When Tanner Brownrigg set off from his home state of Kansas to enroll at St. George’s University School of Medicine in 2003, he had a vision of where the path would lead him. He wanted to study anesthesiology and return to the Midwest to continue his career.

Nine years later, he’s an anesthesiologist at Ad Vivum Anesthesiology, a group of 10 physicians, practicing anesthesia at a community hospital and an ambulatory surgery center in Kansas City. The plan worked. He’s where he always wanted to be, doing what he always wanted to do.

“I have nothing but great things to say about St. George’s,” he said. “I loved my experience there. I went there with a clear idea in my head of what my future held, and it came to fruition.”

Dr. Brownrigg believes one of the main draws to anesthesiology is the ability to work with a variety of different patient populations. On a daily basis, he is able provide care to everyone from infants to expectant mothers to geriatric patients. A typical day’s cases might range from outpatient knee arthroscopies and pediatric ear tube placement to epidurals and cesarean section for child birth, or even heart and brain surgeries. He is an integral part of the process before, during, and after the operation.

“Before the surgery, we take the patients’ history, review their labs and X-rays, and making sure they’re medically stable to proceed with the surgery. Once we get into the operating room, I monitor the patient throughout the operation and am able to respond to acute changes that may take place during the surgery. Then in the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU), I help control the pain and make sure the patient is stable for discharge home or to the hospital floor.”

Upon earning his Doctor of Medicine from SGU, Dr. Brownrigg began his anesthesiology residency at St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City in 2007. Paving the way to matching with his chosen specialty and location was an outstanding performance on both Step 1 and 2 of the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE). Dr. Brownrigg finished in the 98th percentile for each exam.

Prior to Match Day, he was confident that he would be paired with his one of his top three residency choices. In fact, he had to turn down a number of residency interviews.

“The fact that I scored so well on the USMLE Step 1 and 2 exams was directly related to the quality of the professors at St. George’s and how the classes are structured,” Dr. Brownrigg said. “I never came across a professor that wasn’t willing to help you any way they could. They are at St. George’s purely to teach and it shows.”

He has paid it forward by performing student interviews for the University and attending information sessions in the Kansas City area.

“I’m very grateful that St. George’s gave me the chance to pursue my dream, and as a result I feel it’s important to give back to the school,” Dr. Brownrigg said.

A native of Ottawa, KS, Dr. Brownrigg earned his Bachelor of Science in biology from the University of Kansas in 2003, graduating with highest distinction. While in college, he worked as a nurse assistant at a local hospital and performed a variety of volunteer work in the community.

Dr. Brownrigg is certified by the American Board of Anesthesiology and is a member of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, Missouri Society of Anesthesiologists, and Kansas City Society of Anesthesiologists. He and his wife, Kara, a nurse at St. Luke’s Hospital, reside in Kansas City, Missouri.

Published January 2013

As a native of Montreal, Dr. Richard Feldstein spent much of his academic life at prestigious Canadian universities, applying his natural affinity for the sciences toward a degree in research. After earning a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry from Concordia University, he then received a Master of Science from McGill University in experimental medicine, a division of the Department of Medicine. In between his studies, he volunteered at various research labs and local hospitals in the area.

As he immersed himself in the field of research, Dr. Feldstein realized his talents would be best suited in another area of expertise. Wanting to experience the more personal side of medicine that is interacting directly with patients, Dr. Feldstein altered his course and began the process of applying to medical schools. The application deadlines for Canadian and US schools had passed, and he did not want to postpone his aspirations any longer. Eager to embark on his new career path, Dr. Feldstein began to research foreign medical schools.

Dr. Feldstein began an email correspondence with two students who were attending St. George’s University School of Medicine (SGUSOM) in Grenada, and was impressed by their positive feedback. Upon further research, Dr. Feldstein discovered that some McGill University faculty members in the Department of Nutrition taught as visiting professors at St. George’s University—and that these professors were working one floor above him at the research laboratory. Without hesitation, he approached the professors with a plethora of questions about the University, and valued their impression of St. George’s. “These professors had nothing but great things to say about SGU,” Dr. Feldstein recalls. “They said the School and the facilities were outstanding and on par with, if not better than, other medical schools in the US and Canada.”

