MCW/Marquette Medical Alumni Association Board of Directors

Representing Alumni Region 4 – Wisconsin

I am an assistant professor in the Institute for Health & Equity. My research is dedicated toward leveraging and integrating the strengths of basic, clinical, and community research to reduce disparities in cancer incidence and mortality.

Currently, I am a member of the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment’s Cross-Cutting Initiative, an eight-year investment focused on reducing breast and lung cancer disparities in the state of Wisconsin. In addition, I am collaborating on projects to identify circulating biomarkers that indicate cancer incidence, tumor progression, or subsequent cancer treatment-induced cardiotoxicity.

Additionally, I currently serve as Chair of the Medical College of Wisconsin’s Women in Science Sciences. I am passionate about scientific educational outreach, pipeline programming, and increasing diverse representation of researchers and clinicians on MCW’s campus.

Career Highlights

• Named Director of the Medical College of Wisconsin’s Basic and Translational Sciences Program in 2019.
• Vice Chair of the National Lung Cancer Round Table’s State-Based Initiatives Task Force, a national coalition of public, private, and voluntary organizations dedicated to reducing incidence of and mortality from lung cancer in the United States.
• Recipient of the 2017 President’s Community Engagement Award.
• Recipient of the 2017 Milwaukee Academy of Science’s Program of the Year Award.
• Named Chair of the Women in Science Series in 2015.
• Mentor to four outstanding students at the undergraduate and medical school level of training.

Representing Alumni Region 2 – Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee

Since 1994, when I established a basic research lab focused on sickle cell disease at the University of South Alabama, my work has been funded by the NIH. Having led other programs and earned national recognition (including a stint as chief medical officer for the National Sickle Cell Disease Association of America), I currently serve as the Francis J. Tedesco Distinguished Chair in Pediatric Hematology Oncology at the Georgia Cancer Center, Augusta. Parallel research efforts, I have dedicated my career to training young investigators at the undergraduate, graduate and faculty levels.  In 2006, I was awarded funding from NIH/NHLBI to train underrepresented minority junior faculty conducting biomedical research related to blood disorders. In the NHLBI-PRIDE Program, we have trained 85 scientists from institutions across the US to increase diversity of the biomedical research workforce.

Career Highlights

Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University

• Tedesco Distinguished Chair in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
• Professor, Pediatrics
• Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
• Professor, Graduate Studies

GRU Faculty Senate Basic Science Faculty Award 2013

University of Texas at Dallas

• Lifetime Diversity Champion Award 2010

Popular Science “Brilliant 10” US Scientists 2003

Medical College of Wisconsin

• Walter Zeit Fellow – established The Betty S. Pace, MD Endowed Scholarship Fund

American Society of Hematology, Honorific Award for Leadership in Promoting Diversity 2017

Representing Alumni Region 4 – Wisconsin

After graduation from MCW in 1971, my professional life of 43 years has been dedicated to the clinical practice of medicine, which included seven years in primary care, followed by twenty-nine years in specialty care (interventional cardiology), mostly in the Milwaukee area.

I have been very fortunate to have had the strong support of my wife and three sons during this time. My greatest fulfillment in my medical life has been the opportunity to serve the patients and families entrusted to my care, with skills, insights, and sensitivities taught me by all of my MCW professors and instructors. I am very grateful for all of these experiences.

Career Highlights

• National Health Service Corp., US Public Health Service, Brownstown, IN, 1972-1974
• President, American Heart Association (Wisconsin Chapter), 1977-1980
• Private Practice, Harwood Medical Associates, SC, Wauwatosa, WI, 1977-1982
• Private Practice, Duchelle, Acevedo, Hess & Palmer, SC, Milwaukee, WI, 1985-1999
• Private Practice, Cardiology Associates of Waukesha, SC, Waukesha, WI, 1999-2014

Representing Alumni Region 3 – Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio

I was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin and completed my undergraduate studies in Health Policy, Sociology & Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. During college, I developed a love for working with kids throughout my three summers as a camp counselor. I was able to spend a year working on health services research assessing interventions for children with chronic diseases at the University of Wisconsin children’s hospital prior to matriculating into the second class at the Medical College of Wisconsin-Green Bay campus. After graduating in 2019, I began residency in pediatrics at the University of Minnesota. Next academic year, I hope to begin fellowship in pediatric gastroenterology. I consider it a tremendous honor to care for children and look forward to a career of continued learning and service.

