Academy Members

Laurel Daniels Abbruzzese, PT, EdD, FNAP

Laurel Abbruzzese currently serves as the Director of the Performing Arts Fellowship Program and is an Associate Professor of Rehabilitation and Regenerative Medicine in the Programs in Physical Therapy at VP&S, CUIMC.  Dr. Abbruzzese earned a BA in Psychology at Columbia College, a MS in Physical Therapy at VP&S, and both a MEd and EdD in Biobehavioral Sciences at Teachers College, Columbia University. Dr. Abbruzzese has over twenty-five years of clinical experience in physical therapy and 15 years as an educator.  At CUIMC, Dr. Abbruzzese teaches Clinical Geriatrics, Kinesiology & Biomechanics, and Professional Leadership & Practice. She is a fierce advocate for social justice and interprofessional education and collaborative practice. She serves on the Columbia Commons Steering Committee and the Rehabilitation & Regenerative Medicine DEI committee. Recognized nationally as a Distinguished Scholar and Fellow in the National Academies of Practice, which advocates for Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice, Dr. Abbruzzese also chairs the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Taskforce. She is a Certified Exercise Expert for Aging Adults (CEEAA) and is part of the national CEEAA faculty. Dr. Abbruzzese also serves as the President of the Performing Arts Special Interest Group (PASIG) of the American Physical Therapy Association Academy of Orthopedics.

Jean- Marie Alves-Bradford, MD

Jean-Marie Alves-Bradford, M.D. is an Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center and the inaugural director of the Columbia Department of Psychiatry’s Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. She is also the Associate Director for Clinical Services and the Director of the Washington Heights Community Service (WHCS) at the New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI) where she sees patients, teaches medical students, residents and fellows and manages inpatient and outpatient psychiatric services in upper Manhattan.  Dr. Alves-Bradford also serves and the training director for the Columbia University’s NIMH funded T32 Research Fellowship in Global Mental Health.   Dr. Bradford received her bachelor’s degree in Psychology at Harvard College and completed her Medical Degree at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University.  She has been a Columbia faculty member since completing her psychiatric residency in Psychiatry at Columbia University where she served as chief resident.  Dr. Alves-Bradford’s professional interests include improving psychiatric care for individuals with serious mental illness in underserved communities in the US and abroad, medical education, faculty development and advancing equity, diversity and inclusion and belonging in medical settings. She teaches medical students in the Foundations of Medicine course, leads health equity faculty development and curriculum for both medical students and residents. Most recently she has designed and implemented a bias response and upstander curriculum at VP&S and has received funding for this work from the Vanneck Bailey Scholar Award from the Apgar Academy and the Innovative Course Design grant from the Columbia Office of the Vice Provost for Teaching, Learning and Innovation.

Jonathan Amiel, MD

Dr. Jonathan Amiel is Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Senior Associate Dean for Innovation in Health Professions Education at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and an Attending Psychiatrist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute and New York-Presbyterian Hospital. He earned his bachelor's degree in biology from Yale University, his medical degree from Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, completed his residency and chief residency at NewYork Presbyterian Hospital / Columbia University / New York State Psychiatric Institute and studied at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research.

Dr. Amiel's teaching focuses on medical students' professional identity formation through their initial course on doctoring and through their experiences in research. His scholarly work focuses on competency-based medical education. He is site principal investigator for a national study on the implementation of Core Entrustable Professional Activities to Enter Residency, chair-elect of the Association of American Medical Colleges Northeast Group on Educational Affairs and past chair of its Organization of Resident Representatives. He chairs the membership committee of the Gold Humanism Honor Society and is past-chair of the American Psychiatric Association's membership committee. In his clinical work, Dr. Amiel works with individuals and couples going through difficult life transitions. He uses a variety of psychotherapies and, if needed, medications.

Linda Aponte-Patel, MD

Linda Aponte-Patel, MD joined the leadership of the CU Pediatric Residency Program as an Associate Program Director (APD) in 2013. In this role, she focused on curriculum development, and directing and administering the elective rotation experience for the entire program. She created three unique elective experiences that promoted an inclusive work environment by exposing residents to various interdisciplinary teams (Transport, Respiratory Therapy, and Nursing electives).  Dr. Aponte-Patel’s work outside of the clinical environment, has largely centered around revitalizing and reimagining the diversity and inclusion efforts in the Department of Pediatrics. In 2013, she founded the Pediatric Diversity and Inclusion Council (PDIC) as an avenue to support underrepresented in medicine (URiM) trainees in academic medicine. As director, she has implemented a trainee-driven diversity and inclusion curriculum to address race, implicit bias, and microaggressions. The PDIC, now with almost 100 members, is open to all interested residents, fellows and faculty in the Department of Pediatrics, organizes the Biannual Diversity and Inclusion Grand Rounds series, and the Annual Department of Pediatrics Celebration of Diversity and Inclusion Symposium. In 2018, she became the director of the Pediatric Critical Care Medicine (PCCM) fellowship program. In 2020, she stepped down from the roles of pediatric residency APD and PCCM program director, and took on the roles of Section Chief of Pediatric Critical Care in the Division of Pediatric Critical Care and Hospital Medicine, associate director for the PCCM fellowship program, and the inaugural Associate Vice Chair for Education, Diversity and Inclusion in the Department of Pediatrics. In this last role, Dr. Aponte-Patel has partnered with Dr. Hetty Cunningham, Associate Vice Chair for Education and the Learning Environment and Dr. Marina Catallozzi, Vice Chair of Education, to deliver anti-racism trainings and division- specific content to support educational priorities and initiatives in the Department of Pediatrics. 

Melissa Arbuckle, MD, PhD

Melissa Arbuckle, MD, PhD is Vice Chair for Education and Director of Resident Education in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Dr. Arbuckle's interests focus on the role of medical education in advancing the translation of research into the practice of psychiatry. Dr. Arbuckle is a principal investigator on Columbia’s NIH funded R25 Research Track.  This program, “Priming the Pump: Training Physician-Scientists in Translational Neuroscience,” aims to support the development of physician-scientists who are dedicated to translational research in psychiatry.  As part of her effort to expand the translation of basic neuroscience to clinical practice, Dr. Arbuckle is also co-chair of the National Neuroscience Curriculum Initiative (NNCI), an NIH funded collaboration to create, pilot, and disseminate a comprehensive set of shared resources to help train psychiatrists to integrate a modern neuroscience e perspective into their clinical work.  Dr. Arbuckle has also been extensively involved in developing quality improvement (QI) training programs for residents in psychiatry. Her training program in QI has been recognized as a “model curriculum” by the Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training. Dr. Arbuckle is also a principal investigator for Columbia’s NIH funded T32 Research Fellowship in Global Mental Health, which is focused on training fellows in implementation and dissemination research in order to identify and develop models for effective mental health care delivery in low- and middle-income countries. 

Anne Armstrong-Coben, MD

Dr. Anne Armstong-Coben is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Columbia University in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Child and Adolescent Health. She is an Advisory Dean at Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and teaches in the Foundations of Clinical Medicine course. Anne is Associate Director of Community Pediatrics residency training for the Department of Pediatrics at Columbia. Her clinical work focuses on children in foster care. She is Medical Director of the Medical Services and Advocacy Center at Children's Aid and Family Services.

Tracey Arnell, MD

Dr. Tracey Arnell, MD is Associate Professor of Surgery in the department of Surgery Acute Care at CUIMC and has been practicing for 21 years.  Arnell graduated from the University of Washington School of Medicine in 1992. She specializes in general surgery, colon and rectal surgery.

Gina Badalato, MD

Dr. Gina M. Badalato is an Assistant Professor of Urology; she has been the medical student clerkship director since 2014 and the associate program director since 2018.  She has served on the American Urologic Association Committee for Medical Student Education and is an active member of the Society of Academic Urology, an organization which sets professional guidelines and policies for recruitment and education in the field of urology.

Sumeet Banker, MD, MPH

Sumeet Banker, MD, MPH is a faculty member in the Division of Critical Care and Hospital Medicine within the Department of Pediatrics. His clinical care, trainee supervision, and mentorship interfaces with medical students, residents, and fellows. His scholarship is focused around family-centered care, medical education innovations, and community/global health. He serves as the Associate Director for Community Pediatrics, an Associate Program Director for the Pediatrics Residency Program, and the Program Director for the inaugural Bi-campus Pediatric Hospital Medicine Fellowship Training Program at Columbia and Cornell.

Jonathan M. Barasch, MD, PhD

Dr. Barasch is the Samueal W. Lambert Professor of Medicine and Pathology and Cell Biology. As section director of the Science Basic to the Practice of Medicine and Dentistry course, he leads a weekly journal club for first-year students to acquire the skills needed to understand experimental design and to critically read the medical scientific literature. Dr. Barasch teaches nephrology in the second year patho-physiology course, in the third year internal medicine clerkship and in the fourth year elective. He is a mentor and admired teacher in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences program on the CUIMC campus.

Beth Barron, MD

Dr. Beth Barron is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons and Associate Director of the CUIMC/NYP Mary & Michael Jaharis Simulation Center. Her clinical role is a member of the Allen Hospitalist Division of Internal Medicine.   She earned her medical degree at UMDNJ in Newark NJ and completed her internal medicine residency at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN.  She has participated in teaching and administration in many levels of the medical school and residency including associate program director of the internal medicine residency, instructor in Foundations of medicine, director of the Allen hospitalist program and acting as the supervising attending for students and residents on internal medicine rotations.  She is currently a member of a national study on the implementation of Core Entrustable Professional Activities to Enter Residency sponsored by the AAMC. She was named as an Ewig Clinical Scholar in 2010 and awarded the Charles W. Bohmfalk Award in 2016 in recognition of her teaching efforts for the internal medicine house staff and Columbia university medical students.

Todd A. Bates, PhD, MSEd, MA

Todd A. Bates is the Director of Student Academic Success and Learning Support at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and Assistant Clinical Professor of Education Assessment (in Medicine). In these roles, Todd seeks to help students, staff, and faculty across the medical center to engage in inquisitive and purposeful learning. Todd currently sits on the Board of Directors for the national Medical Education Learning Specialists professional organization and serves as a Member at Large for the Northeast Group on Educational Affairs. Todd is the recipient of multiple educational awards, including the Martha A. Hooven Award for Excellence from VP&S and the M. Brownell Anderson from the NEGEA.

Amanda Bergner, MS LCGC

Amanda Bergner, MS LCGC is a Professor of Genetic Counseling at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, the founding Program Director for the Columbia University Genetic Counseling Graduate Program, and a genetic counselor in the Department of Neurology. She earned her genetic counseling degree from the University of California, Berkeley and has over 20 years of experience in education, research, and clinical care. She is experienced in curriculum development, design, and assessment and has been involved in the education of health profession students throughout her career. Ms. Bergner is an experienced lecturer, course director, and clinical supervisor and has served on several external advisory committees for graduate health professions programs. She has extensive experience in genetic/genomic research and has mentored numerous health profession students through research projects. Ms. Bergner’s work is also focused on diversifying the genetic counseling profession. She has served as the Chair of the Diversity Task Force for the Accreditation Council for Genetic Counseling and is a founding Co-Director of the IntraProfessional Antiracism Dialogue and Discourse Series (IPADDS). She is a member of the New York State Genetics Task Force, serving as inaugural chair of the Education Committee and a current member of this subgroup, and is a founding member of the Columbia Genetic Counselor Consortium.

Paulette Bernd, MD, PhD

Dr. Paulette Bernd joined Columbia’s Department of Pathology and Cell Biology as a Professor in 2008. Her prior appointment was at the State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, where she was a Distinguished Teaching Professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology. Dr. Bernd earned a BA in Biology from Colgate University and a PhD in Anatomy from Columbia University under the guidance of Dr. Michael Gershon. She then did a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Lloyd Greene at New York University where she began studying the role of neurotrophins in development, a topic she investigated for over twenty years publishing more than 30 peer-reviewed papers and contributing chapters to 5 books.
Dr. Bernd’s challenge at Columbia was to re-create the Gross Anatomy Course to fit into the new, shorter, basic science curriculum. She compensated for the loss in time by having the students alternate dissection, thereby sharing in the work. Students who are not dissecting participate in small group clinical correlation sessions incorporating surface anatomy, radiology, cross-sectional images, ultrasound, case-based learning etc. The revised course retains the clinical relevance of the former course but fits into the shorter time frame and stresses teamwork and active learning. In the past three years, Dr. Bernd wrote a custom-tailored dissection manual in collaboration with students. This iPad app includes succinct instructions, dissection tips, step-wise images of real dissections, a glossary and quizzes. This dissection manual was recently profiled in the Wall Street Journal. Dr. Bernd received the Bohmfalk Award in recognition of her excellence in pre-clinical teaching.

Adam Blumenberg, MD, MA, FACEP

Dr. Blumenberg MD MA FACEP is assistant professor of Emergency Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center, and board certified in Emergency Medicine and Medical Toxicology. He is from New York City and went to Bronx Science High School. He has a passion for humanities as well as science and received a BA and MA in history from New York University, then an MD from SUNY Downstate College of Medicine. He completed his Emergency Medicine residency at Kings County and Downstate Hospitals in Brooklyn, and his Medical Toxicology Fellowship and the Education Scholars Program at Oregon Health and Science University. He is currently core faculty at Columbia University Medical Center in the Department of Emergency Medicine, and a lecturer at the Poison Center of Oregon, Alaska, and Guam. At Columbia his teaching focuses are medical simulation, toxicology, and development of asynchronous teaching materials. He hosts the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology “Toxic History!” webinar, and is the developer of the medical education software platforms “ToxRunner” and “Med Sim Studio.” He has authored over 30 publications, provided public health education through the news media, and received awards recognizing his contributions to medical education. In his free time, he loves spending time with his family, visiting thrift shops, and playing computer games.

Kathleen Brennan, MD, MS

Kathleen Brennan, MD, MS joined the faculty at Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University in 2016 on the Educator Track pursuing advanced training in Education scholarship through AAMC’s Medical Education Research Certification (MERC) and Columbia’s Center for Education Research and Evaluation’s Medical Education Research Training (MERIT) Program Certification. Dr. Brennan developed curriculums on Neonatal Communication,  Neonatl Ethics, and Pediatric Resident Orientation, as well as  Complex Communication Workshops, Care Conferences, and the NICU Navigators Program. Dr. Brennan’s scholarship has centered around best practices for communications and how to teach those best practices.

Beth Sharon Brodsky, PhD

Beth S. Brodsky, Ph.D. is Associate Clinical Professor of Medical Psychology in Psychiatry at Columbia University, and a research scientist in the Silvio O. Conte Center for the Neurobiology of Mental Disorders, at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, Department of Molecular Imaging and Neuropathology. She received her doctorate from the Graduate Faculty at the New School for Social Research. Her areas of expertise include research and psychotherapeutic treatment of self-destructive behavior in borderline personality disorder (BPD). She is the recipient of an NIMH Excellence in Education grant to develop and implement a clinical/research curriculum teaching Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) in a medical setting. She is the author of many articles and chapters on BPD, DBT, suicide, and self-injury and is a frequently invited speaker on BPD, suicidal behavior and DBT. She supervises psychology interns and externs and psychiatry residents learning DBT. She serves on the editorial board of the Archives of Suicide Research. She has a private practice in Manhattan.