Dr. Feldstein began his medical studies at SGUSOM in 1998. “When I got to Grenada, I was so impressed—more so than I expected. I couldn’t believe what they had created.” Dr. Feldstein continued to say that the University provided everything a medical student could possibly need: state-of-the-art facilities, excellent faculty, great educational and support services. He also said that the school provides all the tools necessary to succeed; the key is to use each and every one of them.

Of course, the exquisite surroundings were also enticing. As a PADI certified open-water diver, Dr. Feldstein also had an appreciation for the natural beauty of the Island. “Grenada is such a pleasant place. The people are kind, polite and wonderful. I was happy to be there, and really enjoyed the experience.”

Dr. Feldstein completed his clinical training at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York. “It was a great hospital that had everything I needed. It was very pro-student and I learned a lot.”

After he graduated from SGUSOM in 2002, Dr. Feldstein went on to do his residency in internal medicine at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center; University Hospital of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. He began his residency training with three other SGU graduates. The year prior, only one SGUSOM graduate was accepted into the program. Since then, an increasing number of SGU graduates have joined the program. The department of medicine liked the quality, caliber and strong work ethic of the SGUSOM graduates. “They liked what SGU was producing as doctors,” he said.

Dr. Feldstein was then appointed as one of five chief medical residents at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center. “That year, two of the five chief residents were SGU graduates,” he said. During that time, one of his responsibilities was to interview prospective applicants to the medicine program. “I began interviewing both American and foreign students, including SGUSOM applicants. The students from SGU were equally strong and competitive as compared to the American applicants in regards to grades, board scores and letters of recommendation. They were just as good, if not better.”

Dr. Feldstein is currently a senior fellow in the Department of Gastroenterology at North Shore University Hospital; a teaching hospital for New York University Medical School. He is also a clinical instructor for the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Sciences in New York City. “Everything I’ve ever wanted in my career I’ve gotten, and I have St. George’s to thank for that.”

Published December 2009

By the time Peter Prieto, MD ’06, completes his surgical oncology fellowship at the prestigious University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston in 2017, he will have spent more than 15 years in training between medical school, residency, and fellowships at the National Cancer Institute, and MD Anderson. However, cancer is that complex, that prevalent, and for a man who has lost his father to the disease, that important to him.

While most of his fellow SGU alumni finished their postgraduate training long ago, Dr. Prieto will have navigated “arguably the most difficult route in surgery.” With the skills and knowledge he has gained, he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“The path is difficult and it’s long,” Dr. Prieto said. “I think the fact that you still enjoy something despite it being so difficult is proof that it’s something that you really love. To this day, the best treatment for curing cancer, down to every last cancer cell, is surgery, and there is no better feeling than removing a tumor from a patient’s body and rendering them cancer-free.”

Dr. Prieto’s interest in surgical oncology stems from his father’s battle with sarcoma in 1999, his senior year as an anthropology major at Stony Brook University in New York. It wasn’t long before his father passed. “That motivated me to go to med school,” Dr. Prieto said.

He learned of St. George’s University from a family friend who had graduated from SGU. Although he hadn’t been outside the country for more than 10 days, Dr. Prieto seized the opportunity to start his medical education. “SGU gave me a shot,” he said. “At that point, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be a surgeon; I just knew I wanted to treat cancer.”

Dr. Prieto is now in the second year of a three-year complex general surgical oncology fellowship at MD Anderson, a 654-bed facility that US News & World Report ranked as the number one adult cancer treatment center in the country in 2015, the 12th time in the last 14 years it has earned that distinction. His route there included two years in a general surgery residency program at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, and three more years completing immunotherapy and surgical oncology fellowships at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD, where he served as associate investigator for several of the surgery branch’s research endeavors under the mentorship of Dr. Steven A. Rosenberg.

At each stop, Dr. Prieto is reminded of the importance of his work. With one particular patient at NCI, melanoma had metastasized to his spine and liver. However, he and his team were able to procure tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) from a hepatic lesion, grow them in-vitro, and prepare them for re-infusion by way of adoptive cell therapy.

