Saint John’s Cancer Institute’s 2024 Fellows Graduating Commencement Ceremony
On July 18th, Saint John’s Cancer Institute’s graduating fellows of 2024 were celebrated at the home Elizabeth Gregory Riordan, Director and Board Member of The Riordan Foundation, founded by Richard J. Riordan. The Donald L. Morton, MD, Complex General Surgical Oncology, The Breast Surgical Oncology fellowship, the Urologic Oncology Fellowship, and the Neurosurgery Oncology fellowship were in attendance. In total, 7 fellows graduated their programs this year and will go on to be a part of national cancer centers running their own programs and training other surgeons what they learned.
“In order to grow these programs, the financial need is still great. Our fellows are leading cancer programs nationally, and presenting all over the world,” Dr. Ora Gordon explained at this year’s graduation ceremony. Dr. Gordon is Professor of Genetics, and Executive Director of Cancer Services at Saint John’s Cancer Institute and the Disney Family Cancer Center.
To see our fellows endowed with a certain kind of charisma and gratitude as they commenced for what will be the last time in their lifetime, with all the years of training, education, and experience, was heartwarming. These incredible surgeons embark on their life’s mission to serve our communities.
“This event showcases the support our programs offer our trainees.”
– Trevan Fischer, MD
Watch the recap of the graduation Ceremony.
Program Preview: A few remarks from our fellows, professors, and supporters
The Donald L. Morton Complex General Surgical Oncology Fellowship
“I stand here today, just filled with profound gratitude and humility. The last two years of surgical fellowship have been nothing short of challenging, but incredibly rewarding,” said Dr. Laura Fluke, complex general surgical oncology fellow, soon to be raised to commander in the US Navy and headed to Portsmouth, Virgina, and who was also the recipient of the Ruth and Martin H. Weil sponsorship.
“Being able to work with the MSLT database, this multi-national, multi-center database, and working with people who collaborated with Donald Morton who pioneered the sentinel lymph node biopsy that really changed the face of cancer care is an honor,” spoke Dr. Katherine Jackson, soon to be a part of the University of Washington and who was the recipient of the Tarble Foundation sponsorship.
“It’s been an excellent opportunity training here. I’m very grateful. I think we frequently describe the teaching-training interaction as being a multiplier of skills because just as we have been trained by people, imparting skills onto us, we’ll be going to train other people… I will be forever grateful,” espouses Dr. Janelle Cheri-Miller, complex general surgical oncology fellow, soon to be joining faculty at the University of Nebraska, and recipient of the Michael Sannes sponsorship.
“In all seriousness, thank you so much. I’ve been very lucky to be a part of this program, have amazing co-fellows and absolutely amazing attendings, who are very supportive in all the wild things I’ve asked of them,” says Dr. Udai Sibia, complex surgical oncology fellow, who will have a dual role in the clinic at the University of Alabama as the Assistant Professor and Administrator in infirmary, and Medical Director of value-based care at the University of Alabama, who was also the recipient of the Harold McAlister Charitable Foundation sponsorship.
The Neurosurgical Oncology Fellowship
“They say the mark of a good fellow is that they leave the program better than how they came in and truly Dr. Kahn did that,” said Dr. Garni Barkhoudarian of his trainee of the neurosurgical oncology fellowship, and who had already left to his post. Dr. Barkhoudarian is Professor of Neurosurgery and Director of Skill Base Microdissection Anatomy Laboratory. “We’ve had a long legacy of fellowship training as well in neurosurgery.”
The Breast Surgical Oncology Fellowship
This year marked the first year the breast surgical oncology fellowship was revived under the director, Dr. Janie Grumley of the Margie Petersen Breast Center, and Professor of Surgery, “We really could not have done this without the Foundation’s support. It has allowed us to bring Nicketti on as our very first breast fellow. We are so in love with her, we wanted to actually keep her. So, she will be joining our program as our breast surgeon over in Burbank and we could not be happier to keep her in the family. She’s going to help us train our next generation of fellows.”
“I feel the stars aligned for me to end up here because not every breast fellowship offers what I was able to learn here. The breast fellowship has a heavy emphasis on oncoplastic and really a lot of shared decision making with our patients. And I didn’t want to do just any breast fellowship, I wanted to do your breast fellowship,” says Dr. Nicketti Handy, breast surgical oncology fellow, and soon to be breast surgeon of her own program at Providence, Saint Josephs in Burbank, California. Dr. Handy was sponsored by Providence, Saint John’s Foundation.
The Urologic Surgical Oncology Fellowship
Dr. Joshua Gottlieb, Urologic Surgical Oncology Fellow, who worked with Dr. Dave Hoon and his research team for two years, was “well respected,” according to Dr. Trevan Fischer, Co-director of the Donald L. Morton Complex Surgical Oncology program, and assistant professor. Dr. Gottleib moved on to a private practice in Simi Valley, California and was sponsored by Providence, Saint John’s Foundation and trained under Dr. Timothy Wilson and Dr. Jennifer Linehan.
Learn more about our fellowship programs here.
Watch the full-length commencement here.