Deborah L. Cabaniss, MD

Deborah L. Cabaniss, M.D. is Director of Psychotherapy Training and Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Cabaniss coordinates all of the teaching and supervision of psychotherapy for the psychiatry residents here at Columbia. She also teaches two year-long courses in psychotherapy for the residents, lectures 2nd-year medical students, and offers numerous electives for both residents and medical students. Her research interests have focused on the development of learning objectives and evaluation methods. Dr. Cabaniss has won numerous teaching awards, including the Nancy Roeske Award for teaching medical students, the Irma Bland Award for teaching psychiatry residents, and the Edith Sabshin Award for teaching psychodynamic concepts to medical students and residents. She is also a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. She has written extensively about psychotherapy education, including two books for trainees about psychodynamic psychotherapy: Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: A Clinical Manual (2011) and Psychodynamic Formulation (in press - publication date 2013). In addition, she leads workshops on teaching for psychoanalytic institutes and psychiatry residency training programs.  She was the Director of the Virginia Apgar Academy of Medical Educators through 2017.

Stephen Canfield, MD

Dr. Canfield is Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, where he runs a lab investigating the genetic and biochemical origins of asthma and allergic disease. His clinical interests include the diagnosis and treatment of allergies and immunodeficiency. Dr. Canfield directs the Immunology section of the medical student Pathophysiology course and has served as a small group preceptor and lecturer in that course for 7 years. He attends on the Allergy service for 6 months each year as well as in the weekly Adult Allergy clinic, where he teaches clinical immunology to Allergy and Pulmonary fellows and medicine house staff. His teaching emphasizes the importance of understanding basic mechanisms of immune physiology with two goals in mind: first, to be able to apply modern models of immune function to the evaluation and management of patients; second, and equally importantly, to recognize where current paradigms fail to explain clinical findings and to seize these opportunities to spur novel investigation aimed at expanding our understanding of the field.

Marina Catallozzi, MD, MSCE

Marina Catallozzi, MD, MSCE, whose pronouns are she/her/hers, is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons and Mailman School of Public Health and Vice Chair for Education in the Department of Pediatrics.  She has served as the Pediatric Clerkship Director and the Director of Pediatric Medical student Education at the College of Physicians & surgeons since 2016. She is also the Track Director for the Medical Education Scholarly Projects at the medical school.  At Mailman, Dr. Catallozzi is the Director of the General Public Health Program, the largest accelerated MPH program in the school, and the co-leader of the Sexuality, Sexual and Reproductive Health Certificate.

Dr. Catallozzi’s research has focused on adolescent and young adult access to confidential and clinical preventative services, adolescent relationship violence, adolescent and parent communication and decision-making in clinical trial participation and adolescent pregnancy prevention.  Dr. Catallozzi is an Adolescent Medicine specialist and is board certified in both Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.  She has an active adolescent medicine practice in Washington Heights and is dedicated to improving the health of the community; she uses a strengths-based approach to adolescent patient care, programming and research.

Ana Cepin, MD

Dr. Ana Cepin is an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology with a focus on family planning. Her professional activities are diverse and include clinical, educational and administrative duties. She is actively involved in the education of medical students, residents, and fellows. She is the coordinator for the obstetrics and gynecology resident rotation in family planning and is the course director for the Family Planning and Reproductive Health Elective. As a clinician, she has extensive experience in direct patient care in hospital clinics, the operating room, and departmental faculty practice. Dr. Cepin also serves as the director at the NY-Presbyterian Family Planning Clinic.

Subani Chandra, MD

Subani Chandra, MD is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center specializing in the areas of Pulmonary Disease Medicine, Sleep Medicine, and Critical Care Medicine. Her clinical expertise lays in Critical Care Medicine, Sleep Medicine, General Pulmonary Medicine and Critical Care Ultrasonography.

Rita Charon, MD, PhD

Rita Charon, MD, PhD is Professor and founding Chair of Medical Humanities and Ethics and Professor of Medicine at CUIMC. Dr. Charon received the MD from Harvard Medical School and the PhD in English from Columbia University. Her dual training in medicine and literary studies enabled her to found the field of narrative medicine here at Columbia with colleagues from the humanities and the medical school. Narrative medicine is the simple and complex commitment to comprehend and honor the lived experiences of illness from the perspectives of patients, families, clinicians, and the public. As one of three divisions in the new department, the Division of Narrative Medicine supports a robust program in education, research, and scholarship in the field it created.

Dr. Charon teaches the principles and practice of narrative medicine, a seamless blend of attending to stories told and written, teaching the creative skills of representing what one perceives, and developing the relationships of affiliation with patients and colleagues. Her teaching takes place at CUIMC in many of its schools, departments, and services as well as on Columbia’s Arts & Sciences campus and in worldwide visiting professorships and partnerships in health care settings. She publishes and lectures extensively on narrative medicine topics.

As current Director of the Virginia Apgar Teaching Academy for Medical Educators and current Director of Columbia Commons IPE, the interprofessional education unit of CUIMC, Dr. Charon is privileged to convene and support the many health educators and scholars on the health sciences campus toward ever more egalitarian, respectful, and effective health care.

Simon Cheng, MD

Simon K. Cheng. MD, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology and the Residency Program Director at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons. Dr. Cheng received his M.D./Ph.D. degrees from New York University, and completed residency in radiation oncology at New York University. Dr. Cheng is a physician-scientist with a focus on translational and clinical research in therapy resistance and immune response pathways in lung cancer and brain metastases. He has won numerous awards including ASCO Cancer Foundation Young Investigator, Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. Scholar, and the ARRO Educator of the Year Award. Dr. Cheng is actively involved in teaching and mentoring medical students and residents, and has revamped the educational courses and seminars in his department.

Wendy Chung, MD, PhD

Dr. Chung is the Kennedy Professor of Pediatrics in Medicine who teaches human genetics to medical, dental, nursing, public health, and graduate students at Columbia University Medical College. She created and teaches curriculum for genetics and biochemistry for the first year medical and dental students. She makes molecular genetics and intermediary metabolism come alive by using a video library of her patients telling their stories about their rare conditions, their concerns about knowing their future through their genes, and how they have grappled with decisions about pregnancy termination. She has mentored many medical, graduate, MD/PhD students and fellows in her laboratory where she studies the genetics of obesity, diabetes, breast cancer, congenital heart disease, congenital diaphragmatic hernias, and spinal muscular atrophy. She is the recipient of many awards including the 2008 Charles W. Bohmfalk Award for Distinguished Contributions to Teaching in the Clinical Years, the American Medical Women’s Association Mentor Award, and the American Academy of Pediatrics Young Investigator Award. She enjoys the challenges of genetics as a rapidly changing field of medicine and strives to facilitate the integration of genetic medicine into all areas of healthcare and teach others how to utilize genetics in their research and practice. Dr. Chung received the 2018 New York Academy of Medicine Medal for Distinguished Contributions in Biomedical Science.

Trudi Cloyd, MD, MS, FACEP

Dr. Trudi Cloyd is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the College of Physicians & Surgeons and Assistant Program Director of the NYP/Columbia-Cornell Emergency Medicine Residency Program. She obtained her MS from Oxford University, medical degree from New York University, and completed her residency at NYU/Bellevue Hospital, where she was Chief Resident. In her role within the residency leadership, she oversees weekly departmental didactics attended by a wide range of learners and bi-campus faculty. Her educational interests include health equity, social determinants of health, and specifically, the care of justice-involved individuals. Within the medical school, she is Course Director of Ready 4 Residency, a multifaceted blended-learning course that incorporates team-based classroom learning, cardiac arrest simulations, procedural skill learning, and an online e-Hospital where students participate in patient care. Dr. Cloyd is passionate about using simulation to create a safe environment for personal and professional growth wherein participants learn to manage patient care in high acuity clinical scenarios with frequent interruptions.  

Marguerite Costich, MD MS

Marguerite (Maggie) Costich, MD MS is a general pediatrician at NewYork-Presbyterian’s Audubon Pediatric Practice and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Child and Adolescent Health at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.  Dr. Costich is the Pediatric Clerkship Director and oversees pediatric clinical and educational experiences during students’ MCY year.  Earlier this year, Dr. Costich was selected by VP&S students of the Class of 2024 as the Major Clinical Year Outstanding Teacher.  Dr. Costich is also an Associate Course Director of Fundamentals of Clinical Medicine Tutorials and has been FCM Tutorials faculty since 2021.  Dr. Costich has been involved in the development and evaluation of several innovative curricula highlighting active learning principles and the design and implementation of assessment tools for learners in both UME and GME.Prior to joining the Department of Pediatrics as faculty in 2019, Dr. Costich was a Primary Care Research Fellow in General Pediatrics at Columbia University and completed an MS degree in epidemiology at Mailman School of Public Health.  Dr. Costich completed her undergraduate medical training at Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine and pediatric residency training at University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital in Chicago, IL.

Hetty Cunningham, MD

Dr. Cunningham is Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and member of the Community Pediatrics Program within the Division of Child and Adolescent Health. For the past fifteen years, Dr. Cunningham has worked on development and implementation of cultural competency and communication skills curricula for medical students and residents at Columbia. She is also Director of the VP&S Portfolio – a Narrative Medicine-based reflective writing curriculum for medical students. She sees patients and teaches residents at a community-based practice in Harlem.

Saundra Curry, MD

Dr. Curry graduated from Cornell Medical College in 1982 and completed her residency at Columbia in Anesthesiology in 1986. She came on staff at Columbia and almost immediately became involved with medical student teaching. At that time anesthesia teaching meant ACLS. She changed the one-week required rotation to include teaching of the basics of anesthesia and focused on oxygen therapy, pain management, and local anesthesia pharmacology. Procedural training included airway management and IV placement. This coursework was found to be extremely valuable to the students as they didn't get this training anywhere else in their curriculum. About 15 years ago professionalism training was added by way of discussions of medical student observations of behaviors in the ORs. Data about this was presented at an AAMC meeting and a paper about the observations. On the national front, Dr. Curry has been intimately involved with education issues, including being chair of several committees that plan the education content of the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Anesthesiologists (17,000 participants). She is an active member of the Society for Education in Anesthesia (SEA), an international association of anesthesia educators interested in medical student, resident and faculty education and served as its President for two years. She is a test question writer for the Anesthesia Knowledge Test and the NBME. She is an oral board examiner for the anesthesia certifying board (ABA). She is also on the faculty for the Anesthesia Workshop on Teaching, an annual 4-day intensive faculty development workshop for anesthesia educators. Professional interests include professionalism in medicine, faculty development in teaching, and medical student and resident curriculum development. Personal interests include travel, professional baseball (the NY Mets) and singing.

Janis Cutler, MD

Dr. Cutler is Director of Medical Student Education in the Department of Psychiatry.  She is a Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Psychiatric Medicine Course Director, and Psychiatry Clerkship Director at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.  She serves as Chair of the Clinical Faculty Committee and Co-chair of the Educate Subcommittee.  She is the recipient of many teaching awards including the 2002 Charles Bohmfalk Award for Distinguished Contributions to Teaching in the Clinical Years and the 2016 Major Clinical Year Outstanding Teacher Award.  Dr. Cutler edited a textbook of psychiatry specifically for medical students.  She recently completed her term of service on the Executive Committee of the Association of Directors of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry and received their Fred Sierles, M.D. Leadership and Excellence in Psychiatric Education Award at their 2018 Annual Meeting.  She is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and chairs the American Psychoanalytic Association’s Committee on Medical Student Education.  She is a psychotherapy supervisor in the Adult Psychiatric Residency program at CUIMC/New York State Psychiatric Institute.  Her scholarly work has focused on medical students’ perceptions of psychiatry and her clinical focus is psychotherapy and medication treatment for patients with mood and anxiety disorders as well as adjustment and relationship issues.

Vivette D. D’Agati, MD

Vivette D’Agati is the Delafield Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology and Director of the Renal Pathology Division at CUIMC.  She strives to set a standard of excellence in diagnostic academic renal pathology while championing subspecialty education and translational research in kidney diseases.  Her clinical and research interests include the pathophysiology of glomerular and tubulointerstitial diseases of the kidney, with particular focus on the role of podocyte injury in glomerulosclerosis.  The large number of kidney biopsies referred to Columbia as regional center has fostered the laboratory’s identification and characterization of newly emerging kidney diseases, such as related to metabolic syndrome, monoclonal gammopathies and drug toxicities.  She has published over 450 articles and 6 textbooks of renal pathology and served on the editorial boards of the leading nephrology journals. The division’s fellowship program has trained renal pathologists nationwide.  She lectures regularly at national and international symposia and has designed courses in renal pathology for the major nephrology and pathology meetings.  She teaches Columbia medical students and residents in renal pathobiology and was named teacher of the year by several graduating classes of the medical school.  For over 3 decades, she has directed the annual Columbia Renal Biopsy Course, the longest running postgraduate CME course in the medical center. She served as President of the Renal Pathology Society and received its lifetime achievement award. 

Devjani Das, MD, FACEP

Devjani Das, MD, FACEP obtained her medical degree from Drexel University College of Medicine (2007), completed her Emergency Medicine residency, where she was Chief Resident, (2010) and a fellowship in Emergency Ultrasound (2011) at New York- Presbyterian Queens. She was then Associate Director of Emergency Ultrasound and the Emergency Ultrasound Fellowship Director at Northwell Health – Staten Island University Hospital from 2011 – 2018. She has been faculty with the Columbia University Department of Emergency Medicine since 2019, where she is currently an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at CUIMC (2020) and holds leadership roles as the Associate Director of the Emergency Ultrasound Division, Director of Undergraduate Point-of-Care Ultrasound Medical Education, and Director of the MCY Emergency Medicine Clerkship. 

Shubha Dathatri, PhD, EdM, MA

Dr. Shubha Dathatri is Assistant Professor of Clinical Medical Education and currently serves as the Director of Curricular Evaluation and Continuous Quality Improvement Support with the Center for Education Research and Evaluation (CERE) as well as Co-Director of the Medical Education track of the Scholarly Projects Program at the Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.  In these roles, Dr. Dathatri’s efforts across both undergraduate and graduate medical education platforms are focused on providing clinician educators and learners with effective tools to teach/learn, to evaluate performance, and to reflect on the efficacy of educational practices.  Through an exploration of pedagogical practices in medical education, her work involves developing and refining evaluation and assessment systems to foster continuous curricular improvement, and pursuing and supporting scholarship assessing the impact, effectiveness, and sustainability of programs and interventions under consideration.  She is dedicated to using educational and social science research tools to improve instructional, evaluation, and assessment systems and to enhance learning outcomes in medical education. Dr. Dathatri earned a Ph.D.  in Educational Psychology from the Stanford University School of Education, an Ed.M. in Human Development and Psychology from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, an M.A. in Comparative and International Education from Teachers College Columbia University, and a B.S. in Social Psychology from Cornell University.

