. His work at the ACS included evaluating readmission in thoracic surgery, examining use and timing of adjuvant therapy for lung cancer, and developing quality metrics for lung cancer care.

Dr. Rajaram completed his undergraduate education at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, and his medical education at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, TN. His future career plans include pursuing a fellowship in thoracic surgery and becoming an academic surgeon with a research platform dedicated to health services and outcomes research.

Mehul Raval, MD, MS, FAAP, FACS

Dr. Raval was actively involved in several projects at the ACS during his tenure as a Clinical Scholar in Residence from July 2008 to June 2010. While at the College, Dr. Raval performed an assessment of multi-specialty representation and case-mix adjustment in the ACS NSQIP. He helped coordinate the initial testing of the ACS NSQIP Pediatrics module, assisted with the formation of an Illinois ACS NSQIP collaborative, and conducted a national survey of surgeons involved in the ACS NSIQP. Dr. Raval also developed online compliance reports for the ACS Bariatric Surgery Center Network. Additionally, Dr. Raval completed research projects using the NCDB and the Kids’ Inpatient Database to study trends in the delivery of pediatric surgical care.

Dr. Raval completed his undergraduate education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his medical education at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston Salem, NC. He also completed a Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellowship. (Presentations and Publications)

Lindsey Zhang, MD, MS

Dr. Zhang was an ACS/John A. Hartford Foundation James C. Thompson Geriatrics Surgical Research Fellow and a general surgery resident at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Dr. Zhang received her bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from Washington University in St. Louis, MO. She then obtained her medical degree from the University of Minnesota Medical School. As a James C. Thompson Geriatrics Surgical Research Fellow, Dr. Zhang has been part of an important movement to improve surgical outcomes for the growing elderly patient population.

She recently completed her master’s degree in health services and outcomes research at Northwestern University, Chicago, IL. Her other interests include public health and surgical education. In the future, she plans to pursue a career in colon and rectal surgery and hopes to continue working in an academic environment.

Michael Wandling, MD, MS

Dr. Wandling was a Clinical Scholar-in-Residence from 2014 to 2016 where he focused his research on trauma and emergency surgery. He is currently a general surgery resident at Northwestern University in Chicago, IL. Specifically, his initial work focused on the prehospital transport of gunshot wound victims and the impact it has on morbidity and mortality. He also studied the posthospital disposition and rehabilitation of severely injured patients, DVT/VTE quality measures in trauma, and the impact of public reporting on clinical outcomes and quality improvement.

In addition to his research, he worked on the Emergency General Surgery Pilot at the ACS and had an active role in the Illinois State Quality Improvement Collaborative. Dr. Wandling is also a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University’s Institute of Public Health and Medicine, where he is earning a master’s degree in health services and outcomes Research. He will be pursuing a career in trauma, emergency surgery, and surgical critical care.