Meet Our Fellows

Jacob D. Buckner, MD
1st Year Fellow/Residency
Medical School: Univ. of Tennessee Health Science Center – 2018
General Surgery Residency: Univ. of Texas Health Science Ctr at San Antonio, TX – 2024

Sajjaad H. Samat, MD
1st Year Fellow/Residency
Medical School: Michigan State University College of Human Medicine – 2017
General Surgery Residency: Michigan State University / Sparrow Lansing, MI – 2024

Ryan M. Huttinger, DO
2nd Year Fellow/Residency
Medical School: Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine – 2018
General Surgery Residency: Cape Fear Valley Medical Ctr/Campbell Univ Sch of Med – 2023

Alumni

YearGraduateType of PracticeLocation
2016Aundrea OliverAcademic – ThoracicECU/Vidant
2018Preston SparksMilitary – CardiothoracicBrooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, TX
2019Alexandra KharaziPrivate – CardiothoracicSan Diego, CA
2020Dante DaliPrivate – CardiothoracicMercyOne North, Mason City, Iowa
2021Brett StarrPrivate - CardiothoracicDuke Lifepoint, Hickory, NC
2022Michael JohnsonPrivate - ThoracicSt. Elizabeth, Edgewood, KY
2023Adam CelioPrivate - CardiothoracicCT and Vascular Surg Assoc, Jacksonville, FL
2024Robert AllmanAcademic – ThoracicECU Health
2024Elliott OvermanCongenital FellowshipDuke University
2025Ryan HuttingerPrivate - CardiothoracicCape Fear Valley Health

Call Schedule

The Thoracic Surgery Residency official call plan can be found in the official policy manual. The call plan has been designed to maximize resident education while providing consistent, appropriate coverage of service patients within the confines of the ACGME rules and guidance. The basic call structure is outlined below:

  • Thoracic Surgery Resident will cover both cardiac and thoracic consult and admission pagers on a Q2 schedule. This will cover new consults, admissions, and patients needing urgent and emergent operations during night and weekend periods (officially 5pm-5am, M-F and 5pm Friday – 5am Monday)
  • Thoracic Surgery Residents may not cover primary call on any current in-house patients. This is to be covered by in-house general surgery residents and Advance Practice Providers. Thoracic Surgery Residents will provide back-up coverage in the event the primary call providers need assistance.
  • The General Thoracic inpatient service is covered by an in-house R2 general surgery resident during night and weekend hours. This resident will cover thoracic, vascular, and surgical oncology and will be based in the heart tower and cancer center. They will take first calls on any thoracic service patients and anyone we have operated on or performed procedures on. They are backed up by the on-call fellow and the Chief gen surg resident in house. See the official Thoracic Surgery Coverage Agreement in the policy manual for details.
  • Calls from the transfer center and Cardiac Connections for new admissions and transfers from outside hospitals should go through the on call attending for that service.
  • All ACGME work hours rules must be followed during the coverage of at-home call. See the ACGME Common Program Requirements Section VI for details.
  • In the event that a Thoracic Surgery Resident becomes in violation of their ACGME mandated hours and needs to leave the hospital and no longer cover call in order to stay in compliance, the on call attending for the respective services will become responsible for coverage at that time.

Case Volume

The following is recent institutional and resident case volumes at ECU Health Medical Center.
Group Defined Category Sub-Category National Average (18-19) CT Track Minimum Resident A Thoracic Track Minimum Resident B Yearly Institution Caseload
Congenital Congenital Primary 24 5 17 0 6 400
First Assist 16 15 21 10 14
Total Congenital **40** **20** **38** **10** **20**
Adult Cardiac Valvular Heart Disease Aortic Valve 25 38 15 19 126
Mitral Valve 15 23 5 5 53
Tricuspid Valve 5 9 5 5
TAVR 15 50 5 5 100
**Total Valve** **113** **60** **134** **30** **39**
Myocardial Revascularization Total 115 50 213 35 103 565
Re-Do Sternotomy Total 18 5 23 5 6
Interventional Procedures Total 5 107 5 149
Aortic Procedures Total 27 10 41 5 21 40
Arrhythmia Surgery Total 8 10 29 5 10
Circulatory Assist Total 35 10 66 5 14 20
**Total Adult Cardiac** **~300** **189** **632** **100** **363** **1000**
**General Thoracic** Lung Major Resections 62 30 54 50 76
VATS Lobectomy 31 5 46 25 59 80
Wedge/Bx 43 10 45 30 55 80
**Total Lung** **110** **60** **95** **105** **131** **200**
Pleura Total Pleura 27 10 37 20 29
Chest Wall / Diaphragm Total 26 5 28 10 16 25
Mediastinum Total 47 (29 "Other") 5 17 10 20
Tracheobronchial Total 5 9 5 8 5
Esophagus Esophagectomy 18 5 21 20 23 30
Benign Esophagus 24 5 24 10 118 120
Lap HH/PEH 11 10 30 95 100
**Total Esophagus** **42** **10** **45** **35** **141**
**Total General Thoracic** **258** **90** **231** **190** **350** **1100**
**Total Major Operative** **~600** **305** **901** **290** **733**