Faculty and Staff Recognitions
View the recognition archives by clicking here.
In late August, Sunita Puri, MD, associate professor of medicine, program director of the Hospice and Palliative Care Medicine Fellowship, and provider in the Division of Palliative Care, was interviewed on NPR’s Think podcast about her recent New Yorker essay, “The Hidden Harms of CPR.”
Listen to the podcast by clicking here.
Samwise Bodkin, a senior ASG administrator for the Divisions of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, Infectious Diseases and Immunology, and Geriatric Medicine recently completed their Lean Black Belt project and achieved Black Belt Certification. Sam and their team develop onboarding trainings, system access, and resource guides for new administrator caregivers at UMass Memorial Medical Group. Please join us in congratulating Sam on this honor!
Jonathan Kay, MD, the Timothy S. and Elaine L. Peterson Chair in Rheumatology, and professor of medicine in the Division of Rheumatology, was recently awarded the distinction of Master of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR).The title is one of the highest honors at the college and is awarded to ACR members who have made outstanding contributions to the institution and the field of Rheumatology through scholarly achievement and service to their patients, students, and the profession. On receiving this honor, Dr. Kay stated, “I am humbled and honored to be awarded the distinction of Master of the American College of Rheumatology. I am grateful to my family, friends, and colleagues who have supported me throughout my career.” Dr. Kay will be presented with this award at the annual scientific meeting of the American College of Rheumatology in November. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Kay on this prestigious achievement!
Chinmay Trivedi, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and director of cardiovascular medicine research in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, was recently recognized for teaching a well-received lecture in the Cardiovascular System block of Vista at UMass Chan. Dr. Trivedi was praised by leadership member Michael Fahey, MD, for his recent lecture on Microcirculations. We thank Dr. Trivedi for his continuing contributions to our educational mission.
In this month’s Resident Spotlight, we feature Ashley Blau, MD, a second-year Internal Medicine resident on the research track, from Milford, CT. We recently caught up with Dr. Blau to learn more about her clinical and research interests, her favorite Worcester activities, and more! "I am convinced we have one of the most supportive residency programs in the country. It is obvious that UMass invests in its future and its people. As part of the resident wellness committee and women in medicine group, I have realized how our input as residents is valued and used to guide new initiatives and programs."
In this month's Fellow Spotlight, we feature Taruna Arora, MD, a Hematology and Oncology fellow from Nagpur, India. We recently caught up with Dr. Arora to learn more about her interest in sickle cell disease and Hemophilia, why she chose UMass for her fellowship, and more! "My goal is to organize a transitional care clinic for young sickle cell patients in close collaboration with pediatric counterparts and establish a personalized pain plan for efficient and better clinical outcomes."
In this month’s Chair’s Spotlight, we highlight the work of Margret Chang, MD, assistant professor of medicine, attending physician, and medical director of the Office Based Addiction Treatment Program at Tri-River Family Health Center. She is also the director of the Resident Addiction Curriculum in the Internal Medicine Residency Program at UMass Chan Medical School and holds an appointment in Pediatrics. Over the last five years, Dr. Chang and her team have built the Office Based Addiction Treatment Program up from treating under 20 patients by individual providers to now having over 100 patients in the program that operates in a primary care setting with a team-based approach. Of this work she said, “The ability to be with patients who may feel a great deal of shame about their addiction, and to say to them, ‘I can help you right here in my primary care office’, that is what I love about this work.”
Lorissa Smulan, PhD, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, has received a Catalyst Award from the American Lung Association. Her project titled “Defining the Mitochondrial Sirtuins and Type I Interferon Axis in Tuberculosis,” aims to understand the contributing factors of Mtb-induced mitochondrial damage. According to Dr. Smulan, mitochondria play an important role in the immunometabolic response to pathogens, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the pathogen that causes tuberculosis (TB). Mtb targets mitochondria in macrophages, rewiring metabolism and inducing a redox imbalance, which contributes to infection-induced macrophage necrosis. Damaged mitochondria release mitochondrial DNA, which may induce type I interferons (IFN), leading to exacerbated TB immune pathology.
Dr. Smulan hopes to characterize the link between Mtb-induced downregulation of mitochondrial sirtuins and mitochondrial damage. Additionally, she will investigate how decreased activity of sirtuins may promote TB progression via increased type I IFN signaling induced by mitochondrial dysfunction. Understanding the link between mitochondrial sirtuins, mitochondrial damage, and type I IFN will be beneficial for the development of host-directed therapies for TB.
