Editor-in-Chief
Bruce Deighton, PhD, Vice President of Graduate Medical Education, HCA Healthcare, Brentwood, TN
Dr. Deighton is a leader in medical education with more than 40 years’ experience, specializing in strategic planning, medical education design and development, and physician workforce development. As Vice President of Graduate Medical Education for HCA Healthcare, he is primarily focused on developing GME strategies for teaching hospitals in 15 states. Prior to joining HCA Healthcare, he served as Vice President of Academic Affairs and DIO for the Detroit Medical Center. He chaired the national Graduate Medical Education Advisory Committee for Tenet Healthcare during his time there. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Central Michigan University, and holds a master of education degree in medical education and doctor of philosophy in medical education evaluation and research from Wayne State University.
Clinical Co-Editors
Alex Akhondi, MD, FACP, Internal Medicine, MountainView Hospital, Las Vegas, NV
Dr. Akhondi is a board certified internist and hospitalist with some orthopedic background. He worked in the Georgetown University and Johns Hopkins systems in the DC area for a decade before joining HCA Healthcare. He is the Associate Program Director of Internal Medicine Residency in the Sunrise Health Consortium in Las Vegas and also an Associate Professor of Medicine for both the University of Nevada and Touro University. He has a strong academic background with more than 60 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, as well as more than 120 presentations by invitation.
D. Scott Lind, MD, Surgery, Orange Park Medical Center, Orange Park, FL
Dr. Lind is a board-certified general and oncologic surgeon who currently serves as the general surgery program director at HCA-Orange Park Medical Center in Orange Park, Florida. He has held numerous leadership positions throughout his career most recently as Professor, Chairman and General Surgery Residency Program Director at the University of Florida College of Medicine in Jacksonville and, immediately prior to that position, he was Professor and Chairman at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia. He has a strong academic background with more than 160 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. His academic interests include skin and breast cancer as well as the study of simulation in medical education.
Editorial Board
L. Hayley Burgess, Pharm.D., MBA, BCPP, CPPS, Care Delivery Systems and Pharmacy Services Clinical Operations Group, HCA Healthcare, Nashville, TNDr. Burgess is a board certified psychiatric pharmacist and the Associate Vice President of Pharmacy Services and Care Delivery Systems for the Clinical Operations Group of HCA Healthcare. She is the Program Director for the PGY2 Medication Safety Use and Policy residency and adjunct clinical professor for Belmont, Lipscomb and University of Tennessee Schools of Pharmacy. Dr. Burgess received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. She completed a post-doctoral residency and clinical science research fellowship in Neurobiology and Psychiatric Pharmacology/Pharmacoeconomics at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. She has a Masters in Healthcare Business Administration and is a Certified Professional in Patient Safety.
Steve Carpenter, MD, MACP, Gastroenterology, Mercer University School of Medicine, Savannah, GA
Dr. Carpenter is a Professor of Medicine at Mercer University School of Medicine and the Academic Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine at Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah, GA. He is the Medical Director of the GI endoscopy unit at Memorial, where he was the internal medicine Program Director from 2006–2012. He has a strong interest in continuing medical education and directs internal medicine grand rounds at Memorial. He is very active with internal medicine maintenance of certification educational activities at Memorial and with the GA ACP chapter. He has prior journal review experience with the American Journal of Gastroenterology and Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.
Robert Chait, MD, FACC, FACP, Cardiology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL
Dr. Chait is board certified in cardiovascular disease since 1981. He is Program Director of Cardiology Fellowship since its inception 3.5 years ago and is an affiliated Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Miami, School of Medicine. Dr. Chait was in private practice from 1981-2015. He has multiple publications, several Grand Rounds and conference presentations, and is an active peer reviewer for several different journals.
