The ABS is pleased to announce its support and sponsorship of two individuals from the 2025-2026 cohort of ABMS Scholars. This year, the ABS will sponsor Han Grezenko, M.D., and Rebecca Williams–Karnesky, M.D., Ph.D., MEdPsych.
Dr. Grezenko is an assistant professor in the department of surgery at Creighton University School of Medicine, Phoenix. She completed her medical training at Guangxi Medical University in China followed by post-doctoral fellowships in translational neuroscience at Dignity Health – Barrow Neurological Institute and surgery and surgical education at Dignity Health – St. Joseph Hospital & Medical Center, both in Phoenix. She is currently completing a Master of Public Health program at Creighton University.
Dr. Williams–Karnesky is an assistant professor in the division of surgical oncology and an associate program director for the general surgery residency at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. She earned her medical degree at Oregon Health and Sciences University in Portland and completed general surgery residency training at the University of New Mexico followed by a fellowship in endocrine surgery at the University of Wisconsin. During her residency, she also completed a master’s program in educational psychology while spending two years as a surgical education research fellow.
Drs. Grezenko and Williams–Karnesky were selected as two of this year’s ABMS Scholars based on their project proposals, Scalpel and Code: Integrating Artificial Intelligence for Comprehensive Surgical Performance Evaluation and Creation of an Implementation Science-Based Toolkit to Increase Engagement with EPAs in General Surgery, respectively.
Established in 2014, the ABMS Scholars Program is an annual one-year, part-time grant program that supports early-career physicians and researchers in leadership development and research efforts that advance the ABMS mission and align with current research priorities. Grants of $15,000 are awarded to support research and travel expenses associated with program participation and research deliverables. In addition to the grants, scholars receive structured opportunities for mentorship, peer collaboration, and research development.
Scholars are selected based on the quality of their proposed research project, the relevance of their research to the ABMS and co-sponsoring board’s missions and the certification community, and the likelihood of making substantial progress on the project during the scholar year.
The 2025–2026 ABMS Scholars cohort includes participants from 12 ABMS Member Boards and will culminate with research presentations at the 2026 ABMS Conference before a national audience of certification leaders, educators, and clinicians.