Kate Fitzgerald, PhD, the Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research Chair III, professor of medicine, associate vice provost for basic science research, vice chair of research in the Department of Medicine, chief of the Division of Innate Immunity and director of the Program in Innate Immunity, has received an Innovator Award from the Kenneth Rainin Foundation for her project, “HOXA11os, an IBD associated lncRNA that maintains tissue homeostasis and restrains inflammation.” Many treatments for IBD focus on blocking inflammation and fail to repair damaged tissue and restore the integrity of the tissue. Dr. Fitzgerald and her group have identified a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), HOXA11os, that is only expressed in the colon. When HOXA11os is present the tissue is healthy and functional, however in patients with ulcerative colitis, the levels decrease. To model this state, they generated mice lacking this lncRNA and like patients with UC, these mice developed colitis. The lncRNA localizes to the mitochondria in cells of the healthy colon, but when the lncRNA is lost, the mitochondria in the cells in the colon are damaged, produce reactive oxygen species, and damage colonic tissue. These findings provide new insights into how HOXA11os can help mitochondria work well to maintain homeostasis in the gut, which suggests new opportunities to restore tissue health by controlling the levels of this lncRNA.
Mayuko Ito Fukunaga, MD, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, was recently awarded a K08 from the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Ito Fukunaga’s project, “Facilitation of Information eXchange for Shared Decision Making (FIX-SDM) for Lung Cancer Screening,” aims to develop and pilot test a multi-strategy implementation program using health informatics to promote shared decision-making for lung cancer screening. The goal of her project is to improve the initial uptake of lung cancer screening, as well as longitudinal adherence to annual follow-ups by supporting shared decision making. Dr. Ito Fukunaga’s mentors at UMass Chan include Drs. Kathleen Mazor, Rajani Sadasivam, and Sybil Crawford.
BRIDGE Innovation and Business Development at UMass Chan Medical School recently awarded nearly $2M in funding for 13 faculty projects, including four in the Department of Medicine and Program in Innate Immunity.
As reported by UMass Chan news, the BRIDGE Fund supports critical research milestones for inventions and discoveries that have a high potential to change the course of disease.
Faculty projects include:
- Kevin Donahue, MD, professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine: High-intensity and atrial-specific gene expression for treatment of atrial fibrillation
- Fiachra Humphries, PhD, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Innate Immunity and faculty in the Program in Innate Immunity: Therapeutic targeting of a macrophage receptor in cancer.
- Ann Marshak-Rothstein, PhD, professor of medicine in the Division of Rheumatology and faculty in the Program in Innate Immunity: Development of a second generation sFasL gene therapy for glaucoma.
- John Harris, MD, PhD, chair and professor of dermatology, director of the Vitiligo Clinic and Research Center, and faculty in the Program in Innate Immunity: Self-delivering AIM2-siRNA as adjuvant therapy to treat nonresponders to melanoma immunotherapy.
Learn more about the UMass Chan BRIDGE Fund and this year's awardees.
Fiachra Humphries, PhD, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Innate Immunity and faculty in the Program in Innate Immunity, recently had a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), titled, “Targeting STING Oligomerization with Small-Molecule Inhibitors.” STING is an essential adaptor protein required for inflammatory responses to pathogen or host cytosolic DNA. The DNA that enters the cytosol then activates the enzyme cGAS to generate a molecule called cGAMP. cGAMP then binds STING directly and induces a conformational change which initiates its activation. Dr. Humphries explains that STING activation leads to the production of type I interferons and inflammatory cytokines and although it is an important molecule for immune defenses, STING activation also plays a key role in driving inflammatory diseases, such as AGS, SAVI, COPA syndrome, ALS, Parkinson’s disease and SLE. He further states that there is an urgent need to develop specific small molecule STING antagonists to treat these diseases. In this study, Dr. Humphries worked to identify a new class of small molecules that can inhibit STING by blocking its oligomerization, leading to a further understanding of STING biology, the creation of a new paradigm, and how STING can be inhibited pharmacologically.
Apurv Soni, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Health Systems Science and co-director of the Program in Digital Medicine, was recently quoted in The New York Times piece, “Covid Didn’t Take a Summer Vacation.” With a recent uptick in cases, the article gives an overview of case monitoring as well as current recommendations for testing and treating Covid-19. Rapid tests remain effective for all variants and if you get a positive result, you can trust the result is accurate. If you are having symptoms but receive a negative result, it is recommended that you test again. “If the virus is not present in large quantities,” you may get a negative result even when you’re symptomatic, said Dr. Soni. “By doing serial testing, you give yourself a chance to catch the virus when it has increased to a higher quantity in your body.”
