Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine MD students Julia Todderud and Rachel Bougazzoul won the top student prize at a regional meeting of the American College of Surgeons for their report on a successful surgery to remove a bullet from a teenager’s chest. The 2025 Washington/Oregon Chapter Annual Meeting was held in Chelan, Washington.
The presentation, now published in the Journal of Surgical Case Reports, highlighted a robot-assisted surgery to remove a bullet lodged less than 2 millimeters from a major artery. The patient was a 17-year-old who had been shot in the arm and chest while in a car.
The case was a unique one given the bullet’s challenging location and because the patient was stable for several days before surgery, allowing careful preoperative planning, the students explained.
After discussions with the patient and his family about whether to leave the bullet in or not, and if not, how to remove it, the surgical team opted to use robotic video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) for removal. VATS is a minimally invasive method that uses tiny cameras inserted through small incisions between the ribs, avoiding the need for open-heart surgery and speeding recovery time.
The surgery was completed in less than two hours, and patient was able to leave the hospital the following day.
Bougazzoul, who presented the report, is a third-year medical student based in the Everett clinical region. Todderud, the lead author, is a fourth-year medical student based in Vancouver. She recently matched into an orthopedic surgery residency at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and will be the college’s first female orthopedic surgeon.
The project was supported by Duy Nguyen, MD, a cardiothoracic surgeon in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, and Arvin Gee, MD, PhD, a trauma surgeon in the Department of Trauma Surgery at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center.
Anjali Kumar, MD, MPH, vice chair for surgery at the College of Medicine, sponsored the student presenters. She has served on the Washington American College of Surgeon’s executive council for nearly 10 years.
“Drs. Nguyen and Gee were instrumental in this patient’s case and study,” Dr. Kumar said. “Their willingness to go above and beyond for medical education—teaching our students how to present and field questions on such a complex case at the podium of a regional meeting is a testament to our MD program’s community partners. Thank you, Legacy, and congrats to Rachel and Julia!”