Record Number of Female Medical Students Match into Future Careers in Surgery
Some of the many future female surgeons include fourth-year medical students (front row) Summer Xu, Khaoula Ben Haj Frej, (middle row) Emily Orosco, Cailyn Regan, Caitlin Foster, Grace Nichols, Sarishka Desai, Kyanna Alleyne, Margaret Boudreau, (back row) Desiree Dear, Vedika Karandikar, Julia Silverman, and Carly Malesky (Tina Encarnacion/UConn Health photo).
Nineteen female fourth-year UConn medical students in the Class of 2025 have met their career match in surgery. They are choosing to enter the surgery fields at residency training programs at UConn and across the country. Their surgery-heavy training fields include general surgery, orthopaedics, ophthalmology, ENT, and OB/GYN.
"We have a really amazing group of women – possibly the largest group ever – who matched to a robust set of competitive surgical residency programs," said Dr. Marilyn Katz, assistant dean for Medical Student Affairs at UConn School of Medicine.
UConn Bound
One of the graduating UConn medical students is Kyanna Alleyne, 26, of West Hartford who is staying at UConn for residency training to become a future orthopaedic surgeon.
"I'm so excited to stay at UConn and in Connecticut. My whole family is here. I knew I wanted to be at UConn," says Alleyne who is so proud to see so many of her fellow female classmates choosing to enter the surgery fields too.
"It's amazing," says Alleyne. "I love to see it. We do a lot of work at UConn to get more girls and women interested in surgery careers."
She was inspired to become an ortho expert after being a student athlete playing soccer at American University: "I've been around a ton of injuries," she says. "Daily function of your body, even your hands, is so important."
Alleyne was also inspired to become an ortho surgeon thanks to her mentor Orthopaedic Surgeon Dr. Katherine Coyner at UConn Health who is also director of the new Women's Center for Motion and Performance and an Orthopedic Team Physician for the UConn Huskies college athletes.
"Dr. Coyner has helped me every step of the way during medical school. She takes mentorship of women very seriously and it shows from middle and high school girls to medical students to college athletes at UConn," she says.
Alleyne has volunteered in Coyner's numerous workshops for female youth and medical students introducing them to the primarily male-dominated fields like orthopaedic surgery to recognize their potential to succeed in these fields.
Desiree Dear, 28, of Bethel is also thrilled to be staying at UConn for residency too but in ENT. She also attended UConn as an undergrad.
"UConn is such a family. We are very diverse, and UConn trains and show us the diverse fields of medicine too," says Dear.
Her mentor is Dr. Kourosh Parham, professor of ENT at UConn School of Medicine and UConn Health.
"Dr. Parham is extremely supportive. I really liked learning about ENT, its surgical field and its outpatient care. Plus, I love the longitudinal relationships you can make with your ENT patients ranging from managing hearing loss to head and neck cancer surgery care," says Dear.
"UConn always has a focus to increase female representation. Seeing all these women entering diverse fields of surgery specialties is definitely inspiring. I hope it inspires other medical school classes in the future," says Dear. "I am looking forward to graduation and experiencing the culmination of our medical education and celebrating with my classmates."
Parham, her mentor, is celebrating the record five UConn medical students who matched into ENT residency this year, and four of the five are women.
"There was an outstanding group of UConn medical students, including Desiree, in the match applying to otolaryngology this year. We could not be more delighted with the result of the match that allowed us to retain a talent like Desiree at UConn. We are excited about the next five years," shared Parham.
UConn Made Doctors Becoming Future Women Surgeons
Other Class of 2025 students entering surgery residencies include Khaoula Ben Haj Frej, 27, of Waterbury who matched to General Surgery at Johns Hopkins.
"I'm very excited," she says. "I have always been interested in oncology, and I want to be a surgical oncologist."
"Both my grandfathers died of cancer, so becoming a cancer doctor has been a personal mission," she says after having worked in clinical trials at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute prior to attending medical school at UConn where she loved her learning experiences.