Maria de Miguel, MD

Maria de Miguel, MD studied Visual Arts and Art History at Princeton, attended medical school at the University of Maryland, completed residency and chief residency at Columbia, and a Masters of Epidemiology at Mailman. She has been part of the teaching faculty in the Internal Medicine residency program since 2009, teaching in the ambulatory curriculum and working clinically at the AIM Practice. Since 2009, she has led the Generalist-Primary Care Pathway of the IM residency, recruiting and mentoring residents interested in careers in general internal medicine. Since 2016 she has been the Director of Ambulatory Education, designing and evaluating the ambulatory curriculum for the residency, as well as Associate Program Director. As an APD she has focused on resident professional development and well-being, spear-heading new programs and supports for the residency. Currently she has a grant from the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine to teach sociocultural humility and community assets. Her teaching work has centered on the doctor-patient relationship, social determinants of health, primary care and prevention, as well as self-care and professional well-being. 

Urmi Desai MD, MS

Dr. Urmi Desai is an attending physician at the Center for Family and Community Medicine at Columbia/NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Desai grew up in upstate New York and attended Harvard University for her undergraduate degree where she studied History and Science. She received her medical degree at the University at Buffalo (SUNY), and completed her family medicine residency at Columbia/New-York Presbyterian. She then did a primary care research fellowship at Columbia during which she earned a Masters in Epidemiology from the Mailman School of Public Health. Dr. Desai sees patients at the Farrell Health Center and supervises residents at the Allen Hospital on the inpatient family medicine service and is involved with teaching residents about Quality Improvement. At the medical school, she is Assistant Course Director and the Director of Clerkships for the Foundations of Clinical Medicine course, arranging clinical experiences for first-year medical students. She is a small-group preceptor for several courses including the Foundations of Clinical Medicine seminars and Tutorials courses. She has also served as medical student site director at Farrell for students who rotate there.  Since 2019, she has served as the Director of Service-Learning at VP&S, working to support service-learning in both co-curricular activities like the student-run free clinics and developing opportunities within the curriculum. Additionally, she is an active member of the Columbia Commons task force, dedicated to ensuring robust Interprofessional education activities at CUIMC, and has taken on leadership roles in developing IPE curricular offerings, including a course orienting first-year CUIMC students to interprofessional education. Dr. Desai has taken on the role of faculty co-chair for the Covid19 Student Service Corps, an interprofessional service-learning student-faculty organization at CUIMC aimed at meeting the needs of health systems and the community in the wake of the Covid19 pandemic. Dr. Desai has interests in medical education research around the student engagement with narrative medicine and reflection and interprofessional education.

Michael Devlin, MD

Dr. Michael Devlin is the founder and director of the innovative Clinical Practice 3 course for medical students in the major clinical year. This course combines the elements of reflective practice, longitudinal integration of clinical clerkships, and individual mentoring, all of which he believes to be of critical importance to the development of effective medical professionals. In his home department of psychiatry, Dr. Devlin is a respected psychotherapy teacher and supervisor, particularly in cognitive behavioral therapy, and is a clinical researcher and mentor in the eating disorders research unit. In recognition of the quality and scope of his teaching, Dr. Devlin has received teacher of the year awards both from third-year medical students (2007) and residents in psychiatry (2002).

Marc Dickstein, MD

Dr. Dickstein, Professor of Anesthesiology, has received numerous awards for teaching including the Columbia University Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching (2006), the Charles W. Bohmfalk Memorial Prize for Contributions to Teaching in the Preclinical Sciences (2002), Teacher of the Year awards from the 1st-year medical students (2001, 2003, 2005, 2009) and recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award from the VP&S graduating class (2010, 2012).  He was the Director of the 1st-year course, Science Basic to the Practice of Medicine & Dentistry from 2000-2009, and introduced many innovations to that course including an audience response system, resources for e-learning, and a mentoring program in which 4th-year students taught 1st-year students (Back to My Classroom).  He developed a series of on-line cardiovascular physiology textbooks and simulators (Harvi) that are being used in undergraduate and graduate medical education world-wide. He was the Director of the Medical Education Scholarly Project track at VP&S from its inception until 2018.  

Katherine Dimitropoulou, PhD, MSPOR, OTR/L

Katherine Dimitropoulou has been an educator for more than 15 years across different institutions with significant high quality contributions in direct teaching and mentorship and advisement. Dimitropoulou has developed curricula that supports learning and participation in the educational process for all students. She has developed courses, designed enrichment programs, and developed programs to support health care education and promote clinical reasoning and evidence-based practice. At Columbia University, she incorporates research into her teaching and mentorship. Dimitropoulou’s passion for supporting learning for all students continues to motivate her academic engagement by taking under consideration individual goals, learning styles and clinical interests.

Mitchell Elkind, MD

Dr. Mitchell S. V. Elkind gained his medical degree in 1992 from Harvard Medical School and subsequently trained in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and in Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital, both in Boston. He holds a Masters degree in Epidemiology from Columbia University. Currently, Dr. Elkind is a tenured Associate Professor of Neurology and Epidemiology in the Stroke Division at Columbia University, the Fellowships Director for the Neurology Department, and past Neurology Residency Program Director. He is also the Editor of the Neurology Resident and Fellow Section, a section of the journal devoted to education and mentoring of trainees. His research is focused on inflammatory and infectious biomarkers in stroke risk prediction, as well as acute stroke therapy. Dr. Elkind is the Principal Investigator of 3 independent investigator awards from NIH/NINDS. He is a Co-PI of the Northern Manhattan Study (NOMAS), an epidemiological study of stroke risk factors, and the principal investigator of NeuSTART (Neuroprotection with Statin Therapy for Acute Recovery Trial), a clinical trial evaluating short-term high-dose statin therapy in acute stroke. He is also the PI of the Levels of Inflammatory Markers in Treatment of Stroke (LIMITS) study, a multicenter study evaluating the role of inflammatory biomarkers in stroke prognosis, and a co-investigator and laboratory director for the Vasculopathy and Infection in Pediatric Stroke Study (VIPS). He is a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and the Stroke Council of the American Heart Association, as well as a member of the American Neurological Association.

Himabindu Ekanadham, MD, MS, Epi

Dr. Ekanadham serves as chief of service within the family medicine residency program at Columbia-NYP and also serves as the director of DEI at CFCM (Center for Family & Community Medicine). She solidified her investment in urban underserved communities and physician activism when she moved to NYC in 2010 and pursued her residency training within Montefiore’s department of social medicine followed by a fellowship at Columbia in primary care research and a masters in epidemiology. Over the last 9 years, Dr. Ekanadham has dedicated her time to treating patients at New York Presbyterian's Allen Hospital and training Columbia's family medicine residents in the inpatient setting. She redesigned the inpatient educational curriculum to include multimodal teaching opportunities on a daily basis that not only impact patient care but also cater to residents' varied learning styles. Additionally, she created an online resource for residents and faculty to self-learn and guide teaching. Over the last 3 years, Dr. Ekanadham created and continues to chair a monthly advocacy forum that she titled “CFCM Speaks Out!” where residents and faculty at CFCM come together to discuss issues of racial injustice and other forms of inequity that impact both providers and patients within and outside of the institution and conceive of actionable ways in which they can advocate for change. It is her sincere hope that discussions around inequity and clinical medicine coincide on an increasing level such that future providers routinely consider social determinants of health in conjunction with organic differentials when treating patients. 

Kerry Esquitin, MD

Dr. Kerry Esquitin is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center with clinical expertise in cardiology and an academic focus on medical education. Dr. Esquitin attended Cornell University and was recognized as a Graduate with Distinction.  She earned her medical degree at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and completed her residency training at Weill Cornell Medical Center.  Dr. Esquitin pursued her fellowship in cardiovascular diseases at Mount Sinai Beth Israel followed by advanced training in echocardiography at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Dr. Esquitin is Director of the Advanced Echocardiography Fellowship, Associate Program Director of the Cardiology Fellowship, and Section Director of Cardiology for The Body…in Health and Disease course at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S).  Dr. Esquitin was selected as Teacher of the Year in the Division of Cardiology in 2016.  She is also recognized as a Ewig Clinical Scholar in the Department of Medicine at Columbia.  Dr. Esquitin is invested in curriculum development, and she has worked to redesign the cardiology pathophysiology course for medical students at VP&S.  For her efforts, she was honored with the Fundamentals Outstanding Teacher Award in 2024.  Dr. Esquitin also serves as Associate Chair of the Fundamentals Subcommittee at VP&S.  Beyond the institution, Dr. Esquitin has been invited to speak at a number of regional and national conferences on topics related to cardiovascular disease.  She also sits on the national Scientific Planning Committee for the annual Internal Medicine Meeting of the American College of Physicians. 

Mary Johanna Fink, MD

Dedicated to teaching students and residents in the practice of clinical medicine, Dr. Mary Jo Fink is a member of the Center for Family and Community Medicine. As an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at VP&S, she is the Associate Director of the FCM Tutorials course for Medical students. Focused on clinical skills acquisition, this course prepares students for the Major Clinical Year. Her interests include components of the clinical method: clinical observation and examination, information synthesis and processing as well as team communication in written and oral formats. Mary Jo teaches Women’s Health within the Family Medicine Residency Program and cares for patients at the Allen Hospital as well as the Farrell Family Health Center. She is a member of the Family Medicine Education committee that regularly reviews resident progress and the evaluation process.

Alyson N. Fox, MD, MSCE

Dr. Fox is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases at Columbia. In her clinical role, she works as a Transplant Hepatologist in the Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation and is the medical director of the living donor program. She is passionate about her role as an educator and mentor, and has been honored to serve as the pre-clinical speaker at the Steven Z. Miller ceremony and at the Internal Medicine intern retreat in 2017. Within the medical school, she serves as the course director for the Gastroenterology and Hepatology section of the Body in Health and Disease and is on the fundamentals curriculum subcommittee. She is involved with education of medical housestaff and fellows and is engaged as a key faculty advisor, a residency selection committee member, and as the assistant program director of the Advanced Transplant Hepatology fellowship. 

Suzanne (Shoshana) Friedman, MD

Dr. Friedman is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Child and Adolescent Health. She received her medical degree from SUNY Downstate Medical Center and completed her pediatrics residency training at the Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital. Her educational interests include curriculum development and innovative teaching methods.  Dr. Friedman is the Medical Director for Pediatrics at the Washington Heights Family Health Center, where she sees patients and precepts pediatric residents in continuity clinic. As the Director of the Continuity Clinic Curriculum, she oversees curriculum development related to outpatient pediatrics and has worked to bring innovative teaching methodologies to continuity clinic.  She is also the Director of the Resident as Teacher Program, a longitudinal program dedicated to resident teaching skill development.  Her work in this area has been presented extensively both locally and nationally.  Dr. Friedman was selected for participation in the inaugural year of the Columbia University Medical Education Research Intensive Training Program and completed the AAMC Medical Education Research Certification Program. 

Shavani Ghoshal, MD

Shavani Ghoshal, MD is an assistant professor of neurology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in the Division of Critical Care and Hospitalist Neurology. She completed her medical doctorate from Harvard Medical School, her residency in neurology from Yale, and fellowship training in critical care neurology at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Weill Cornell Medicine. Prior to joining the faculty at Columbia, she was an assistant professor of neurology in the Division of Neurocritical Care at Wake Forest School of Medicine, where she received her neurosonology board certification. Dr. Ghoshal is an expert in the treatment of neurologic emergencies such as subarachnoid hemorrhage, intracerebral hemorrhage, status epilepticus, and neurotrauma. Her research interests focus on neurocritical care education and curricular development. In addition to her clinical and research activities, Dr. Ghoshal serves as an associate program director at Columbia for the Neurocritical Care Fellowship Program at NYP/Columbia and Cornell.

Elsa-Grace V. Giardina, MD, FACC, FAC.P, FAHA

Elsa-Grace Giardina, M.D., is Professor of Medicine and Director of the Center for Women's Health. Her commitment to teaching and mentoring is well recognized in Cardiology where she guides medical students, house staff, fellows, graduate students, and young faculty. In 1996 she was recognized by Governor George Pataki of New York State for her research advancements in women and for founding the Center for Women’s Health, a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary program focusing on women’s health. More than 10 years ago, she developed the elective in Women’s Health for 4th students at CUIMC. Additionally, Dr. Giardina implemented a program to improve awareness and knowledge of cardiovascular disease among women living in Washington Heights. This program provided a unique venue for mentoring, integrating resources and collaborating with primary care physicians, pediatricians, and students and faculty from the Institute of Human Nutrition and the Mailman School of Public Health. On a national level, Dr. Giardina is also recognized for advocacy in mentoring and teaching. For over 7 years, she served on the Sarnoff Cardiovascular Foundation, whose mission is to guide medical student for careers in cardiovascular health. Representing the Sarnoff Board of Directors, she led the strategic plan for its 25th anniversary. She is a Trustee of the New York Academy of Medicine where she upholds promoting education and advancing the health of NY’s urban women.

Glen Gillen, EdD, OTR, FAOTA

Glen Gillen is Professor of Regenerative and Rehabilitation Medicine (Occupational Therapy) at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. In addition, he is the associate director of the Programs in Occupational Therapy. Glen is an occupational therapist by training and specializes in neurorehabilitation with particular interests in stroke rehabilitation, motor control, and the influence of cognitive dysfunction on daily life. He has over 100 publications including chapters, books, and peer-reviewed publications.

A past recipient of the American Occupational Therapy Foundation Award for Clinical Excellence in Rehabilitation and the American Occupational Therapy Association’s (AOTA) Recognition of Achievement Award, Glen lectures extensively on the local, state, national, and university level regarding multiple topics related to neurorehabilitation. He maintains a clinical caseload working in the areas of acute care and inpatient rehabilitation. Glen was the recipient of the 2012 Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lecture and delivered the lecture in San Diego in 2013. The lectureship honors a member of the AOTA who has creatively contributed to the development of the body of knowledge of the profession through research, education, and/or clinical practice.

Julie Glickstein, MD

Julie Glickstein is a Professor of Pediatrics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. She completed her residency and fellowship in Pediatrics and Pediatric Cardiology at NYU Medical Center. After fellowship Dr. Glickstein was on the faculty at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. In 2001, she came to Columbia University Irving Medical Center and joined the Department of Pediatrics in the division of Pediatric Cardiology.  Her clinical interests are in Fetal and Pediatric Echocardiography. Dr. Glickstein works with first through fourth year medical students as a small-group preceptor for the Foundation of Clinical Medicine I, II and III and IV courses and well as a preceptor for the Major Clinical Year. In addition, Dr. Glickstein is the Co- Director of the 4^th year student elective in Pediatric Cardiology at the Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. She was instrumental in revamping the curriculum for this elective.  Dr. Glickstein is the Director of the Pediatric Cardiology Fellowship Program. 

Rachel Gordon, MD

Dr. Gordon is the Director of Curricular Innovation and Strategic Initiatives in the Office of Education. She has a joint appointment in the Department of Medicine, division of Infectious Diseases, and in the Department of Epidemiology. Dr. Gordon is an accomplished clinician-educator. She is the Course Director of Ready 4 Residency, a multifaceted blended-learning course that includes a virtual e-hospital. She is also Section Director of the Microbiology/Infectious Diseases course and previously taught “Biology & Pathophysiology for Epidemiologists” in the epidemiology doctoral program. Dr. Gordon has played an integral role in introducing online learning, Team-based Learning and Just in Time Teaching as pedagogical tools at CUIMC. Her teaching abilities have been recognized with several awards including the Distinguished Teacher of the Year, the Charles W. Bohmfalk Award for teaching in the preclinical years and the Ewig Award for clinical teaching.

Rishi Goyal, MD, PhD

Dr. Rishi Goyal is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine (in Medical Humanities and Ethics and in the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society) and founding director of the major in Medical Humanities. He is board-certified in emergency medicine. Professor Goyal completed his residency in Emergency Medicine as Chief Resident while finishing his PhD in English and Comparative Literature.    His research interests include the health humanities, the study of the novel, and medical epistemology. His writing has appeared in The Living Handbook of Narratology, Aktuel Forskning, Litteratur, Kultur og Medier, and The Los Angeles Review of Books, among other places. He is a Co-Founding Editor of the online journal, Synapsis: A Health Humanities Journal, and a recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities grant.  He is currently working on Increasing Vaccine Confidence through a grant from Columbia World Projects.

Eli Grunstein, MD

Eli Grunstein, M.D. is the John and De Graaf Woodman Associate Professor of Clinical Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, and the Chief of the Pediatric Otolaryngology division. He specializes in general Pediatric Otolaryngology, with specific clinical interest in pediatric throat and airway diseases, hypernasality, and pediatric sinonasal diseases.
Dr. Grunstein received his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He completed his Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery residency training at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and The Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York, then a fellowship in Pediatric Otolaryngology at Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle, Washington. His current research project is focused on CMV related hearing loss in infants. He is the Quality Assurance Chair for the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.

David Gudis, MD

Dr. David A. Gudis, MD, FACS, is the Chief of the Division of Rhinology and Anterior Skull Base Surgery in the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery and the Department of Neurologic Surgery at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center/NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. In addition to being a board-certified otolaryngologist, Dr. Gudis is dual-fellowship trained both in Rhinology: Advanced Endoscopic Sinus and Skull Base Surgery and in Pediatric Otolaryngology.  His practice includes the treatment of refractory and recurrent sinusitis, sinus and nasal tumors, minimally invasive endoscopic skull base surgery, and endoscopic orbital surgery.  

Dr. Gudis helped to create the NewYork-Presbyterian Rhinology and Skull Base Surgery Fellowship training program, of which he now serves as Associate Director.  He has authored over 60 peer-reviewed publications and textbook chapters, and he has co-authored and edited two textbooks, The Unified Airway: Rhinologic Disease and Respiratory Disorders and Chronic Rhinosinusitis and Concomitant Medical Disorders. Dr. Gudis is also a collaborating author of international consensus statements and clinical practice guidelines related to rhinologic disorders.  He has presented his research at national and international conferences. He serves on national committees for Rhinology, Pediatric Otolaryngology, and Humanitarian Efforts for otolaryngology societies.  For the NYP Otolaryngology residency program, Dr. Gudis has mentored residents in the operating room and in research endeavors, leading to their publications and presentations at national conferences.  He is also Co-Director of the Columbia University Annual Endoscopic Ear, Sinus, and Skull Base Surgery Course, which has had participation from thousands of otolaryngologists from over 125 countries around the world.  He has served as faculty for several other surgical courses, including hands-on surgical training programs in Haiti and Cuba.  Dr. Gudis also serves as the Director of Medical Student Education for Otolaryngology at Columbia.

Rebecca T. Hahn, MD

Dr. Hahn is the Director of Interventional Echocardiography. She has been the program director for a national echo review course for the last 12 years and was recognized by the American Society of Echocardiography for her dedication to teaching as the recipient of the 2009 Richard Popp Excellence in Teaching Award. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the American Society of Echocardiography and is CME Co-editor for the Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography. As noninvasive imaging continues to make major technologic progress, she is developing innovative ways of teaching advanced echocardiography to medical students and fellows.

Razan Hamed, PhD, OTR/L

Dr. Razan Hamedserves as Associate Professor and Associate Director of the Programs in Occupational Therapy (CUOT) at the Department of Rehabilitation and Regenerative Medicine at VP&S, CUIMC. She also serves as the Director of Research at the Master of Occupational Therapy Program and the Head of the Curriculum Committee at CUOT. Dr. Hamed teaches research courses in research methods and statistics, Inquiry of Evidence, and Critical Appraisal. She also teaches a course on Diversity Equity and Inclusion, Justice Access, Belonging  (DEI+) & Professional Skills in Occupational Therapy.  Dr. Hamed was elected to be a Boar Director at the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) in 2023 and served as a member of the Inaugural AOTA DEI+ committee at AOTA 2021-2023. Dr. Hamed is the founder and president of the Arab American Occupational Therapy Group (AAOTG) which serves Americans of Arab heritage or descent and other marginalized communities in the field of occupational therapy. Dr. Hamed is recognized nationally and internationally for her work in DEI+ and cultural humility in clinical practice. Dr. Hamed received her BSc. In Occupational Therapy at the University of Jordan, and received her M.Sc. and PhD in Rehabilitation Science from the University of Pittsburgh. Her clinical background is in Behavioral Health Occupational Therapy and her research interests include assessment validation and adaptation and culturally relevant practices. Dr. Hamed is currently exploring the use of virtual reality and artificial intelligence in teaching DEI principles.

Kim Hekimian, PhD

Kim Hekimian, PhD is Assistant Professor of Nutrition in Pediatrics (Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition) and the Institute of Human Nutrition at Columbia University.  She is also the Associate Director of Education for the VP&S Program in Education in Global and Population Health. Previously, she taught at the American University of Armenia’s School of Public Health and served as the Associate Director of the MPH Program and Director of the Center for Health Services Research.  

Dr. Hekimian received her PhD in Health Policy from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health with a concentration in Behavioral Science and Health Education. Her research has focused on determinants of infant and young child feeding practices. One area of ongoing interest is how to use health promotion planning models to improve rates of breastfeeding initiation and duration.  Dr. Hekimian teaches courses in public health nutrition and research methods (including qualitative methods and survey research) at VP&S and the IHN where she is also Associate Director of the Medical Nutrition Program for Health Professionals. She is currently involved in ongoing surveillance of infant feeding practices in Armenia.  Her recent publications have explored the determinants of stunted growth and anemia among children 0-5 in rural Armenia and is conducting a dietary assessment of women of reproductive age with particular interest in iron and folate.

David Horowitz, MD

David Horowitz, M.D. is a board-certified radiation oncologist and Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at New York-Presbyterian/ Columbia University Irving Medical Center. His clinical focus is on gastrointestinal cancers, lymphoma and breast cancer, and his research interests focus on the development of novel ways to deliver precision radiation therapy to hard-to-treat cancers. Dr. Horowitz has developed the use of multiple radiation techniques at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center to best help patients with cancer receive the most effective treatments while minimizing potential side effects. As a member of the Pancreas Center at Columbia, Dr. Horowitz is part of a multidisciplinary team that brings expertise from multiple specialties, including surgery, medical oncology and radiology to the care of complex patients with pancreas cancer. Outside of his clinical duties, Dr. Horowitz serves as Director of Medical Student Education in the Department of Radiation Oncology, as well as the Associate Program Director for the department's residency program. Dr. Horowitz has mentored numerous medical students and residents, with multiple mentees receiving competitive research grants from the NIH, American Medical Association, and Gold Foundation.

Syed Ali Husain, MD, MPH, MA, FASN

Dr. Husain is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in the Division of Nephrology, where he serves as the associate training program director for the nephrology fellowship. He completed his residency and chief residency in internal medicine at Tufts Medical Center, where he twice won the house staff teaching award, before completing fellowships in nephrology and transplant nephrology at Columbia. Dr. Husain’s passion is for teaching pre-clinical students, particularly in the renal pathophysiology course, as well as mentoring medical students and fellows interested in outcomes and health services research to teach them the fundamentals of clinical investigation and scientific writing. In addition, he participates in national efforts to increase interest and improve training in nephrology and transplantation.

R. Ariel Igal, MD, PhD

R. Ariel Igal, M.D., Ph.D., is a member of the faculty of the Department of Pediatrics and the Institute of Human Nutrition (IHN) at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC).  He is the Director of the Biochemistry courses in the Master of Science in Human Nutrition Program at IHN. Dr. Igal has taught undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate science courses at the University of La Plata, Argentina, at Rutgers University, and, currently, at Columbia University. The courses included Physiology and Biophysics, Basic and Clinical Biochemistry, Comparative Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Advanced Nutritional Biochemistry.

As a medical educator at CUIMC, Dr. Igal has been developing, directing, and teaching several courses focused on the biochemical, physiological and pathological aspects of human nutrition, particularly the fundamental connections between nutrient metabolism and the onset and progression of complex diseases. With the rise of the novel science of personalized medicine and nutrition, Dr. Igal’s courses aim at providing undergraduate and graduate students, as well as health professionals, with an understanding of the emerging mechanistic connections of critical molecular, biological, and biochemical pathways in cells, organs and the whole body, and their implications in human health. His research has been focused on the role of the intertwined regulation of metabolic pathways and signal transduction platforms in the mechanisms of complex diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and cancer. 

Nazreen Jamal, MD

Nazreen Jamal, MD is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in Emergency Medicine at CUIMC.   Dr. Jamal completed her fellowship training at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington DC and earned a Certificate in Leadership Development through the Master Teacher Leadership Development Program at the George Washington University School of Education and Human Development. She is the Medical Director and Associate Director of Quality for Pediatric Emergency Medicine.   She served as the Pediatric Emergency Medicine fellowship Associate Program Director until 2020, focusing on simulation and trainee evaluation. She facilitates the Pediatric Emergency Medicine class in the annual R4R program.  Her interests lie in the intersection of quality and education.  She developed and leads a bimonthly interdisciplinary case review conference, entitled Obstacles and Opportunities, or O&O, aimed at creating a safe space for identification of areas for system-level care improvement.    

Jane S. Kang, MD, MS

Jane Kang, MD, MS is Associate Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) and Fellowship Program Director in the Division of Rheumatology. She is actively involved in teaching and training medicine residents and rheumatology fellows at CUIMC, and participates in the Rheumatology Objective Structured Clinical Examination (ROSCE) in New York City every year.

In 2015, Dr. Kang was named an Ewig Clinical Scholar at CUIMC for her work in teaching and education and also received a Fellowship Training Award from the Rheumatology Research Foundation. She is also a member of the GMEC Fellowship Evaluation Subcommittee at New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center and the American College of Rheumatology In-Training Examination Taskforce and Test Materials Development Committee.

Additionally, Dr. Kang is interested in addressing bioethical issues in medicine and rheumatology and completed a Master in Bioethics at Columbia University. She is working on a bioethics curriculum for residents and rheumatology fellows, with the aim of improving their knowledge of bioethics and ability to apply that knowledge to assess ethical issues. In support of her efforts, she was awarded the Rheumatology Research Foundation Clinician Scholar Educator Award for 2018. She has also applied her expertise in bioethics on a national level as a member of the American College of Rheumatology Ethics and Conflict of Interest Committee, before being elected Chair of the committee.

Teja Kapoor, MD

Teja Kapoor, MD received her M.D. degree from New York Medical College in 2010 and completed her Internal medicine residency training at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick NJ. She completed rheumatology fellowship at Columbia before joining our faculty in 2015. In 2017, she was appointed as the Associate Program Director for the Rheumatology Fellowship. Dr. Kapoor enhanced the education curriculum of the fellowship, including development of the rheumatology musculoskeletal ultrasound curriculum, fellows board review course, and provided a close mentorship program for fellows during their training. She directly supervises fellows weekly in their Rheumatology and Lupus continuity clinics and inpatient Rheumatology consult service at Milstein Hospital and Allen Hospital. For her significant contributions to teaching, she received the Ewig Clinical Scholar Award in 2021 and will be promoted to Rheumatology Fellowship Program Director in July 2023. She has been active with resident and medical student education as well. From 2019-2021, she served as the course director of the Rheumatology elective for internal medicine residents, family medicine residents, and 4th year medical students. In 2019, she received the Henry Lodge Primary Care Medical Education Award which supported her creation and implementation of a “Rheumatology for Primary Care” curriculum, consisting of online lectures, summative handouts, in-person rheumatology physical exam workshops which are still being used today. Dr. Kapoor has been a small groups leader and has multiple lectures in the Body, Health, and Disease course to pre-clinical 2nd year medical students, will be the Course Director this July 2023. Dr. Kapoor has lectured both at Columbia and internationally, in the topics of Lupus and autoimmune diseases, rheumatology emergencies, autoantibodies and immunodiagnostics, and extraarticular manifestations of rheumatic diseases. In addition to her teaching and clinical responsibilities, Dr. Kapoor is an active contributor and collaborator to the research mission of the Division. One area of her research is systemic lupus erythematosus, in which she has multiple publications in the field.

David Kessler, MD, MSc

David Kessler, MD, MSc, is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and the Vice Chair of Innovation and Strategic Initiatives for the Department of Emergency Medicine. He is also the Associate Course Director for the Foundations of Clinical Medicine Tutorials, and an Associate Medical Director for the Mary & Michael Jaharis Simulation Center. Dr. Kessler has created and grown multiple educational programs for in situ simulation and point-of-care ultrasound. Dr. Kessler is the co-director and one of the co-founders for INSPIRE, (International Network for Simulation-based Pediatric Innovation, Research and Education) an international pediatric research network focused on outcome-oriented simulation research in acute care, resuscitation and skills. Personal research focus includes patient-oriented outcomes research, quality improvement, and skills training. Dr. Kessler has lead several multi-center studies and has a prolific record of international presentations and publications. He has collaborated on several interactive “serious games”, published educational curricula, and educational videos.

Jin Hee Kim, MD

Dr. Jin Hee “Jeannie” Kim is an Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the Division of Gynecologic Specialty Surgery. She is the Program Director for the Fellowship in Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery (MIGS), and in this role, is responsible for the direct oversight of fellows in the clinical setting and in their academic of pursuit of excellence in the simulation and research domain. Her teaching commitments include designing and running the gynecologic surgical portion of the residency simulation program. Dr Kim is active on the national level, involved in teaching post-graduate and fellows’ courses in topics such as laparoscopic suturing, robotic surgery, communication and informed consent, and retroperitoneal dissection in a cadaver lab. She has been a Board Member for the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists (AAGL), Board Member for SurgeryU (online platform for surgical videos to promote surgical education), Chair of the AAGL Fibroid Special Interest Group and a member of the AAGL/FMIGS Collaborative Education Committee, responsible for the fellows’ curriculum on the national level. Teaching occupies a large part of Dr Kim’s career and her teaching awards include the CREOG Teaching Award and the Barbara Levy Award (AAGL award honoring women leaders in MIGS who have paved the way for female surgeons and has been an influential mentor). She is the PI of several ongoing clinical research trials in fibroids and endometriosis.

