Who We Are
We are a group of students, residents, and faculty who are promoting the Penn Global Surgery Group mission through education, collaboration, and research.
Students
Kyle Polen
Co-President
kyle.polen@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Kyle Polen is Co-President of PGSG. Born and raised in Phoenix, he is a recent graduate of Arizona State University with a BS in Biochemistry and a BA in Global Health. His interest in global surgery was sparked by hosting and living with foreign exchange students throughout high school. Having host brothers from Morocco, Switzerland, and Kenya inspired his passion for international collaboration, cultural humility, and global health equity. He has since worked in research overseas, volunteered in nonprofit leadership, and most recently studied abroad in Greece, Japan, Vietnam, and Thailand. Through collaboration and compassion, Kyle is dedicated to the development of sustainable strategies to improve access to surgical care around the world.
Rakesh Murugesan
Co-President
rakesh.murugesan@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Rakesh Murugesan is Co-President of the Penn Global Surgery group. He is a first-generation immigrant from India, and grew up in Columbus, Ohio. He graduated from the Ohio State University with a BS in Biomedical Science. His interest in global health originates from his many visits to India, where much of his family lives. Witnessing the disparities in health outcomes but impressed by the efficiency and industriousness of the government hospital systems there, he grew interested in pursuing a career in global health. As an aspiring surgeon-scientist, Rakesh is dedicated to improving global health equity through symbiotic and sustainable partnerships that improve surgical outcomes globally.
Gerardo Perla
Lunch Talk Coordinator
gerardo.perla@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Gerardo Perla is one of the co-Lunch Talk Coordinators for PGSG. He is a first-generation El Salvadorian immigrant and graduated from the University of Chicago with a BA in Biological Sciences with a concentration in Molecular Engineering. He hopes to continue learning how to develop sustainable surgical care in low resource settings.
Peter Kim
Lunch Talk Coordinator
jusung.kim@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Peter Kim is one of the co-Lunch Talk Coordinators for PGSG. He was born in South Korea but grew up in Kentucky and New York. He graduated from Harvard University with a major in Neuroscience and a minor in Psychology. Having experienced a different healthcare system in the Philippines during his elementary years, he has developed an interest in assisting resource-limited communities and promoting global health awareness.
So Hee Ahn
Symposium Coordinator
sohee.ahn@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
So Hee Ahn is one of the Symposium Coordinators for PGSG. She grew up in Seoul, South Korea and New York City, and received her BS and Meng in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. She is interested in utilizing her background in engineering to increase global healthcare access for underserved communities through medical technology and innovation. She aims to continue learning about the relationship between surgery and the social determinants of health to help develop sustainable surgical care.
Brian Lu
Symposium Coordinator
brian.lu@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Brian Lu serves as a Symposium Coordinator for PGSG. Raised in San Jose, California, he holds a BS in Neuroscience from Johns Hopkins University. Brian is a firm advocate for mutual learning and is committed to connecting diverse nations, health systems, and surgical philosophies. His aim is to facilitate shared growth, learning, and advance a common objective across these varied systems: the improvement of surgical patient outcomes worldwide.
Min Jae Kim
Research and Relations Coordinator
minjae.kim@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Min Jae serves as a Research and Relations Coordinator for PSSG. He was born and raised in South Korea, and a first-generation American. He completed his undergraduate education at the Johns Hopkins University in Biomedical Engineering and Neuroscience. As a MD/PhD candidate at the University of Pennsylvania, he is interested in innovating neurosurgical technology through translational research works, as well as to increase access to this innovation to underserved medical communities and patients.
Faculty
David A. Spiegel, MD
Faculty Advisor
spiegeld@email.chop.edu
Dr. David Spiegel works as a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, specializing in neuromuscular diseases, trauma, and spinal deformities and is a Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and a PENN Center for Global Health (CGH) Scholar. He holds the Denis S. Drummond endowed chair in pediatric orthopaedics. Has is a member of the PENN chapter of the AOA honor society. He attended Duke University for college, medical school, and orthopaedic surgical residency training, and then completed both research and clinical fellowships in pediatric orthopaedics at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He has served as an Honorary Consultant in Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation at the Hospital & Rehabilitation Centre for Disabled Children in Banepa, Nepal, for 27 years and is an Honorary Professor at the University of Basrah, Iraq. He has served on many national committees including Children’s Orthopaedics in Underdeveloped Regions of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America (POSNA), the Bone and Joint Decade committee (POSNA), the Global Courses Committee (POSNA), and the International Committee of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons where he directed the international scholars program. He has been on the Advisory Board of Orthopaedics Overseas, Global-HELP, the Ponseti International Association, Miracle Feet, and the Global Clubfoot Initiative. He was awarded the President's Call to Service Award (2006), by the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation, for 4000 hours of community service, the Golden Apple Award by Health Volunteers Overseas (2009), and an AAOS achievement award (2014). He received the Humanitarian Award from the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America (2013) the Walter P. Blount Humanitarian award from the Scoliosis Research Society (2016), and the humanitarian award from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (2017). He has served as a consultant for the World Health Organization in Mongolia and Somalia and was on the steering committee for the WHO’s Global Initiative for Emergency and Essential Surgical Care. He has delivered more than 450 invited lectures, mostly at international venues including Nepal, Iran, Iraq, China, Pakistan, Tanzania, Mongolia and Somalia. He has also co-edited a textbook entitled “Global Orthopaedics: Caring for Musculoskeletal Conditions and Injuries in Austere Settings”.
