Widad Abou Chaar is a 4th year resident in the Neurology Department at the University of Chicago. Widad grew up in Lebanon, where she obtained her B.S. in biology and M.D. at the American University of Beirut. She moved to the United States to pursue her residency training. Her main interests are neuroimmunology and global health, and particularly the ethics involved in healthcare disparities and shared decision making. When she is not working in the hospital, she enjoys reading, playing music and learning new languages.

Esther Berkowitz trained as a physician in the UK, specializing in psychiatry before transitioning to a non-clinical career in healthcare communications in 1999, and moving to the US shortly after. She has been working as a medical writer and Medical Director since then, with a brief stint as Director of Scientific Affairs for the non-profit Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer. She completed a Master’s degree in bioethics and health policy at Loyola University, Chicago, in 2015, and is interested in patient self-advocacy during clinical encounters, ethical aspects of rare diseases, and the moral status of research animals.

Blair is a stem cell transplant nurse at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where she spent several months this year on a COVID-19 medical unit. Before working at NMH, Blair received a B.A. from Emory University, an M.A. from the University of Chicago, and an M.S. in Nursing from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her research interests include stem cell transplant and immunotherapy ethics, ethical issues in interdisciplinary team dynamics, and ethical issues concerning COVID-19.

Julie earned her LL.M in Health Law from Loyola University School of Law Beazley Institute for Health Law and Policy. She received her J.D. with honors from Chicago-Kent College of Law and a B.A. and a B.S. in Zoology from Miami University. She was the 2019-2020 Health Law Fellow at the American Medical Association and is a practicing attorney. Julie’s research interests include the use of medical simulation to extrapolate the standard of care in medical malpractice litigation, the ethical conflict created by the National Practitioner Data Bank, and advanced care planning for at risk communities.

Dr. Chase Corvin is a current general surgery resident at the University of Chicago Medicine. He grew up in Richmond, Virginia and attended theUniversity of Virginia, where he received a BA in Economics. He then worked as a firefighter and medic in Charlottesville, Virginia before moving to Washington, DC to pursue a dual MD/MBA degree at Georgetown University.Dr. Corvin’s research interests include how systemic inefficiencies, financial constraints, and business decisions can impair physician abilities to provide ethical care and also lead to moral injury for providers.

Prior to pursuing a career in nursing, Rose completed BA degrees in English literature and psychology at the University of Michigan. She entered the nursing profession through the accelerated BSN program at the University of Massachusetts Boston, thereafter earning a MSN within the Family Nurse Practitioner specialty at Loyola University Chicago. Preceding her current role as an advanced practice provider in transplant surgery, she obtained extensive clinical nursing experience in the critical care and emergency department setting. Rose’s research interests are focused on resource allocation, particularly as it pertains to organ sharing and the role of mental health in meeting organ transplant waitlist criteria.

Nathan Georgette is a rising fourth year in Internal Medicine - Pediatrics at the University of Chicago. After growing up in Jacksonville, Florida, Nathan went to college and medical school at Harvard. He hopes to pursue fellowship in Pediatric Emergency Medicine. He is particularly interested in the ethical challenges affecting research in the pediatric emergency department. He loves biking the lakefront and dodging potholes around the city.

Michael Hawking is a fellow in Hematology and Oncology at the University of Chicago and a Research Scholar at the Hyde Park Institute. He received his MD from the University of Michigan, was a visiting graduate student in Bioethics and received an MSc in Comparative Social Policy from the University of Oxford, and received a BA in Philosophy from the University of Notre Dame. His academic interests include the application of virtue ethics to physician formation and clinical practice, prognostic communication in oncology patients, and care and ethics at the end of life.

Joseph Heng is a Singapore native and was born profoundly deaf. He majored in biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins University and enrolled in medical school at Yale. He did his internal medicine residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital and stayed on for a year as an oncology ICU hospitalist. He is now a hematology-oncology fellow at the University of Chicago. His research interests focus in two areas: improving prognostic awareness and disclosure in patients with advanced cancer, and financial ethics in oncology. He is a proud dad to two clingy boys and an aloof cat.

Brennan Hodgson Kim grew up in Houston, Texas. She attended undergraduate in Austin at the University of Texas where she studied Chemical Engineering and biochemistry. She then attended the University of Chicago for medical school prior to starting her pediatric residency at Comer Children’s hospital. She hopes to pursue a fellowship in neonatology after residency. Her research interests include decision making and management in extreme prematurity.