Brady DeHart, PhD, Division Research Director, HCA Healthcare
Dr. DeHart is the Capital Division Director of Research. He holds a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from Utah State University and completed his post-doctoral training at Virginia Tech. Dr. DeHart has research interests in the underlying decision-making processes of different health behaviors including cigarette smoking and obesity. Specifically, he is interested in how we make decisions between immediate and delayed consequences. He also has interests in quantitative methods and has served as a statistical consultant on multiple projects. He has published over 30 peer-reviewed articles, served as a reviewer and on editorial boards, and had his work funded by state and national sources. In addition, Dr. DeHart has strong interests in graduate medical education and specifically resident research training.
Mary Downing, MD, FACP, Internal Medicine, Memorial Health University Medical Center, Savannah, GA
Dr. Downing is a graduate of Duke University and Tulane University School of Medicine. She completed her internal medicine training at Memorial Health University Medical Center and trained in vascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. She began her career in private practice, first in Savannah and later in New Orleans. As a native Savannahian, she was drawn to address health disparities in her hometown by training much needed new physicians. She has been core faculty for the internal medicine residency at Memorial since 2012 and was named program director in January, 2020. She has served as co-director for the IM/Savannah accelerated tract program. In 2012, she was appointed to Mercer University School of Medicine faculty where she is an assistant professor of medicine.
Julia Fashner, MD, MPH, FAAFP, Family Medicine, University of Central Florida College of Medicine, Graduate Medical Education, Ocala, FL
Dr. Fashner is board certified in family medicine and has achieved Fellowship in the American Academy of Family Physicians. She is currently the Program Director for the UCF/HCA GME Consortium Family Medicine Residency in Ocala, FL. Dr. Fashner completed a faculty development fellowship in family medicine research at Michigan State University and also received an MPH from the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. She has served as peer reviewer for several family medicine journals, as judge for resident research day activities, and as member of medical IRBs. Dr. Fashner’s career has always been in academic medicine and she has over 60 peer reviewed publications and presentations on a variety of topics in family medicine.
Barbara Gracious, MD, Psychiatry, Orange Park Medical Center, Orange Park, FL
Dr. Gracious is board certified in Internal Medicine and Adult and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. She is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Edward Via College of Medicine and Adjunct Associate Professor at The Ohio State University. She is the GME Program Director for Psychiatry at Orange Park Medical Center, FL. Her clinical expertise is in bipolar disorder, women’s mental health, and metabolic side effects and psychotropic-induced weight gain. She has conducted independent prospective research in vitamin D and psychosis, bone effects of antidepressants in youth, diet and mental illness severity, and micronutrient supplements for ADHD in youth. Her philanthropy interests include homelessness and food insecurity. She is a graduate of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
Jacqueline Halladay, MD, MPH, Preventive Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, UNC Health Sciences at the Mountain Area Health Education Center
Dr. Halladay is board certified in Preventive Medicine and Obstetrics and Gynecology. She currently is the Chair of Research at the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) overseeing the growth of the research enterprise among UNC-Chapel Hill satellite campuses at MAHEC and between MAHEC and UNC-Chapel Hill. She co-leads the North Carolina Network Consortium practice based research network and is a Senior Research Fellow at the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research in Chapel Hill. Her main research areas include 1) understanding the effectiveness of practice facilitation (coaching) to support improvements in primary care practice and analyzing the costs to practices when engaging in new change activities.
Julie Jacko, PhD, Population Health Sciences, Nova Southeastern University Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Allopathic Medicine, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Dr. Jacko is Professor and Founding Chair of the Department of Population Health Science in the NSU Kiran C. Patel College of Allopathic Medicine; and Professor in the NSU Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship. She is a scholar and innovator in the domains of digital health and smart systems. Her 180 publications have appeared in preeminent scientific journals, and her record of extramurally funded research awards includes the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). An expert consultant for the healthcare and IT industries, Dr. Jacko has an innate passion for entrepreneurial endeavors and was recognized as a top entrepreneur in Miami, Florida for having created "one of the city’s most prolific businesses."
