Association for Academic Surgery (AAS)

Inspiring and Developing Young Academic Surgeons

Member Spotlight for October – Valerie Grignol, MD

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Each month, the AAS Membership Committee presents the “Member Spotlight” – an opportunity to introduce you to a member of your association.

Dr. Valerie Grignol is an Associate Professor of Surgery in the Division of Surgical Oncology at The Ohio State University. She completed her General Surgery Residency at The Medical College of Wisconsin and went on to complete her Fellowship in Complex General Surgical Oncology at The Ohio State, where she remains as a faculty member. She is board certified in both General Surgery and Complex General Surgical Oncology. She is an active member of AAS and currently serves on the Education committee.

Dr. Grignol’s clinical practice focuses on treatment of soft tissue sarcomas and breast cancer. Her research interests include improving quality of care for patients with cancer through collaborative groups. She also works to develop biomarkers for early detection and monitoring of sarcoma. She is the Fellowship Program Director for Complex General Surgical Oncology Fellowship at OSU.

Dr. Grignol and I were co-fellows at OSU circa 2014-2016 where we shared a very small office. We spent more time together than we did with our significant others. We also often travelled together to surgical meetings and shared hotel rooms, and we joked we were “work wives”. She is an incredible swimmer and we participated in a triathlon relay together during fellowship. Valerie is also an amazing cook. She could easily open her own restaurant if she ever decides that academic surgery is not for her. In addition to her academic excellence and impeccable work ethics, she is an amazing clinician and I still call her to this day to get her expertise on sarcoma. She is a rising star and a leader in the world of sarcoma and passionate about educating the next generation of Surgical Oncologists. I am honored to call her my friend and a colleague.

Mio Kitano MD, MS

Mio Kitano MD, MS

Dr. Kitano is a Surgical Oncologist at UT Health San Antonio and she is board-certified in General Surgery and Complex General Surgical Oncology. Dr. Kitano’s clinical interests are focused on management of upper GI malignancies, neuroendocrine tumors of the gastroenteropancreatic tract, and endocrine surgery. Her research interests include racial disparities and molecular epidemiology, and she is currently studying molecular and epidemiological risk factors in the development of gastric cancer in Hispanics in South Texas. She completed a research fellowship at the National Caner Institute at the National Institutes of Health and graduated from General Surgery Residency from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She completed a Complex General Surgical Oncology at The Ohio State University.
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About Mio Kitano MD, MS

Dr. Kitano is a Surgical Oncologist at UT Health San Antonio and she is board-certified in General Surgery and Complex General Surgical Oncology. Dr. Kitano’s clinical interests are focused on management of upper GI malignancies, neuroendocrine tumors of the gastroenteropancreatic tract, and endocrine surgery. Her research interests include racial disparities and molecular epidemiology, and she is currently studying molecular and epidemiological risk factors in the development of gastric cancer in Hispanics in South Texas.

She completed a research fellowship at the National Caner Institute at the National Institutes of Health and graduated from General Surgery Residency from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She completed a Complex General Surgical Oncology at The Ohio State University.