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Current General Surgery Residents


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Current General Surgery Residents

Our 2023-24 General Surgery residents.

2023-24 General Surgery residents

Chief Residents in Surgery

Michael Damiani
Michael Damiani - Gordon College, B.S., 2013; University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine, D.O., 2019.

Michael Damiani

  1. Where are you from?
    • Massachusetts.
  2. What are your clinical / professional interests?
    • General surgery.
  3. What did you do prior to becoming a doctor?
    • Prior to becoming a doctor I worked in an immunology lab.
  4. What is your favorite food in / near Cooperstown, and where do you get it?
    • Favorite food: buffalo wings, Cooley's stone house tavern.
  5. What are your hobbies, and where do you go to participate?
    • Hiking, 3d printing.
  6. What makes this program unique for you?
    • What makes the program unique for me is the strong sense of community.

Rosalynn Nguyen
Rosalynn Nguyen - North Seattle Community College, A.A., 2010; Univ. of Washington, B.A., 2013; Pacific Northwest Univ. of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine, D.O., 2019.

Rosalynn Nguyen

  1. Where are you from?
    • Lynnwood, Washington.
  2. What are your clinical / professional interests?
    • General surgery, MIS, plastic surgery.
  3. What did you do prior to becoming a doctor?
    • Before I was a doctor I worked as a medical receptionist, volunteered for a student-run non-profit called the Vietnam Health Clinic, volunteered in a neuroscience lab.
  4. What is your favorite food in / near Cooperstown, and where do you get it?
    • My favorite food in Cooperstown is any pasta from Bocca Osteria.
  5. What are your hobbies, and where do you go to participate?
    • My hobbies include exploring upstate New York including Albany, Syracuse, and Rochester. I also enjoy VR gaming, playing with my dog, cooking, and watching Harry Potter or superhero movies.
  6. What makes this program unique for you?
    • What makes our program unique is that we get to work / live closely with each other and with a variety of surgical specialist for being in a rural area. The program allows for a dynamic, diverse, and very hands-on education that I believe will be suitable to fulfill a career in any urban or rural environment. Our vascular and general operative experience is also very strong. I’m very happy about the affordable resident housing. Being a poor medical student, it is nice to not worry about paying big city rent anymore. I am also excited about our robotic surgery curriculum.

Vrutant Patel, M.D.
Vrutant Patel - College  of Mount Saint Vincent, B.S., 2014; St. George’s University School of Medicine, M.D., 2019.

Vrutant Patel
  1. Where are you from?
    • From India, brought up in the Bronx, NY.
  2. What are your clinical / professional interests?
    • Broad interest - Ct Surgery, minimal invasive, hepatobiliary, Transplant.
  3. What did you do prior to becoming a doctor?
    • Straight schooling to medical school.
  4. What is your favorite food in / near Cooperstown, and where do you get it?
    • Like Italian - Bocca Restaurant, Indian food - Indian Grill in Oneonta.
  5. What are your hobbies, and where do you go to participate?
    • Playing cricket, occasional summer tournaments, Hiking, golfing (multiple golf courses around the town).
  6. What makes this program unique for you?
    • Autonomy, the broad case coverage, and great attending support. A rural program that wholesomely prepares surgical resident to tackle challenging cases.

Fourth Year Residents in Surgery


Kristen Laaman – Cedarville University, B.S., 2016; University of Virginia School of Medicine, M.D., 2020.

Kristen Laaman

  1. Where are you from?
    • Grew up in Madbury, NH, most recently from Charlottesville, VA.
  2. What are your clinical / professional interests?
    • Global surgery and international health.
  3. What did you do prior to becoming a doctor?
    • Attended college in the cornfields of Ohio, worked in a grocery store / gas station in the Adirondacks, went to East Africa a couple times.
  4. What is your favorite food in / near Cooperstown, and where do you get it?
    • Blueberries from Ingalls Blueberry Hill, Stewart's ice cream.
  5. What are your hobbies, and where do you go to participate?
    • Being outside, running, hiking, reading, making food. There are lots of nearby trails and state forests, and the Catskills and Adirondacks or not far either.
  6. What makes this program unique for you?
    • The approachability of the attending surgeons and how well they get to know you since it is a small program, high operative volume, wide range of surgical subspecialty exposure like plastic surgery and urology, rural environment, absolutely incredible co-residents.


Matthew Ward – Brigham Young University, B.S., 2015; University of Washington School of Medicine, M.D., 2020.