On August 5, Sunita Puri, MD, associate professor of medicine, program director of the Hospice and Palliative Care Medicine Fellowship, and provider in the Division of Palliative Care, had her essay, “The Hidden Harms of CPR,” published in The New Yorker. Her essay takes the reader through an intimate account of an experience she had with a patient’s family who was faced with deciding whether to elect CPR for their husband and father who was seriously ill from Covid. While she recounts her experience with the family, Dr. Puri weaves in the history of CPR, how, when, and why it is often used, and its outcomes. She also discusses the need for improved physician training to have conversations with patients and their families so that they may make better-informed decisions.
“Reversing a death is not the same as restoring a life. Nonetheless, CPR has become an expectation rather than an exception, a treatment meant for a few but applied to all” – Sunita Puri
In this month’s Researcher Spotlight, we highlight the work of Chinmay Trivedi, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and director of cardiovascular medicine research in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine. Research in the Trivedi lab focuses on identifying regulatory mechanisms and rational therapies for congenital cardiac and vascular diseases affecting patients. Of their work, Dr. Trivedi says, “Trainees in the lab continue to make fundamental discoveries advancing our knowledge of devastating diseases that affect both children and adults.”
Honghuang Lin, PhD, professor of medicine in the Division of Health Systems Science and a co-director in the Program in Digital Medicine, was recently featured in an article by UMass Chan Communications for a new study where ECGs can predict biological age, risk of death, and cardiovascular disease. Originally published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, the study titled “Association Between Electrocardiographic Age and Cardiovascular Events in Community Settings: The Framingham Heart Study,” led by Dr. Lin, tests the association between ECG age, death, and cardiovascular outcomes over 35 years in the community-based Framingham Heart Study. The study found that having an ECG age higher than chronological age was related to a higher risk of atrial fibrillation, myocardial infarction, heart failure, and death. An ECG age lower than chronological age was associated with decreased risk of adverse cardiac events and death.
Nikolaos Kakouros, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine was recently featured in a Boston 25 News segment, discussing an improved heart valve replacement procedure. For patients with aortic stenosis, Dr. Kakouros explains that aortic valves can now be replaced through a small incision in the groin, a procedure titled Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR). Through this new procedure, cardiologists can treat aortic stenosis in many patients without more invasive surgery.
In this month’s Resident Spotlight, we feature Victor Acosta-Rivera, MD, a rising third-year Internal Medicine resident on the primary care track. We recently caught up with Dr. Acosta-Rivera to learn more about his clinical and research interests, hobbies, and favorite Worcester activities!
In this month’s Fellow Spotlight, we feature Altaib Al Yassin, MD, DO, MS, a Gastroenterology fellow. We recently caught up with Dr. Yassin to learn more about his work, why he chose UMass for his fellowship, and a recent trip to Morocco!
In this month’s Chair’s Spotlight, we highlight the work of Kathleen Mazor, EdD, professor of medicine and interim chief in the Division of Health Systems Science. Prior to her work as interim chief, Dr. Mazor also served as the associate director of the Meyers Health Care Institute, a joint endeavor of UMass Chan Medical School, Reliant Medical Group, and Fallon Health. This August, she will “semi-retire” after having been at UMass Chan for over 25 years. We recently had the opportunity to speak with her about some of the highlights of her work, what has been most meaningful, and her plans as she begins her next chapter.
The DoM Clinical Research Core would like to thank the members of the first Scientific Oversight Committee (SOC 1.0). Drs. Kevin Donahue, Evelyn Kurt-Jones, Ann Moormann, and Pranoti Mandrekar were essential in providing expertise on the scientific, analytic, operational, and budgetary aspects of the many research projects that have come through the Core since its inception. Additionally, the Core is excited to announce the new SOC 2.0 whose members include, Drs. Kevin Donahue (returning), Nina Rosano, Jonathan Kay, Alan Mullen, and Mireya Wessolossky. The Core looks forward to working with these highly qualified members to help advance and support the Department's incoming clinical research studies.
Lee Quinton, PhD, professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology and faculty in the Program in Innate Immunity, was recently awarded R01 funding from the NIH National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to study lectin-like oxidized low-density lipoprotein receptor-1 (LOX-1) as a protective countermeasure in response to lung infection. The project aims to reveal the biological features of the immune receptor LOX-1 in response to respiratory infection, possibly revealing novel mechanisms of tissue protection.