Sewon Lee, MD, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Sunrise Graduate Medical Education Consortium, Las Vegas, NV
Dr. Lee is a Program Director of the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) Residency program at Sunrise Graduate Medical Education Consortium in Las Vegas and Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Nevada at Reno. Dr. Lee has served as PM&R Sports Medicine Fellowship Director and was Associate Professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine prior to join HCA Healthcare. Dr. Lee has authored a book on management of chronic musculoskeletal disorder and published numerous peer-reviewed articles in the different areas of PM&R.
Abhishek Lunagariya, MD, MHA, Stroke and Vascular Neurology, University of Central Florida-HCA Healthcare Consortium, Orlando, FL
Dr. Lunagariya is an Associate Program Director of Neurology Residency at the University of Central Florida. He is a stroke expert with dual training and board certification in Neurology and Vascular Neurology. He received Stroke and Vascular Neurology training at the University of California, San Diego under tutelage of world-renowned stroke expert, Dr. Justin Zivin. Dr. Lunagariya is active in stroke research and is a recipient of the prestigious "National Institute of Health StrokeNet-SPOTRIAS" funding award. He is frequently invited to various national and international conferences to share his expertise. He also serves on the editorial board and as a reviewer of multiple neurology/stroke journals. His interests include leadership, healthcare administration and stroke systems of care.
Sherri Morgan, MD, MBA, MPH, FAAFP, Family Medicine, Division Vice President of Graduate Medical Education, HCA Medical City Healthcare North Texas Division
Dr. Morgan is a board certified Family Medicine Physician who currently serves as the Division Vice President for GME with HCA Medical City Healthcare located in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. She also serves as the DIO for the HCA Medical City Healthcare UNT-TCU Graduate Medical Education Consortium which sponsors over 14 residency and fellowship programs. She completed an academic medicine fellowship at the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine and has over 20 years of experience in graduate medical education. She continues to publish in peer-reviewed journals with her most recent publication in the AAFP FP Essentials. She has served on the AFMRD Board of Directors, AAFP Commission on Education and continues to serve on several Texas Academy of Family Physicians committees.
Anthony Pearson-Shaver, MD, MHSA, FAAP, FCCM, Pediatrics, Palm West Hospital, Loxahatchee, FL
Dr. Pearson-Shaver is the Pediatric Residency Program Director at Palms West Hospital. Trained as a pediatric intensivist, Dr. Pearson-Shaver practiced for 26 years at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University. He completed a Master of Health Services Administration in May 2000. Dr. Pearson-Shaver retired from the Medical College of Georgia to become the Thomas B. and Doris E. Black Professor and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the Mercer University School of Medicine and the Medical Director of the Children’s Hospital Navicent Health in Macon Georgia. After a successful term as a Department Chair, Dr. Pearson-Shaver moved to South Florida to continue the work of program building, curriculum development and teaching.
Carlos Vargas, DO, Cardiology Fellow, Corpus Christi Medical Center, Corpus Christi, TX
Dr. Vargas is a board certified internist and currently in his first year in cardiology fellowship training at Corpus Christi Medical Center. He completed his internal medicine residency at Corpus Christi Medical Center where he also served as Chief Resident. Dr. Vargas is a graduate from Pacific Northwest University Health Sciences in Yakima, Washington. He has a passion for teaching medical students and residents. He has multiple publications and conference presentations. His clinical interest is electrophysiology.
Patrick Melmer, MD, FAAEM, FACEP, General Surgery Resident, Grand Strand Medical Center, Myrtle Beach, SC
Dr. Melmer is a PGY-4 general surgery resident at Grand Strand Medical Center in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where he serves as the Administrative Chief Resident. He has held numerous leadership positions including vice president of the University of Virginia School of Medicine student government and is part of the HCA Healthcare Resident-to-Faculty Program. He has a strong interest in academics with over 25 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and podium presentations. His research interests include trauma, emergency general surgery and surgical education.
