Current Residents

Dr. Elsamadicy is a resident in neurological surgery at Yale-New Haven hospital. He received is undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering from Vanderbilt University in 2013. Through his work focused on underserved populations and mentorship, Dr. Elsamadicy was awarded Vanderbilt's "Top 10 Outstanding Seniors". Dr. Elsamadicy received his MD from Duke University School of Medicine where he was awarded the Julian Abele Student of the Year for Duke School of Medicine Award and was a Feagin Leadership Scholar. Along with his leadership, Dr. Elsamadicy spent 2 researching in the Duke Brain Tumor Immunotherapy Program and currently continues performing Clinical-Outcomes research, resulting in numerous peer-reviewed publications.

Joseph is currently a neurosurgical resident at Yale New Haven Hospital. He completed his graduate and medical training through the UCLA-Caltech Medical Scientist Training Program. Over the course of his thesis studies, Joseph successfully published in PNAS, Neuro-Oncology, and Journal of Clinical Investigation, describing the role of adaptive immune resistance in the GBM tumor was microenvironment and developing immunotherapeutic strategies for GBM treatment. Most recently, he was the recipient of the Journal of Neuro-Oncology Award at the Congress of Neurological Surgeons for his studies on vaccine therapy. He is currently completing his enfolded endovascular fellowship with Dr. Matouk and will be pursuing a subspecialty focus on Neurovascular surgery.

Layton is a resident in the Department of Neurosurgery at Yale University School of Medicine. He completed his undergraduate and medical degrees at Stanford University. While there, he developed skills in statistical programming and learned methods for causal inference on observational data, which he applied in his publications on neurosurgical outcomes. He also has experience in the analysis of scRNA-Seq data for human brain tumors. Layton is currently pursuing research interests in epilepsy and functional neurosurgery.

Dr. Koo is a resident in neurological surgery at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He received his undergraduate degree in Public Health and Biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2015. He was a Colonel Robinson Scholar, and worked for the Health subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee. He received his MD from the Yale School of Medicine, where he was awarded the NIH T35 Research grant, the Taylor Opportunity Research award, and the Heinrich Quincke Research Scholarship. His interest in health policy parallels his academic research where he examines healthcare utilization and cost and risk factors in neurosurgical care to improve clinical decision-making.

Dr. Templeton is a resident in neurological surgery at Yale-New Haven hospital. She received her undergraduate degree at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, with a focus in chemistry. She obtained her medical degree from the University of South Alabama College of Medicine in Mobile, Alabama. During her time in medical school, she developed and implemented an intraoperative robotics training program, and worked closely with the surrounding community to establish a secondary student-led free clinic for local homeless and under-served populations. Thus far, she has performed research contributing to the areas of trauma, spine, and functional neurosurgery.

Dr. Theriault is a resident in neurological surgery at Yale-New Haven Hospital. She received her undergraduate degree from Fordham University in 2011. After graduating, she worked for a year at Columbia University in a behavioral neuroscience lab before pursuing her PhD at University of Maryland-Baltimore under the guidance of Dr. Marc Simard, MD/PhD. For her graduate degree, she studied hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy of prematurity, molecular mechanisms underlying ischemia-induced hemorrhage, and how to prevent cerebral microhemorrhages in newborns. After completing her PhD, she received her MD at New York Medical College. Her current interests include pediatric neurosurgery, disorders of neurodevelopment, and congenital malformations.

Dr. Hodges is a resident in neurological surgery at Yale-New Haven Hospital. After graduating with distinction from Yale College, she conducted sleep electrophysiology research at the Yale School of Medicine, through which she developed an interest in various neuroimaging modalities and methods for recording electrical activity in the brain. Dr. Hodges received her MD from the Duke University School of Medicine where her basic science research focused on cortical language mapping in epilepsy and 3D image reconstruction, and her clinical research focused on neurotrauma and cost effectiveness. She was awarded the AANS/CNS Joint Section on Neurotrauma & Critical Care Spinal Trauma Award. Her current interests include trauma, neuroinnovation, and neuroimaging.