Neil Sheth, MD
Faculty Research Advisor
neil.sheth@uphs.upenn.edu
Neil Sheth is Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania. He obtained his undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering with a minor in Finance at the University of Pennsylvania. He then spent 2 years on Wall Street as a Financial Analyst in Solomon Smith Barney's Healthcare Investment banking division prior to attending medical school at the Albany Medical College. Following medical school, he completed a 6 year Orthopaedic Surgery residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Following residency, he completed an adult hip and knee reconstruction fellowship at Rush University as well as a 3 month mini-fellowship at the Endo Klinik in Hamburg, Germany focusing on peri-prosthetic infection. Dr. Sheth has now returned to join the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania and focuses his research on bone loss pertaining to revision total hip arthroplasty, peri-prosthetic infection and the role of orthopaedic surgery in global health.
Jordan Swanson, MD, MSc
Faculty Advisor
swansonj@email.chop.edu
Jordan Swanson is an attending surgeon in the Division of Plastic Surgery at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia with special clinical expertise in cleft, craniofacial, and pediatric plastic surgery. His innovation and research initiatives are focused principally on how surgical care can be better adapted to low-resource settings, through design of clinical devices and techniques, locally-driven leadership and team capability strengthening, and reorienting care pathways appropriate to local contexts and resources. In parallel, these initiatives are also generating insight into less-invasive, patient-directed advances for surgical care delivery in tertiary settings. He previously worked and lived in Nicaragua, collaborating with Operation Smile and the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health to build a joint Comprehensive Cleft and Craniofacial program, and is the primary investigator of the Cirugia Para el Pueblo pilot program to advance the access to and impact of rural surgical care in Nicaragua. He also serves as Director of Surgical Innovation at Operation Smile, in which he co-leads development of clinical training programs, surgical research, and clinical program design specific to lower-resource settings, and is a plastic surgeon at the Shriner’s Hospital for Children.
Residents
Omar Ramadan
General Surgery Resident Advisor
omar.ramadan@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Omar Ramadan is a fifth-year general surgery resident at Penn. He was born in Pittsburgh, PA, raised in Kobe, Japan, and has Lebanese roots. He completed his undergraduate studies at Emory University, double-majoring in Biology and Economics. He received his medical degree from the University of Alabama School of Medicine and spent a month in Beirut, Lebanon, with a general surgery service at a community hospital. He has a strong interest in health policy and global surgery, particularly in developing efficient and effective surgical care solutions in low-resource settings.
Founders
Rosaline Zhang, MD, MSTR
Co-Founder
Rosaline graduated from the College at Penn with double majors in urban studies and biology. She is passionate about global surgery and the opportunity to integrate her interests in public health, education, community development and surgery. She served as a research fellow for the CHOP Plastic Surgery division while pursuing a a Masters in Translational Research. Her other interests include promoting women in medicine and student wellness. She graduated from Perelman in 2019 with an MD and MTR.
Rachel Johnson, MD
Co-Founder
Rachel's interest in global surgery began after learning about the disparities in access to surgical care around the world. As a first year medical student, she realized that there was no organization on campus that was specifically dedicated to raising awareness and educating the Penn community about these issues, and started the organization along with Rosaline Zhang and James Friedman. She graduated in 2018.
James Friedman, MD
Co-Founder
Co-Founded the Penn Global Surgery Group during his orthopedic residency at University of Pennsylvania. He has a strong interest in delivering surgical care to underserved communities both domestic and abroad. He completed his residency in 2019 and is currently practicing as a board-certified orthopedic sports surgeon at Alpine Orthopaedics Medical Group in Stockton, California.