"I chose the surgery field because of the impact you can have. I love the immediacy of the surgical oncology field to be able to remove a patient's cancer the same day. I saw a colon cancer patient here at UConn Health who got to go home without it! Also, oncology patients are an amazing patient population, and have such resilience," she says.
Cailyn Regan, 26, of West Hartford matched to General Surgery at Rutgers.
"My Mom is actually a urologist," Regan shared. "At the time she was the only woman in her urology residency training program. It's so great to see so many UConn-trained women doctors following in my Mom's footsteps representing women in all these diverse surgical fields."
Vedika Karandikar, 26, of Wilton matched to General Surgery at Thomas Jefferson University and is thrilled.
"I feel incredibly grateful to be entering a field that allows me to connect deeply with people, make a direct impact in their lives, and combine science with precision in such a meaningful way," says Karandikar.
Catherine Qiu, 25, of Trumbull, is an Urban Service Track/AHEC Scholar at UConn. She matched to General Surgery at NY-Presbyterian-Queens.
"I'm so excited to start my surgical journey in Queens, a community I spent most weekends in growing up. It's incredibly meaningful to work in a place that helped shape me," Qiu said.
She says UConn School of Medicine has prepared her well to become a well-rounded surgeon.
"I've gained strong clinical skills and learned the value of patient-centered care through hands-on experiences and supportive mentorship. I'm especially proud to join the growing number of women surgeons from UConn-empowered by my inspiring female peers and mentors, and ready to lead in the field!" says Qiu.
Pascale Carrel, 27, of Cos Cob matched into OB/GYN at NYP-Brooklyn Methodist Hospital is also thrilled to embark on the next step of her career.
"OBGYN, like most other surgical fields, is incredibly competitive nowadays," she shared and she's proud of her female classmates entering surgery fields.
"This just goes to prove that women can, and should, pursue their passions in competitive, historically male-dominated, fields. I'm so proud to be one amongst my peers," says Carrel.
Elizabeth Suschana, 29, of Somers also matched to OB/GYN at SUNY HSC Brooklyn.
"Being a woman in medicine is challenging, but the future is female. It's part of our duty as future female surgeons to empower others to pursue their specialty of choice despite society telling us what is and isn't a surgeon," Suschana shared.
Zoe Paige Garvey, 28, of Windsor also matched to OB/GYN at Mount Sinai Morningside-West. She chose to enter medicine after experiencing surgery as a child.
"I am driven to address healthcare disparities and improve the health outcomes of not only the patients and communities I directly serve but also through my advocacy for women on a state and national level," said Garvey.
Amanda Hernández Rodríguez, 27, of Toa Baja, Puerto Rico matched to OB/GYN at Nuvance Health Consortium, as she admires the important role OB/GYN physicians play in empowering women through education.
Felicia Woron, of East Hartford, matched to OB/GYN at Maimonides Medical Center.
"Although I was always interested in obstetrics and gynecology, I was actually fairly intimidated by the prospect of entering a surgical field until I had the opportunity to be in the OR during rotations. I quickly realized how gratifying and rewarding it could be to work as part of a surgical team and make an immediate impact on patients' lives."
Woron concludes, "I am so excited to become a surgeon and proud of all of the other women from UConn entering surgical fields!"
Other UConn women entering the surgical fields also includes:
Margaret Boudreau, 27, of Wilton matched to Ophthalmology at UVA.
Sarishka Desai, 26, of Darien matched to Ophthalmology at Tufts.
Caitlin Foster, 26, of Glastonbury matched to Plastic Surgery at the University of Colorado.
Carly Malesky, 25, of Milford matched to ENT at Montefiore/Einstein.
Grace Nichols, 27, of Wethersfield matched to ENT at Georgetown.
Emily Orosco, 27, of Camarillo, Calif. matched to General Surgery at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
Julia Silverman, 25, of West Hartford matched to General Surgery at UNC.
Summer Xu, 26, of Glastonbury matched to ENT at Beth Israel Deaconess.
