General Surgery Residency Program

Dr. Leah Tatebe is an Associate Professor of Surgery in the Northwestern University Division of Acute Care Surgery. She serves as the Program Director for the General Surgical Residency and the Associate Trauma Medical Director. Dr. Tatebe served as the Associate Program Director before taking over the Program Director position. During her time in Chicago, she was been able to push the boundaries of prehospital research within the Chicagoland area and promote collaborative projects between institutions for the good of all Chicago trauma patients. She is chair of several national committees focusing her efforts on equity in surgery and injury prevention. She has won numerous research, teaching, and service awards over her career. She has spoken nationally on her research interests including injury prevention, trauma-informed care, prehospital trauma care, posttraumatic stress, resilience, and palliative care. She has a keen interest in surgical education, especially graduated trainee autonomy. She is heavily involved with training fellows, residents, and students in her daily practice. 

 

Dr. Tatebe graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in physics. She received her MD from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Dr. Tatebe completed a general surgery residency at Baylor University Medical Center and a fellowship in Surgical Critical Care here at Northwestern University, McGaw Medical Center. 

Dr. Samuel Kim is a general thoracic surgeon wiht experience in all aspects of general thoracic surgery with national level expertise on minimally invasive thoracic surgery including the robotic lobectomy/segmetectomy, robotic esophagectomy, robotic thymectomy, robot assisted operations for benign esophageal diseases, and trachea and airway surgeries.

He graduated from Johns Hopkins University with honors in Biophysics and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa in 1997 and then received his M.D. from Tufts University School of Medicine in 2002.  He completed his residency in General Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in 2009 and residency in Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital in 2012.  Additionally, Dr. Kim completed a fellowship in Minimally Invasive Esophageal Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and fellowship in Cardiothoracic Surgery at Mayo Clinic in 2010.  Dr. Kim began his career on the faculty at University of Arizona in 2011 where he served as the Section Chief of Thoracic Surgery and was recruited to Northwestern in 2019 as the Director of Robotic Thoracic Surgery.

 

Dr. Yue-Yung Hu is an Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Division of Pediatric Surgery at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. She completed medical school at SUNY Stony Brook in 2007. She trained in the General Surgery residency program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, graduating in 2015. Between PGY2 and 3, she spent 3 years doing health services research and gaining a Masters in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health. She completed the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center/University of Connecticut Pediatric Surgery fellowship in 2017. She is also a faculty member at the Surgical Outcomes And Quality Improvement Center. Her research interests include surgical education, surgical culture, team dynamics, quality, and safety.

Dr. Williams is an Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Northwestern University Division of Surgical Oncology, specializing in Endocrine Surgery. She is Associate Program Director for the General Surgery Residency. Dr. Williams’ passion for education is seen in her interactions with patients as well as medical students, residents and faculty members. Her research interests are focused on the surgical learning environment, specifically understanding the role of psychological safety in the medical student and resident experience. She is also interested in understanding how compassion and mindfulness practices can be used to enhance patient care and provider wellbeing. She has been involved in shaping medical education both locally and nationally. Dr. Williams has served on two committees for the American Board of Surgery (ABS), working to support the implementation of Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) in general surgery residency training. She has extensive involvement with the American College of Surgeons, including serving as current Vice-Chair of the American College of Surgeons Resident and Associate Society (ACS-RAS), and as a member of the ACS Committee on Resident Education, and the ACS Committee on Faculty Development. 

Dr. Williams graduated from Oregon State University with a degree in Chemical Engineering. She received a combined MD/PhD degree at Oregon Health & Science University, where her PhD work focused on basic science and translational research in neuroscience and immunology. She completed General Surgery at the University of New Mexico where she spent two years completing a Surgical Education Fellowship and completed a Masters in Educational Psychology. She completed her fellowship in Endocrine Surgery at the University of Wisconsin.