Nancy Rivera, MD, FACS, Program Director
Dr. Rivera, a New Mexican native, attained her Medical Doctorate at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine in 2011. Dr. Rivera’s General Surgery Residency training was completed at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine (2011-2016), where she was named Outstanding Chief Resident in Emergency General Surgery in 2016. Following residency, Dr. Rivera relocated to Las Vegas where she completed her Surgical Critical Care/Acute Care Surgery Fellowship training at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. (2016-2018).
She cares for patients in the field of general surgery, minimally invasive surgery, trauma, and critical care. Dr. Rivera’s areas of interest include emergency surgery and breast surgery, as well as colorectal surgery, gall bladder surgeries, abdominal wall reconstruction, hernia repair, reflux surgeries and more. Dr Rivera is bilingual in English & Spanish.
Brandy Padilla-Jones, MD, FACS, Associate Program Director
Dr. Jones is a trauma and general surgeon with dual board certifications in General Surgery and Trauma & Surgical Critical Care and recently became certified in robotic surgery. She is a true Southwest girl at heart, having grown up in Rural Colorado. She attended Fort Lewis College and majored in Cell and Molecular Biology. She later attended the University of New Mexico for medical school and General Surgery Residency. She completed her fellowship in Surgical Critical Care at University of Texas Houston.
Dr. Jones is passionate about providing up to date, evidence based care for her patients and strives to keep up on the latest research and technologies in her field. She also enjoys teaching and training new generations of surgeons.
During her free time Dr. Jones enjoys spending time with her family and the many, many family pets. Cooking is a passion for her, Italian food being her favorite. She is a self proclaimed 'Foodie' and also enjoys wine tasting and traveling when she is able.
Maria Cumba, MD, Associate Program Director
Dr. Cumba is a board-certified General Surgeon specializing in Acute Care Surgery at Mountainview Hospital. Born and raised in a small rural town in Illinois, she earned her medical degree from the University of Illinois. She completed both her General Surgery Residency and a Critical Care Fellowship at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. After practicing General Surgery for several years in Michigan, Dr. Cumba relocated to Las Vegas to be closer to her family. She is dedicated to providing high-quality surgical care for her patients and is passionate about empowering new surgeons to continually pursue excellence in their field.
Rodrigo Rodriguez, MD, Simulation Director
Dr. Rodriguez grew up in Guatemala where he obtained his medical degree from the Universidad de San Carlos. After working as a research fellow for the University of New Mexico Cancer Center, he completed his surgical residency at the University of New Mexico Hospital. Dr. Rodriguez then proceeded to complete his Surgical Critical Care/Acute Care Surgery Fellowship at Vanderbilt University, where he earned the Canavan and Gavin Fellow Award. Dr. Rodriguez is fluent in both English and Spanish.
Sheri Stucke, PhD, APRN, Research Director
- Dr. Stucke exhibits expert knowledge in trauma and general surgery. While she graduated with her bachelor's degree in nursing and psychology, she trod down a path that lead her to obtain her Master of Science degree as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in addition to her Nurse Practitioner Degree and ultimately earn a Doctor of Philosophy by 2005. Dr. Stucke has since taken on roles in nursing and academics, from being trauma and general surgery nurse practitioner in Pennsylvania to conducting research in Pennsylvania and New York. She was also employed as an assistant professor at the School of Nursing at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Dr. Stucke has been the trauma and general surgery nurse practitioner with Desert Surgical Associates since 2005 and continues to focus on patient care, clinical research, education, and giving back to the community
Garrett Friedman, MD, FACS, FACRS, Core Faculty - Colon and Rectal Surgery
Dr. Friedman is a dual board-certified Colon & Rectal Surgeon and nationally recognized expert in minimally invasive colorectal surgery. He is an expert in the minimally invasive management of colon cancer, rectal cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, diverticulitis and polyps. Dr. Friedman is also an expert in hereditary colon cancer syndromes such as FAP (Familial Adenomatous Polyposis) and Lynch Syndrome, among others, and has edited a textbook on the management of these complex syndromes. He is a co-author of the Clinical Practice Guidelines for colon cancer survivorship and the lead author for the Clinical Practice Guidelines for Lynch Syndrome for the American Society of Colon & Rectal Surgeons.
Sai Kottapalli, DO, RPVI, Core Faculty - Vascular Surgery
Dr. Kottapalli completed his undergraduate education from University of Toronto in Human Biology in 2011. He then went on to obtain his Masters in medical sciences from Boston University School of Medicine in 2013. He then completed his medical degree from University of New England COM, Maine in 2017. He was then accepted to the direct Integrated Vascular Surgery residency program at University of Buffalo. He is a member of Society of Vascular Surgery, Eastern Vascular Surgery, Society of Clinical Vascular Surgery and American Venous Forum.
Dr. Kottapalli prides himself in a patient centered approach to treatment of vascular disease. His services include diagnosis, surveillance and treatment of vascular pathology using both endovascular and open techniques. Dr. Kottapalli was raised in Toronto, Canada and is a native of India. He speaks Hindi and Telugu fluently. Dr. Kottapalli has moved to Las Vegas with his wife who is a primary care physician and they hope to establish long term relationships with their patients for the foreseeable future.
Erik Pearson, MD, FACS, Core Faculty - Pediatric Surgery
Dr. Pearson came to Las Vegas in 2017 after fellowship training in pediatric surgery at Emory University and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. He was raised in Olympia, WA and studied at the University of Washington before completing medical school at the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland. Dr. Pearson completed his general surgery training at the University of Utah and spent two years researching fetal immunology and fetal interventions at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Clinically, Dr. Pearson has interests in minimally invasive surgery in neontates, infants and children, surgical oncology, ECMO and pediatric trauma.
Dr. Pearson and his wife Elisabeth have a busy family with three children, Henry (9y), Charlotte (9y) and Ellis (5y) as well as Forrest their bernadoodle. They all can be found enjoying the great outdoors in Red Rock Canyon.
Mathew Selleck, DO, FACS, FSSO, Core Faculty - Complex General Surgical Oncology
Dr. Selleck is a surgical oncologist dedicated to comprehensive care of cancer patients. He is board certified in General Surgery and Complex General Surgical Oncology which provides him with specific expertise in managing the most up-to-date nuances of several types of cancer. While his clinical interests and abilities are broad, he specializes in cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) as well as minimally invasive and robotic surgery for cancer. Dr. Selleck has numerous peer reviewed publications and is dedicated to the education of surgical trainees.