Career Highlights

• Inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society in 2018
• First Board of Directors member to graduate from an MCW regional campus
• Currently 3rd year resident in pediatrics at the University of Minnesota
  • Class representative
  • Member of the pediatric residency program’s internal evaluation committee

Professional Interests

• Pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology, and nutrition
• Pediatric GI motility & neuro-gastroenterology
• Medical education
• Humanism in medicine
  
   

Representing Alumni Region 3 – Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio

As a board-certified Allergist/Immunologist, I provide outpatient care to children and adults in the greater Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area. I joined my 50+ year old practice, St. Paul Allergy & Asthma, in 2013 and became a partner in 2014. I am a frequently-invited lecturer for the University of Minnesota Pediatrics and Internal Medicine residency programs, post-graduate clinical updates, and Grand Rounds for both Children's Minnesota and the University of Minnesota, where I hold adjunct faculty positions. I have served on several pharmaceutical advisory boards and national speaker bureaus. I am a fellow of both the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology and the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology.

Career Highlights

• Recognized annually since 2013 as a Top Doctor (Mpls | St. Paul magazine) or Best Doctor (Minnesota Monthly magazine)
• NIH Loan Repayment Program recipient, 2010-2012J.C. Peterson Pediatrics Award, Department of Surgery Achievement Award, and The Millmann Award, Medical College of Wisconsin, 2007
• Alpha Omega Alpha, Medical College of Wisconsin, 2007
• Iron Cross Society, University of Wisconsin, 2001  

Representing Alumni Region 6 - Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota and Washington

Like many of my classmates, I moved to Milwaukee from California.  I came to love the Midwest where I  spent the next 25 years. Milwaukee and MCW will always hold a special place in my heart because there I was able to fulfill my dream of practicing medicine. I owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. David Foley, Ob/Gyn at St. Joseph’s, for inspiring me to go into Ob/Gyn.

I loved the Midwest enough to stay there for the next 20 years in Cincinnati for residency and then on fulltime faculty at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. I had the privilege of teaching about 1000 medical students and 100 residents in my time there.

I decided it was time to move back west and to focus more time on my practice, so for the past nine years, I have lived and practiced at the foot of Glacier National Park in Kalispell, Montana. I am part of a 5-person group that does a majority of the deliveries in our town. I am currently a volunteer faculty at University of Washington and the current WWAMI Ob/Gyn Site Coordinator for Kalispell.

Career Highlights

• Kalispell Regional Medical Center, Montana
  • Vice Chief and Chief of Staff Elect
  • Chair Department of OB/GYN
  • Chair Robotic Surgery Steering Committee
• University of Cincinnati (UC)
  • Associate Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology
  • Chair of Medical Student Education and Clerkship Director for OB/GYN
  • UC College of Medicine Silver Apple Award for Teaching 2006-11
  • “Top Doctor” Cincinnati Magazine 2005-11
  • Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching
  • APGO Excellence in Teaching Award
• Medical College of Wisconsin
  • Reunion Committee Volunteer, Class of 1990
• Committed to underserved patient populations

Representing Alumni Region 4 - Wisconsin

I grew up in central Wisconsin and worked as a registered nurse there for several years before pursuing a medical degree. It was natural for me to gravitate toward a training environment that emphasized community and caring for underserved populations. I was part of the first class of the MCW-Central Wisconsin campus where I received my medical degree and went on to complete my residency training in dermatology as a chief resident with Marshfield Clinic Dermatology in Marshfield, WI.

Throughout my medical training, I have felt proud to serve in a rural setting caring for patients in the community that raised me. I look forward to pursuing my career as a dermatologist in a similar practice setting while continuing to find avenues to be engaged in teaching and giving back to the community.

Career Highlights

• Medical College of WI: Alumni Association Board of Directors
• Chief Resident, Dermatology Residency - Marshfield Clinic, Marshfield, WI
• Graduate Medical Education Committee member - Marshfield Clinic, Marshfield, WI
• Featured on AAMC "Inspiring Stories" 2018

Representing Alumni Region 2 - Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee

I was born in Worcester, MA and grew up near the Boston area. I graduated from Connecticut College and went to MCW for Medical School, Internship and Ophthalmology Residency. After completing a two-year fellowship at Harvard University and Mass Eye Infirmary, I accepted the Chairmanship at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. After serving as Chairperson for 10 years, I then founded DiStefano Eye Center and Skin Solutions (a medical and day spa and women's center).