I was born in Mexico and came to the US with my parents as undocumented immigrants when I was three years old. I grew up in Southern California where I lived most of my life. After graduation from high school I enlisted in the Air Force and shortly after was accepted to the US Air Force Academy where I earned a bachelors degree in Civil Engineering. After graduation I served as a Civil Engineering Officer for 5 years and was stationed in Guam, Korea, and England. I completed my medical training at the University of California San Francisco before coming to Yale for Neurosurgery residency. My interest include health equity, expanding care to underserved populations, and novel minimally invasive approaches to surgical interventions.

Joseph Haynes, MD, was born and raised in Guyana, South America, and attended high school in Barbados, WI. While he always had an early interest in medicine and serving others, the paucity of available neurosurgical care while growing up in Guyana sparked his interest in the field. Dr. Haynes received his undergraduate degree in Neuroscience & Biology from City University New York (CUNY) Queens College and his medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry. He chose Yale Neurosurgery for the camaraderie of the neurosurgical team, wealth of educational opportunities, and strength in clinical education and experience.

Shashank Rajkumar, MD, was born in Bangalore, India, and grew up across Australia, Japan, Singapore, the UK, and the US. Traveling across the world from a young age, Dr. Rajkumar developed a passion for meeting people and hearing their stories. These experiences shaped a large part of Dr. Rajkumar’s identity and influenced his decision to practice medicine. He studied chemistry at Duke University and eventually combined his love for science with his desire to help people by staying for medical school. During an elective rotation, he fell in love with neurosurgery and met many neurosurgeons who exhibited the kindness, humility, and work ethic that he wanted to embody as a physician. Dr. Rajkumar chose to continue his training at Yale Neurosurgery because of the tight-knit community and research resources available at Yale.

Angelica Alvarez Reyes was raised in the small agricultural town of Somerton, Arizona, an underserved community which has shaped her commitment to promote healthcare equality. She achieved an undergraduate degree in Neuroscience & Cognitive Science from the University of Arizona, which led her to pursue research at Yale University where she studied polarity protein involvement in axon specification. While there, she received mentorship from the neurosurgery department which sparked her desire to pursue medicine, specifically a career in neurosurgery. She received her medical degree from the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson where she researched clinical outcomes in patients with adult spinal deformity. Additionally, her research on a novel classification system for acute traumatic central cord syndrome won her the J.A.N.E Award at the AANS/CNS Joint Section on Disorders of the Spine & Peripheral Nerves Conference. She chose to train at Yale because she knew from experience that the program would be highly supportive of her clinical and research aspirations.

Bushra Fathima, MD was born in Chennai, India and spent her early life there and then in Saudi Arabia before moving to the USA as a young child. She developed a passion for service after watching her parents serve their community through teaching and volunteering. This, along with a love of science cultivated by many excellent teachers over the course of her education led her to healthcare. She attended the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and studied Medical Laboratory Science. During this time she volunteered with the Muslim Community Health Clinic and worked with doctors who encouraged her pursue medicine. Then, she attended Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit where she had the opportunity to meet several neurosurgeons who introduced her to the field. During her time there Their dedication to their patients, and passion for research inspired her to pursue the field. She chose Yale Neurosurgery for the supportive community, clinical excellence, and wealth of research opportunities.

Samuel Craft, MD grew up in Hamden, CT. He graduated from Middlebury College with a BA in biochemistry. He obtained his MD from the Yale School of Medicine, where he conducted clinical research in spine outcomes with particular emphases on associations between safety-net hospital status and psychiatric comorbidities and adverse outcomes in adults undergoing various spinal surgeries. He was drawn to neurosurgery by the enthusiasm and tenacity with which the neurosurgeons he met on his clinical rotations approached their work, as well as the complex physiology and management of neurosurgical disease processes. As a medical student, he also volunteered at Yale’s student-run free clinic, providing medical care to uninsured members of the New Haven community, and participated in intramural softball, soccer, and frisbee. He chose Yale Neurosurgery for its robust clinical and research opportunities and for the warm, friendly, and supportive community.

Joanna Tabor, MD was born in Poland and raised in New York City. She developed an early interest in neuroscience and completed her B.S. In Neural Science at NYU. She spent a year before medical school studying neural plasticity and functional connectivity in children with ADHD and autism. She received her MD from SUNY Downstate Health Science University. During medical she spent an additional year at Yale where she studied the clinical associations of primary brain tumor genomic profiles under the guidance of Dr. Jennifer Moliterno. Her current interests include tumor and vascular neurosurgery and the genomic associations of various neurosurgical disorders.