Meet the Internal Medicine Chief Residents for the 2021-2022 Year

The Department of Medicine is pleased to introduce the four internal medicine residents who will become chief residents in the 2021-2022 academic year.

Chief residency is an additional one-year experience that offers a blend of clinical education, mentoring, patient care, and administration. The chief residents are chosen for their leadership skills, moral integrity, and clinical acumen and are the most representative faces of the Internal Medicine Residency Program for the year. These residents will assume chief roles in July 2021. Congratulations!

Helen (Jensie) Burton, M.D.
Chief Resident, Internal Medicine

Helen "Jensie" Burton grew up in Charleston, SC, and attended Kenyon College in the hectic metropolis of Gambier, OH (actually a no-stoplight, self-described village surrounded by Amish farmers). There she majored in English, with a thesis on Middlemarch and medicine, and afterwards worked for a nonprofit supporting the National Library of Medicine, part of the NIH. She then completed Columbia University’s Masters Program in Narrative Medicine, which seeks to improve patient care and allay physician burnout through attention to stories of illness. She attended medical school at the University of Virginia, where she continued to develop her interest in medical humanities. Dr. Burton currently teaches medical humanities to second-year medical students as part of MUSC’s Flex curriculum. She lives downtown with her husband John Michael, a mechanical engineer. She has two pathologist parents and an older brother who loves video and board games. She also has an older half-sister who studies dolphin communication at Disney World and two grown nieces studying acting and animation. She enjoys reading, the outdoors, and good coffee.

Susan Evenhouse, M.D.
Chief Resident, Internal Medicine

Dr. Evenhouse attended medical school at MUSC after earning a degree in marine biology from the University of Texas at Austin. She completed residencies in both internal medicine and pediatrics, and she plans to pursue a career in academic general internal medicine and pediatrics after completing her chief year. She is interested in medical education and curriculum development.

Jon Puchalla, M.D.
Chief Resident, VA Quality & Patient Safety

Dr. Puchalla grew up in Minnesota and attended the University of Minnesota Twin Cities medical school. He plans to use the year as a chief resident to help facilitate a practice as a hospitalist with particular interests in clinical education and quality improvement.

 

 

Hampton Sasser, M.D.
Chief Resident, Internal Medicine

Dr. Sasser completed his undergraduate studies at Wake Forest University and medical school at MUSC. After his year as chief resident, he plans to pursue a career in gastroenterology. His research has focused on capsule endoscopy and his other academic interests include medical education and curriculum development.