Peter Crookes, M.D. is Associate Professor of Surgery and the director of the Bariatric Surgery Program at USC University Hospital.  He is an attending on the Emergency Surgical Service and the Foregut Service at LAC/USC Medical Center.  He graduated from medical school in his native Belfast, Northern Ireland and did fellowships in Melbourne, Australia as well as USC before being appointed to the faculty at USC.  His clinical and research interests include esophageal and gastric disease and the physiology of morbid obesity and its surgical correction.  He has had a long history of teaching students and residents, and has been the recipient of numerous awards within the department for excellence in teaching, as well as the prestigious Kaiser Permanente Excellence in Teaching award on three different occasions.  He gives formal lectures in the preclinical years on Weight Loss Surgery, and lectures to the Surgery I students on esophageal diseases in their third year.  He is deeply involved in the Student Surgical Interest Group and gives classes in medical and surgical history.  He is also known for his informal mentorship of students through research projects and other career-enhancing activities.

pcrookes@surgery.usc.edu

skinner@usc.edu

Maura E. Sullivan is the Vice Chair for Educational Affairs and the Executive Director of the Surgical Skills Training and Education Center for the Department of Surgery.  She has a dual appointment in Educational Affairs, Office of the Dean, Keck School of Medicine where she is the Director of the Career Pathways Advising Program and a mentor in the Professionalism and the Practice of Medicine course.  She also holds a joint appointment in the Rossier School of Education as an Assistant Professor.  She obtained her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology at the Rossier School of Education at USC.  She is actively involved in the Association of Surgical Education and holds an appointment with the American College of Surgeons as an ATLS Educator.

Josette Etcheverry, a faculty member at Los Angeles County+University of Southern California Medical Center, Keck School of Medicine, is the Medical Student Educator for Surgery I. She teaches various case-based didactic sessions, workshops and bedside tutorials to the Surgery I and Surgery II students. Josette has extensive experience in critical care and emergency nursing. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah and her Masters Degree in Critical Care from California State, Long Beach. Prior to joining USC, she taught critical care and emergency nursing at Los Angeles County/University of Southern California for 15 years. She has been a critical care nurse since 1975. She is an active member of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses, Emergency Nurses Association, Society of Critical Care Medicine, Sigma Theta Tau and the Association of Surgical Education.

M. Erika Navarro joined the Surgery Clerkship in June of 2007.  She will serve as the Surgery II Coordinator on a part-time basis.  Erika is responsible for coordinating the daily activities for surgery students in the last six weeks of their surgery rotation such as student lectures, labs and tutorials.  She will also provide assistance with maintenance of student files, the student call room and classrooms. Concurrently Ms. Navarro works for the City of Maywood as the City Clerk.

Ms. Gutierrez has worked for LAC+USC Medical Center since 1985. She first worked in the Outpatient Nursing Department and began working for the Department of Surgery as an Administrative Assistant in the year 2000. In January 2006, she became the Selective/Elective Coordinator. Espie is also Dr. Salim’s secretary in the Division of Trauma and Surgical Critical Care.