Stacy Kinirons, PT, PhD

Dr. Stacy Kinirons is an Assistant Professor of Rehabilitation and Regenerative Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.  She earned a Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy from Ithaca College, a Master of Public Health in Community Health Education from New York University, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Anatomy from Virginia Commonwealth University.  She joined the Programs in Physical Therapy faculty in 2004. 

Dr. Kinirons integrates her clinical experiences into her Gross Anatomy and Neuroscience courses.  She developed and teaches a series of Teaching Practicum elective courses for students interested in formal teaching as part of their professional path.  Her current research focuses on gross anatomy education.  Dr. Kinirons received the Programs in Physical Therapy Excellence in Teaching Award in 2017, 2018, and 2019.

M. Christine Krause, MD

Dr. Krause is a Baylor trained general pediatrician who works as a clinical educator in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Child and Adolescent Health. She is devoted to teaching primary care pediatrics to medical students and residents while maintaining her own practice at the Rangel Clinic in the Ambulatory Care Network of New York Presbyterian Hospital.

She is the co-director of the Daniel Noyes Brown Primary Care Scholars Program for CUIMC which offers students a longitudinal instructional and mentored experience with primary care faculty during their 4 years of medical school. She was selected as the Teacher of the Year by the pediatrics residency program in 2006.

Usha Krishnan, MD

Dr. Usha Krishnan is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics (Pediatric Cardiology), the Associate Director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Center at CUIMC, and the Director of the Fellowship Clinical Competency Committee. She is deeply involved in mentorship and evaluation of Fellows residents and medical students. She has extensively published in the fields of Pediatric Cardiology and Pulmonary Hypertension. 

Salila Kurra, MD

Salila Kurra, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. She received her undergraduate degree in biology magna cum laude from Brown University and attended medical school at the Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons. She completed her internship and residency in Internal Medicine as well as a fellowship in Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Dr. Kurra is an Advisory Dean at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, she also serves as Endocrinology section director for the medical student course, "The Body in Health and Disease".

She is the Program Director for the Columbia Endocrinology, Diabetes, & Metabolism Fellowship and a member of the Internal Medicine Recruitment & Selection Committee. Her clinical responsibilities include serving as Co-Director of the Columbia Adrenal Center, and seeing patients at the New York Thyroid Center and the Metabolic Bone Diseases Program. She lectures nationally and internationally. Dr. Kurra was awarded an Outstanding Teacher Award by the Class of 2012 and received the Ewig Clinical Education Award in 2013.

Mariellen Lane, MD

Dr. Lane has an MD degree from Columbia University, is Associate Professor of Pediatrics, and serves as Assistant Program Director for Ambulatory Pediatrics for the Pediatric Residency Program. Dr. Lane oversees continuity clinic and all ambulatory block training for the residency program. She created and has taught a curriculum for pediatric trainees about Quality Improvement Fundamentals, which combines traditional didactic with team-based experiential learning resulting in sustainable changes in ambulatory care. Her other professional activities include training and supervising pediatric residents during their continuity clinic, delivering direct patient care at the Broadway ACN site, being an inpatient ward attending, as well as teaching primary care pediatrics to medical students during their MCY pediatric clerkship.

Benjamin Lebwohl, MD

Dr. Lebwohl received his MD from Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons in 2003, and then completed his internship, residency, and chief residency in internal medicine at NewYork Presbyterian/Columbia. He stayed at Columbia as a fellow in Digestive and Liver Disease, during which time he obtained a Masters in Patient Oriented Research from the Department of Biostatistics at the Mailman School of Public Health. He is the Director of Clinical Research at the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University, where his main area of research concerns epidemiology, patterns of care, and the natural history of celiac disease. He is an author of more than 200 peer-reviewed papers. His work has been funded by the American Gastroenterological Association and the Celiac Disease Foundation. He is the course director of the Evidence Based Medicine unit and also teaches on topics including celiac disease, clinical decision making, quality improvement, pseudoscience, diarrhea, the Beethoven string quartets, and colorectal cancer screening.

James Lee, MD

James is the Edwin K. and Anne C. Weiskopf Associate Professor of Surgical Oncology and serves as the Chief of Endocrine Surgery and Co-Director of the NY Thyroid-Parathyroid Center and Adrenal Center. He is also the Vice Chair of New Media in the Department of Surgery and in this role oversees the social media and website efforts of the department to provide patient and health information to the public. His educational work is focused around implementing technology to assist in education. He is the Founder of COACH, a novel learning management system that has been implemented in universities and medical societies all over the world.

Rosa Lee, MD

Dr. Rosa Lee joined CUIMC in 2022 as an Associate Professor of Medicine and Senior Associate Dean for Curricular Affairs at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Previously, she was a faculty member and Associate Dean for Curriculum and Assessment at Sophie Davis Biomedical Education Program/CUNY School of Medicine, where she was instrumental in developing a new seven-year BS/MD curriculum that integrated undergraduate studies with a medical curriculum rooted in basic sciences, clinical skills, population health, and health equity. As an educational administrator at VP&S, Dr. Lee oversees the ongoing development, implementation, and evaluation of the curriculum. She is most excited about supporting faculty and student initiatives that drive curricular excellence, innovation, and equity. She also serves on the executive board of BNGAP (Building the Next Generation of Academic Physicians), a national organization focused on increasing diversity in the academic medicine workforce. Dr. Lee received her bachelor’s degree in English from Amherst College and her medical degree from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She completed an internal medicine/primary care residency at University of California, San Francisco. In her clinical practice, Dr. Lee is a general internist at the Associates in Internal Medicine (AIM) practice of CUIMC, where she also serves as a faculty preceptor for the internal medicine residency ambulatory clinic.

Penelope Lema, MD

Penelope (Penny) Lema, MD is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center. She is the Vice Chair of Faculty Affairs and Director of the Emergency Ultrasound Division and Fellowship in Emergency Medicine. Dr. Lema is recognized as a national leader in Emergency Medicine and Emergency Ultrasound. She is the past Chair of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) Emergency Ultrasound Section, past Treasurer of the Society of Clinical Ultrasound Fellowships (SCUF), an elected Board of Director for the New York Chapter of ACEP and a Councilor for ACEP.  Dr. Lema is the recipient of the 2019 NY ACEP Physician of the Year Award and 2020 ACEP American Association of Women Emergency Physician (AAWEP) Award for Outstanding Mentor. Dr. Lema is a passionate educator, dedicated to team building, faculty professional development and is an advocate for equity in medicine.   

Owen Lewis, MD

Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, has taught in a variety of settings in and outside the medical center.  From 1986 to 2006 he served as Director of Child and Adolescent Training for the Adult Psychiatry Residency; from 1994 to 2002 as Co-Director of the Open Society’s Eastern European Child Abuse and Child Mental Health Project; and from 2006 to 2013 Vice President for Education in the School Transformation Projects of Turnaround for Children. He has published extensively in the areas of public psychiatry and child/adolescent psychotherapy.

A poet, he is the author of two collections of poetry (Marriage Map and Sometimes Full of Daylight) and two chapbooks. He has been the recipient of many awards including the 2016 International Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine, the 2016 Jean Pendrick Chapbook Prize (for best man), and a finalist for the 2017 Pablo Neruda Award. Currently, at the medical center he teaches the Narrative Medicine/Poetry Intensive Workshop in the Foundations of Clinical Medicine (FCM) course and a Major Clinical Year (MCY) reflections group. Additionally, he teaches at Einstein Medical School as an Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry.

Ronald Liem, MD

Dr. Ronald Liem is Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology.  He is the Director of the Integrated Program in Cellular, Molecular and Biomedical Studies, the umbrella graduate program the Medical Center.  He is also Associate Director of the MD-PhD program and directs the Med into Grad program that gives graduate PhD students some clinical exposure. 

He also runs the Pathobiology and Mechanisms of Disease graduate program.  He directs a one-year course in Mechanisms of Human Disease and co-directs a Histopathology course for PhD students.  His research interests are in the neuronal cytoskeleton and its relation to neurodegerative diseases. 

Danielle Ludwin, MD

Dr. Danielle B. Ludwin is an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology in the Division of Orthopedic and Regional Anesthesia and the Program Director for the Regional Anesthesia and Acute Pain Medicine Fellowship.   She is the co-director of the Faculty Development and Career Advancement Program in the Department of Anesthesiology.  Dr. Ludwin is a charter member of the Arnold P. Gold Humanism in Medicine Society.  She has led large and small group workshops teaching ultrasound and sonoanatomy. These include a clinical correlations section in the Columbia Medical School Clinical Gross Anatomy course, cadaveric anatomy for anesthesia residents and fellows, as well as presenting at numerous local, national and international meetings including the American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA), the American Society of Regional Anesthesia (ASRA) and the New York State State of Anesthesiology-Post Graduate Assembly (NYSSA-PGA). She is a member of the Columbia Anesthesia Residency Education, Residency Interview and Clinical Competency Committees.

Sarah Shrager Lusman, MD

Dr. Sarah Shrager Lusman is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at CUMC in the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition.  She is the Director of the Pediatric Gastroenterology Fellowship Training Program and the Director of Fellowship Training for the Department of Pediatrics.  She has worked with the Department of Pediatrics’ Office of Medical Education, Diversity and Inclusion to establish the Pediatric Fellows’ Academy, a shared curriculum that promotes the professional development of pediatric fellows.  She is also the director of the resident and medical student electives in pediatric gastroenterology.  She is a member of the Training Committee of the North American Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (NASPGHAN).  She has been involved in the development of Entrustable Professional Activities and associated curricular resources for pediatric gastroenterology fellows.  She recently served as the co-chair of NASPGHAN’s Teaching and Tomorrow program for pediatric residents who are interested in gastroenterology.  She is also the Editor of PREP® GI, a peer-reviewed online education program administered by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Dr. Lusman earned her bachelor's degree in Biology from Brown University. She received her medical degree from Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons and completed her residency and fellowship training at Columbia University Medical Center.  Her major clinical interest is in the gastrointestinal manifestations of cystic fibrosis.  She completed the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s Developing Innovative GastroEnterology Specialty Training (DIGEST) Program and she serves as the gastroenterology representative on the Program Planning Committee for the North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference. 

Monica L. Lypson, MD, MHPE

Dr. Monica L. Lypson, is the Vice Dean for Education, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, Rolf H. Scholdager Professor of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Dr. Lypson was professor of medicine, vice chair for faculty affairs, and director of the general internal medicine division at GW when she was named to the VP&S vice dean’s role in February 2022. As vice dean for education at VP&S, Dr. Lypson oversees all aspects of the MD program, including admissions, financial aid, student affairs, curricular affairs, and student research. She has pledged to help foster a diverse and inclusive learning environment and to work collaboratively across CUIMC to ensure that learners engage in interprofessional didactic and clinical educational activities that address societal needs and promote equitable, high-quality health care for all patients. A graduate of Brown University, Dr. Lypson received her MD degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and her master of health professions education degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is board-certified as a general internist who completed her training in the internal medicine-primary care residency program at Harvard Medical School and as a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at the University of Chicago. She became president of the Society of General Internal Medicine in April 2021 and is an associate editor for the journal of Academic Medicine

Moneek Madra, PhD

Moneek Madra is an Assistant Professor of Nutrition at the Institute of Human Nutrition and the Department of Pediatrics. She received her BS degree from University of Windsor in Biology, her MS from Columbia University in Human Nutrition, and her Ph.D. from Columbia University in Nutritional & Metabolic Biology. As a faculty member in the IHN MS program she teaches courses on Physiology & Nutrition through the Lifecycle and Research Methods. She is also responsible for the coordination the MS thesis process. She is currently a member of Kara Gross-Margolis' research group where she focuses on the role of serotonin in the development of irritable bowel disease. Dr. Madra has contributed significantly to overall teaching at the Institute, course development, curricular review, research training and administrative tasks in education. She currently teaches five required courses for the MS Program comprising almost half of the total credit requirement for graduation.  In 2021, she was appointed Associate Program Director for the MS Program. In this role Dr. Madra has been able to oversee curricular changes to better support the academic progress, mental well-being, and attainment of future goals for our MS students.  

John Markowitz, MD

John Markowitz, M.D. is a Research Psychiatrist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, and Adjunct Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York City. Dr. Markowitz received his medical degree from Columbia in 1982 and completed psychiatric residency training at the New York Hospital-Payne Whitney Clinic in 1986. He trained in cognitive behavioral therapy at the Center for Cognitive Therapy in Philadelphia and in interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) from the late Gerald L. Klerman, M.D. at Cornell. Since residency Dr. Markowitz has conducted clinical research involving psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy of mood, anxiety, and personality disorders. He collaborated with James Kocsis, M.D. on chronic depression research and with the late Drs. Klerman and Samuel Perry on HIV-related research at Cornell. Since moving to Columbia University/New York State Psychiatric Institute in 2001, he has also focused on personality disorders, working with Andrew Skodol, M.D., and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In April 2008 he received funding from the National Institute of Mental Health for a five-year grant to study the efficacy of psychotherapies for chronic PTSD. Dr. Markowitz has received grants from the NIMH, NARSAD, and other foundations. He has lectured widely on IPT and other topics. Dr. Markowitz is the author, co-author, or editor of 18 books and has published more than two hundred seventy-five peer-reviewed articles and chapters. He serves on several journal editorial boards and is Associate Editor of Comprehensive Psychiatry.

Dara Matseoane-Peterssen, MD

Dr. Matseoane is an Assistant Professor of OB/Gyn at CUIMC and the Director of the VP&S Clerkship in OB/Gyn. She earned a BA at Yale College, an MD at VP&S and an MPH in Healthcare Management and Policy from the Mailman School of Public Health. She completed her residency in OB/Gyn at The Sloane Hospital for Women at NYP-CUIMC and has worked at NYP-Allen and in the NYP-Ambulatory Care Network clinics since 2001. 

Dr. Matseoane has been a dedicated clinician-educator throughout her time at Columbia. Her abilities as a teacher and mentor have been recognized with awards including the Charles W. Bohmfalk Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching (2019), the VP&S Major Clinical Year Teacher of the Year Award (2016), the APGO Excellence in Teaching Award (2011), a Mentorship Award from the Black and Latino Student Organization at VP&S (2019), and the Allen Physician of the Year Award (2012). Her current academic interests include incorporating more teaching about healthcare disparities and using simulation and e-learning to optimize clinical learning for clerkship students as COVID changes the way we provide clinical care.

Guy McKhann, MD

Dr. Guy M. McKhann II has over 15 years of experience at Columbia University Medical Center/NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, combining clinical skill and compassionate care to maximize patient outcomes. He works with multidisciplinary teams to treat patients with a variety of brain conditions, including brain tumors, epilepsy, movement disorders, adult hydrocephalus, trigeminal neuralgia, Chiari malformations, and cavernous malformations. His areas of particular technical expertise include awake brain mapping; minimally invasive, computer guided microneurosurgery; stereotactic laser ablation for tumors and epilepsy; Gamma Knife radiosurgery; deep brain stimulation; neuroendoscopy; and cerebrospinal fluid shunting.

