Q&A with Todd Costantini, MD FACS, is assistant director of UC San Diego Health's Level 1 Trauma Center, an assistant professor in the Division of Trauma, Surgical Critical Care, Burns and Acute Care Surgery, and an alum of the UC San Diego general surgery residency program and trauma/surgical critical care fellowship.
Q&A with Dr. Kristin Mekeel is Interim Chief of the Division of Hepatobiliary & Transplant Surgery, and Surgical Director of Kidney Transplantation. Her team performed 85 kidney transplants in 2017—the most since 2010. In this interview, she discusses organ allocation reforms; strategies for increasing the pool of available organs and what it’s like to be a woman in surgery.
In this Q&A, we talk with Dr. Erik Owens, Chief of Surgical Service at the San Diego VA Medical Center, and Professor of Vascular Surgery at UC San Diego, to understand the issues, get to know him personally, and hear his hopes for the future of the institution.
Dr. Sonia Ramamoorthy is a nationally recognized colorectal surgeon who serves as the Chief of the Division of Colorectal Surgery and as Vice-Chair of the Department for Quality and Safety. In this interview, she talks about what brought her to surgery; the innovations coming out of the UC San Diego's Department of Surgery in quality of care, robotics, and minimally invasive surgery, and shares what she'd do if she weren't a surgeon.
Humans of Surgery
Karlo Alvarez, authorizations coordinator, Department of Surgery
Dr. Todd Costantini, assistant director of UC San Diego’s Level 1 Trauma Center and assistant professor of surgery in the division of trauma, surgical critical care, burns, and acute care surgery.
Dr. Arwa Kurabi, assistant research scientist, Department of Surgery, Division of Otolaryngology. Kurabi was a post-doctoral fellow in the Department from 2009-2015.
Kimmy Gross, Nurse Practitioner, Transplant, center; Sarah Stringfield, MD, left, and Arielle Lee, MD, right, both general surgery residents
Dr. Luis Cajas-Monson completed his general surgery residency training at UC San Diego in 2017, Vascular surgery fellowship at the Mayo Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota in the summer of 2018.
Dr. Kristin Mekeel is interim chief of the Division of Hepatobiliary & Transplant Surgery, and Surgical Director of Kidney Transplantation
Dr. Andy Lowy is Chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology
Michael Turner, MD, a is an intern in UC San Diego’s general surgery residency program
Dr. Amanda Gosman is Interim Chief of the Division of Plastic Surgery and Director of Craniofacial and Pediatric Plastic Surgery
Dr. Lisa Parry is Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery