Chief Residents' Corner

Austin Wininger grew up in the East Bay of Northern California. After completing undergrad at UCLA and medical school at Indiana University, he feels lucky to have matched at Houston Methodist where he met his wife during his intern year and will serve as chief resident for the 23-24 academic year. His favorite aspect about the program is the mentorship model that helps you develop relationships with attendings, build OR skills, and understand how to run a practice. After residency, he will be completing a fellowship in adult reconstruction at Mayo Clinic Hospital in Arizona. In his free time, he enjoys checking out the Houston restaurant scene, walking his yorkies around Buffalo Bayou Park, and catching up on the latest issue of the Journal of Arthroplasty.

Alysa Birnbrich is from Tucson, Arizona, and chose to become an orthopedic surgeon because it triggers her meticulous love of tasks while allowing her to use power tools everyday and put bones back together. She also enjoys watching patients regain functionality afer surgery/treatment. Her favorite case is a tossup between ORIF of both bone forearm fracture or a tibial tubercle osteotomy - however, she ultimately decided to pursue a fellowship in hand surgery. She absolutely loves the panoramic view of Houston from outside our operating rooms on OPC 19. During her free time, you can find her spending time with her family, brunching, or working out!

Brian Phelps is from Clemmons, North Carolina, where he got his love of orthopedic surgery from both of his parents. His dad was an engineer and his mom is an Orthopedic PA - Brian loves to take things apart, see how they work, and put them back together, all while being able to help patients regain functional outcomes. His favorite aspects of Methodist are our mentorship model that fosters one on one relationships with attendings and coresidents. His favorite case to complete is a hemipelvectomy, and has decided to pursue a Spine Surgery fellowship. During his free time, you can find him spending time with his wife, Alisha and daughter, Hadley, playing guitar, rock climbing, and traveling!