Class Notes

Tushar Bajaj, MD ’18: Dr. Bajaj was named Chief Resident for Internal Medicine at Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield, CA.

Serghei Burcovschii, MD ‘17: Dr. Burcovschii was named Chief Resident for Internal Medicine at Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield, CA.

Jared Crisafi, MD ’14: Dr. Crisafi completed his Chief Fellow year in Cardiology and is beginning an interventional cardiology fellowship in Kettering, OH in July.

Joseph Escobar, MD ’18: Dr. Escobar was named Chief Resident for Family Medicine at the University of South Alabama.

Edgar “Eddie” Fernandez, MD ’17: Dr. Fernandez is starting an infectious disease fellowship with Jackson Health System in Miami, FL, affiliated with the University of Miami, in July 2020.

Michael Mosier, MD ’17: Dr. Mosier was named Chief Resident for the Physical Mediciine & Rehabilitation program at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY. 

David Roberto Saldivar, MD ’16: Dr. Saldivar was named Chief Fellow for the Pain Medicine program at West Virginia University in Morgantown, WV.

Michael Villasin, MD ’18, MPH: Dr. Villasin was named Chief Resident for the Family Medicine program at Soin Medical Center in Beavercreek, OH. 

Nicholas Battista, MD ’14: Dr. Battista will complete his gastroenterology fellowship at Ascension Providence / Michigan State University College of Medicine in Southfield, MI this year. 

George Cholankeril, MD ’12: Dr. Cholankeril will complete his gastroenterology fellowship at Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, CA this summer. He will be joining Baylor College of Medicine in Houston as faculty in July. 

Jamie Felzer, MD ’16: Dr. Felzer has earned a pulmonary critical care fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.

Katiana Garagozlo, MD ’17: Dr. Garagozlo has secured a pediatric pulmonology fellowship at New York Presbyterian-Weill Hospital-Cornell in New York City. 

Ana Goncalves, MD ’00: Dr. Goncalves was appointed Associate Medical Director of VITAS Healthcare, the largest end-of-life care provider in the United States. In this role, Dr. Goncalves oversees hospice admissions for patients facing advanced illness throughout Central Florida. 

Joe Pullara, MD ’15: Dr. Pullara, a PGY-4 psychiatry resident at Kansas University Medical Center, is a founding member of the Journal of Psychedelic Psychiatry, a new academic journal which focuses on psychiatric research topics and ongoing clinical trials related to psychedelic medications.  

Bal Sharma, MD ’84: Dr. Sharma is working with several organizations including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on initiatives to ensure that patients have access to psychotropic medications they need. He continues to speak at national mental health conferences in efforts to educate the public on various psychiatry topics. 

Aaron De Witt, MD '14; Michael Dougherty, MD '18; and Ben Ozbun, MD '18: The three alumni were photographed and Dr. De Witt was quoted in a recent article, "On the frontlines of coronavirus recovery at Baton Rouge General: 'This is the order for the chaos'" published by Louisiana's The Advocate newspaper. Read the article >

David Kwon, MD '14: Dr. Kwon was selected as Chief Fellow of the pulmonary critical care program at the University of California Irvine School of Medicine for the 2020-21 year.

Erin Vavro, MD '18: Dr. Vavro has been named Chief Resident at the Ascension St. John family medicine program in Detroit for the 2020-21 year.

Joshua West, MD '18: Dr. West has been named Chief Resident at the Abrazo Central Campus family medicine program in Phoenix, Arizona for the 2020-21 year. 

Hovig Artinian, MD ’10: Dr. Artinian, a pediatric sleep specialist at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan, appeared on the news to discuss how losing an hour of sleep during Daylight Savings Time can impact sleep cycles. Watch the video >

Riz Fareeduddin, MD ’01: Dr. Fareeduddin, the Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology at North Florida Regional Medical Center and Division Director for Maternal Fetal Medicine, recently joined the Board of Directors for the Alachua County Medical Society. Dr. Fareeduddin is also incoming Chair of the Perinatal Morbidity Committee for ACOG District XII and serves on the Birth Outcomes Workgroup for the Agency for Healthcare Administration (AHCA), the administrative agency which oversees the Florida Medicaid program. 

Tariq Jaber, MD ’17: Dr. Jaber, an internal medicine resident at Broward General Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, will soon begin a fellowship in infectious disease/critical care at Allegheny Health in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Brian Roberts, MD ’09: Dr. Roberts was named Medical Director of the Emergency Medicine department at Terrebonne General Medical Center (TGMC) in Louisiana. Dr. Roberts’ time with TGMC first began in 2002, when he was a student nurse extern. After earning his nursing degree, Dr. Roberts completed his MD at AUC and later returned to TGMC as a physician in 2013, where he has practiced ever since. Read more >

Hailey Tarleton, MD ’18: Dr. Tarleton, an internal medicine resident, was named Intern of the Year (2018-2019) and has now been elected Chief Resident for 2020-2021 at Baton Rouge General Medical Center in Louisiana.

Melissa Patterson, MD '15: Dr. Melissa Patterson secured a fellowship in Hospice and Palliative Medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital / Cornell-Columbia. 

Cynthia Czawlytko, MD '17: Dr. Czawlytko has been named Chief Resident of the radiology program at University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, MD. 

Raj Klair, MD '08: Dr. Klair was honored with a 2019 Award of Excellence from the University of British Columbia's Foundation for Advancing Family Medicine. The award recognized Dr. Klair's work in addiction medicine, particularly in educating medical students and physicians in the community. 

Parsha Dorriz, MD '13: Dr. Parsha Dorriz, neurologist and seizure disorder specialist, is part of a team leading a new Epilepsy Monitoring Unit at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, CA. The unit, which opened this month, will provide highly specialized care to patients with severe or drug resistant epilepsy. 

Jamie Felzer, MD ‘16: Dr. Jamie Felzer, chief resident at Scripps Research in San Diego, CA, has contributed numerous pieces to ABC News as a medical correspondent. In a recent TV segment, Dr. Felzer discussed the measles outbreak in Rockland, NY.

Scott Heyl, MD ’13: Dr. Scott Heyl was recently named one of the top doctors under 40 in Pennsylvania. He and his wife, Rachelle Atrasz, MD, who is also a 2013 graduate of AUC, live in Pittsburgh, PA.

Scott Miscovich, MD '86: Dr. Scott Miscovich has been honored as the Physician of the Year in Hawaii by the Hawaii Medical Association. The award is given to one physician each year and Dr. Miscovich was selected among more than 7,000 in Hawaii. 

Sarim Baig, MD '16: Dr. Baig recently matched into a Musculoskeletal Radiology fellowship at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently Chief Resident in Diagnostic Radiology at Christiana HealthCare in Newark, DE.

KC Cohen, MD '07: Dr. Cohen was recently named Medical Director of Clinical Informatics at Good Samaritan Medical Center in West Palm Beach, FL. In her new role, Dr. Cohen will collaborate with physicians, nursing, and clinical leadership and will train staff as it pertains to the usage of clinical applications. Dr. Cohen is a board certified oncologic and hepatobiliary surgeon specializing in general and oncologic surgery.

Bryan Nevil, MD '16: Dr. Nevil recently matched into a Critical Care Anesthesiology fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, beginning in July 2020. He is currently a PGY-4 Anesthesiology resident at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

Jesse Cottrell, MD '12: Dr. Cottrell was recently named an Assistant Professor in the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine. He specializes in high-risk pregnancies, including cases of preterm labor, placenta previa, miscarriage risk, multiple births, preeclampsia and gestational diabetes.

Penny Heinrich, MD '05: Dr. Heinrich, a medical oncologist, is joining Intercoastal Medical Group in Florida to create its newest specialty: Hematology and Oncology. Prior to joining Intercoastal Medical Group, Dr. Heinrich established her own practice, the Suncoast Cancer Institute, in 2015. She also has served as associate medical director for Tidewell Hospice, as well as on the board of directors for the American Cancer Society in Sarasota.

Gagan Raju, MD '15: Dr. Raju recently began fellowship at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY for Hematology/Oncology. Previously, Dr. Raju was the Chief Resident of Internal Medicine at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, NY.

Marina Ravich, MD '10: Dr. Ravich was recently promoted as an attending physician for an additional year, specializing in internal medicine at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in Richmond Hill, NY. There, she has been involved in teaching residents and recently oversaw her first graduating group of residents.

Courtney Casper, MD '13: An OB/GYN, Dr. Casper has joined Bingham Memorial Hospital in Blackfoot, ID, where he will be welcoming new patients.

Becca Filbrandt, MD '17: A pediatric resident at Valley Children’s Hospital in Madera, CA, Dr. Filbrandt recently helped organize an Adolescent Reproductive Health Symposium to educate providers who work in the Central Valley of California.

Misty Good, MD '05: A neonatologist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO, Dr. Good recently spoke at the 2019 Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC) Society Symposium in Ann Arbor, MI.

Amanda Zehrer, MD '14: Dr. Zehrer, an OB/GYN specialist, joined the Sanford Health team in Alexandria, MN. She completed her OB/GYN residency at St. Luke's University Hospital in Pennsylvania.

Travis Anschutz, MD '02: Dr. Anschutz, a board-certified neonatal-perinatal medicine physician, recently joined the medical staff of Northwest Health, practicing at Willow Creek Women's Hospital in Johnson and Northwest Medical Center -- Bentonville. He completed his pediatric medicine residency at University of Tennessee, TC Thompson Children's Hospital in Chattanooga, TN, and his neonatal-perinatal medicine fellowship at University of Louisville and Kosair Children's Hospitals in Louisville, KY. 

Christopher Keen, MD ’12: Dr. Keen, a pulmonary and critical care specialist, joined McLeod Regional Medical Center in Florence, SC. He completed fellowship training in pulmonary and critical care at Albany Medical Center, in Albany, NY, and completed his internal medicine residency in 2015 at the University of Nevada at Reno.

Alison Kinning, MD ’13: Dr. Kinning, a vascular surgeon, joined Michigan Vascular Center, which is affiliated with McLaren Flint in Flint, MI. Dr. Kinning completed her residency at TriHealth Good Samaritan in Cincinnati, OH.

Kelly Werback, MD: Dr. Werback, a OB/GYN specialist, joined Northwoods Obstetrics & Gynecology, affiliated with Munson Medical Center in Traverse City, MI. Dr. Werback completed her residency at St. John Providence Hospital in Southfield, MI. 

Farzad Amiri, MD ’12: Dr. Amiri accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Surgery at Marshall University in Huntington, WV and received a grant to study physician burnout in the rural Appalachian region. Dr. Amiri completed his general surgery residency at Marshall, the last year of which he served as Chief Resident. 

Daniel Miller, MD '07: Dr. Miller changed specialties from primary care to emergency medicine at the Fargo VA Health Care System in Fargo, ND.

Josh Mosdale, MD ’14: Dr. Mosdale is a new primary care provider for Franklin Medical Group at Cheshire Primary Care in Waterbury, CT. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Saint Mary’s Hospital/Yale University School of Medicine and served as Chief Resident.