Mahmoud Ismail received his MD degree from the School of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt in He later completed his residency training at Wayne State University Medical Center in Detroit, Michigan in 1977. He completed his Maternal Fetal Medicine training at the University of Chicago in 1981 and have been on the faculty ever since currently as a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. Ismail has received the Distinguished Clinical Award Senior Professor at the University of Chicago in 2016 and is recognized by the Bucksbaum Institute for Clinical Excellence as a Senior Faculty Scholar. Mahmoud’s areas of interests include High Risk OB infections in pregnancy, twin to twin transfusion, and mono-mono twins.

Dr. Erika “Ann” Jeschke, PhD is currently an adjunct professor at George Washington University in the Peace Studies Program, a research consultant to the Army Institute for Surgical Research, and an ethics consultant to Special Operations Medicine Prolonged Field Care Working Group. Her research is grounded in the following question: What does it mean to care amidst violence. Relying on medical humanities and anthropology, she seeks to expand the medical context of caring beyond the clinic and physician-patient dyad to include communal healing rituals as a means of restoring social identity after collective trauma. Ann is actively researching how death, dying, and disfigurement in combat impact military trauma clinicians.

Sanjay Jumani is a current Chief Resident in the Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Residency at the University of Chicago. He completed his undergraduate training at Johns Hopkins University and received a BA in Public Health Studies. I worked in the field of social work before completing my medical training at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. He am interested in patient advocacy, specifically in the realm of guardianship. Sanjay plans to focus my research on the complex relationship of patient/guardian, analyzing two populations: adults with developmental disabilities and transgender adolescents, as these two groups represents some extremes of advocating for others.

Elle Kalbfell obtained her undergraduate degree in human biology and nutritional sciences from Michigan State University, MI (BS 2012) with high honors. She attended medical school at Michigan State University in Grand Rapids, MI (MD 2017). Currently, she is a general surgery resident at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She finished two clinical years and now holds a position in the Wisconsin Surgical Outcomes Research Program (WiSOR) as a fellow in the lab of Dr. Margaret “Gretchen” Schwarze. Current projects focus on perioperative communication, advance care planning, shared decision making and scenario planning. Elle is also in the process of obtaining a certificate in the Fundamentals of Clinical Research through the UW Institute for Clinical and Translational Research.

Stephanie Kelly, MD is a Chief Resident of the Internal Medicine residency program at the University of Chicago. Born in Australia, Stephanie studied chemistry at Cornell University and worked in science communication at the New York Academy of Sciences before completing her medical degree at McGill University in Montreal and her residency in the University of Chicago's combined Internal Medicine and Pediatrics program, with a special interest in pulmonary and critical care medicine, and in transition care. She is interested in distributive justice in public health, including the ethics of Covid-19 care and of organ transplantation.

Antigone Kraft completed her undergraduate and medical school training at the University of Utah. She will be a third year pediatric resident when the fellowship begins. She is interested in looking at the ethics of initiating extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in pediatric patients, specifically cancer patients, with irreversible or unknown conditions. She is still undecided in what area of pediatrics I am planning to specialize in, but am leaning towards pediatric infectious disease. She will be a chief resident for the pediatric residency program!

Shivani Kumar, MD, is a Consultation Liaison Psychiatry Fellow at the University of Chicago Medicine. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign before receiving her MD at Rush University Medical Center. She completed her Adult Psychiatry Residency at the University of Chicago Medicine where she served as one of the chief residents. Currently, she has a number of research interests including medical education, quality improvement, and the psychological impact of the pandemic. Her other areas of interest include psychosomatic medicine, transplant psychiatry, trauma-informed care, and the intersection of psychiatry and the legal system.

Joanna Kuppy, MD is Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Rush Medical College. She completed undergraduate and medical school at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Pediatric residency training at LA County/USC Medical Center, and fellowship in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine at New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. She is a practicing pediatric intensivist and serves as the Associate Clerkship Director for Pediatrics and Professionalism Role Leader directing M1-M4 curriculum related to medical professionalism, ethics, learning environment, professional identity formation and wellness. Her interests in ethics center around learner acquisition of ethics content and assessment solutions to measure competency in medical ethics.

Allison Lapins earned her undergraduate degree at The University of Miami in Coral Gables, FL, where she majored in Neuroscience with minors in both Philosophy and Chemistry. After graduating from undergraduate university with a bachelor of science degree, she started medical school at Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University in North Chicago where she obtained my MD. Following medical school, she began residency at University of Chicago, with a preliminary year in internal medicine at Evanston Northshore Hospital, followed by neurology residency at University of Chicago Hospital, where she is finishing her third post graduate year. Allison plans to subspecialize in behavioral neurology in which she will care for patients with dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases. She has related research interests in disease specific trends in goals of care at different stages along disease course (especially neurodegenerative diseases), and how these correlate with decisions made by family members in the acute inpatient setting when patients are unable to make their own healthcare decisions.