Matthew Ward
  1. Where are you from?
    • Mountain Home, ID.
  2. What are your clinical / professional interests?
    • Rural General Surgery.
  3. What did you do prior to becoming a doctor?
    • Plumber.
  4. What is your favorite food in / near Cooperstown, and where do you get it?
    • Home cooked BBQ / Steak from the grill on my front porch.
  5. What are your hobbies, and where do you go to participate?
    • Fishing, hunting, backpacking, paddle boarding, rafting / kayaking, dirt-biking, snowmobiling, snowboarding, and wood working.
  6. What makes this program unique for you?
    • Broad scope community-based training that can be tailored to future rural practice goals.


Eunice Yang – University of Washington, B.A., 2004; Pennsylvania State-Dickinson School of Law, J.D.; Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, M.D., 2020.

Eunice Yang
  1. Where are you from?
    • Born in Korea, raised in Seattle.
  2. What are your clinical / professional interests?
    • General surgery.
  3. What did you do prior to becoming a doctor?
    • Law school (licensed in PA).
  4. What is your favorite food in / near Cooperstown, and where do you get it?
    • Upstate Bar and Grill in Cooperstown, Simply Thai in Oneonta.
  5. What are your hobbies, and where do you go to participate?
    • Picking up random hobbies and quickly losing interest.
  6. What makes this program unique for you?
    • True general surgery in a bucolic wonderland working with residents, attendings, and staff who are all in it for the right reasons.

Third Year Residents in Surgery


Alex Kurtz – Carroll College, B.A., 2017; University of Washington School of Medicine, M.D., 2021.

Alex Kurtz
  1. Where are you from?
    • Glendive, MT.
  2. What are your clinical / professional interests?
    • Underserved Populations, General Surgery.
  3. What did you do prior to becoming a doctor?
    • I've had a few interesting jobs, from garbage man to college teaching assistant.
  4. What is your favorite food in / near Cooperstown, and where do you get it?
    • You can't beat the fresh fruit and baked goods from the farmer's market in the summer.
  5. What are your hobbies, and where do you go to participate?
    • I love to hike, bike, and fish. You'll often find me in the woods or wading into that perfect stream.
  6. What makes this program unique for you?
    • The wonderful people in this beautiful setting. This program offers a breadth of experience one can't find elsewhere in a setting like Cooperstown.


Lydia Rafferty – Cornell University, B.S., 2011; University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, M.D., 2021.

Lydia Rafferty

  1. Where are you from?
    • Boston but I’ve lived in Madison, Wisconsin for most of my adult life.
  2. What are your clinical / professional interests?
    • Broad scope general surgery, colorectal surgery.
  3. What did you do prior to becoming a doctor?
    • I worked as a management consultant for several years.
  4. What is your favorite food in / near Cooperstown, and where do you get it?
    • Origins Cafe! It’s a beautiful farm-to-table restaurant inside a green house :)
  5. What are your hobbies, and where do you go to participate?
    • Cooking, rock climbing, hiking, travel, and swimming. I also recently took to kitesurfing, though I think I’m too bad at that currently to be allowed to call it a “hobby.”
  6. What makes this program unique for you?
    • I really love all the people, the early operative experience, and the broad exposure we get.


Emily Sippel – University of Portland, B.S., 2014; Creighton University School of Medicine, M.D., 2021.

Emily Sippel

  1. Where are you from?
    • Portland, OR.
  2. What are your clinical / professional interests?
    • I'm still unsure exactly what I want to do when I grow up, but so far I've really enjoyed the plastics, endocrine, and thoracic cases I've seen...I could see myself in fellowship one day but I'm also not opposed to general surgery in a smaller town at this point.
  3. What did you do prior to becoming a doctor?
    • Played a lot of soccer (I played in college). I also worked as a research assistant at OHSU looking at concussion rehabilitation.
  4. What is your favorite food in / near Cooperstown, and where do you get it?
    • Ommegang brewery Brussel sprouts are pretty dang good, although I also enjoyed the sandwiches from Yellow Deli in Oneonta a lot too.
  5. What are your hobbies, and where do you go to participate?
    • I really enjoy being active outdoors - hiking, camping, snowboarding. Hoping to get into kayaking soon with all the lakes around here!
  6. What makes this program unique for you?
    • I know “culture” is the go-to buzzword these days but I sincerely feel, the culture, is what sets Bassett apart. From the nurses (both floor and OR) to the scrub techs, to my more senior residents and attendings, I genuinely feel like I’m part of a team helping take care of our surrounding community.

