Photo: Phil Smith
The 28 UMass Chan Medical School faculty members who completed the Junior Faculty Development Program this year celebrated their graduation from the program on Tuesday, June 9, during a family affair with children, spouses, parents and mentors.
The Junior Faculty Development Program, established in 2010, is the longest-running professional development program at UMass Chan. The 12-month program comprises a comprehensive curriculum on research, education and career development, and completion of an individual project under the guidance of a senior faculty member.
“When you come into a new institution as new faculty, it can be very stressful taking on a lot of responsibilities,” said Christopher Ito, MD, associate professor of otolaryngology and a 2019 graduate of the program. “I loved that in the Junior Faculty Development Program, you end up meeting colleagues and other faculty you’d otherwise never interface with, except maybe when you’re getting a consult. After this program, I felt like my career was on an upward trajectory.”
“The support I had here at UMass Chan and in programs like this really helped me get here in one piece—happy and evolving in my career,” said Kristina Gracey, MD, MPH, associate professor of family medicine & community health and a 2018 program graduate. “Be sure to pay it forward whenever you’re given the opportunity to teach, to mentor and to collaborate with one another.”
“This program is an endorsement of your work and your leadership. Senior leaders are investing in you because you matter and you do great things,” said Jennifer Reidy, MD, the Joy McCann Professor for Women in Medicine, professor of family medicine & community health, chief of the Division of Palliative Care, and director of the Junior Faculty Development Program.
“There’s a whole alumni community of JFDP folks out there, including some people in this room,” continued Dr. Reidy, who acknowledged the impressive pedigree of faculty graduates from the program, including incoming chancellor David McManus, MD’02, ScM’12, MBA, the Richard M. Haidak Professor in Medicine, chair and professor of medicine, a 2013 program graduate. “They were you once. And you’re looking at your future.”
The event concluded with Reidy and Pranoti Mandrekar, PhD, professor of medicine and co-director of the program, presenting graduates with their certificates, and inviting mentors and family members to pose for photos.
“Our time is one of the most precious things we have, certainly in academic medicine,” said Terence R. Flotte, MD, the Celia and Isaac Haidak Professor, executive deputy chancellor, provost and dean of the T.H. Chan School of Medicine, in closing remarks. “The school has been thrilled to invest in this program. We appreciate you, your leadership and the person you are.”
2026 Junior Faculty Development Program graduates
Hawa Abu, MD, PhD’19, MPH, assistant professor of medicine (Mentors: Alok Kapoor, MD, MSc, professor of medicine, and Reidy)
Ratna Chaturvedi, PhD, MS, instructor in neurobiology (Mentor: Jean Pierre Schatzmann Peron, PhD, associate professor of neurology)
Elizabeth Douglas, DO, MPH, assistant professor of medicine (Mentor: Tiffany A. Moore Simas, MD’00, MPH, MEd, MHCM, the Donna M. and Robert J. Manning Chair in Obstetrics and Gynecology, chair and professor of obstetrics & gynecology, and professor of pediatrics, psychiatry & behavioral sciences, and population & quantitative health sciences)
Mostafa Elfawal, PhD, assistant professor of molecular medicine (Mentor: Jennifer Daly, MD, professor of medicine)
Johannes Elferich, PhD, instructor in RNA therapeutics (Mentor: Marcus Ruscetti, PhD, associate professor of molecular, cell & cancer biology)
Adham Farroukh, MD, assistant professor of anesthesiology & perioperative medicine (Mentor: Kimberly Fisher, MD, associate professor of medicine)
Jonathan Green, MD, M’08, assistant professor of surgery (Mentor: Kimberly Yonkers, MD, the Katz Family Chair in Psychiatry and chair and professor of psychiatry & behavioral sciences)
Sajjad Hassan, MD, assistant professor of pathology, UMass Chan-Baystate (Mentor: Allan Walkey, MD’02, MSc, professor of medicine)
Ruby Joshi-Batajoo, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics (Mentor: Brian Silver, MD, the Endowed Chair in Neuroscience Research and professor of neurology)
Elvisa Loshe, MD, assistant professor of ophthalmology & visual sciences (Mentor: Nicholas Smyrnios, MD, professor of medicine)
Patrick Lowe, MD, PhD’20, assistant professor of emergency medicine (Mentor: Eric Cucchi, PA-C, MS, assistant professor of medicine)
Timothy Menz, MD’12, assistant professor of pediatrics, UMass Chan-Baystate (Mentor: Garrett Zella, MD, associate professor of pediatrics)
Mehrak Moaddab, MD, MPH, assistant professor of anesthesiology & perioperative medicine (Mentor: Deepika Devuni, MD, associate professor of medicine)
Kevin O’Day, MD’16, assistant professor of medicine (Mentor: Kimiyoshi Kobayashi, MD, MBA, associate professor of medicine)
Izuchukwu Okafor, PhD, assistant professor of radiology (Mentor: Melissa Fischer, MD, professor of medicine)
Emily Padilla, PsyD, assistant professor of psychiatry & behavioral sciences (Mentor: Daniel Mullin, PsyD, MPH, professor of family medicine & community health)
Laurie Pearson, MD, assistant professor of medicine (Mentor: Mara Epstein, ScD, ScM, associate professor of medicine)
Sarah Pearson, PsyD, assistant professor of family medicine & community health (Mentor: David Hatem, MD, professor emeritus of medicine)
Hector Ribeiro Benatti, PhD, DVM, instructor in genetic & cellular medicine (Mentor: Nathaniel Hafer, PhD, associate professor of molecular medicine)
Ashley Russo, MD, assistant professor of surgery (Mentor: Roberto Caricchio, MD, the Myles J. McDonough Chair in Rheumatology and professor of medicine)
Sandhya Tagaram, MD, assistant professor of medicine (Mentor: Meghna Trivedi, MD, associate professor of medicine)
Xavier Vela Parada, MD, assistant professor of medicine (Mentor: Honghuang Lin, PhD, professor of medicine)
Joshua Wancura, PhD, assistant professor of radiation oncology (Mentor: Vandana Nagpal, MD, associate professor of medicine)
Khursheed Wani, PhD, MS, instructor in medicine (Mentor: Cole Haynes, PhD, professor of molecular, cell & cancer biology)
Jenna Watson, PhD, assistant professor of radiology (Mentor: Hugh Silk, MD, MPH, professor of family medicine & community health)
Anna Whelan, MD, assistant professor of obstetrics & gynecology (Mentor: Laura Cohen, DO, assistant professor of anesthesiology & perioperative medicine)
Gianna Wilkie, MD’16, MSc’22, assistant professor of obstetrics & gynecology (Mentor: Ben Gerber, MD, MPH, professor of population & quantitative health sciences)
Hanqiao “Ciao” Zheng, MD, PhD, assistant professor of pathology (Mentor: Shyam Patel, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine)
