The 2016 Graduation Ceremony was held on Wednesday evening, June 22nd, at the historic Duquesne Club in Downtown Pittsburgh. The evening’s celebration began at 6 PM with a cocktail reception, followed by dinner and the awards ceremony in the Main Dining Room. This year’s graduation ceremony was well attended by the faculty, residents, clinical and research fellows, as well as family and children. Dr. Jack and Georgia Smith were also in attendance. As President of the Pitt Orthopaedic Alumni Association, Dr. Smith welcomed the 2016 residency graduates to the Pitt Orthopaedic Alumni Association.
The Outstanding Senior Resident Award was presented to Nicole Friel, MD. Each year, the Outstanding Senior Resident is voted on by faculty, non-graduating residents, and fellows. Nicole will begin a sports medicine fellowship at Rush University Medical Center.
Congratulations, Nicole!
The graduating residents presented The Golden Apple Award for Teaching Excellence to Vincent Deeney, MD. The Golden Apple is awarded for the most outstanding contribution to Resident Education in Orthopaedic Surgery and is selected by the Orthopaedic Surgery Residents. Dr. Deeney is Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, Division of Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery, Director of the Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Program, and Vice Chairman for Education. This year’s graduation ceremony was bittersweet for Dr. Deeney as he steps down as Program Director. He is relocating to Philadelphia to be closer to family and is joining the staff of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). On July 1, 2016, MaCalus Hogan, MD, will serve as Program Director and Joon Lee, MD, will be Associate Director of the orthopaedic surgery residency program.
2016 Graduating Residents:
Christopher T. Edwards, MD
Nicole A. Friel, MD
Christian E. Isaac, MD
Daniel F. Leigey, MD
Michael P. McClincy, MD
Tiffany J. Pan, MD
Verena M. Schreiber, MD
Carola F. van Eck, MD, PhD
2016 Graduating Fellows:
Neuropsychology
Melissa Womble, PhD
Primary Care Sports
Medicine Emilia Ravski, DO
Ryan Schreiter, DO
Erick Sickinger, DO
Primary Care Sports Med/ PM&R
Robert Engelen, DO
Sports Medicine
Tom Chao, MD
Stephenson Ipke, MD
Michaela Kopka, MD
Ashish Soni, MD
Jonathan Watson, MD
Hand & Upper Extremity
Anne Argenta, MD
Nicole Jarrett, MD
Edward Lin, MD
Benson Pulikkottil, MD
Zubair Sarmast, MD
Nathan Tiedeken, MD
Jignesh Unadkat, MD
Pediatric Orthopaedics
Vivek Natarajan, MD
Spine Surgery
Amir Abtahi, MD
Sean Esmende, MD
Traumatology
Brandon Clark, DO
Congratulations to all!
Please click HERE to view the 2016 Graduation Program.
