April 21, 2023
Donna J. Formichella, M.D. ’78
Pioneering general surgeon
Doctor of Science
Donna J. Formichella, M.D. ’78 was the first woman to graduate from the general surgery residency program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. A native of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and the granddaughter of Italian immigrants, she also was one of the first in her family to attend college and obtain a bachelor’s degree.
Dr. Formichella studied biology at PC, was a member of the Honors Program, and graduated magna cum laude. She went on to medical school at Columbia University, earning her medical degree in 1982. At the time, fewer than 5 percent of surgeons in the Unites States were women, and of the 85,000 members of the AmericanCollege of Surgeons, fewer than 3,500 were women. Despite this, Dr. Formichella applied to surgical residency programs.She spent two years at the Tufts-New England Medical Center program in Bostonbefore transferring to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. In 1988, she achieved the distinction of being the first woman to graduate as a general surgeon from Cedars-Sinai.
Dr. Formichella chose to remain on the west coast, accepting a position withthe Southern California Permanente Medical Group, where she became a partner in 1990. In her more than three decades as a general surgeon, certified by the American Board of Surgery and Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, she hasperformed thousands of operations. She served as assistant chief of surgery for Kaiser Permanente in Orange County from 2007-2017 and chaired the Cancer Committee and the Tumor Board for 25 years, among other administrative work. She was a clinical instructor in the general surgery residency program at the University of California, Irvine, for 25 years, mentoring young surgeons, many of them women. When she retired in December 2021, she was named a partner emeritus.
At her PC reunion in 2013, Dr. Formichella reunited with her classmate, John Hannen ’78. They married in 2015. Mr. Hannen became president of PC’s Southern California Alumni Chapter. They opened their home for gatherings to connect PC alumni, students, incoming students, and parents, even hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for 90 Friar basketball fans attending the John Wooden Classic in Anaheim in 2015. They co-chaired their reunion in 2018 and are active in this year’s reunion as well.
Dr. Formichella, the mother of a son, Mark Jurjescu, continues to work as a general surgeon two weeks each month, dividing her time between California and her home in New Smyrna Beach, Florida.