My father graduated from MCW in 1945 and was a general surgeon in the Worcester/Boston area for 40 years. It was my dream to pursue a medical degree from MCW. I was fortunate that my parents instilled in me that a woman could and should pursue her dreams. They encouraged me to be the best that I could with love and laughter at our home. I currently live in Chattanooga and work full time at the eye center and med spa. My son, JP, resides here and my daughter and her family live in Louisville, KY.

Career Highlights

• Chairperson of the Department of Ophthalmology, University of Tennessee - Chattanooga, 1982-1992
• Medical Director of the Eyebank until 2016
• Inspector for the EBAA
• Research with Dr. Barry Rouse at the University of TN - Knoxville on Herpetic Eye Disease
• Best Doctors in America - featured on CBS 60 Minutes
• Board of Directors of the TN Academy of Ophthalmology
• Founder of the DiStefano Eye and Refractive Center and DiStefano Skin Solutions and Blend Spa
• Has performed well over 20,000 Lasik, refractive and corneal procedures

Representing Alumni Region 4 – Wisconsin

I am a pharmacist who graduated as an inaugural student of the MCW School of Pharmacy Class of 2020. As such, I am thrilled to be the first member representing pharmacists on the board. I have had the privilege to be appointed as an Academic Fellow in Primary Care Research and an Instructor within the School of Pharmacy.

When the fellowship concludes, I plan to continue my service in the Milwaukee community and hope to continue impacting the next generation of health care trainees at MCW. Additionally, I am dedicated to continuing my work in community engagement with underserved populations in the Milwaukee area.

Career Highlights

• Medical College of Wisconsin
  • Academic Fellow in Primary Care Research
  • Instructor, MCW School of Pharmacy
  • Co-Director of the Urban Community Health Scholarly Pathway
  • Member of the inaugural graduation class of 2020 at MCW School of Pharmacy

• Member of the Center for Advancing Population Science (CAPS)
  
   

Representing Alumni Region 4 – Wisconsin

After growing up in Spain and then New Jersey, I graduated from Rutgers University and moved to Milwaukee to attend MCW. I thought I would be here for four years, but after falling in love in Milwaukee, I stayed for both my residency in internal medicine and fellowship in gastroenterology, and then joined the faculty here alongside my wife. In addition to teaching students, residents, and fellows, my clinical duties include the care of patients with liver disease. Over the last 15 years, I have had the privilege to hold various leadership roles related to medical education and working with the students here at MCW has been the highlight of my career.
 

Career Highlights

• Professor of Medicine with secondary appointments in Surgery, Pediatrics and Physiology, 2010
• Medical Director of Liver Transplant, 1995-2010
• Curriculum and Evaluation Committee Chair, 2008-11
• Medicine Clerkship Director, 2008-11
• Discovery Curriculum Director, 2011-14
• STAR Center Director, 2012-present
• GI Director of Education, 2014-present
• Michael Bolger Standing Ovation Award, 2014
• Associate Dean for Educational Improvement, 2014-present
• Community and Institutional Pillar Director in the Kern Institute, 2017-present
• Ernest Henschel Best Teaching Clinician Award, 2011
• MCW Distinguished Service Award, 2013
• Leonard Tow Humanism Award, 2018
• Harry Beckman Best Teaching Basic Scientist, 2018
• America’s Top Doctors, 2005-2020
• Walter Zeit Fellow
• Student Assembly advisor

Representing Alumni Region 1  – Connecticut, DC, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia

Career Highlights

Current Position:

• Yale School of Medicine
• Associate Professor of Surgery (Oncology) and Chief of Breast Surgical Oncology – The Breast Center at Smilow Cancer Hospital

Duke University School of Medicine and Duke Cancer Center:

• Former Associate Professor of Surgery and Population Health Sciences
• Founded the Duke Breast Cancer Outcomes Research Group and Core Faculty for the Duke Margolis Center for Health Policy

Accolades and Service:

• National Institutes of Health Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) Award (2016)
• Named the American College of Surgeons and the American Society of Breast Surgeons Health Policy Scholar (2017)
• Alliance in Clinical Oncology Ethics and Value Committees
• American College of Surgeons Cancer Care Delivery Task Force
• American Society of Breast Surgeons Legislative Committee
• Editorial Board for the Annals of Surgical Oncology

Representing Alumni Region 5 – Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah

I graduated from the Medical College of Wisconsin in 2002 where I completed both my MD and PhD degree. I subsequently went to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston where I completed my residency in Radiation Oncology and have specialized in the treatment of gynecologic cancers. I grew up in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin and have family that lives in the Milwaukee area that I visit frequently. I have three kids 15, 11, and 6. I enjoy playing traveling, swimming and playing tennis when I can.