Pneumonia is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, due in large part to the onset of acute respiratory distress syndrome. Imbalances of biological processes controlling immunity and tissue integrity increase the likelihood that lung infections progress to pneumonia, but little is known of when, where, and how host signals integrate to confer protection. In this project, Dr. Quinton and his team propose the scavenger receptor LOX-1 as a regulatory node for shaping inflammation in the pneumonic lung. While this receptor has well-established roles in promoting vascular injury in patients with atherosclerosis, its function in the lungs is unknown. Their preliminary studies in mice and humans show substantial accumulation of LOX-1 in pneumonic lungs. Additionally, mouse studies reveal that LOX-1 in the airspace compartment dampens immunopathology in the infected lung. Therefore, Dr. Quinton and his team will test the central hypothesis that LOX-1 on airspace myeloid cells bolsters tissue protection in response to lung infection. Their proposed studies will utilize in vivo and ex vivo approaches to reveal basic biological mechanisms of tissue homeostasis during pneumonia, which could elucidate novel clinical interventions in patients with or at risk for this disease.
Alok Kapoor, MD, an associate professor of medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine, was recently awarded funding on an R21 from the NIH National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. Dr. Kapoor’s project, “Storytelling for Reducing Gap in AC Use in African Americans with Atrial Fibrillation,” aims to understand the stories of African American patients who have atrial fibrillation (AF) and who are on anticoagulant (AC) therapy.
Six million Americans suffer from AF, a heart rhythm abnormality that is a major risk factor for stroke. Despite this, only 60% of eligible AF patients receive treatment, and this gap is even larger for African Americans, who use anticoagulation 10-22% less frequently compared to White patients. As AF is a major risk factor for stroke, professional societies recommend AC in most patients. However, some patients are reluctant to start or continue taking AC due to the onset of bleeding or other setbacks. This translates to roughly 900-2,000 preventable strokes and 180-400 preventable deaths occurring in African Americans each year. For these reasons, teams at UMass Chan, led by Dr. Kapoor, and the University of Michigan, led by Dr. Geoff Barnes, are partnering on Story-AF, a project dedicated to understanding the stories of African American patients who have AF and are on anticoagulant therapy.
African American patients will share their experiences of being diagnosed with AF and the setbacks they faced during treatment. By recording these shared experiences from patients, Dr. Kapoor and his colleagues plan to test the power of the stories in a randomized feasibility trial to convince other African American patients to take anticoagulants to prevent stroke and improve their health. For the trial, African American patients will be assigned to intervention groups and will watch videos of patients’ stories. Dr. Kapoor and his team will then assess trends in the initiation of AC and the persistence of AC six months into the trial.
Kate Fitzgerald, PhD, the Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research Chair III, professor of medicine, associate vice provost for basic science research, vice chair of research in the Department of Medicine, chief of the Division of Innate Immunity and director of the Program in Innate Immunity, and Ann Marshak-Rothstein, PhD, professor of medicine in the Division of Rheumatology, have been awarded a competing renewal for their NIH T32: Training in the Molecular Basis of Autoimmunity and Autoinflammation (also known as the Autoimmunity and Autoinflammation Training Grant or AATG).
Originally awarded in 2018, Drs. Fitzgerald and Marshak-Rothstein will continue to lead as Principal Investigators of the AATG program, which prepares predoctoral students to become future scientific leaders by providing them with a strong foundation in the basic principles of innate and adaptive immunity. The program brings together over 30 investigators from ten departments at UMass Chan, whose expertise range from basic research to drug discovery, and who are engaged in basic and/or translational, disease-oriented research focusing on autoimmunity and autoinflammatory conditions. The goal is to provide students with a skill set to succeed as independent and creative investigators in a constantly evolving biomedical research landscape.
Hardy Kornfeld, MD, professor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, and colleagues at the M Viswanathan Diabetes Research Center in Chennai, India, recently published a manuscript based on results from the Effects of Diabetes on Tuberculosis Severity (EDOTS) study. This manuscript was the latest of 26 peer-reviewed publications based on the results from the EDOTS study. The study enrolled adult participants newly diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) between 2014 and 2018 and was designed to evaluate the TB-diabetes interaction in a group of participants in Chennai, India, where the prevalence of TB and diabetes is high.
