Residents & Alumni

Meet Our Team

General Surgery Residents

Our General Surgery Residency Program at BIDMC attracts residents from diverse backgrounds and regions, each bringing a unique set of experiences and perspectives. We aim to recruit individuals of high academic and personal caliber who will grow into outstanding clinicians, teachers, and scholars. Learn more about the program on our General Surgery Residency page.

Resident Administrative Leaders

The role of administrative leader residents is vital in ensuring the smooth operation and success of our residency program. These residents are selected for their leadership skills and dedication to the program, and they serve as role models for their peers.

Chief Administrative Residents

Margaret Berrigan, MD

George Washington University School of Medicine

Margaret hails from Washington, DC. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Virginia, majoring in Biology and Spanish, and later earned a Master’s in Physiology from Georgetown University. She received her MD from George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, where she was elected to AOA and received the Cecile and Seymour Alpert Medical Scholarship. Margaret's clinical interest is pediatric surgery, and she enjoys hiking, travel, and crafts.

Betty Liu, MD

Betty Liu, MD
Tufts University School of Medicine

Betty is an aspiring endocrine and general surgeon. She grew up in the bay area in California. She received her BA in Architecture from Washington University in St. Louis, graduating summa cum laude prior to switching careers to pursue medicine, matriculating to Tufts University School of Medicine. She pursued research in Dr. Mentzer's lab at BWH investigating the mesothelium of the lung. For this, she was awarded the Thoracic Surgery Foundation Resident Research Fellowship Award as well as an NIH T-32 training grant. Her clinical interests include endocrine surgery and surgical education. Betty's hobbies include cooking and photography, and she has published two critically acclaimed cookbooks (My Shanghai, The Chinese Way).

Administrative Residents for Research

J. Christopher Polanco Santana, MD, MSc, MPH

J. Christopher Polanco Santana, MD, MSc, MPH

Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud

Chris' hometown is Cabarete, Dominican Republic. He received his MD from Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra in the Dominican Republic. After medical school, Chris pursued a research fellowship with Dr. Tara Kent at BIDMC. He went on to receive a Master's of Science degree from Dresden International University in Germany and a Master's of Public Health degree from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. As a MPH student, Chris continued to work as a research fellow with Dr. Tara Kent at BIDMC. He participated in a series of studies related to clinical and pathophysiological HPB surgery problems, as well as a project elucidating whether letters of recommendation writer characteristics, including gender, age, professorial rank, and leadership positions, predict language bias and the Provider Awareness and Cultural Dexterity Toolkit for Surgeons (PACTS) Trial. Chris' interests include kitesurfing and hiking. He is also a self-taught computer programmer since the age of 12.

Nicholas DeStefino, MD, PhD
Harvard Medical School

Nick's hometown is Scottsdale, Arizona. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh, Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude, with degrees in both neuroscience and history. He then matriculated to the MD/PhD program at Harvard Medical School, earning his PhD in Neurobiology and serving as an Editor of the Journal of Emerging Investigators. Nick is interested in education, participating as both an undergraduate and graduate teaching assistant, and volunteered as a junior clinician in the Crimson Care Collaborative, an interdisciplinary student-faculty run medical clinic. Nick co-led the pediatric clinic as a staffing director, senior director, and program-wide medical education chair and volunteered to provide patient outreach for patients discharged after hospitalization for COVID-19. Nick is interested in surgical oncology and GI surgery and enjoys running and reading.

Current General Surgery Residents

Explore more about our current residents across different postgraduate years:

General Surgery Residency Alumni

Our alumni have gone on to achieve significant accomplishments in both academic and clinical settings. Learn more about their journeys on our Program Graduates page.

Program Leadership

Meet the leadership team that guides and supports our residents throughout their training. For more details, visit the Program Leadership page.