The STS Looking to the Future Scholarship program is a best-in-class education and workforce development program that helps general surgery residents and medical students pursue careers in cardiothoracic surgery. STS works directly with the country’s most talented residents and students from diverse backgrounds and provides education and mentorship to help them navigate this exciting and complex surgical specialty.
The primary goal of the scholarship is to provide mentorship and exposure for medical students and general surgery residents interested in pursuing careers in cardiothoracic surgery.
Since 2006, 845 aspiring cardiothoracic surgeons have received LTTF scholarships.
2025 Scholarship Recipients
Neel Aligave, McGovern Medical School at University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston)
DivineMercy Bakare, University of Minnesota Medical School
Mamadou Balde, Dell Medical School
Kamilla Beisenova, University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine
Lindsey Brinkley, University of Florida College of Medicine
Kianna Brown, Max Rady College of Medicine, University of Manitoba
Julianna Buchwald, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School
Troy Coaston, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles
Jad Elharake, The Ohio State University College of Medicine
Sonia Asonganyi Eyong, University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences
Shubham Gulati, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Alan Gutierrez, Yale School of Medicine
Samuel Mitchell Hoenig, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Heather Holman, Medical University of South Carolina
Grace Howell, University of Mississippi Medical Center
Cameran Jones, University of Missouri - Kansas City
Sangmin Kim, Medical College of Georgia - Augusta
Tyler Lackland, Saint Louis University School of Medicine
Crystal Li, University of Maryland School of Medicine
Bahar Masoudian, Touro University California
Jasmine McLeish, University of Rochester School of Medicine
Danika Meldrum, University of Michigan Medical School
Andrew Morse, McGovern Medical School at University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston)
Mayowa Oturoko, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School
Shubh Patel, University of Toronto
Gurnoordeep Pawar, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine - East Lansing
Alyssa Powers, East Tennessee State University Quillen College of Medicine
Estefania Rivera, University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine
Sujay Shankar, Texas A&M College of Medicine - ENMED Program
David Richard Woodson, Morehouse School of Medicine
Mohamed Abdulrahim, MD, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center
Elizabeth Bashian, MD, Virginia Commonwealth University
Mark Broadwin, MD, Lehigh Valley Health Network
Jinman Cai, MD, Carilion Clinic, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
Celestino Castanon, MD, Louisiana State University Health Science Center–LSU New Orleans
Alexander Cong, MD, University of Hawaii
Paige DeBlieux, MD, UT Southwestern Dallas
Carlos Diaz-Rivera, MD, University of Puerto Rico
Mohamad El Moheb, MD, University of Virginia
Lukman Faniyi, MD, Cleveland Clinic Akron General
Lee Fuentes, MD, MBA, University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School
Rohin Gawdi, MD, Zucker SOM at Hofstra/Northwell–Harvard Medical School
Mayen Gonzalez, DO, Sinai Hospital of Baltimore
Arnar Ingason, MD, PhD, University of Vermont Medical Center
Andrew Keogan, MD, Creighton University, Phoenix
Stephany Kim, MD, Medical University of South Carolina
Vikram Krishna, MD, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
John Kucera, MD, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
Phoebe Miller, MD, MS, University of California San Francisco
Nicole Mott, MD, MSCR, University of Colorado
Vernon Obiakor, MD, Advocate Health Care
Jennifer Pan, MD, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Christopher Pritting, MD, Bayhealth Medical Center
Kyle Prochno, MD, Houston Methodist Hospital
Kyla Rakoczy, MD, Johns Hopkins
Zena Saleh, MD, Cooper University Hospital
Sadia Tasnim, MD, MS, Cleveland Clinic Foundation
Seth Wolf, MD, Duke University Medical Center / East Carolina University Medical Center
Kanhua Yin, MD, MPH, University of Missouri, Kansas City
Lindsey Young, MD, Mayo Clinic Rochester
Brian Bateson, DO - Children's Hospital of Georgia
Alejandro Bribriesco, MD - Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center
Edward Chan, MD - Medstar Washington Hospital Center/ Georgetown University Hospital
Joshua Chan, MD - Emory University
Ashok Kumar Coimbatore Jeyakumar, MD - University of Mississippi Medical Center
Jonathan D'Cunha, MD - Mayo Clinic Arizona
Kathryn Engelhardt, MD, MS - Medical University of South Carolina
Crystal Erickson, MD - University of Colorado
Amy Fiedler, MD - University of California San Francisco
Erin Gillaspie, MD, MPH - Creighton University Medical Center
Lawrence Greiten, MD - Arkansas Children's Hospital
Taryne Imai, MD, MEHP - University of Hawaii / Queen's Medical Center
Tara Karamlou, MD, MSc - Cleveland Clinic
Anita Krueger, MD - Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center
Richard Lee, MD, JD, MBA - Wellstar-MCG
Meena Nathan, MD, MPH - Boston Children's Hospital
David Odell, MD, MMSc - University of Michigan
Sara Pereira, MD - University of Utah
Joseph Phillips, MD - Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
Ravi Rajaram, MD, MSc - MD Anderson Cancer Center
Michael Reed, MD - Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
Derek Serna-Gallegos, MD - University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Robert Sorabella, MD - University of Alabama at Birmingham
Matthew Steliga, MD - University of Arkansas
Nick Teman, MD - University of Colorado
Elaine Tseng, MD - University of California San Francisco and San Francisco VA
Jeffrey Velotta, MD - Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center
Stephanie Worrell, MD - University of Arizona
Steve Yang, MD - The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Pyongsoo Yoon, MD - University of Pittsburgh
2025 STS LTTF Scholarship Benefits
- Complimentary registration for the 2025 STS Annual Meeting, January 24-26, 2025, in Los Angeles, CA
- Scholars will be expected to arrive at the hotel on Thursday, January 23 by 5 p.m. PT and depart the meeting no earlier than 12 p.m. PT Sunday, January 26.
- General Surgery residents: If you are selected for a scholarship, there will be no exceptions made to accommodate the ABSITE exam. Scholarship recipients are expected to make arrangements with their institutions to take the exam before/after attending the STS Annual Meeting.
- A 3-night stay at an STS-designated hotel (check-in January 23, check-out January 26).
- Participation in exclusive events.
- Reimbursement of up to $700 in related travel expenses.
- Scholars will be responsible for making their own travel arrangements (i.e., flights).
- Expenses will be reimbursed after the meeting, which could take up to two months.
Eligibility
- Medical students training at an institution in the United States or Canada
- Clinical PGY1, PGY2, or PGY3 general surgery residents training at an institution in the United States or Canada
- General surgery residents on dedicated research time who have not started their PGY4 clinical year training at an institution in the United States or Canada
Priority is given to applicants who have not attended a national cardiothoracic surgery meeting or received another CT surgery meeting scholarship. Please do not apply if you have received any of the following scholarships: AATS Member for a Day or Medical Student Diversity Scholarships, STSA Brooks Scholarship, or WTS Carpenter, Thistlethwaite, or Annual Meeting Scholarships.
Applications for the 2026 LTTF Scholarship will open in August 2025.
Questions?
Email Maureen Ewing.