In their latest manuscript, Dr. Kornfeld and his colleagues evaluated the effects of prediabetes at baseline in the EDOTS cohort, reporting that participants with sustained prediabetic dysglycemia, measured after the intensive phase of TB treatment, had a higher death rate and delayed sputum TB culture conversion, compared to normoglycemic participants. The significance of the finding is that the adverse effects of dysglycemia on human immunity to TB are not confined to people classified with “frank diabetes”. Additionally, Dr. Kornfeld concluded that the global population at risk for adverse TB outcomes is therefore larger than the estimates based on diabetes alone. Although the mechanism of TB susceptibility in prediabetes is unknown, research in the Kornfeld lab using animal models recently identified elevated plasma glycerol as a contributing factor to TB severity. As glycerol elevation is known to precede the progression from prediabetes to type 2 diabetes, Dr. Kornfeld and his collaborators are currently planning further clinical studies to investigate whether the association identified in animals is relevant to TB severity in people living with prediabetes.
Read more.
Carly Herbert, an MD/PhD student in the lab of Apurv Soni, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine in Health Systems Science and faculty in the Program in Digital Medicine, was recently interviewed by HealthDay for their article, “Sick? You'll Need Multiple Tests to Rule Out COVID.” Here, Ms. Herbert discussed a recent study conducted by researchers at UMass Chan that confirms that regardless of whether patients have symptoms or not, repeat testing after 48 hours can help rule out COVID infections.
"What we see is that when people test once, there are a good amount of people where their infection may be missed. This is what we call a false negative. And this can really provide [misleading] information to somebody that they are healthy and can go about their daily life, when really if they test again two days later, they are positive,” said Ms. Herbert.
In this month’s Researcher Spotlight, we highlight the work of Zaida Ramirez-Ortiz, PhD, an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology and faculty in the Program in Innate Immunity.
Read her full spotlight.
Melissa Fischer, MD, MEd, professor of medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine, and vice provost for Interprofessional and Instructional Innovation, was recently awarded the 2023 Manning Prize for Excellence in Teaching. The Manning Prize, which is awarded to faculty who excel in teaching and service, was given to five University of Massachusetts faculty members across the university system.
Katherine Cooper, MD, a rising PGY2 internal medicine resident, was recently awarded a 2023 Emerging Liver Scholar Award from the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD).
This highly competitive award is designed to promote the study of hepatology among outstanding residents who have the potential for a career in academic medicine and may be interested in choosing adult or pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology, hepatopathology, surgery, or GI radiology with an emphasis on hepatobiliary imaging as their career focus.
Lauren Feld, MD, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology, was recently featured in UMass Chan’s UpNext! diversity and inclusion newsletter. Here, Dr. Feld explains her role in workforce equity in the Department of Medicine and why she is passionate about ensuring that everyone across the training spectrum in medicine is supported.
Roberto Caricchio, MD, the Myles J. McDonough Chair in Rheumatology, professor of medicine, and chief of the Division of Rheumatology, recently launched the Lupus Center at UMass Chan, a new research and clinical care center in collaboration with UMass Memorial Health. Along with Elena Gkrouzman, MD, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Rheumatology, Dr. Caricchio and his colleagues aim to focus on several areas of investigation, including subclinical infections as triggers of lupus and its flares, the utilization of artificial intelligence to investigate clinical data of lupus patients, and identifying predictors of flares or early signs of lupus disease.
On Wednesday, June 21, 2023, members of the Department of Medicine and the greater UMass Chan community gathered on campus to celebrate the retirement of Deborah DeMarco, MD, professor of medicine, senior associate dean for clinical affairs, and associate dean for graduate medical education, after over 30 years of service.
The Department of Medicine extends our heartfelt gratitude to Dr. DeMarco for her tireless work and dedication to the educational mission of our department and UMass Chan. Her work has had an important impact on countless educators and trainees during her tenure, which will be felt for many years to come. We wish her all the best.
In this month’s Resident Spotlight, we feature Wyatt DeLomba, MD, an upcoming third-year Internal Medicine resident, from Cranston, Rhode Island. We recently caught up with Dr. DeLomba to learn more about his clinical and research interests, hobbies, and loyalty to his home state’s PawSox (no WooSox games for Dr. DeLomba!).
In this month’s Fellow Spotlight, we feature Catherine Fiore, MD, a third-year fellow in Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, from Essex Fells, New Jersey. We recently caught up with Dr. Fiore to learn more about her work, why she chose UMass, and more.
The eICU program at UMass Memorial Health is leading exciting new efforts to improve efficiency and patient outcomes in intensive care units across Central Massachusetts.
In this month’s spotlight, we highlight the work of Jeeva Subramanian, MD, an associate professor of medicine and physician in General Internal Medicine.
Dr. Subramanian has worked in both inpatient and ambulatory settings throughout her career, but her passion lies in ambulatory medicine. In her spotlight, we highlight her work as a physician and current research projects, as well as her love for teaching and the community that she serves.