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EPA Project Volunteers

Many medical professionals have been involved in ABS discussions around EPAs, and even more have volunteered their time, their expertise, and even their training programs in an effort to bring this training model to fruition for all U.S.-based surgical training programs.

smiling female doctor wearing scrubs in a hospital
Intro

ABS EPA Project Volunteers

The ABS began exploring EPAs as a potential foundation for competency-based surgical training and initial board certification in 2016, following several years of discussion around various strategies to improve traditional time-based residency training models. The ABS then developed five index EPAs and piloted them at 28 diverse surgical residency programs from 2018-2020. Lessons learned from this pilot have been collated and formed into best practice strategies that are being deployed in developing and supporting programs of all types and resource streams during implementation of the EPA assessment model.

Many medical professionals have been involved in ABS discussions around EPAs, and even more have volunteered their time, their expertise, and even their surgical training programs in an effort to bring this training model to fruition for U.S.-based surgical residency programs. The ABS would like to thank all of those who have been involved in this initiative and those will be involved as we continue to develop and implement EPAs.

Participants

Pilot Program Participants

The ABS developed and piloted five index EPAs at 28 diverse surgical residency programs from 2018-2020. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, it became more apparent than ever that a move to competency-based assessment is necessary to appropriately determine trainee readiness to enter the ABS certification process and independent patient care.

boston medical center logo
brigham and women's hospital
ECU brody school of medicine
einstein healthcare network
gundersen medical foundation
indiana university school of medicine
tufts school of medicine
new york presbyterian
northwestern university
oregon health & science university
SIU school of medicine
Stanford Medicine
upstate medical university
swedish medical center
UAB school of medicine
college of medicine tucson
UC irvine
uconn health
college of medicine university of florida
michigan medicine
university of minnesota medical school
university of nebraska medical center
university of rochester medical center
UT health san antonio
school of medicine and public health university of wisconsin
barnes jewish hospital
wvu medicine
wright state university school of medicine
ABS Volunteers

Councils, Working Groups, and Task Forces

There were two councils and five working groups responsible for the development and implementation of the general surgery EPAs:

Some, but not all, of these groups have also been established for each additional ABS specialty area.

All of the working groups include resident members who provide valuable insight and recommendations from the trainees’ perspective. 

