Meet Our Fellows 2024 - 2025
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
| Year | Graduate | Type of Practice | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Aundrea Oliver | Academic – Thoracic | ECU/Vidant |
| 2018 | Preston Sparks | Military – Cardiothoracic | Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, TX |
| 2019 | Alexandra Kharazi | Private – Cardiothoracic | San Diego, CA |
| 2020 | Dante Dali | Private – Cardiothoracic | MercyOne North, Mason City, Iowa |
| 2021 | Brett Starr | Private - Cardiothoracic | Duke Lifepoint, Hickory, NC |
| 2022 | Michael Johnson | Private - Thoracic | St. Elizabeth, Edgewood, KY |
| 2023 | Adam Celio | Private - Cardiothoracic | CT and Vascular Surg Assoc, Jacksonville, FL |
| 2024 | Robert Allman | Academic – Thoracic | ECU Health |
| 2024 | Elliott Overman | Congenital Fellowship | Duke University |
| 2025 | Ryan Huttinger | Private - Cardiothoracic | Cape 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.
Case Volumes
Congenital
Group | Defined Category | Sub-Category | National Average | 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
Group | Defined Category | Sub-Category | National Average | CT Track Minimum | Resident A | Thoracic Track Minimum | Resident B | Yearly Institution Caseload |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 | 03 | 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
Group | Defined Category | Sub-Category | National Average | CT Track Minimum | Resident A | Thoracic Track Minimum | Resident B | Yearly Institution Caseload |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 | 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 | |||