General Surgery Residency

Scott Bloom — Scott W. Bloom, MD

General Surgery Program Director

Joshua Goldberg, MD

Associate Director and General Surgeon

Fahd Ali, MD — Fahd Ali , MD

General Surgery

Christopher Anderson, MD

Pediatric Surgery

Jeffrey Chiu, MD — Jeffrey C. Chiu, MD

General Surgeon

Alexandros Coutsoumpos, MD

General Surgeon

Marcus Darrabie, MD

Associate Program Director and General Surgeon

Sebastian de La Fuente, MD — Sebastian G. de la Fuente, MD

Surgical Oncology Program

Steve McElveen, MD — Timothy S. McElveen, MD, FACS

General Surgeon

Bernadette Profeta, MD, FACS

General Surgery

Access to a World-Class Simulation Facility

The AdventHealth Nicholson Center is located in Celebration, Florida and has trained over 65,000 physicians across the world. From leading-edge simulation labs to state-of-the-art conference spaces, the AdventHealth Nicholson Center offers an array of opportunities for clinical teams and trainees to learn and innovate.

PGY - 1

Rotation	Blocks
General Surgery	2 Blocks
Acute Care Surgery	2 Blocks
Breast Surgery	1 Block
Night Float	2 Blocks
Pediatric Surgery	1 Block
Plastic Surgery	1 Block
Transplant Surgery	1 Block
Surgical Oncology	1 Block
Vascular Surgery	1 Block

PGY - 2

Rotation	Blocks
General Surgery	1 Block
Acute Care Surgery	2 Blocks
Colon and Rectal Surgery	1 Block
Night Float Surgery	2 Blocks
Pediatric Surgery	1 Block
SICU	1 Block
Trauma	1 Block
Vascular Surgery	1 Block
Burn Surgery	1 Block
General Surgery East	1 Block

PGY - 3

Rotation	Blocks
General Surgery	2 Blocks
Acute Care Surgery	2 Blocks
GI Endoscopy	1 Block
General Surgery Apopka	1 Block
Night Float Surgery	2 Blocks
Surgical Oncology	1 Block
Thoracic Surgery	1 Block
TICU	1 Block
Vascular Surgery	1 Block

PGY - 4

Rotation	Blocks
General Surgery	3 Blocks
Acute Care Surgery	2 Blocks
Colon and Rectal Surgery	1 Block
Endocrine Surgery	1 Block
Elective	1 Block
Surgical Oncology	1 Block
Trauma	2 Blocks
Thoracic Surgery	1 Block

PGY - 5

Rotation	Blocks
General Surgery	3 Blocks
Acute Care Surgery	2 Blocks
Endocrine Surgery	1 Block
Colon and Rectal Surgery	1 Block
Pediatric Surgery	1 Block
Private General Surgery	1 Block
Surgical Oncology	1 Block
Thoracic Surgery	1 Block
Vascular Surgery	1 Block

The curriculum is structured around the six ACGME Core Competencies

ACGME Core Competencies: Patient Care
Medical Knowledge
Practice-Based Learning
Interpersonal and Communication Skills
Professionalism
Systems-Based Practice
The philosophy of patient care by the residency program and AdventHealth Orlando focuses on Whole Person Care and is emphasized in all of our patient interactions. Rotations in the five-year program are geared toward progressive learning and skill acquisition. Resident performance is evaluated through the ACGME educational Milestones as outlined by the RRC.
Outpatient Experience: Residents will see patients in the office of the full-time core faculty at the Center for Specialized Surgery. Patient records are maintained in electronic medical record (EMR). This provides seamless integration of care and communication with the other doctors in the Medical Education Department. Additionally, records are accessible 24/7 from inside and outside the hospital.
Electronic Medical Record System: The resident will become facile with the hospital medical record system, I-Extend, and EPIC. Electronic Medical Record systems have streamlined the patient care process, improved community-wide healthcare and strengthened the patient-provider relationship by making medical information available quickly.
Longitudinal Simulation Curriculum: We have a structured, longitudinal simulation curriculum encompassing advanced suturing, bedside procedures, and more advanced skills including laparoscopy and robotics, ensuring that residents are ready for FLS and FES and preparing residents to be robotic surgeons by the time they graduate our program. All residents undergo dedicated simulation workshops spanning basic skills for trauma, hemostasis, and laparoscopy as well as live animal and cadaveric laparoscopic and robotic workshops at our high-fidelity, American College of Surgeons accredited Nicholson Simulation Center. We have similar facilities on a smaller scale immediately available to residents on campus.

