The Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery welcomed two new fellows at the beginning of July 2020: Ryan Clark, MD and John Vossler, MD, MS, MBA.
Ryan Clark rose from very humble beginnings, overcoming socioeconomic barriers growing up in a two-bedroom trailer house and having divorced parents with addiction problems. He became self-sufficient at an early age, and soon became the only person in his family to graduate both high school and then college. His path towards excellence continued in medical school at the University of Minnesota, Duluth campus where he served as Vice President in his first year and President in his second year for the AMA and Minnesota Medical Association local student chapters, after which he completed the Rural Academy of Leadership course. His servant leadership style became the norm through volunteer work at the HOPE clinic (a student-run free clinic with faculty supervision), the Visible Heart Lab, participating in the Rural Physician Associate Program, and time spent in Haiti on medical mission trips. His initial thoughts after matching in General Surgery at Virginia Mason were on rural surgery, but he soon became passionate about pursuing a career in cardiothoracic surgery after his clinical rotations. His most recent ABSITE score was in the 95th percentile.
Previous mentors speak highly of Ryan, noting his thoughtfulness and professionalism with patients, his dedication, his commitment to his responsibility as surgeon, and his excellent technical skills. Ryan is noted to have a superior knowledge base and clinical decision-making skills and judgment, to be consistently reliable, and to be a “quintessential team player” in the operating room. Another mentor noted that
Outside of work, Ryan and his wife enjoy hiking with their golden retriever, backpacking, mountaineering and rock climbing. He recently completed the 97-mile loop around Mount Rainier in 8 days, 40 miles on the Teton Crest Trail, and learned how to indoor and outdoor rock climb. Ryan wants to be a General Thoracic surgeon at the completion of his fellowship training.
John Vossler is incredibly accomplished. He graduated cum laude from the University of California at Irvine with a degree in Chemical Engineering, and then completed his medical degree at Wake Forest. John pursued a research fellowship and completed two years in the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine. As if that weren’t enough, during those two years, he obtained an MBA from East Carolina University College of Business and a Masters Degree in Molecular Medicine and Translational Science. His intelligence is reflected by induction into the honor societies for both engineering (Tau Beta Phi) and business (Beta Gamma Sigma) schools. He then matched into the General Surgery residency at the University of Hawaii, and his work has been exceptional. In 2018, he received the Chairman’s Award for the highest ABSITE score in the program, was selected to be one of the two resident Epic-certified physician builders for the hospital, has immersed himself into quality improvement and outcomes research, and currently serves as the Vice-Administrative Chief for the surgery residency.
John’s mentors note that he is inquisitive, exemplary, compassionate, and well-respected. He is noted to have high-level technical skills and excellent judgment, with faculty expressing that they trust him with even the most complex patients. John is said to be consistently well-prepared and professional, with “superb” attention to detail.
John and his wife are originally from California. John would ideally love to be an academic Cardiac surgeon on the West Coast after completion of his fellowship training.