Career Highlights

• Section Head of gynecologic radiation oncology at MD Anderson cancer center
• Center Medical Director for Mays Clinic at MD Anderson
• Co-lead the HPV cancers moonshot program at MD Anderson Cancer Center
• Researching the microbiome and immune response in HPV cancers treated with radiation therapy.
• President Elect for 2021-22 of the American Brachytherapy Society
• Co-chair of the Corpus Committee at the NRG.

Representing Alumni Region 4 – Wisconsin

I was born and raised in Wisconsin, graduated from MIT as an undergrad and MCW as a grad student, and completed my postdoctoral training at the Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA. I have been a faculty member at MCW since 2001, where I rose through the ranks to full Professor and now hold an endowed chair position. I have been funded by the NIH my entire career, studying the structure and function of proteins and developing enabling EPR spectroscopy technologies through both independent and collaborative research projects. I have also been very active in graduate education, training and mentoring numerous students and serving on countless committees at MCW. I enjoy leadership positions and have had many rewarding opportunities to lead at MCW. 

Career Highlights

• Outstanding Dissertation Award (MCW, 1999)
• Gianni Family Foundation Medical Research Fellow (UCLA, 2000 – 2001)
• NIH-funded researcher (2003 – present)
• NIH reviewer (2005 – present)
• Chair, Women’s Faculty Council (2006 – 2007)
• Forty Under 40 - Milwaukee Business Journal (2009)
• Member, Graduate Studies Council (2009 – present)
• Chair, Women in Science Advisory Committee (2011 – 2016)
• Program Director, Biophysics Graduate Program (2013 – present)
• Outstanding Graduate School Educator Awards
• Outstanding Faculty Service Awards MCW Leadership Academy (2014 – 2015)
• Director, National Biomedical EPR Center  (2016 – present)
• President, MCW Faculty Council (2016 – 2017)
• James S. Hyde Professor of Biophysics (2020)
  
   

Representing Alumni Region 7 - California and Nevada

I feel privileged to have started my career at MCW. Following surgical and pediatric surgical training over a decade, I have held academic posts at MCV/VCU, Penn State and Stanford Universities.

The surgical care of infants and children has been my primary clinical focus throughout a 40-year career. Other areas of interest/contribution include neonatal ECMO, fetal tissue repair, simulation and VR based surgical training and robotic surgical device development and use.

For more than 15 years, I have co-directed the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign. This program is designed to teach the invention and implementation of new technologies through interdisciplinary research and education at the emerging frontiers of engineering and the biomedical sciences.

I have served in leadership positions in many surgical societies, and was the President of the American Pediatric Surgical Association from 2013-2014.

Career Highlights

• Stanford University School of Medicine
  • Emile Holman Professor/Chair Surgery (1998-2015) - Now Emeritus
  • Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign Program Co-Director
• Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, Susan B. Ford Surgeon in Chief (2002-2016)
• AAP-William E Ladd Medal Award 2020
• Fogarty Institute for Innovation Board of Directors Chairman
• International Scientific Committee at IRCAD, University of Strasbourg, France President
• Medical College of Wisconsin
  • Millman Award, 1977
  • Alumni Association Alumnus of the Year, 2003

Representing Alumni Region 4 – Wisconsin

I currently serve as a pediatric emergency medicine physician at Children’s Wisconsin and was the medical director of the Emergency Department/Trauma Center at Children’s. Having served many children and adolescents sustaining violent injuries in my clinical setting, I partnered with stakeholders to develop Children’s Project Ujima, one of the first hospital-based violence intervention programs in the country.

As faculty at MCW, I have had experiences on the Rank and Tenure Committee, and currently serve on the medical school Admissions Committee. My scholarly work is focused on care of the violently injured, adolescents, and emergency care. I chair Children’s Domestic Violence Committee which supports efforts to screen, identify, and support those who are exposed to domestic violence.