Second Year Residents in Surgery


Rahima Khatun – New York University, B.A., 2016; Pennsylvania State College of Medicine, M.D., 2021.

Rahima Khatun
  1. Where are you from?
    • Bronx, NY.
  2. What are your clinical / professional interests?
    • Trauma Surgery, Global Surgery, Health Disparities.
  3. What did you do prior to becoming a doctor?
    • Took a gap year after undergrad and worked as an administrative aide at Spring Street Dermatology in New York City.
  4. What is your favorite food in / near Cooperstown, and where do you get it?
    • Origins Café, Cooper's Barn for ice cream.
  5. What are your hobbies, and where do you go to participate?
    • Hobbies: trying new cuisines, traveling, reading, searching for new hobbies and spontaneity.
  6. What makes this program unique for you?
    • Reasons the program is unique for me: Interns are provided with early operative exposure. The rural setting and size of the hospital allows for a collegial atmosphere among all those involved in providing patient care. The setting also allows for perspective into how poor access to care and healthcare disparities among certain patient populations, such as farmers, affects disease severity. Unfortunately, this means we get insight into late stages of certain disease processes that you would not see elsewhere.

Sean Morton
Sean Morton – Seattle Pacific University, B.S., 2016; Washington State University, M.D., 2022.

Sean Morton with his family
  1. Where are you from?
    • Bonney Lake, Washington.
  2. What are your clinical / professional interests?
    • I’m interested in many things, currently most interested in trauma surgery.
  3. What did you do prior to becoming a doctor?
    • I worked as a medical scribe prior to med school.
  4. What is your favorite food in / near Cooperstown, and where do you get it?
    • So far, Mel’s at 22 has been my favorite food in Cooperstown. Also bagel sandwiches at Stagecoach Coffee!
  5. What are your hobbies, and where do you go to participate?
    • Anything outside, like rock climbing, brewing coffee/espresso, and reading.
  6. What makes this program unique for you?
    • Small tight-knit community amongst the residents and faculty. Feel like you're a well-known and valued member of the team from the first day of residency.

Diego Villagomez
Diego Villagomez – Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Ecuador, M.D., 2017; Yale New Haven Health, PGY-1, PGY2, 2021-2023.

  1. Where are you from?
    • Quito, Ecuador.
  2. What are your clinical / professional interests?
    • Outcomes in rural general and plastic surgery, minimally invasive surgery, robotics applications for general surgery.
  3. What did you do prior to becoming a doctor?
    • Adventure racing and kickboxing.
  4. What is your favorite food in / near Cooperstown, and where do you get it?
    • Lobster ravioli at Toscana of Cooperstown.
  5. What are your hobbies, and where do you go to participate?
    • Hiking with my dog (Archie) on Sleeping Lion trail at Glimmerglass State Park. Online gaming (COD tag: fabledsurg).
  6. What makes this program unique for you?
    • My co-residents.

First Year Residents in Surgery

Blake Caldwell
Blake Caldwell – University of Colorado, B.S., 2014; University of Colorado, Ph.D., 2019; Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, M.D., 2023.

  1. Where are you from?
    • Boulder, CO.
  2. What are your clinical / professional interests?
    • Interventional radiology.
  3. What did you do prior to becoming a doctor?
    • I raced on a professional road cycling team in Europe.
  4. What is your favorite food in / near Cooperstown, and where do you get it?
    • Brunch at the Sunflower Café.
  5. What are your hobbies, and where do you go to participate?
    • I like cycling the roads and running the trails around Cooperstown. Also, my home espresso making has risen to hobby-level since the pandemic.
  6. What makes this program unique for you?
    • The opportunity to train as part of a rural healthcare network provides the best insight into rural medicine, which has significant unmet needs across the country.

Alexander Clem
Alexander Clem – South Dakota State University, B.S., 2017; University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine, M.D., 2023.

Alexander Clem with his family
  1. Where are you from?
    • Sioux Falls, SD.
  2. What are your clinical / professional interests?
    • I am currently enjoying all aspects of general surgery. At this time I'm unsure if I would like to go into practice after residency or pursue a fellowship in a specific area.
  3. What did you do prior to becoming a doctor?
    • I worked as a patient care technician at my local hospital for 2 years between finishing my undergraduate degree and starting medical school.
  4. What is your favorite food in / near Cooperstown, and where do you get it?
    • Origins Café is my favorite local restaurant. The breweries in the area are a great place to relax on the weekends with my fellow residents and family.
  5. What are your hobbies, and where do you go to participate?
    • I enjoy spending my spare time with my wife, son, and dog. We like to explore Cooperstown and the surrounding areas, try local restaurants and breweries, and curl up on the couch for a good movie night.
  6. What makes this program unique for you?
    • The early operative experience along with the strong support from faculty and staff makes me feel like a valued member of the program from day one. The area around Cooperstown is wonderful and unlike any other.