Managing Editor
Graig Donini
Production Editors
Jan Haley, MLS
Mary Alice Keller
Lindsay Million, MLS
Editing and Proofreading
Christopher Roe
Ashton Stahl
Consultant
Jessica Wells
Advisory Board
Kahlid Abusaada, MD, FACP
Michael Allswede, DO
Anya Andrews, PhD, PMP
David Baxter, MD
Steven Carpenter, MD, MACP, AGAF, FASGE, FACG
Christopher Corbit, MD, FACEP
Nemer Dabage-Forzoli, MD, FACP
Lora Denton, MD, FACP
Donald Eagerton, MD, FACE, FACP, CCD
Latha Ganti, MD, MS, MBA, FACEP
Maryam Gondal, MBBS, MD
Joshua Hagan, MD
Nannette Hoffman, MD
Chris Kaufmann, MD, MPH, FACS, DMCC, FCPS (Hon)
Philip Kondylis, MD, FACS, FASCRS
Merrill Krolick, DO
Michaiah Madhrira, MD, MPH, FASN
Melissa Mendez, MD
Gerald O'Malley, DO, FACEP, FAAEM, FACMT, FAACT
Jonathan Pangia, DO, FACEP
Anush Pillai, DO, FAAFP
David Quillen, MD
Alfredo Rivera, MD
Dipali Ruby Sahoo, DO
Upinder Singh, MD, CMD, AGSF, FACP
Salim Surani, MD, MPH, MSHM, FACP, FCCP, FAASM
Mark Trolice, MD, FACOG, FACS, FACE
Stephen Weis, DO
Albert Yurvati, DO, PhD, FACOS, FICS, FAHA
Thomas Alexander, MD
Clara Alvarez-Villalba, MD, FAPA
Scarlet Benson, MD
Brian Childs, PhD, HECC
Ettore Crimi, MD
Nicholas D'Angelo, MD
Scott Duncan, MD, MPH, MBA
Mike Flynn, PhD
Tarun Ghosh, MD
Scott Gutovitz, MD, FACEP
Karen Harris, MD, MPH
Jeffery Huang, MD
Ethan Kass, DO
John Kirkland, PhD, MD, FACS, FSVS
Karthik Krishnamurthy, DO, FAOCD, FAAD
Tulisa LaRocca, MD, FACP
Shannon McNabb, MA, MPH
Salman Muddassir, MD
Michelle Ozcan, MD
Michael Pesce, MD, JD
Rakesh Prashad, MD
Jamal Rahimi, MD, FACEP
Javier Rosario, MD, FACEP
Eric Shaw, PhD, MA
Shala Sundaram, MD, FAAFP
Stephen Thacker, MD, FAAP
Steve Warrington, MD, MEd, FACEP
Brian Wood, DO, DFAPA
Fellows and Residents Advisory Board
Som Aftabizadeh, DO
Stephanie Baker, DO
Angela Chang, MD
Sriramya Gayam, MBBS
Leah Grossman, MD
Joyce Ho, MD
Tianyu Jiang, DO
Sheliza Kabani, MD
Avi Landman, MD
Luke Miller, MD
Kamal Mohiuddin, MD
Hiren Patel, MBBS
Fergie Ramos Taurez, MD
Mehboob Rehan, MBBS
Youssef Shaban, DO
Benjamin Sinyor, MD
Kunjan Udani, MBBS
Seetha Venkateswaran, MD
Amanda Webb, MD
Risiq Zackria, DO
Niazi Anum, MD
Kevin Carr, MD
Nick Christenson, MD, MPH, MBA
Sarah Graff, MD
Bassam Hanna, MD
Raul Isern, MD
Andre Johnson, MD, PhD
Mustafa Kinaan, MD
John McNeil, MD
Odinaka Mogor, MD
Kristina Nakonechnaya, DO
Brett Prestia, DO
Abby Regan, DO
Chandra Sanwal, DO
Ashish Sharma, MD
Kara Stout, DO, MPH
Pratikkumar Vekaria, MD, MADS
Sahityan Viswanathan, MBBS
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