Two Indiana University School of Medicine graduates will complete their orthopaedic surgery residency at Indiana University School of Medicine: Melissa Hartman, MD, and Tyler Margetts, MD, will both pursue clinical tracks. Four other residents are joining the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery from other parts of country. This new class of orthopaedic surgery residents share a passion for health care, as they all have volunteered at clinics or contributed to research projects in their respective communities and beyond.
Hartman, who is from Goshen, Indiana, earned her master’s degree in integrated and cellular physiology from IU School of Medicine and her undergraduate degree in human biology at Indiana University Bloomington. She gained an interest in spine surgeries through volunteering with the Midwest Spine Foundation; she supported mission trips to Laos, where she assisted nurses with essential tasks on behalf of the surgical team to prepare the patient. During medical school, she co-authored two journal articles and abstracts through her affiliation with the American Medical Women’s Association, one on SARS-COV-2 binding in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells under low oxygen, published in Experimental Hematology, and another article on identification of signalizing and functional adaptations of hematopoietic stem cells via generation of a low oxygen landscape, published in The FASEB Journal.
Margetts gained some exposure in orthopaedic surgery prior to residency through working as a research assistant in the Kacena Lab via the MedSTAR fellowship. His main responsibilities include pain behavior studies, biomechanical torsion testing, data analysis, writing manuscripts, x-ray and other lab responsibilities. Additionally, he served as clinic manager at the student outreach clinic, a student mentor for the IU School of Medicine and a volunteer for MedLife, which travels to areas of low socioeconomic status to provide free health care clinics to those in need. Margetts has also contributed to peer-reviewed journal articles and abstracts in Current Osteoporosis Reports, including the article, “From the Mind to the Spine: The Intersecting World of Alzheimer’s and Osteoporosis.” He received his bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from IU.
Jacob Benna, MD, who graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, will pursue a clinical track in orthopaedic surgery. While pursuing his Benna undergraduate degree in physiological sciences at UCLA, he worked as a student athletic trainer for the UCLA Sports Medicine Internship Program and developed and managed a peer-to-peer premed mentoring program. He also spent a year abroad studying physiology at University College Dublin. Most recently, he has served as a research assistant for Lenz Research Group in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he led a National Institutes of Health-funded study on post traumatic osteoarthritis in patients who suffered pilon fractures. He also provided data for other investigators that led to a future NIH R01 grant. Since 2021, Benna has served as a clinical manager of a student-run, free outreach clinic in Reno. He is also a co-founder of the high school tutoring and college admissions advising company, NextStep Prep, and a premium logo company, ThreadsbyMeds.
Amber N. Carroll, MD, who graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, will pursue a clinical track in orthopaedic surgery. Carroll, is a native of Russellville, Kentucky. In 2024, she was a lead author of the review article, “Generative Artificial Intelligence and Prompt Engineering: A Primer for Orthopaedic Surgeons,” published in JB & JS Reviews. Since 2024, Carroll has served as a lead researcher at the University of Kentucky Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, where she led six projects on improving patient care and outcomes in orthopaedics, including novel solutions to reduce postoperative opioid use. In 2019, Carroll served as an Atlantis Fellow at the Xarxa Santa Tecla Hospital in Tarragona, Spain, where she gained hands-on experience in orthopaedic trauma. While there, she earned a certificate in medical English assistant and English proofreader for scientific research. Carroll received her bachelor’s degree in biology, botany and chemistry from Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Brett A. Hoffman, MD, who graduated from the University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences, will pursue a clinical track in orthopaedic surgery. He received his bachelor’s degree in science from the University of Toledo and already has 14 publications and 18 citations. While attending medical school, Hoffman served in the UT College of Medicine’s Ambassador program, to support current and prospective medical students and graduate students. During his third year, Hoffman coordinated a multi-institutional research team to explore the treatment of Ewing sarcoma and later presented his research at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting. Upon graduating, he received the Outstanding Orthopaedic Student Award. Hoffman is founder of the Toledo Public Schools Pre-Health Mentorship Program, which is designed to nurture the passion of under-resourced high school students interested in medicine. In this role, he organized and oversaw the program, as well as sessions that were taught by medical student volunteers, including himself. Hoffman also completed an Orthopaedic Trauma Research Externship at OhioHealth in 2022, working closely with the trauma team at Grant Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio.
Alec Wright, MD, who graduated from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, will pursue a research track in orthopaedic surgery. Most recently, he served as a team leader at Clinica Esperanza, a primary clinic in Memphis. Wright guides preclinical medical students through a patient's history and physical exam. Then, they develop an individualized treatment plan for the patient before presenting it to the attending physician. In 2022, Wright was selected for a medical student research fellowship at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, where he worked on a basic science project looking for a drug target for osteosarcoma. He served as lead author of the Longitudinal Scholar’s Project paper, “The Co-expression of ROR1 and FZD2 in WNT5B Signaling in Osteosarcoma.” Wright received his bachelor’s degree in science from Lipscomb University in Nashville.
“This time of year brings mixed feelings as it saddens me to say goodbye to our graduating residents, but I’m proud of their accomplishments and look forward to hearing how their careers progress as they take their next steps into fellowship,” said Brian H. Mullis, MD, residency program director and tenured professor of Orthopaedic Surgery with the IU School of Medicine. “However, I’m excited to welcome the new residents who always bring fresh enthusiasm and energy. One of the best aspects of my job is watching the residents progress over their residency from freshly graduated medical students to competent orthopaedic surgeons who can practice independently.”