Physician Wellbeing: For more information on the many benefits offered across all programs, click here
Eligibility: What You'll Need
Medical students interested in applying for categorical residency training in general surgery should be familiar with the following policy regarding recruitment, eligibility and selection. Our goal is to recruit and train physicians committed to excellence in General Surgery, who will promote, practice, and respect the mission of AdventHealth Orlando in providing compassionate whole person care. Recruitment is through ERAS and our program participates in the NRMP selection process. We provide pertinent program summaries through AdventHealth Orlando's Graduate Medical Education website. AdventHealth Orlando GME offers clinical clerkships to medical students from affiliated medical schools and other accredited medical schools on a case-by-case basis. At this time, AdventHealth sponsors H1-B visas for its trainees and the cost is covered by the institution.
Medical School
LCME (Liaison Committee of Medical Education) and AOA graduates:
Eligible for Doctor of Medicine diploma without reservations
Dean's Letter
Letter from residency program director (if applicable)
Successfully passed USMLE I and USMLE II (United States Medical Licensing Examination) at first attempt.
Transcript directly from the FSMB (Federation of State Medical Boards)
Acceptable explanation of any break in education (if applicable)
Demonstrated written and spoken fluency in English language
Proof of Citizenship or resident alien status as required by AdventHealth Orlando Human Resources

ERAS Application
Completed application through ERAS (Electronic Residency Application Service), through the AAMC (American Association of Medical Colleges), and participation in the NRMP (National Resident Match Program) match.
Online application
Personal statement
CV
Transcript
Dean's letter
Three letters of recommendation by surgeons
USMLE scores, Part I and II (USMLE required) and COMLEX-USA Level 1 and 2 required
Photograph
ERAS Application Deadline: November 1 (All applications must be received by November 1st. No new application will be considered after the deadline)
*For those candidates that make it to the consideration of interview level, a "Handshake" introductory video will be required. Details and information on the Handshake video will be shared with the candidate directly.

Sample Resident Agreement
Eligibility and Selection Policy
ABS Training Requirements
Benefits: We’ll Take Care of You
AdventHealth offers a competitive and comprehensive benefits package for trainees.
For more information about the benefits we offer, including salary, medical and dental insurance, and paid time off, please visit our GME benefits page.
How We Compare: 2,247-bed acute-care medical facility, serves as a community hospital for Greater Orlando and as a major tertiary referral hospital for Central Florida and much of the Southeast, the Caribbean and Latin America.
AdventHealth Orlando is a system of 10 hospitals in the Central Florida area which operate under one license. The hospitals included in the AdventHealth Orlando group are AH Altamonte, AH Apopka, AH Celebration Health, AH East Orlando, AH Kissimmee, Winter Park Memorial, AH Orlando, and Florida Children’s Hospital.
AdventHealth Orlando is equipped with 52 medical ICU beds, 20 cardiac ICU beds, 28 cardiovascular surgery ICU beds, 8 dedicated ECMO beds, 20 multidisciplinary surgical ICU beds, 28 neuro/neurosurgical ICU beds.
ECMO center - AdventHealth Orlando has earned “The ELSO Award for Excellence in Life Support” from the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO) and is now one of only 32 Designated Platinum Level Centers of Excellence in the world.
Robust subspecialty exposure

Research

In this highly competitive environment we live in, where new techniques, technologies, and scientific projects are constantly being developed, we strongly believe at AdventHealth Orlando that general surgery trainees should have the opportunity to acquire skills in experimental study design and execution. Whether this involves basic research, leading clinical trials, or outcomes projects, we have the tools and experience to provide the foundation for robust scientific inquiry and scholarly activity. With our ultimate goal being the training of the next generation of leaders in surgery, we provide our general surgery residents with the resources necessary to:

Critically evaluate the scientific literature
Design and execute experimental studies under the supervision of a mentor
Present at local, regional, national, or international scientific meetings
Write research manuscripts for publication

In order to achieve these goals, we meet on a regular basis to discuss new projects and ideas and to assess the status of the ongoing research.

