Residency Leadership

Timothy Donahue, MD is the director for the General Surgery Residency Training Program. He is a Professor of Surgery and Chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology, with a dual appointment in the Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology. He has a robust clinical practice focused on the surgical management of pancreatic diseases in addition to an NIH funded laboratory focused on developing improved treatment strategies and earlier diagnostic markers for patients with pancreatic cancer.

Catherine Lewis, MD, MEd is an Associate Program Director for the General Surgery Residency Training Program and an Associate Professor of Surgery. She holds a Master of Education in the Health Professions and assists in the creation and administration of the resident education curriculum. Dr. Lewis is responsible for the intern-chief resident mentoring program (AKA S.T.A.M.P.), ABSITE remediation, and resident and faculty evaluations.

Areti Tillou, MD is the Vice Chair for Education for the School of Medicine and Department of Surgery and a Professor of Surgery. She has previously served as Associate Director of the General Surgery Residency Training Program. A talented acute care surgeon, Dr. Tillou is extremely involved in ensuring the highest quality education for surgical residents. She is responsible for resident teaching curriculum, including didactic sessions, dry skills labs, cadaver labs, and simulation sessions.

Mark Girgis, MD is the Associate Program Director for the General Surgery Residency program and Director of Robotic Surgery. He specializes in robotic approaches to surgical oncology in his clinical practice as well as research endeavor through technological advancements and ground breaking research. He is the PI of multiple clinical trials and his research focuses on the molecular pathophysiology of cancer and developing novel small molecules targeting cancer for radioligand therapy. 

James Wu, MD is an Associate Program Director, responsible for resident Mentorship and Career Development. Together with Dr. Tillou, Dr. Wu organizes the UCLA formal surgery curriculum. He is also an assistant professor and endocrine surgeon, with a clinical practice focused on thyroid, parathyroid, and adrenal disease. Dr. Wu manages the Endocrine Surgery Research Group, which is engaged in clinical trials, translational, and health services research pertaining to endocrine disease. 

Chi Quach is the Director of Surgical Education.  She provides support to all residency and fellowship in programs in the Department of Surgery.