Hilary Giles
Hilary Giles – Hamilton College, B.A., 2017; Tufts University School of Medicine, M.D., 2023.

  1. Where are you from?
    • Boston!
  2. What are your clinical / professional interests?
    • Medical education, and currently especially interested in surgical oncology.
  3. What did you do prior to becoming a doctor?
    • I worked as a medical assistant for 2 years in an orthopedic surgery office.
  4. What is your favorite food in / near Cooperstown, and where do you get it?
    • So far that would be the "Brew-Ha-Ha" and "Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup" flavors of ice cream from Stewart's gas station/convenience store.
  5. What are your hobbies, and where do you go to participate?
    • I love to be outside and am looking forward to hiking some Adirondack peaks this fall for some A+ leaf-peeping!
  6. What makes this program unique for you?
    • The community and the feeling that everyone truly has each other's back.

Alexis Kohlbeck
Alexis Kohlbeck – University of Wisconsin River Falls, B.S., 2019; Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, D.O., 2023.

Alexis Kohlbeck rockclimbing
  1. Where are you from?
    • Marshfield, WI.
  2. What are your clinical / professional interests?
    • I am interested in rural medicine and improving healthcare for LGBTQ+ patients.
  3. What did you do prior to becoming a doctor?
    • I was a college athlete.
  4. What is your favorite food in / near Cooperstown, and where do you get it?
    • I enjoy the burgers from Upstate Bar and Grill.
  5. What are your hobbies, and where do you go to participate?
    • I like to lift weights and workout so I go to the Clark Sports Center. I’m also a huge baseball fan so going to the Baseball Hall of Fame is always fun.
  6. What makes this program unique for you?
    • This program is unique in that it’s truly a rural community hospital/network. Everyone is very supportive and wants to help me succeed.

Lauren McKay
Lauren McKay – University of Wisconsin-Madison, B.S., 2017; University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, M.D., 2023.

Lauren McKay gardening

  1. Where are you from?
    • A small town in Wisconsin (Columbus, WI), but I’ve loved the many years I’ve spent living in the state capital (Madison, WI).
  2. What are your clinical / professional interests?
    • Colorectal surgery, surgical ethics, and multidisciplinary collaboration.
  3. What did you do prior to becoming a doctor?
    • Personal care assistant, childcare provider, and waitress extraordinaire.
  4. What is your favorite food in / near Cooperstown, and where do you get it?
    • Beets from the Cooperstown Farmer’s Market and everything at Crumhorn Coffee House.
  5. What are your hobbies, and where do you go to participate?
    • Distance running, baking, and spending time outside.
  6. What makes this program unique for you?
    • I love the available opportunities to build strong connections with mentors, attendings, co-residents, and patients—all while benefiting from Bassett’s long history as well as its dedication to academics and clinical excellence.

Prince Morkeh

Prince Morkeh – University of Iowa, B.A., 2018; Morehouse School of Medicine, M.D., 2022.

Prince Morkeh on vacation
  1. Where are you from?
    • I'm originally from Accra, Ghana, but moved to the northern suburbs of Chicago during childhood.
  2. What are your clinical / professional interests?
    • At the moment I'm not entirely sure. I have some clinical interests in CT and vascular surgery; however, I'm still open.
  3. What did you do prior to becoming a doctor?
    • I worked a lot in the tech industry. My first job was as a computer/tablet salesperson at BestBuy. I then worked part-time as an IT Tech Assistant for my college and medical education. I also worked as a research assistant.
  4. What is your favorite food in / near Cooperstown, and where do you get it?
    • Indian Grill, Bocca Osteria.
  5. What are your hobbies, and where do you go to participate?
    • My hobbies include exercise / working out, which I can do at the Clark Sports Center (less than a mile from the hospital). Hiking in the Adirondacks, the Catskills, and on local trails. Travelling.
  6. What makes this program unique for you?
    • Faculty are easy to approach, which is a plus. It’s a small community situated in a beautiful location in upstate NY.