Francine Lynch is a partner in the Law Firm of Neal & Leroy, LLC. She received her JD from John Marshall Law School, LL.M in Health from Loyola University Law School, M.A. in Bioethics and Health Policy from Loyola University and Doctorate in Bioethics from Loyola University concentrating in Clinical and Organizational Bioethics, with an interest in end of life matters and hospital mission. She performed her doctoral practicum at Rush Hospital in the office of Patient Safety. Francine is a member of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities and served as Vice President of the Advisory Board of the Children's Hospital at University of Illinois, is a Member, Friends of UIC Pediatrics – Children Hospital University of Illinois Chicago. She was listed as a 2018 Crain Notable Minority.

Jacqueline Meadow is a native Hyde Parker and child of two University of Chicago faculty. She did undergrad at Yale majoring in cognitive science, spent a year abroad in Paris doing cognitive science research (and eating cheese) before coming back to U of C for medical school. She did pediatrics residency at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and am starting her second year (of three) of Neonatology fellowship at Northwestern/Lurie Children's this summer. Her research interest is how and when physicians offer withdrawal of life-sustaining therapies to parents of critically ill neonates. Also she goes by Beanie.

Parth Modi is a urologic oncologist with a clinical focus on bladder cancer. His research interests include the physician-patient relationship and its interaction with health care policy. He completed his BA and MD degrees at Northwestern University and completed residency training in urology at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. He then attended the University of Michigan for a 3 year fellowship in Health Services Research and Urologic Oncology, including an MS in Health and Health care research. Parth is looking forward to joining the faculty at the University of Chicago as an Assistant Profession in the summer.

Mariana attended the University of Notre Dame, where she majored in Science PreProfessional Studies and Italian, followed by a Masters degree in Public Health at the University of Kentucky with an emphasis on epidemiology. She attended medical school at Rush University, and completed her pediatric residency at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington D.C. in 2017. She subsequently worked as an attending pediatric hospitalist in the CNMC PICU. Currently, she is in her final year of anesthesia training at the University of Chicago, serving as Chief Resident. Her research interests include pediatric end of life discussions, futility of care, resource allocation, and medical education.

Ryan is a current PGY-2 resident in General Surgery at the University of Chicago. He previously completed his undergraduate studies at Georgetown University and medical school at Boston University School of Medicine. His research interests include surgical education, clinical outcomes in surgical oncology, and colorectal cancer recurrence. He will also be starting a research fellowship in the Alverdy/Shogan laboratory at the University of Chicago this year.

Pat Naureckas is a current Internal Medicine resident at the University of Chicago. He previously studied Biomedical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis before receiving his medical degree from the University of Illinois - Chicago college of medicine. As an upcoming applicant for pulmonary and critical care medicine, he is primarily interested in the ethical issues surrounding end of life care and patient surrogacy from his experiences working in the medical ICU. He has also been a part of the UofC COVID ethics committee helping to develop the center’s COVID CPR guidelines.

Samuel Russell is a current PGY-4 resident in Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of Chicago. He completed his undergraduate at Wheaton College in Massachusetts focusing on English, Psychology and Theatre. He discovered a passion for helping others, and retrained at Boston University for his premedical requirements before starting medical school at the University of Washington. His current research interests are in addiction medicine and psychiatry, specifically in behavioral addictions (such as gaming and gambling) and disparate outcomes in care among patients determined to be seeking secondary gain. He is in the process of applying to fellowships in addiction psychiatry after completing residency. In his free time, he enjoys woodworking, playing guitar and learning new languages.

Kaitlin Seibert is a fourth-year neurology resident at University of Chicago Medical Center. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Cognitive Science and Music Performance at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio and received her Doctor of Medicine degree from University of Toledo Medical Center in Ohio. Her research interests include preservation of autonomy and personhood despite loss of cortical function in patients with dementia and management of end-of-life care in neurodegenerative disease.

Connie Shao MD is a general surgery resident at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) where she is also obtaining an MSPH. Originally from Michigan, she completed her undergraduate degree at Washington University in St. Louis where she majored in Biomedical Engineering before attending the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. Her research focuses on improving health engagement in patients with low health literacy via clinical outcomes research.

Ronnie earned her Bachelor’s of Science in Biology at Stanford University while playing soccer for the United States Youth and Women’s National Teams. After finishing her professional soccer career, she attended medical school at the University of California San Diego. She completed her general surgery residency at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center then trained in pediatric surgery at the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Surgery at UCLA. Her research interests include tissue bioengineering and surgical ethics with a specific interest in resiliency as it relates to moral distress and training mindful career surgeons.

