John E. Skandalakis Surgical Anatomy Teaching Competition Returns
SEPTEMBER 2025
Presented by the Emory University Department of Surgery and the Aspiring Surgeons Program, the John E. Skandalakis Surgical Anatomy Teaching Competition was held on Wednesday, September 10th in the School of Medicine. After a long COVID postponement, the event was re-ignited by Booth Vogel, Alexus Shaw and Ornella Pelissero, members of the Aspiring Surgeons Program, Emory’s medical student surgery interest group, and co-sponsored by the Center for Surgical Anatomy and Technique (CSAT) and the Medical Student Senate. Named for the late John E. Skandalakis, MD, PhD, the founder of CSAT, the event highlighted cases in which the correlation of gross anatomy to surgical anatomy was particularly relevant, honoring Dr. Skandalakis's academic legacy of teaching the critical role surgical anatomy plays in the operating room.
For the competition, eight medical students competed for cash prizes by presenting bite-sized surgical anatomy teaching cases in front of a panel of surgical faculty and guest faculty from other disciplines. Each student was assisted by a faculty mentor with planning and crafting their presentation.
The faculty judges were Dr. Jahnavi Srinivasan (Department of Surgery), Dr. Wendy Greene (Department of Surgery), Dr. Thomas Moore (Department of Orthopaedic Surgery), Dr. Noble Maleque (Department of Medicine), Dr. Seth Force (Department of Surgery), and Dr. Anna Von (Department of Medicine). The preliminary judges were Dr. Barbara Pettitt, faculty advisor for the competition, and students from the SATC Committee of the Aspiring Surgeons Program.
The winners, listed with their presentations and mentors, were:
1st Place: Josephine Buclez, “Endoscopic Endonasal Resection of Craniopharyngioma,” mentored by Dr. Tomas Garzon-Muvdi
2nd Place: Supreet Randhawa, “Restoring Pulmonary Circulation in CTEF,” mentored by Dr. Joshua Chan
3rd Place: Reshma Kodimerla, “Cupid's Arrow to the Aorta,” mentored by Dr. Joshua Chan and Navid de Leede, “Pectus Excavatus - Ravitch Procedure,” mentored by Dr. Rachel Medbery