“The patient’s TIL grew like wildfire, yet before we could even give them back to the patient, his tumors miraculously began to melt away,” Dr. Prieto said. “That showed me the power of the immune system, a spontaneous regression, which got me interested in immunotherapy of solid organ malignancies in particular.”

After his NCI fellowships, Dr. Prieto went on to Yale-New Haven Hospital to complete his residency, serving as chief resident in his final year. Upon completing his training at MD Anderson, Dr. Prieto hopes to obtain a position at an academic medical center, treating mainly melanoma, endocrine, and breast cancer. Whether it’s near home in the northeast or elsewhere, practicing at “the best academic center I can” is his top priority.

His journey in medicine began at SGU, and he encourages others to use the same opportunity as a launching pad to their own careers.

“If you’re going abroad for your medical education, SGU without question has the best reputation. It’s the only place you want to go,” Dr. Prieto said.  “The people I met on campus and in class are still some of my best friends. The classes were challenging, but we were prepared to do well on the boards, and during clinicals I felt on par with students from US schools.”

Published November 2015

For nearly 25 years, Paul Vallone, MD ’81, owned and operated a cosmetic surgery practice that had three locations throughout the State of New Jersey. He retired in 2009 but has immersed himself in a new career—mayor of the Borough of Far Hills in New Jersey—that has him utilizing the same skills he learned as a medical student and professional.

“When you go to medical school, you’re taught to be thorough, to analyze, interpret a problem, gather facts, and then make a decision,” Mayor Vallone said. “You act in the best interest of the patient. The qualities you acquire in medical school and through your residency work hand in hand with politics. You’re really doing a diagnosis of a problem affecting a community, and as a politician, it’s incumbent upon you to gather the facts, weigh the pros and cons, and decide on what is the best option.”

“It’s also very clear to me that medicine is not an island unto itself,” he added. “It is affected by the politics around us greatly.

Mayor Vallone enrolled at St. George’s University School of Medicine as part of its charter class. He completed his general practice residency at Brooklyn Hospital before accepting a two-year plastic surgery fellowship at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, NJ.

“The St. George’s experience was one of the greatest in my life; I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” Mayor Vallone said. “The four years at St. George’s certainly helped me grow as a person because it teaches you to be collaborative and it gives you a bigger, broader picture of what the world is.”

In 1986, he opened his own practice, Paul J. Vallone, MD, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, where he performed cosmetic and reconstructive surgery for 23 years. During that time he also served as chairman of the Department of Plastic Surgery at St. Clare’s Hospital in Denville, NJ, and chief of surgery at Newton Hospital in Newton, NJ.

Mayor Vallone’s first foray into politics came when he was elected to the Far Hills (NJ) Borough Council in 2010. Later that year, he ran for mayor of Far Hills, a community of 919 residents according to the 2010 United States Census, and received 94 percent of the vote.

“I’m proud that people voted for me and believe I’m the best person for the job,” said Mayor Vallone, who also serves on the Legislative Committee for the State of New Jersey. “It’s a job that brings many new and different challenges, and as a result of that, it makes you grow as a person. As you go through life, from one career to another, the ultimate thing is to continue to grow as a person, to continue to interact with the people in the community, and to do something for the benefit of the community.

He also said that should an opportunity to run for a higher office, whether for New Jersey General Assembly or the State Senate, arise in the future, he would entertain it.

“There are a lot of moving parts with that kind of decision and a lot of additional commitments, but if the opportunity presents itself to move to the next level, I would consider it without question,” Mayor Vallone said.

He will always take with him the international education and experience he received at St. George’s University.

“St. George’s enhanced my ability to see the bigger picture, to listen to people better and to process different points of view,” Mayor Vallone said. “In medicine, that is invaluable because it gets you to think outside the box. There are the common diagnoses, but maybe you have to think in a different way for a particular patient. The same can be said about situations you’ll face in politics. The experience at St. George’s is a tremendous growth opportunity in which students receive an excellent medical education that enhances your personal view of the world.”