Dr. McKhann also works as a translational neuroscientist, directing the Epilepsy Neurophysiology Laboratory and collaborating with Dr. Sameer A. Sheth in the Functional and Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory and with Dr. Jeffrey N. Bruce in the Gabriele Bartoli Brain Tumor Research Laboratory. 

Lisa Mellman, MD

Lisa A. Mellman, M.D. is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Senior Associate Dean for Student Affairs at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons.  She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Colorado, her medical degree from Case Western Reserve University and completed her psychiatry residency at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center/New York State Psychiatric Institute where she was Chief Resident. Dr. Mellman completed her psychoanalytic training at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research.  A national leader in psychiatric and medical education, Dr. Mellman is Past President of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatry Residency Training and chaired task forces and committees on psychiatric education and psychotherapy competency for the American Psychiatric Association and the American Association of Directors of Psychiatry Residency Training. She also chaired the Fellowship Program of the American Psychoanalytic Association. She is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. In her former positions directing clinical services and as a residency training director, Dr. Mellman developed new clinical and teaching programs in psychiatry.  Dr. Mellman has received awards for clinical excellence, Teacher of the Year, and for contributions to psychoanalysis. Her publications and presentations are on psychiatric and medical education, psychotherapy training and competencies, workforce, pregnancy of the therapist, cultural competency, and consequences of violence. She treats patients with problems including depression, anxiety, adjustment and relationship problems.

Benjamin Miko, MD, MSc, DTM&H

Dr. Benjamin Miko is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases. He serves as the Program Director of the Infectious Diseases Fellowship and the Section Director of the Microbiology/Infectious Diseases Course for pre-clinical medical students at Columbia. Miko is a member of the Medical Education IDWeek Workgroup for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. He also serves on the Item-Writing Task Force for the Infectious Diseases Board Certification Exam (American Board of Internal Medicine). Miko is an associate member of Chatham House (The Royal Institute of International Affairs) and a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Sumit Mohan, MD, MPH

Sumit Mohan, MD, MPH is an Associate Professor of Medicine & Epidemiology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. His clinical and research interests are focused on improving outcomes for patients with acute kidney injury, kidney failure and transplantation. Dr. Mohan is a NIH funded clinical researcher with over 100 peer reviewed publications and is currently the Deputy Editor for Kidney International Reports from the International Society of Nephrology. In addition, Dr. Mohan's commitment to education has been widely recognized with numerous teaching awards including Teacher of the Year (multiple) from the Internal Medicine Residency Program at Harlem Hospital, the Distinguished Educator Award from the third year VP&S students and the Ewig Award for Clinical Teaching from the Department of Medicine. He has lectured at the Glenda Garvey Teaching Academy and teaches at the Columbia University Annual Review of Internal Medicine. He continues to teach medical students in the renal pathophysiology course as well as students, residents and fellows at the bedside while also lecturing both nationally and internationally.

Vivek Moitra, MD

Dr. Moitra is currently an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in the Division of Critical Care, Chief of the Division of Critical Care in the Department of Anesthesiology and the Medical Director of the Cardiothoracic and Surgical Intensive Care Units. He is the Program Director of the Critical Care Medicine Fellowship program. He has an outstanding reputation as an educator and has won several teaching awards. Dr. Moitra is recognized nationally for his research and scholarly activity and serves as a key leader for his specialty nationally in a number of areas: as an Oral Board Examiner and Question Writer, a member of the American Society of Anesthesiologists' Committee on Critical Care Medicine and holds important positions in the Society of Critical Care Medicine. His clinical and research interests include intraoperative resuscitation and the long-term outcomes of the chronically critically ill. His bibliography includes book chapters and manuscripts addressing the interactions of general anesthesia with co-morbidities in patients undergoing surgical procedures. He is an author of the internationally recognized 2015 guidelines for Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS).

Ellen Morrison, MD

Dr. Morrison was the program director for the Nicholas A. Rango HIV Scholar's program, a postgraduate training program in ambulatory HIV care, at New York–Presbyterian Hospital for more than 10 years.

She is the medical director of the HIV Counseling and Testing Service at New York–Presbyterian Hospital and is Chair of the Quality Improvement and Patient Safety committee for the Comprehensive HIV Program at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

Teresa A. Mulaikal, MD, FASE

Dr. Teresa A. Mulaikal joined the department of Anesthesiology at Columbia University as Assistant Professor in 2013, after completing her anesthesiology residency, cardiothoracic anesthesiology and critical care medicine fellowships at this institution.  In July of 2018 she was entrusted with leading the educational program in the department of Anesthesiology as the Residency Program Director.  In this capacity she has worked with her colleagues to redesign the faculty advisory system, create a professional development curriculum, develop an anesthesiology-specific objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) for the residency, and establish diversity and inclusivity as a core value in residency recruitment and fellow retention.  She is active at the national level, serving on the Educational Advisory Board of the Association of University Anesthesiologists and also as a question author for the American Board of Anesthesiology’s Critical Care board examination.  Her clinical interests are in the field of perioperative echocardiography, mechanical circulatory support, and ethics at the end of life.  Her contributions to the field have been recognized in peer-reviewed publications such as Circulation and UpToDate.

Tiffany Murano, MD

Tiffany Murano, MD is a Professor of Emergency Medicine, the Vice Chair of Education for the Department of Emergency Medicine at Columbia University and Associate Designated Institutional Official for New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Murano received her Doctor of Medicine degree from the Ichan School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (formerly known as the Mount Sinai School of Medicine) and her residency training in Emergency Medicine (EM) at Montefiore/Jacobi Medical Center. Murano has also served in several national leadership roles, on the board of directors of the Council of Residency Directors in Emergency Medicine (CORD-EM). as a member of the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Emergency Medicine Review Committee. Her experience with GME and Milestones led to my appointment to the Blue Ribbon Panel for Milestone Education in Podiatric Medicine and Surgery Residencies. Murano plays an integral role with the American Board of Emergency Medicine as an oral board examiner as well as an item writer for the in-training examination, and a senior oral board case reviewer.

Shunichi Nakagawa, MD

Dr. Nakagawa is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Columbia University Medical Center. He is Director of Inpatient Palliative Care Services and Director of Cardiac Supportive Care Services in NewYork Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Nakagawa serves as Associate Program Director of Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship. He became an Apgar member in 2019.  He has extensive training background in general surgery, internal medicine, geriatrics medicine and hospice and palliative care medicine, both in Japan and the US.

Dr. Nakagawa’s clinical and research interests are palliative care for the seriously and critically ill, including those with cancer or advanced heart failure. He developed palliative care consultation program prior to left ventricular assist devices implantation at NewYork Presbyterian Hospital.

Dr. Nakagawa teaches palliative medicine to different level of trainees, including fellows, residents and medical students at bedside. He is sort after as a lecturer, having been invited to conferences in Japan and in the US, locally and nationally. He has strong commitment in teaching medical communication, such as how to break bad news, lead family meetings and navigate difficult decision making for the seriously ill. He received Apgar Grant Awards in 2017 and co-developed the communication skills practice program for general surgery residents.

Katherine G. Nickerson, MD

Dr. Nickerson is Vice Chair of Medical Service Operations and Education in the Department of Medicine. She was Course Director for the Clinical Practice Course from 1995-2001 and in 2003 became Course Director for the Third Year Clerkship in Medicine. In addition to third-year students, she teaches medical students in the Pathophysiology and Clinical Practice courses, residents in the Internal Medicine Residency, and fellows in Rheumatology and also serves as a key faculty advisor to internal medicine residents. Along with colleagues Andrew Mutnick, Nick Fiebach and John Encandela she is a recipient of a grant from the Glenda Garvey Teaching Academy to improve resident teaching of medical students using a set of lively videos. She is currently chairing the Clinical Education Group charged with creating the new four-year clinical curriculum. As a member of the Board of Trustees of Bassett Healthcare and as chair of their Medical Education committee has played an active role in the development of the Columbia-Bassett Clinical Campus.

Dawn M. Nilsen, EdD, OTR/L FAOTA

Dr. Dawn Nilsen is an Associate Professor of Rehabilitation and Regenerative Medicine (Occupational Therapy) at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Associate Director of the Programs in Occupational Therapy. Dr. Nilsen coordinates the Science curriculum and teaches three core courses within the Programs in Occupational Therapy.  She utilizes a combination of technology, peer-teaching, accountability partnerships, and interactive learning activities in her teaching. In addition to teaching, she serves as a research mentor to students at both the masters and doctoral levels.

Dr. Nilsen’s clinical expertise is in the area of neurorehabilitation and motor control with a specific focus on stroke rehabilitation. Her research centers on determining the effectiveness of interventions designed to improve arm and hand function after stroke. Dr. Nilsen’s work in the area of neurorehabilitation has been recognized nationally by the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA). She was inducted into the Roster of Fellows of the AOTA for Outstanding Contributions in Neurorehabilitation Education and Scholarship (2016), and she received the AOTA Recognition of Achievement Award for an Author/Educator Who Has Advanced Neurorehabilitation (2019).

James M. Noble, MD, MS, CPH

Dr. Noble started at CUIMC in 2002 and joined the VP&S faculty in 2008. He is Associate Professor of Neurology (in the Taub Institute for Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain and G.H. Sergievsky Center) at CUIMC. He became an Apgar member in 2012 and a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology in 2017. His academic and research training has included internal medicine, neurology residency (including neurology chief resident), and fellowship training in behavioral neurology and neuropsychiatry within the Department of Neurology at CUIMC, and master’s degree in epidemiology from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. He holds board certifications in neurology (American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology), Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry (United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties), and Certification in Public Health (American Board of Public Health Examiners). His current neurology practice focuses on Alzheimer disease and sports-related concussion, as well as general neurology in the Associates in Internal Medicine (AIM) practice. Dr. Noble has served in multiple educational roles in the department of neurology, including previously as the director of medical student education (neurology clerkship and electives director) from 2009-2016. Transitioning more into research roles recently, he nonetheless remains very involved with early neuroscience training of VP&S medical students as the co-director of preclinical neuroscience course and the NIH-supported Brief Research in Aging and Interdisciplinary Neurosciences (BRAIN) T35 training program. Since 2005, he has helped developed the NIH-supported Hip Hop Public Health Centers of Harlem Hospital and Columbia University Irving Medical Center, which now annually reach over 10,000 local elementary school children, educating them on important health messages including stroke, Alzheimer disease, healthy eating and lifestyle decisions, sugar-sweetened beverages, and establishing exercise thresholds. This approach teaches children to be health educational conduits into their homes to improve health knowledge and attitudes in multiple generations. In 2017, along with Dr. Olajide Williams, Dr. Noble helped to start the Institute for Training, Outreach, and Community Health (In TOuCH), a community health worker education program based out of the Manhattanville campus.

Carlos A. Pagán, MD

Dr. Carlos A. Pagán is an Assistant Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC). He is the Residency Program Director for Anatomic and Clinical Pathology at NYP-Columbia. His clinical interests include general surgical pathology as well as the molecular genetic characterization of tumors.  As program director, he organizes the residency curriculum and teaches on a wide range of topics, particularly integrating surgical and molecular pathology. He is also involved in direct teaching and training of pathology residents and molecular pathology fellows at CUIMC. 

He leads large laboratory sessions for medical and dental students in Histology and Pathology at VP&S since 2018, is a regular lecturer for the Pathology course at VP&S, and regularly proctors small group sessions in the Molecular Mechanisms and BHD courses. In 2019 he received the Dr. Karl Perzin Anatomic Pathology Faculty Teaching Award. In addition, he’s been a guest lecturer for The Pathology of Neoplastic Disease course at MSKCC, and at the Dominican Medical Association annual symposium.

Heather Paladine, MD, MEd

Dr. Paladine is the program director of the NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Family Medicine residency and also volunteers at the CoSMO student-run free clinic. She is one of the faculty co-leaders of the Daniel Noyes Brown Primary Care Scholars Program, a selective track that includes mentoring and clinical experiences for students who are interested in primary care. Her clinical focus is on women's health care within Family Medicine, including maternity care and reproductive health.

Madhavi Parekh, MD

Madhavi Parekh, MD is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy & Critical Care Medicine. She is the Director of Medical Critical Care Education, the Medical ICU Rotation Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program, and the clerkship director for the Medical ICU Sub-Internship at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) and the Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons (VP&S). She earned her bachelor’s and medical degrees at Brown University, and completed her residency in internal medicine and fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at CUIMC. Dr. Parekh has helped spearhead education in Point-of-Care-Ultrasound (POCUS) in the medical critical care setting, and is involved in educating trainees in POCUS at VP&S, CUIMC, and on a regional level. She is a member of the Society of Critical Care Medicine’s (SCCM) ultrasound guideline panel, which develops international guidelines for the use of POCUS. Her other educational and academic interests include acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), and she led a multi-departmental educational group during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, which focused on rapidly educating redeployed providers at New-York Presbyterian in critical care medicine and management.

Henry Park, PhD

Henry Park Dr. Henry Park has been serving as the Director of Education Research and Data Analysis Support at Columbia University Medical Center's Center for Education Research and Evaluation since 2015. In this capacity,  he supports program evaluation, curriculum development, accreditation issues, faculty and resident development, and educational scholarship initiatives at the medical school and affiliate hospital, New York Presbyterian and The College of Dental Medicine.  Dr. Park also provides statistical support for the Virginia Apgar Society, supporting faculty scholarship and development, and serving on their grant committee. Day-to-Day activities include evaluating learner performance, data analysis, evaluating program effectiveness, continuous quality improvement, and consultation.  He is also an Assistant Professor in Clinical Psychology (in Psychiatry) at the New York State Psychiatric Institute at Columbia University Medical Center, providing consultation to residents and faculty on research design and analysis. Prior to joining Columbia, he served as a Research Associate at the Center for Advanced Study in Education at the Graduate Center CUNY. His direct service experience includes managing and reviewing grant applications, database management, statistical analysis, and reporting, as well as program design and evaluation in a higher education environment. Dr. Park has a PhD in Developmental Psychology and an MPhil in Psychology from The Graduate Center-CUNY, and a BA in Psychology from Auburn University. 

Joseph Picoraro, MD

Dr. Joseph A. Picoraro is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition of the Columbia University Irving Medical Center. As Associate Course Director of Foundations in Clinical Medicine – Tutorials in the Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, he expanded the curricular threads of pediatric medicine, developing and implementing the pediatric bedside session and growing the pediatric faculty. As Medical Director for GI Inpatient Services of NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, he facilitated the development of a dedicated resident teaching service for pediatric GI and hepatology, in addition to redesigning the nutrition support service. As Course Director of the Clinical Observership course in the Institute of Human Nutrition, he expanded the experiential learning for masters’ nutrition students. Dr. Picoraro graduated from Duke University undergraduate and the Perelman School of Medicine University of Pennsylvania, and he completed general pediatrics residency at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and fellowship in pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition at Columbia University and NewYork-Presbyterian.

