Vina Chhaya, MD

Surgery Resident
Chicago Medical School

Welcome to UVA Surgery! I grew up in Villa Park, IL about 20 miles west of the fabulous and only slightly chilly city of Chicago. Before deciding to pursue medicine, I received my MPH and was an epidemiologist working with the CDC focusing on pediatric HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. I was lucky to work in Ethiopia, Mali, Zambia, Kazakhstan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to name a few sites. I found a home in surgery during MS3 clerkships at Chicago Medical School and never looked back. I even made it through the epicenter of the COVID pandemic in NYC where I was a resident at New York Presbyterian-Queens for PGY1-3. I came to UVA for my dedicated research years focusing on developing a targeted therapeutic for atherosclerosis and am so fortunate that I am able to stay for my senior surgical training. I am in awe every day at this opportunity to learn from gifted and renowned attending surgeons who couldn’t be nicer people! My co-residents have made my transition here feel effortless and I am lucky I have them to lean on both in and out of the hospital. The collegial environment and excellent mentorship is just a small piece of what makes UVA truly special for surgical training!

While I enjoy traveling, hiking, and gardening, my true love is cooking with the spices I collect from my travels and trying to perfect my homemade, completely from scratch pizza (obviously I’m an expert since I grew up in Chicago and lived in NYC)! My favorite activity would have to be trying out new recipes with my family in Chicago and I’m excited to cook a few things up (in and out of the lab/hospital) with my new family here at UVA!

Pictured – me with my family and after hiking Mt. Rinjani in Indonesia