Medical Student Leadership
4 Executive Board Members
9 Committee Chairs
26 Committee Members

Health Policy Affairs Committee

Amisha Paul

Amisha Paul is a third-year medical student at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Connecticut, earning a B.S. in Physiology & Neurobiology and a B.A. in Economics, with minors in Anthropology of Global Health and Global Studies.

In medical school, Amisha has pursued her interest in cardiothoracic surgery through numerous research projects and student leadership roles. She is passionate about surgical education, building community, and facilitating mentorship opportunities. She also has a strong interest in global surgery capacity building and addressing disparities in surgical access worldwide. She previously served on the TSMA Global Surgery Committee and currently serves on the Women in Thoracic Surgery International Affairs committee. Outside of school, she enjoys traveling, DIY projects, and spending time near bodies of water. She looks forward to expanding TSMA’s local and national advocacy and empowering students to be future surgeon-advocates.

Elaine Liang

Elaine Liang is an MS3 at Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine in Pasadena, CA. Born in Taiwan and raised in Chino, CA, she attended the University of Chicago, graduating cum laude with a BA in Philosophy and Allied Fields (Biological Sciences) and a minor in Chemistry in 2024. She chanced upon thoracic surgery after her father was diagnosed with lung cancer during her first year of medical school, and has since focused her research interests on lung cancer screening for populations not currently captured by screening guidelines, such as Asian female non-smokers, as well as thoracic oncology more broadly. She was the inaugural summer intern for the Summer Clinical Summer Clinical Thoracic Research (SCORE-ThOr) program at Kaiser Permanente Oakland, where she spent her MS1 summer researching intraoperative molecular imaging for lung malignancies and smoking history discrepancies in the electronic health record. She aims to enter academic thoracic surgery.

Outside of medicine, she enjoys ocean swimming and snorkeling, exploring local matcha cafes, and keeping in touch with friends scattered across the globe. She is excited to join TSMA leadership and looks forward to helping build the organization's newest committee, the Health Policy Affairs Committee.

Patryk Dabek

Patryk Albert Dabek is a medical student and Distinguished Student Scholar at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He graduated from Yale University with an intensive B.S. in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and a B.S. in Economics, where he was recognized as a Jackson Global Health Scholar. His commitment to service is rooted in his prior work as an EMT, volunteering back home in New Jersey, and serving as Chief of Service for Yale Emergency Medical Services, where he oversaw agency operations and expanded public health programming through community CPR classes and overdose reversal education. He also co-founded Smiles of Solidarity, an initiative that mobilized humanitarian aid for Ukraine.

Patryk’s academic interests lie at the intersection of cardiothoracic surgery, computational biology, and health policy. In the Department of Surgery at Washington University, he conducts computational research using spatial transcriptomics to investigate the cellular and molecular biology of aortic disease, including the development of custom analytic pipelines for high-dimensional spatial data. His prior work includes studies on vascular smooth muscle cell differentiation and artificial intelligence-enabled medical devices, published in JAMA Health Forum. Drawing on his economics background, he additionally studies health care financing, payment policy, surgical charity care, and the effects of federal policy on health systems. His prior policy experience includes work with the Connecticut General Assembly and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

At Washington University, Patryk leads the Cardiovascular Interest Group and the Health Economics and Policy Interest Group and remains active in the First-Generation Medical Student Association. Through his involvement with the Thoracic Surgery Medical Students Association, he hopes to help medical students engage meaningfully with cardiothoracic surgery early in their training, develop productive mentorship and research relationships, and explore the role of surgeons as scientists, innovators, and health policy leaders. Outside of medicine, Patryk enjoys watercolor painting, photography, and fishing.

Rayahn Sharif

I am a second-year medical student at The Ohio State University College of Medicine with a strong interest in cardiothoracic surgery and clinical outcomes research. My current research focuses on congenital heart disease with the Single Ventricle Program at Nationwide Children's Hospital, where I study system-wide approaches to improving outcomes for children with complex cardiac defects, including aortic arch abnormalities and hybrid palliation strategies. I am also involved in adult cardiac surgery research at Ohio State, with interests in heart transplantation, donation after circulatory death (DCD), ex vivo heart perfusion, and the use of
large clinical databases to optimize surgical outcomes.

My long-term goal is to pursue an integrated cardiothoracic surgery residency while advancing research that improves access, quality, and innovation in cardiovascular care.

Madeline Petrikas

Madeline Petrikas is a third-year medical student at Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Public Affairs student at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame with majors in Pre-Professional Studies and Political Science and minors in the Glynn Family Honors Program and Health, Humanities, and Society. At Dell, she serves as Senate President, Surgery Interest Group President, and leads a preclinical congenital heart surgery elective to expand early exposure to the field. Her interest in advocacy grew through her work with the Texas Medical Association, where she served as Dell’s Policy Chair and previously represented Dell on the TEXPAC Board of Directors.

As TSMA Health Policy Affairs Committee Chair, Madeline is excited to help launch the committee and develop programming that introduces medical students to advocacy, policy, and systems-level issues in cardiothoracic surgery. Madeline aspires to become an academic cardiothoracic surgeon with a specific interest in systems-level factors affecting surgical outcomes. Outside of medicine, she enjoys Pilates, trying different coffee shops around Austin, and cheering on Notre Dame and Texas football.