Sebastian G. de la Fuente, MD

Director of Research, AdventHealth Orlando Surgery Program

Morgan Brazelle, MD

"Introductory Video as a Supplemental Application for General Surgery Residency Candidates: Concept, Implementation, Preliminary Outcomes, and Future Directions"

Learn More
Michelle Horowitz, MD

"Comparison Between Transpapillary Versus Transmural Endoscopic Ultrasound-Guided Decompression for Biliary Obstruction: A Meta-Analysis"

Learn More
William Cobb, MD

"Posterior Cranial Vault Distractor Osteogenesis for the Treatment of Chiari Malformation Type 1: A Systematic Review of the Literature"

Learn More
Recent Research

Orlando General Surgery Residency
Publications and Presentations

Learn More

Join Our Resident Team

To apply to our program, your application must be submitted through ERAS by November 1st to be eligible for consideration. (See Eligibility section for details.) While the applicant may be interviewed with only USMLE step I scores, consideration for ranking is based on both steps I and II. All programs at AdventHealth Orlando participate in the match through the National Resident Match Program. Please note, interviews for the 2025-26 season, will be conducted in-person.

Completed application through ERAS (Electronic Residency Application Service), through the AAMC (American Association of Medical Colleges), and participation in the NRMP (National Resident Match Program) match.

• Online application

• Personal statement

• CV

• Transcript

• Dean's letter

• Three letters of recommendation by surgeons

• USMLE scores, Part I and II (USMLE required) and COMLEX-USA Level1 and 2 required

• Photograph

• ERAS Application Deadline: November 1 (All applications must be received by November 1st. No new application will be considered after the deadline)

*For those candidates that make it to the consideration of interview level, a “Handshake” introductory video will be required. Details and information on the Handshake video will be share directly with the candidate directly.

ERAS Application

Lieutenant General R. Scott Dingle, the current US Army Surgeon General, with PGY5 chief residents and Program Director Dr. Scott Bloom before his guest lecture on leadership.

AdventHealth is the Official Health Care Provider at Walt Disney World, so we sometimes spot famous visitors when on your Pediatric Surgery rotation.

A snapshot from our new annual residents vs attendings basketball game.

At the end of each academic year, our program has a resident retreat day during which we have a funded excursion that all residents are able to attend together.

Dr. De La Fuente, a Surgical Oncology attending and our Director of Research, hosts dinner and a discussion on financial literacy during residency and in transitioning to fellowship or independent practice.

Dr. Hunter Meyer, graduate 2021-2022, wins the annual Clinical Excellence in Residency Award at the 2021-2022 Graduation Banquet.

Dr. Daniel Farinas-Lugo PGY4 wins the Academic Excellence Award at the 2021-2022 Graduation Banquet.

Dr. Shanna Sprinkle, 2021-2022 graduate, and Dr. Martin Uwah PGY5 present the Preceptor of the Year Award to Dr. Albert, Colorectal Surgery attending, at the 2021-2022 Graduation Banquet.

Dr. Hunter Meyer and Dr. Kevin Wissinger, both 2021-2022 graduates, trying on their custom residency scrub caps.

Women residents in the program at lunch with visiting lecturer Dr. Julie A. Sosa, a prominent endocrine surgeon and Chair of the Department of Surgery at UCSF, after her lecture for our JEDI: Women in Medicine. The arms in an "X formation" is a symbol for the "Break the Bias" movement.

Dr. Ashley Mila-Hoff PGY3 enjoys sewing her own scrub caps and made custom caps with "bitmojis" that represents each resident.

Dr. Darrabie, Acute Care Surgery attending and Director of Simulation, and Dr. Ashley Mila-Hoff PGY3 sporting matching UF lanyards.

Visiting lecturer and prominent abdominal wall reconstruction surgeon, Dr. B. Todd Heniford from Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center, leads residents through a component separations workshop.

Dr. John Hoff PGY3 on an out of state procurement during Transplant Rotation.