Career Highlights

• Medical Director, Project Ujima
• Recipient of MCW’s Distinguished Service Award and the American Academy of Pediatrics Michael Shannon Award for Compassionate Emergency Care
• Past-President of Children’s Medical Staff
• Served teen mothers and their children at Teen Pregnancy Services of Milwaukee for 18 years
• Caring for children and adolescents in Children’s Emergency Department/Trauma Center
• Chair the American Academy of Pediatrics Violence Prevention Subcommittee

Representing Alumni Region 4 – Wisconsin

I am an MCW graduate, MD class of 2006. After graduation, I complete my internship and dermatology residency at Southern Illinois University in 2010. I have been in private practice dermatology in Wisconsin, now practicing in my hometown of Wausau. I also travel back to my residency in Illinois as part-time faculty and help teach the dermatology residents. I love having students in my private practice and work with the local family practice residents. I am volunteer faculty at Wausau Family Medicine Residency Program.  Most days of the week you will see a PA student, college kid home for a break, or even high school student following me around. Teaching my art, as per the Hippocratic oath we took, has kept me up to date and contributed to my love of being a physician. I have also served as President of the Wisconsin Dermatologic Society.

Career Highlights

• President of Wisconsin Dermatologic Society, 2010
• Part-time faculty at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine Dermatology Residency
• Volunteer faculty at UW School of Medicine and Public Health Wausau Family Medicine Residency

Representing Alumni Region 1 – Connecticut, DC, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia

My 30+ years of practicing women`s health medicine has focused on educating women to understand their bodies and be more confident in their lives as a result. I have found that my patients are my best teachers. Collaboration between doctor/patient and teacher/student has been my secret weapon for success. The last two decades I have used this same approach to teaching residents. I find it an honor and a duty to train the next generation of doctors.

Career Highlights

• Director of Women`s Minimally Invasive Surgery at Greater Baltimore Medical Center
• President of Baltimore County Medical Association
• Board member of MedChi, Maryland House of Medicine
• Board Member Center for Healthy Maryland
• Baltimorean of the year 2005
• MCW Humanitarian Award 2008
• Med Chi Distinguished Member Award 2010 for making a documentary, If the Bough Breaks, on efforts to change tort reform in Maryland
• Maryland Defense Force 2007 Humanitarian Award for working in Bosnia
• 2011 Real Simple Magazine Recognition in Article: 5 Inspiring People

Representing Alumni Region 4 – Wisconsin

Since joining the MCW faculty in 2011 immediately after completing residency in the MCW Department of Radiation Oncology, I have devoted my professional career to the care of oncology patients, diversity, inclusion, and health equity.

Within radiation oncology, I am an Associate Professor with clinical interests in hematologic and CNS malignancies and have held national and local leadership positions focused on workforce diversity and developing educational opportunities aimed at improving health equity, including community partnerships.

Within academic medicine, I am Associate Dean for Student Inclusion and Diversity where I oversee pipeline programs and initiatives to improve inclusion for students from backgrounds underrepresented in medicine. As a faculty member of the Kern Institute, we are using human-centered design and considering the role of character and caring as we develop innovative initiatives to address inclusion and diversity.

Career Highlights

• Awarded 40 Under 40 by Milwaukee Business Journal in 2019
• Named Young Professional Power Broker by Milwaukee Business Journal in 2019
• Listed in National Influencers: Rising Stars by The Business Journals in 2019
• Member of the inaugural class of American Society of Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Pipeline Protégé Program for leadership development
• Chair of the ASTRO Committee for Health Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (CHEDI)
• Academic Co-Chair for the Community Advisory Board (CAB) of the MCW Cancer Center

Representing Alumni Region 4 – Wisconsin

I am a retired Radiologist having worked in diagnostic radiology for 25 years at St. Michael Hospital in Milwaukee and 10 years at Milwaukee Medical Clinic/Aurora. During my retirement, I frequently attend radiology and general medical lectures and am active in the planning committee for the MCW Symposium for Retired Physicians. Presently my wife and I split our retirement time between Milwaukee and Largo, FL

Career Highlights

Working as a general radiologist in a local community hospital (St. Michael Hospital Milwaukee). In that era before sub-specialization, the general radiologist was involved in all the different modalities as they were being developed. This was a very dynamic time in radiology. I particularly enjoyed angiography and the beginning of interventional procedures.