He is the Associate Director of the pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) center and, through a fellowship in advanced pediatric endoscopy from the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, he is developing innovative techniques to improve the care of children with IBD. His educational focus with medical students, residents, fellows, and allied health professionals has begun to coalesce around self-directed and self-reflective procedural skill acquisition.

Marya Pollack MD, MPH

Dr. Pollack received her MD degree from New York University and her MPH in Maternal and Child Health from Columbia University. She joined the faculty in the Division of Psychiatry in 2001. Since then, she has been teaching third-year medical students in the Psychiatry Clerkship. Dr. Pollack created a unique interdisciplinary graduate-level course “Human Nature: DNA, Race & Identity,” which is taught both fall and spring semesters on the Morningside campus and is open to learners from any school in the University. She is the Director of an elective for fourth-year medical students who then attend her seminar while gaining clinical experience in palliative care and psychiatry. In addition, Dr. Pollack is an instructor in the newly developed fall semester seminar “Life at the End of Life: Palliative Medicine and Service,” which developed from a volunteer program one of her former students created at Terence Cardinal Cooke Hospital. She recruited many of the other instructors for the course and looks forward to a continued role as liaison between educators at CUIMC and the Morningside campus as part of her work at the Academy.

Donald Quest, MD

Donald O. Quest graduated from the University of Illinois with honors in mathematics in 1961. He served on active duty with the United States Navy as a naval aviator aboard the U.S.S. Kittyhawk in the Vietnam conflict between 1961 and 1966. He then attended Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and was awarded the M. D. degree in 1970. He was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha and received the Winchester prize for overall excellence in his graduating medical school class. He interned in surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital in 1970-71 and then was a resident in surgery from 1971 to 1972. Dr. Quest was a resident in neurological surgery at the Neurological Institute of New York at the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center between 1972 and 1975. He was chief resident from 1975 to 1976. He served as an assistant professor of neurological surgery at the Downstate Medical Center of the State University of New York between 1976 and 1978. He joined the Department of Neurological Surgery at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1978 and rose to become professor in 1989. Dr. Quest has been Vice Chairman of the Department from 1991 to 1993 and from 1997 to 2008 and has been Acting Chairman on two occasions, 1993 to 1994 and 1996 to 1997. He was appointed Assistant Dean of Student Affairs at Columbia in 2003.

Dr. Quest was on the Executive Committee of the Congress of Neurological Surgery from 1978 to 1988. He served as Scientific Program Chairman, Treasurer, and President of the Congress — presiding at the annual meeting in Baltimore in 1987.  Dr. Quest is a member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), the American Academy of Neurological Surgery, the American College of Surgeons, the American Medical Association, the Neurological Society of American and the Society of Neurological Surgeons. He has served on the Board of Directors of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and was chairman of the Scientific Program Committee from 1990-1991 and Annual Meeting Chairman 1991- 1992. He was elected Vice-President of the AANS from 1994-1995. He was elected as a Director of the American Board of Neurological Surgery in 1994. He served as Secretary of the Board from 1996 to 1999 and was Chairman from 1999 to 2000. He was elected to the Residency Review Committee for Neurological Surgery in 2000 and its chairman in 2006. He was President of the American Academy of Neurological Surgery in 2002 and President of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons in 2007.
Dr. Quest has served as president of the Board of Education in Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey and a member of the Board of Directors of Hudson City Savings Bank in Paramus, New Jersey. He is presently on the Board of Directors of Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown, New York.

Jai Radhakrishnan MD, MS

Dr. Radhakrishnan is Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and the Clinical Chief of the Nephrology Division at the New York Presbyterian Hospital.  His clinical and research interests are the in the therapy of chronic kidney disease, glomerular diseases and intensive care nephrology.  He is an associate editor of Kidney International and founding editor/editor-in-chief of Kidney International Reports.  He has served on educational committees with the ASN and ISN and is a global education ambassador for the ISN and has lectured extensively both nationally and internationally. He previously served as the training program director for nephrology at Columbia. His commitment to medical education is exemplified by his numerous teaching awards including the Ewig Clinical Education Award, Daniel V. Kimberg Memorial Teaching Award and Charles W. Bohmfalk Award for Excellence in Pre-clinical Teaching. He has been included New York Times Magazine Super Doctors and America’s Best Doctors in recognition of his clinical skills.

Rini Ratan, MD

Dr. Ratan is actively involved in teaching medical students and residents in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Her teaching philosophy is to encourage students to have fun while actively engaging in learning, and she has developed many innovative and interactive educational tools to this end. Third-year medical students look forward to the Jeopardy!" style shelf review that Dr. Ratan hosts at the end of each clerkship, and residents enjoy competing in her ongoing Quiz Show series, culminating in an end-of-the-year Faculty v. Resident "Family Feud". Dr. Ratan has won numerous teaching awards, including the Association of Professors in Gynecology and Obstetrics. Excellence in Teaching Award in 2004 and 2007.

Cindy Roskind, MD

Dr. Roskind is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Department of Emergency Medicine. She earned her bachelors and medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania and completed both her pediatric residency and pediatric emergency medicine fellowship training at NewYork-Presbyterian/ Columbia University Irving Medical Center. She also completed the Academic Pediatric Association Education Scholar Program in 2014.  Dr. Roskind serves as the director of the pediatric emergency medicine fellowship program.  Under her direction, the program has seen enormous growth and development, and she is passionate about improving fellowship education on a local and national level. Dr. Roskind co-authored her specialty’s Entrustable Professional Activities as well as several publications detailing the current state and future directions of pediatric emergency medicine fellowship training on a national level.  She co-developed an annual “how to teach” course for fellows from several local training programs and also facilitates an annual evidence-based practice workshop. Dr. Roskind is passionate about mentoring future pediatric emergency medicine physicians and educators and serves as a mentor for trainees and junior fellowship program directors.

Said Saab, MD, M.Ed, M.Phil.

Dr. Said S. Saab is an assistant professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian Hospital. After completing his undergraduate degree at Emory University, Dr. Saab attended New York University School of Medicine and later completed his residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He completed a master of philosophy (M.Phil.) at Trinity College, University of Cambridge, and a master of education (M.Ed.) in the Health Professions at Johns Hopkins School of Education, where he is adjunct faculty of health professions education. Dr. Saab provides general obstetric and gynecologic clinical care. His research focus is medical student and resident education, with a particular interest in assessments and evaluations.

Prantik Saha, MD MPH

Prantik Saha, MD has been practicing general pediatrics for more than 20 years in a variety of different contexts, including inpatient and outpatient, rural and urban with patients ranging in age from newborns to 21 years old. Dr. Saha devotes half his time as an educator and medical school professor at the Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons at CUIMC precepting medical students in narrative medicine and communication skills practice with standardized patients, directing a block of curriculum devoted to public health promotion and motivational interviewing (MI), and preparing students for the Step 2 Clinical Skills exam through SP simulation and feedback. 
Dr. Saha also serves his community as a member of Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) conducting medical and psychological evaluations for asylum applicants through the Columbia Human Rights Initiative Asylum Clinic. Additionally, he serves as the Title IX representative for the School Leadership Team Committee at a local public elementary school, advocating for the rights of gender nonconforming children. He is also a member of the Physicians for a National Healthcare Program (PNHP), a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and a member of MINT (Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers). Besides teaching medical students, Dr. Saha teaches motivational interviewing for students and providers at the Institute of Human Nutrition and other schools at CUIMC and other New York institutions through the Columbia HIV Mental Health Training Project. He has dedicated himself to the dissemination of motivational interviewing as the best practice in behavior change counseling  for all health care providers and hopes to create and refine an MI curriculum here at Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons. 

Rosemary Sampogna, MD, PhD

Rosemary Sampogna,MD, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Medicine specializing in Nephrology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Her teaching portfolio encompasses graduate-level Biochemistry and Renal Physiology, and she previously served as the co-Director for the Nephrology section of the Body in Health and Disease (BHD). Currently, she is the Director of the MCY Clerkship in Medicine. In her clinical practice, she instructs medical students, residents, and Nephrology fellows at the bedside, and she serves as the Medical Director of City Dialysis in East Harlem. Her research interests span Developmental Nephrology, Tissue Engineering, and Circadian Biology. She is recognized for her mentorship, having guided numerous students in the laboratory setting.

Prakash Satwani, MD

Dr. Prakash Satwani is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Director of Pediatric Cellular Therapy Program, and Director of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology/BMT Fellowship. He received his medical degree from Gandhi Medical College in Bhopal, India and completed his Pediatric Residency at King Edward Memorial Hospital in Mumbai India and The Brooklyn Hospital Center in New York.  Dr. Satwani received his fellowship training in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation at Columbia University Medical Center.  Currently, Dr. Satwani is a full-time clinician specializing in the care of children and adolescents undergoing bone marrow transplantation (BMT) and other cellular therapies. Through his work within the fellowship and the Pediatric Residency Program, Dr. Satwani has developed Pediatric Hematology/Oncology/BMT divisions education curricula, clinical rotations, research programs, and educational seminars.  He has mentored (both formally and informally) numerous trainees, junior faculty, doctoral and master’s students, within the university, as well as, nationally and internationally. Dr. Satwani’ s research focus is on outcomes, healthcare utilization and curbing overuse in pediatric bone marrow transplantation.  In his research, he has focused on leveraging the information from institutional observational data, in order to improve practice in the field.

 In 2016, Dr. Satwani began working with the government in the State of Madhya Pradesh in India to develop their first Bone Marrow Transplant Program and Center.  This work offered Dr. Satwani an opportunity to formally train two pediatricians, developed protocols and standard-operating procedures for the center, and develop a new educational curriculum for both physicians and nurses. This unit performs free bone-marrow transplants for patients of poor socio-economic status with reported income below the poverty line.  Dr. Satwani, provides guidance on a daily basis to the medical and nursing team.

Briana Short, MD

Dr. Briana Short is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons within the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine where she serves as the Associate Program Director of the Pulmonary and Critical Care fellowship.  She earned her medical degree at Loyola University and completed her residency and chief residency at University of Maryland before moving to Columbia for her fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care.  Her clinical interests include mechanical ventilation and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in respiratory failure.  She had developed different educational modules within the medical intensive care unit for both fellows and faculty with a focus on simulation.  She teaches mechanical ventilation around the country and helps run an annual national educational series for incoming fellows.  Additionally, she is the co-director for the Body in Health and Disease Pulmonary section at VP&S.  She has received different awards for her contributions to medical education including the Ewig Clinical Scholar Award from the Department of Medicine.

Aubrie Swan Sein, PhD, EdM

Aubrie Swan Sein, PhD, EdM, is the Director of the Center for Education Research and Evaluation (CERE) at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, where she has worked since 2009, and is an Assistant Professor of Educational Assessment in Dental Medicine and Pediatrics. Dr. Swan Sein leads the work of CERE to collaborate, consult, and advise in program development and evaluation, educational and evaluation research and scholarship, curriculum and instructional design, learner assessment and evaluation design, educator development, and counseling about long-term learning and studying strategies. Her scholarly interests are in how assessment systems can be structured to promote student long-term learning, and how best to support students to develop high quality learning and studying strategies. She has a PhD in Educational Psychology and an EdM in Measurement, Assessment, and Evaluation from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey and a BA in Psychology from Binghamton University (SUNY).

Jean-Ju Sheen, MD

Dr. Jean-Ju Sheen is Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Director of Obstetric Simulation, and Medical Director of Labor and Delivery at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. She received her medical degree from the New York University School of Medicine and her residency training from NewYork Presbyterian/ Weill Cornell Medical College. Dr. Sheen then practiced general obstetrics and gynecology and was the Associate Residency Director at Jamaica Hospital prior to pursuing her maternal-fetal medicine fellowship at Albert Einstein College of Medicine/ Montefiore Medical Center. At CUIMC, Dr. Sheen supervises students, residents and fellows, teaching them about complex inpatient obstetric management. She designed the obstetric simulation curriculum, training students, residents, fellows, attendings and nurses for both task-specific and multi-step clinical scenarios for individuals, groups and multidisciplinary teams. Her regional and national collaborations have included being faculty for the Banner University Medical Center and SMFM Critical Care in Obstetrics course and the ACOG Supporting Simulation Training for Obstetric Patient Safety course, in addition to being co-director for the NYC Regional MFM Fellow Ultrasound-Guided Invasive Fetal Procedures course.  Additionally, she has authored several publications about medical simulation in obstetrics, including critical care. Because of her teaching contributions, Dr. Sheen has received multiple awards for excellence in medical student, resident and fellow education, including the Council on Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology (CREOG) National Faculty Award in 2009 and 2021. 

Julia B. Sobol, MD, MPH

Dr. Julia Sobol is an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, the Associate Residency Program Director for Anesthesiology, and an attending anesthesiologist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital specializing in liver transplant anesthesiology and critical care. She is the Associate Editor of Critical Care for the Anesthesia Toolbox, an online platform that provides peer-reviewed educational resources for learners and educators nationwide. Her educational interests include perioperative ultrasound and curriculum development. She has taken courses at Teachers College in "Designing Curriculum and Instruction," as well as the Advanced Certificate in Adult Learning and Leadership for Medical Educators. Dr. Sobol leads a Clinician-Educator Track within the Department of Anesthesiology to enhance participants' teaching skills, and she has also given lectures on "Innovations in Resident Education." Her research interests focus on the evaluation of educational initiatives.

Patrice Spitalnik, MD

Dr. Patrice F. Spitalnik is Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology and the Associate Director of the MD-PhD program at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. She is the course director for the first year Histology and Pathology Course. She is also course director of the Mechanisms and Practice course during the major clinical year. Dr. Spitalnik directs the surgical pathology section of the surgery clerkship in the major clinical year as well as the Clinical Competence course for the MD-PhD students during the PhD portion of the dual degree program. She directs the clinical component of the Med into Grad program for the Graduate School of Arts and Science and directs the Responsible Conduct of Research course for the MD-PhD program. She is interested in education and has given lectures on writing letters of recommendation and ways to improve large group teaching at the Apgar Academy. She teaches middle school students in the community Lang program during the summer.  Her clinical interest is in laboratory hematology.

Oliver M. Stroeh, MD

Oliver M. Stroeh, MD is the Clarice Kestenbaum, M.D. Associate Professor of Education and Training in the Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and the Associate Director of the NewYork-Presbyterian Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Residency Training Program of both Columbia University and Weill Cornell Medicine. Stroeh has dedicated a majority of his professional efforts to education and training in academic medicine. Influencing educational outcomes at the local, regional, and national levels, Stroeh holds education/ training-related committee positions within the American Psychiatric Association (APA), the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training (AADPRT), the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN), and the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA).

Throughout his time as a residency training director, Stroeh has worked deliberately to transform the curricula trainees receive with goals to leverage the strengths of the institution, integrate latest field developments into curriculum content, and innovate teaching methodologies relevant to adult learning. Stroeh’s direct teaching has been recognized and honored by the American Psychiatric Association’s 2019-2020 Irma Bland, M.D. Certificate of Excellence in Teaching Residents.