GENERAL SURGERY

General Surgery ABS EPA Project Volunteers

EPA Advisory Council
  • George Sarosi, M.D. – Chair
  • John Mellinger, M.D. – Chair
  • Karen Brasel M.D.
  • Jo Buyske, M.D.
  • Daniel Dent, M.D.
  • Jan Franko M.D.
  • Eric Holmboe, M.D.
  • Mary Klingensmith, M.D.
  • Jeffrey Matthews, M.D.
  • Sarkis Meterissian, M.D.
  • Rebecca Minter, M.D.
  • Valentine Nfonsam, M.D.
  • Gurjit Sandhu, Ph.D.
EPA Scope Council
  • George Sarosi, M.D. – Chair
  • John Mellinger, M.D. – Chair
  • Russell Berman, M.D.
  • Karen Brasel, M.D.
  • Constance Cashin, M.D.
  • Marcie Feinman, M.D.
  • Liane Feldman, M.D.
  • Amy Hildreth, M.D.
  • Thomas Huber, M.D.
  • Ben Jarman, M.D.
  • D. Rohan Jeyarajah, M.D.
  • Mary Klingensmith, M.D.
  • Harry Papaconstantinou, M.D.
  • Aurora Pryor, M.D.
  • Pramod Puligandla, M.D.
  • Allison Robinson, M.D.
EPA Revision Working Group
  • Brenessa Lindeman, M.D. – Chair
  • Jennifer Choi, M.D.
  • Don Hess, M.D.
  • James Korndorffer, Jr., M.D.
  • Kelsey Montgomery, M.D.
  • Mayur Narayan, M.D.
  • Stephanie Nitzschke, M.D.
  • Brian Shames, M.D.
Resident Members
  • Justine Broecker, M.D.
  • Taylor Coe, M.D.
EPA Best Practices Working Group
  • Jacob Greenberg, M.D. – Chair
  • Mackenzie Cook, M.D.
  • Nicole Garcia, M.D.
  • Jason Johnson, D.O.
  • Brianne Nickel, M.A., C-TAGME
  • V. Prasad Poola, M.D.
  • Rabih Salloum, M.D.
  • Laura Torbeck, Ph.D.
Resident Members
  • Kyle Cassling, M.D.
  • Amy Holmstrom, M.D.
  • Christina Theodorou, M.D.
  • Erin White, M.D., MBS
  • Rebecca L. Williams, M.D., Ph.D.
EPA Technology Working Group
  • Mark Hickey – Chair
  • Carol Barry, Ph.D.
  • David Borgstrom, M.D.
  • Ashley Counts, M.H.A.
  • Brian George, M.D.
  • Christopher Stahl, M.D.
  • Tiffany Tanner M.D.
  • May Tee, M.D.
Resident Members
  • Andrew Esposito, M.D.
  • Kristin Jogerst, M.D.
  • Kelsey Koch, M.D.
EPA Faculty/Resident Development Task Force
Leads
  • Jake Greenberg, M.D.
  • Joshua Mammen, M.D.
  • Gurjit Sandhu, M.D.
Members
  • Phoenix Chen, M.D.
  • Jan Franko, M.D.
  • Nicole Garcia, M.D.
  • Eric Holmboe, M.D.
  • Amy Holmstrom, M.D.
  • Jason Johnson, M.D.
  • Rebecca Karnesky-
  • Williams, M.D.
  • Meghana Kashyap, M.D.
  • Brianne Nickel, M.A., C-TAGME
  • Ada Okafor, Esq.
  • Nell Patel, M.D.
  • V. Prasad Poola, M.D.
  • George Sarosi, M.D.
  • Chris Stahl, M.D.
  • Sue Steinemann, M.D.
  • Erin White, M.D.
EPA Writing Group
Facilitators
  • Karen Brasel, M.D.
  • Brenessa Lindeman, M.D.
  • Rebecca Minter, M.D.
  • George Sarosi, M.D.
Writers
  • Cary Aarons, M.D.
  • Dirir Abdullahi, M.D.
  • Maria Altieri, M.D.
  • John Ammori, M.D.
  • Kristina Booth, M.D.
  • Clarence Clark, M.D.
  • Kathryn Coan, M.D.
  • Taylor Coe, M.D.
  • Brian Davis, M.D.
  • Danielle Ellis, M.D.
  • Jennifer Fieber, M.D.
  • Donald Hess, M.D.
  • Amy Holmstrom, M.D.
  • Kshama Jaiswal, M.D.
  • Krista Kaups, M.D.
  • Lawrence Kim, M.D.
  • Samantha Knight, M.D.
  • James Korndorffer, M.D.
  • Steven Lee, M.D.
  • Jeremy Lipman, M.D.
  • Ahmed Mahmoud, M.D.
  • Heath Many, M.D.
  • Bradford Mitchell, M.D.
  • Kelsey Montgomery, M.D.
  • Mayur Narayan, M.D.
  • Keith Ozaki, M.D.
  • Luise Pernar, M.D.
  • Brian Shames, M.D.
  • Thomas Shin, M.D.
  • Danny Takanishi, M.D.
  • Sanda Tan, M.D.
VASCULAR SURGERY

Vascular Surgery ABS EPA Project Volunteers

EPA Advisory Council
  • Christopher J. Abularrage, M.D.
  • Bernadette Aulivola, M.D.
  • Faisal Aziz, M.D.
  • Kellie Brown, M.D.
  • Rabih A. Chaer, M.D.
  • Dawn Coleman, M.D.
  • Yana Etkin, M.D.
  • Thomas Huber, M.D.
  • Jeffrey Jim, M.D.
  • Jason T. Lee, M.D.
  • Erica Mitchell, M.D.
  • Raghu L. Motaganahalli, M.D.
  • Benjamin Pearce, M.D.
  • David A. Rigberg, M.D.
  • Andres Schanzer, M.D.
  • Murray Shames, M.D.
  • Malachi Sheahan, M.D.
  • Brigitte Smith, M.D., MHPE
  • Gabriela Velazquez, M.D.
  • Libby Weaver, M.D.
EPA Faculty/Resident Development Task Force
Leads
  • Yana Etkin, M.D.
  • Michael Soult, M.D.
EPA Writing Group
  • Frank Caputo, M.D.
  • Jonathan Cardella, M.D.
  • Dawn Coleman, M.D.
  • Allan Conway, M.D.
  • Paul DiMusto, M.D.
  • Yana Etkin, M.D.
  • Benjamin Jacobs, M.D.
  • Jeffrey Jim, M.D.
  • Jason T. Lee, M.D.
  • Nathan Liang, M.D.
  • Kristyn Mannoia, M.D.
  • Raghu L. Motaganahalli, M.D.
  • Albeir Mousa, M.D.
  • Mary Ottinger, M.D.
  • Josh Radtka, M.D.
  • David A. Rigberg, M.D.
  • Ulka Sachdev, M.D.
  • Michael Soult, M.D.
  • Natalie Sridharan, M.D.
  • Sunita Srivastava, M.D.
  • Danielle Sutzko, M.D.
  • Jonathan Thompson, M.D.
  • Gabriela Velazquez, M.D.
  • Libby Weaver, M.D.
Get Involved
Interested in getting involved with the ABS EPA Project? Become an EPA Program Champion!