Jacob Friedman, MD

PGY-5
University of Central Florida College of Medicine
Chunghun Ji, MD

PGY-5
Loma Linda University School of Medicine
Lyndsay Kotarba, MD

PGY-5
St. George's University School of Medicine
Morgan Brazelle, MD

PGY-5
University of Alabama School of Medicine
William Cobb, MD

PGY-4
St. George's University School of Medicine
Shelby Harris, MD

PGY-4
University of Missouri School of Medicine
Caroline Shin, MD

PGY-4
University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville
Gabriela Gonera, MD

PGY-4
Wake Forest University School of Medicine
Haven Ward, MD

PGY-3
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine
Jesse Caron, MD

PGY-3
University of Florida College of Medicine
Nicholas Braganca, MD

PGY-3
University of Central Florida College of Medicine
Shannon Hall, MD

PGY-3
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Chadwick Godfrey, MD

PGY-2
Tulane University School of Medicine
Oscar Rodriguez, MD

PGY-2
University of Louisville School of Medicine
Daniel Rozefort, MD

PGY-2
University of Kentucky College of Medicine
Ali Siddiqui, MD

PGY-2
University of Mississippi School of Medicine
Aidan Hintze, MD

PGY-1
Penn State University College of Medicine
Henry Kircher, MD

PGY-1
University of Kansas School of Medicine
Jeffrey Lu, MD

PGY-1
University of Maryland School of Medicine
Blake Mireles, MD

PGY-1
University of Texas Medical Branch School of Medicine
John Ochieng, MD

PGY-1
Michigan State University College of Human Medicine
Dijon Shird, MD

PGY-1
University of Washington School of Medicine

In addition to our core faculty, we have subspecialty surgeons in excess of over fifty members from all the surgical specialties.

A-E Subspecialist: ACUTE CARE/SICU/CRITICAL CARE
Fahd Ali, MD
Marcus Darrabie, MD
Joshua Goldberg, MD
Michael Gregg, MD
BREAST SURGERY
Walter Hayne, MD
Devina McCray, MD
Terry Mamounas, MD
Michelle Han, MD
CARDIOTHORACIC
Joseph Boyer, MD
Gary Chmielewski, MD
COLON AND RECTAL
Matthew R. Albert, MD
Teresa H. deBeche-Adams, MD
Jeremy Drake, MD
Dan Galante, DO
Justin Kelly, MD
George Nassif, DO
Yaphet Tilahun MD
Mark Soliman, MD
Norbert Garcia Hernandez, MD
Radhika Smith, MD
Christopher Aquina, MD
Luanne Force, MD
ENDOCRINE
J. Scott Magnuson, MD
Uthman Alamoud, MD
G-V Subspecialist: GASTROENTEROLOGY: GI
Maryam R. Kashi, DO
Ilan Aharoni, MD
Irteza Inayat, MD
Moin Kola, MD
PRIVATE GENERAL SURGERY
Timothy Childers, MD
Thomas K. Mahan, MD
GENERAL SURGERY (EAST ORLANDO)
Jeffrey Chiu, MD
Alexandros Coutsoumpos, MD
Bernadette Profeta, MD
GENERAL SURGERY (WINTER PARK)
Enrique Vega, MD
Christopher Olukoga, MD
John Jeffries, MD
PEDIATRIC SURGERY
Christopher Anderson, MD
Raleigh Thompson, MD
Alexsander Bernshteyn, MD
Lindsey Armstrong, MD
Joseph Esparaz, MD
PLASTIC SURGERY
Arthur Debaise, MD
Raj Sawh-Martinez, MD
Joseph Lopez, MD
SURGICAL ONCOLOGY
Sebastian de la Fuente, MD
Peter Peng, MD
Andrew Guzowski, MD
TRANSPLANT
Michael Angelis, MD
Lawrence “Thomas” Chin, MD
Bobby N. Nibhadupuddy, MD
Ryan W. Day, MD
TRAUMA/ ICU BURN
Michael Cheatham, MD
Anthony Gielow, DO
William Havron, MD
Stephen Hersperger, MD
Joseph Ibrahim, MD
Matthew Lube, MD
Howard Smith, MD
VASCULAR
Manuel Perez-Izquierdo, MD
Mark E. Ranson, MD
David Varnagy, MD
Alan R. Wladis, MD

2025	Alumni	Fellowship/Post-Grad Plans
	Michelle Horowitz, MD	Breast Surgical Oncology - Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY
	Ashley Mila-Hoff, MD	Minimally Invasive Surgery and Abdominal Wall Fellow - Cleveland Clinic, OH
	John Hoff, MD	U.S. Airforce
	Katherine Carson, MD	Attending Surgeon - AdventHealth, Dade City, FL

2024	Alumni	Fellowship/Post-Grad Plans
	Carlos Delgado, MD
	Daniel Farinas, MD
	Shawn Moore, MD
	Erick Stephens, MD

2023	Alumni	Fellowship/Post-Grad Plans
	Alberto Monreal, MD	Endocrine Surgery - Duke University
	Bradley Pansing, MD	Vascular Surgery - Medical City Panto, TX
	Elliot Toy, MD	Minimally Invasive Surgery and Bariatrics - University Hospital, MO
	Martin Uwah, MD	Colon and Rectal Surgery - University of Chicago

2022	Alumni	Fellowship/Post-Grad Plans
	Rizwan Ahmed, MD	Minimally Invasive Surgery and Bariatrics - University of Colorado
	Patrick Hunter Meyer, MD	Minimally Invasive Surgery and Bariatrics - Washington, DC
	Joshua Spiegel, MD	Plastic Surgery - University of Louisville
	Shanna Sprinkle, MD	Colon and Rectal Surgery- Rutgers University
	Kevin Wissinger, MD	Minimally Invasive Surgery and Bariatrics - UCSD

2021	Alumni	Fellowship/Post-Grad Plans
	Evan Westrick, MD	Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery - University of Louisville
	Joseph Reza, MD	Cardiothoracic Surgery - Temple University
	Daniel Bolton, MD	Trauma/Surgical Critical Care - University of Kentucky

2020	Alumni	Fellowship/Post-Grad Plans
	Jonah White, MD	Minimally Invasive Surgery and Bariatrics - Greenville, SC
	Michael Gregg, MD	Critical Care - Orlando Health

2019	Alumni	Fellowship/Post-Grad Plans
	Jorge Almodovar, MD	Advanced GI/Minimally Invasive Surgery - Jackson, South Miami
	Noeline Rajarajan, MBBS	Breast Surgery - Moffitt Cancer Center Tampa
	Rebecca Rowen, MD	Colon and Rectal Surgery - Salt Lake City, UT
	Georg Wiese, MD	AdventHealth General Surgery Practice

2018	Alumni	Fellowship/Post-Grad Plans
	Stephanie Poris, MD	Plastic Surgery - Summa Health, Akron, OH
	Fatima Sadiq, MD	Critical Care - Orlando Health

2017	Alumni	Fellowship/Post-Grad Plans
	Scott Zenoni, MD	Burn and Critical Care - Orlando Health
	Yaphet Tilahun, MD	Colon and Rectal Surgery - Brown University

General Surgery Residency at Orlando

Program Leadership

Welcome from the Program Director

Access to a World-Class Simulation Facility

Curriculum

Curriculum Structure

Program Information

Research

Recent Publications and Presentations

Morgan Brazelle, MD

Michelle Horowitz, MD

William Cobb, MD

Recent Research

Application Process

Life of a Resident

Current Residents

Jacob Friedman, MD

Chunghun Ji, MD

Lyndsay Kotarba, MD

Morgan Brazelle, MD

William Cobb, MD

Shelby Harris, MD

Caroline Shin, MD

Gabriela Gonera, MD

Haven Ward, MD

Jesse Caron, MD

Nicholas Braganca, MD

Shannon Hall, MD

Chadwick Godfrey, MD

Oscar Rodriguez, MD

Daniel Rozefort, MD

Ali Siddiqui, MD

Aidan Hintze, MD

Henry Kircher, MD

Jeffrey Lu, MD

Blake Mireles, MD

John Ochieng, MD

Dijon Shird, MD

Subspecialty Rotation Primary Faculty

General Surgery Residency Alumni

Residency Coordinator Contact Information

Maria Cepero

Resident Life