Delphine Taylor, MD

Delphine Taylor earned a history degree from Columbia College and worked as a journalist before attending P&S (Class of 1997). After residency in Internal Medicine/Primary Care at CUMC, she joined the Associates of Internal Medicine Practice in 2000 as a clinician-educator. She served as director of the primary care track of the internal medicine residency until July 2005, when she became course director of Clinical Practice I and II in the medical school. She is now course director of Foundations of Clinical Medicine—Seminars, which covers such topics as medical interviewing and the patient-doctor relationship, ethics and professionalism, sexuality, cultural competence, health promotion, health systems, substance abuse, and palliative care. She leads small groups in the Foundations course in the preclinical and clinical years and precepts for the Medicine Clerkship. She was awarded the Charles W. Bohmfalk award for Excellence in Teaching in the Pre-Clinical Years at P&S in 2007, named a fellow in the Glenda Garvey Teaching Academy in 2009, and given a teaching award for Outstanding Small Group Teaching by the P&S class of 2013. In addition to the topics in Foundations Seminars, her current scholarly interests include the impact of student self- reflection, collaboration and peer feedback on teamwork and professionalism.

Christopher M. Tedeschi, MD, MA

Christopher M. Tedeschi, MD, MA is Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and director of emergency preparedness for the Department of Emergency Medicine. He teaches wilderness, environmental and disaster medicine to learners at all levels, and is course director for the wilderness medicine elective at VP&S, as well of the emergency medicine residency’s austere medicine advanced practice track. He has previously served as core faculty for the NYP emergency medicine residency, as well as EM sub-internship clerkship director. Tedeschi sits on the editorial board of the Journal Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, and is a Fellow of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine.  He is particularly interested in social studies of science related to medicine as well as media coverage and ethical, legal and social issues during public health emergencies.  His other interests include nonfiction media production, especially as related to medicine. His work has appeared in Vox, Backpacker, Discover, Columbia Journalism Review, and blogs for BMJ Medical Humanities, Scientific American, and PLoS. 

Jean F. Timmerberg, PT, PhD, MHS

Jean Fitzpatrick Timmerberg, PT, PhD, MHS is the Associate Director of The Programs in Physical Therapy and an Assistant Professor of Rehabilitation & Regenerative Medicine at CUIMC.  Dr. Timmerberg is the Co-Editor in Chief of the Journal of Clinical Education in Physical Therapy, a Board-Certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist and a fellow of the American Physical Therapy Association's Education Leadership Institute. Her primary areas of teaching and research are in the areas of physical therapist education, orthopedics, sports medicine, and injury prevention.

Nationally and internationally, Dr. Timmerberg has been actively involved in educational innovation across the learner continuum, serving as chair to several committees focusing on student readiness and competency-based education (CBE).  She is currently engaged with the national leadership to move the profession to a CBE framework, specifically utilizing entrustable professional activities.  In addition, she is the Co-Chair of a developing competency based continuing professional program for physical therapists working with patients with spinal muscular atrophy (STEP-IN). Recent collaborative publications include Competency-based education in the health professions: Using applied research to improve learner and societal outcomes, Physical therapist student readiness for entrance into the first full-time clinical experience: A Delphi study and Defining the role of the center coordinator of clinical education: Identifying responsibilities, supports, and challenges.

Helen M. Towers, MB, BCh, FRCPI FAAP

Dr. Towers is Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Department of Pediatrics and Associate Medical Director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York. She is the Chair of the Pediatric Ethics Committee and is an ethics consultant for the department. She is a current student in the Master’s Program in Narrative Medicine.   Her interests include communication with parents of sick children as well as medical education and she co-teaches a clinical bioethics elective for medical students at VP&S. She provides lectures to nurses, medical students, residents and Pediatric Fellows. She is delighted to join such an esteemed group of educators and looks forward to collaborative efforts to improve the learning experience for the next generation of learners.    

William Turner, MD, FACP

Dr. William Turner is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and a full-time practicing hospitalist. He received his undergraduate degree in Biology and Black Studies magna cum laude from Amherst College and attended medical school at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He completed his internship, residency, and chief residency in Internal Medicine at the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Turner is an Advisory Dean at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, and faculty mentor for its Black and Latino Student Organization.

He is a key faculty advisor for the Training Program in Internal Medicine and a member of the executive admissions committees for the internal medicine training program and medical school. He is a preceptor in Associates in Internal Medicine Clinic, Internal Medicine Clerkship, Cosmo, and Asylum Clinic student clinics. He teaches a section on African American History of Medicine in the Narrative Medicine Elective and lectures widely on it. Dr. Turner was awarded Junior Faculty Teacher Award by the internal medicine residency in 2009, BALSO Mentor of the Year twice, and was inaugural recipient of the Ewig Clinical Education Award in 2007. He serves as the Committee on Student Diversity Affairs (COSDA) Liaison to the Group on Student Affairs Committee on Student Records (GSA-COSR) for the AAMC.

Pallavi Utukuri, MD

Dr. Pallavi Utukuri has been involved with medical student education for many years. Over the course of my tenure,Utukuri has been able to incorporate imaging education at all levels of the medical school. Beginning with the Virtual Autopsy program in the first year and ending with the Virtual Radiology course in the more senior years, the students receive comprehensive instruction about diagnosis using imaging and imaging appropriateness.  I have also been able to incorporate imaging education into several core clerkships. Lastly, I have been able to introduce our unique curricula and teaching styles to trainees across the world using remote learning.

Anju Wagh, MBBS

Anju Wagh joined the CUIMC Pediatric Emergency medicine division in 1999 with the goal of   educating the next generation of physicians to become the best clinicians they can be. Through the Emergency Medicine Department, Dr Wagh teaches the First Responder Course, Procedure workshop and the Ready for Residency courses for medical students. Specializing in Pediatric Emergency, Dr. Wagh had  been involved in direct teaching of Pediatric and ER residents, Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellows and given multiple presentations and lectures to the residents and fellows, while also contributing to curriculum development as well as the annual conference schedule given by our emergency medicine department. Dr. Wagh continues to teach critical life-saving procedural skills at multiple local and regional workshops (Advanced Airway Workshop and Base Camp) on airway management using simulation and cadaver labs; coordinated innovative joint teaching workshops (Cadaver workshop) for Pediatric Emergency medicine fellows and first year medical students on the anatomy rotation; and nationally co-led workshops at annual meetings of the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM), Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS), and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). These workshops have covered Battlefield acupuncture in the ED, patient centered and destigmatizing language in medical documentation and developing of peer support programs.

Romina Wahab, MD

Dr. Romina Wahabis an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy & Critical Care Medicine, of the Department of Medicine at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC). She received her undergraduate degree from Stanford University and her medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She completed her residency in internal medicine and fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at CUIMC, and a fellowship in sleep medicine at New York University Langone Medical Center. She joined the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S) faculty in 2015. She is the Director of the Allen ICU Rotation for the Internal Medicine Residency Program at CUIMC, and the Course Director for the Allen ICU Sub-Internship at VP&S.

Marcella Donovan Walker, MD, MS

Dr. Marcella Walker is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University in the Division of Endocrinology. Dr. Walker received her undergraduate training at Wesleyan University and her medical training at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.  She completed her residency in Internal Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in 2002 and went on to complete a 3-year fellowship training program in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University. Dr. Walker joined the faculty at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 2005.  Dr. Walker also completed a Masters Degree in Biostatistics and Patient-Oriented Research at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University in 2009. She is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Endocrinology. Her clinical activities involve caring for patients in the Metabolic Bone Diseases Unit at Columbia with a variety of disorders including primary hyperparathyroidism, osteoporosis, Paget’s disease, fibrous dysplasia, osteomalacia, hypophosphatasia and osteopetrosis. Dr. Walker also participates in a number of teaching settings, including as a lecturer and small group preceptor for medical students during the Endocrinology section of “The Body: In Health and Disease”. She also serves as a small group preceptor for medical students during their Medicine Clerkship and to Endocrine Fellows in Endocrinology Clinic. She was recently appointed as Associate Director of Clinical Research for the medical student Scholarly Projects Program. Additionally, Dr. Walker attends on the Endocrinology teaching consult service. Dr. Walker is a member of the Institutional Review Board at CUIMC and serves as an Associate Editor for several journals including Bone and Endocrine Research. Her major research interests focus on primary hyperparathyroidism and using new imaging technologies to study osteoporosis and the effects of various diseases and medications on bone health. She enjoys serving as a research mentor for students, residents and fellows on these projects. She is the author of over 60 original research publications, chapters, review articles and editorials. She has received funding from the National Institutes of Health, National Osteoporosis Foundation, and New York Academy of Medicine.

Athina Vassilakis, MD

Dr. Athina Vassilakis is an assistant professor at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S). She is a graduate of VP&S and the internal medicine residency program at NYP-Columbia. Her current clinical work is in the Allen hospitalist division of internal medicine and she also serves as the internal medicine clerkship site director for the Allen hospital rotation. She has broad experience in GME and UME teaching and has been teaching in the VP&S foundations courses since 2014. She is currently the course director of the Ready for Advanced Medical Practice (RAMP) course, an innovative hybrid course focusing on clinical skill synthesis and further development at the juncture between the end of the major clerkship rotations and the last phase of the clinical curriculum including sub-internships. Beyond her focus in teaching clinical skills, Dr. Vassilakis is interested in faculty development to improve teaching clinical skills and is currently working on faculty development in providing written feedback to student write-ups. She is a 2021-2023 recipient of the Ewig Clinical Scholars award in recognition of her teaching efforts for the internal medicine house staff and Columbia University medical students.

Susan Vaughan, MD

Susan C. Vaughan is an American author, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst on the faculty at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Columbia Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research in New York City. A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College (1985) and an AOA graduate of Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons (1989), Vaughan remained at Columbia for her residency in psychiatry, her chief residency in psychiatry, a research fellowship in affective and anxiety disorders and psychoanalytic training. Dr. Vaughan has written three best-selling books: The Talking Cure: The Science behind psychotherapy, Half Empty Half Full, and Viagra: A Guide to the Phenomenal Potency-promoting Drug. Each of these books has been translated into multiple languages and cited widely. The Talking Cure received the Gradiva Book of the Year for best book about psychotherapy. She is a popular teacher and supervisor known for her sense of humor and ability to both show students the box and also teach them to think outside the box. Vaughan is especially interested in gender and sexuality, work with dreams, and psychoanalytic process. She maintains a private practice in psychiatry and psychoanalysis.

Olajide Williams, MD, MS

Dr. Olajide Williams is a clinician and educator with research interest in community-based educational interventions to reduce the disproportionate burden of stroke among minority populations. He is a member of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke External Review Group for the Clinical Research Collaboration, charged with connecting American communities to National Institute of Health research, and is the recipient of numerous awards for outstanding teaching, humanism, and community service. These include; Columbia University Distinguished Teacher Award (VP&S class of 2005), National Humanism in Medicine Award recognition from the Association of American Medical Colleges (2006), and a Columbia University Gold Foundation Award for Humanism in Medicine and Excellence in Teaching. Dr. Williams has also been honored by the New York City Council, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, and the NAACP. He is an Associate Director of Columbia University’s department of neurology and currently practices neurology at Harlem Hospital Center and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital where he teaches and trains medical students and resident physicians every day.

Christopher Winfree, MD

Christopher Winfree, MD grew up in Jupiter, Florida, and attended Dartmouth College, where he graduated with a degree in Chemistry. After completing medical school at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, he joined the Department of Neurological Surgery at Columbia University as a resident. Following residency, he completed a fellowship in Peripheral Nerve Surgery in New Orleans, Louisiana, and then a second fellowship in Functional and Stereotactic Neurosurgery in Portland, Oregon. Currently, Dr. Winfree is an Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery and the Neurosurgery Residency Associate Program Director at the Columbia University in New York City. He specializes in peripheral nerve surgery and pain neurosurgery.  His research interests include the diagnosis and treatment of peripheral nerve tumors while his academic interests focus on neurosurgery resident and medical student education.

Christopher Kevin Wong, PT, PhD, OCS

Dr. Wong is an Associate Professor of Rehabilitation and Regenerative Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center (CUIMC) and the Associate Director of the Program in Physical Therapy within the College of Physician & Surgeons. An orthopedic specialist certified by the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialists, Dr. Wong’s clinical practice is focused on sports and orthopedics. His research focuses on rehabilitation after amputation and prosthetic function, falls, and injury outcomes. Dr. Wong teaches five courses within the Program in Physical Therapy addressing advanced orthopedic manual therapy, orthotics and prosthetics, and reflective clinical practice. His teaching combines web-based learning communities with active learning strategies, an educational approach he has studied and published. Dr. Wong has received several national American Physical Therapy Association awards including the Minority Faculty Development Scholarship Award and most recently the Education Section Distinguished Educator Award.

Anette Wu (Fortgang) MD, MPH, PhD

Dr. Wu is an associate professor in the Departments of Medicine and Pathology and Cell Biology at the Vagelos College of Physician and Surgeons (VP&S). She has been a member of the teaching faculty in the Clinical Anatomy course since 2007. Dr. Wu is the founder and director of the “International Collaboration and Exchange program – Preparing Global Leaders for Healthcare” at VP&S - a unique interdisciplinary, international student networking and exchange program that is based in the anatomy course (globally), with content that incorporates global health, public health, and health law and ethics. The program partners over 20 leading medical and health sciences schools on 4 continents, in order to impart leadership skills, convey international and interdisciplinary teamwork and collaboration skills, cultural competency skills, and provide a professional network for future global leaders in healthcare. In addition, Dr. Wu initiated and directs a 4th year elective for medical students at VP&S, “Internationalization of Medical Education: Global Collaborations to Cultivate Cultural Competency via Exchange on Nutrition and Planetary Health”. Her educational research focuses on the internationalization of medical education in order to promote the improvement of global health. She has authored multiple articles on this topic, including internationalization of medical education “at home” approaches. Dr. Wu leads a team of 30 international faculty members for educational research and international collaboration, and she works with 350-400 international students per semester.

Dr. Wu received her MD and PhD degrees from Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany. For her PhD she completed a research scholarship in Cardiac Surgery/Transplantation Physiology at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN. Subsequently, Dr. Wu trained in General and Transplantation Surgery at Hannover Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. Additionally, she completed a fellowship in Transplantation Immunology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Wu then obtained her MPH in Health Policy and Management from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.

Jeffrey Zitsman, MD

Dr. Zitsman graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a degree in natural sciences and received his M.D. degree from Tufts University Medical School in 1976. He received his training in General Surgery at Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston and completed his Pediatric Surgery training at the Babies Hospital of New York. He is Board-Certified in General Surgery and Pediatric Surgery, and also holds a Certificate of Special Competence in Surgical Critical Care.

Dr. Zitsman has maintained an active clinical practice in pediatric surgery in the New York area since 1985. He holds the rank of Professor of Surgery at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center. His areas of interest include applications of minimal access techniques in pediatric surgery, chest wall deformities, bariatric surgery in adolescents, and medical education. Dr. Zitsman is a member of the inaugural class of the Academy for Clinical Excellence at CUMC, and he has mentored and advised students and residents continually throughout his long career.  Dr. Zitsman been named to Castle Connolly’s Best Doctors in the New York area list annually since 2002.