Julia Thrash, MD is in her final year of pediatrics residency at the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital. Originally from Austin, Texas, she attended the University of Virginia where she studied psychology and biology before moving back to Texas to complete her medical degree at Texas Tech University. She plans to pursue a Pediatric Emergency Medicine fellowship after residency. Her research interests include adolescent autonomy and trauma related care.

Stephanie Tillman (pronouns: she/her) is a Clinical Instructor and Midwife at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She completed her Master of Science in Nursing at Yale University and her Bachelor of Arts in Global Health and Medical Anthropology at the University of Michigan. Stephanie is widely published and speaks nationally on trauma-informed care, nurses and midwives in abortion care, queer care, and power imbalances between patients and providers. Her research interest during the Fellowship is consent in gynecologic care and ethical frameworks to improve future practice.

Janani Vigneswaran is a general surgery resident at the University of Chicago. She attended the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign for her undergraduate education, received a Master’s in Public Health with a focus in health policy from Dartmouth College, and completed her medical education at Brown University. She is in her second year of research in the Alverdy/Shogan laboratory at University of Chicago. She was awarded the Association for Academic Surgery Trainee Research Fellowship Grant to study the effects of the microbiome on cancer progression. Her other research interests include surgical education, surgeon-patient relationship, and organ transplantation policy.

Theresa is a recent graduate of the Duke Neurosurgery Residency program and current enfolded fellow in complex spine surgery. She is pursuing a career in neurotrauma and spine surgery. Her research interests include surgical decision making at the end of life and in neurotrauma. She studies how health disparities contribute to surgical decision making, therapeutic alliance and outcome. She is passionate about advocating for patients and physicians alike and does so in writing featured in Oprah Magazine and Doximity. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Yale College in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology and her Medical Degree from Yale University School of Medicine.

Maryam is a resident in the Internal Medicine program. She completed her undergraduate degree in Neuroscience and Arabic at Dartmouth College, master's degree in Global Health Sciences at UCSF, and medical degree at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai. She is interested in the ethics of organ transplant, in particular the intersection of organ allocation with immigration status. She is also interested in global health work that encompasses capacity building in developing regions.

Ciro Andolfi, MD, is a fellow at the University of Chicago Medicine, Department of Surgery. He received his medical degree at the University of Ferrara, Italy, and completed the surgical training in Pediatric Surgery at the University of Bologna, Italy. He maintains his clinical focus in Minimally Invasive Surgery and Surgical Simulation.

Marin Arnolds, MD, completed her undergraduate studies at Marquette University, and attended medical school at Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine. She completed her residency in Pediatrics at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and for 2 years was a pediatric hospitalist at Lurie Children’s Hospital in the Department of Pediatrics. She is a current Fellow in Neonatology at the University of Chicago with broad interests in the field of neonatology and medical ethics, especially in examining the experience of families of critically ill infants in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Maureen Beederman, MD, is a rising fifth-year plastic and reconstructive surgery resident at The University of Chicago. She completed her undergraduate work at Northwestern University, where she majored in biology. She then attended medical school at The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, where she graduated in 2014. She is interested in patient-physician communication and joint decision-making.

Dawn Bounds, PhD, received her Bachelor's of Science in Nursing from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She received her Masters of Science and Doctorate both in Nursing from Rush University. She is board certified as a Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner with over 15 years of experience working with youth and their families. She is an Assistant Professor at Rush University Medical Center with a joint appointment in the Department of Psychiatry's Section of Population Behavioral Health and Community, Systems, & Mental Health Nursing.  Her research is focused on developing therapeutic interventions for sexually exploited youth.

Darren Bryan is a general surgery resident at the University of Chicago. Originally from Iowa, he completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Iowa, before attending the University of Rochester for medical school. He is interested in patient-surgeon communication, particularly as it relates to informed consent and end-of-life care.

Christine Carlos, MD, received her medical degree from The University of Michigan and completed her pediatric residency at Comer Children's Hospital. Dr. Carlos is currently completing a neonatal and perinatal medicine fellowship at Comer Children's Hospital. During the ethics fellowship, Christine hopes to create a quality improvement research project around the development of prenatal consultation and counseling in conjunction with obstetricians for a variety of medical indications.

Kristel Clayville studied anthropology, archaeology, and classics at Centre College before pursuing graduate training in religion at the University of Chicago. She holds an MA in religion and a PhD in religious ethics. Clinically, she served as a chaplain to liver and kidney transplant patients at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in 2015-2016, while also collaborating with transplant surgeons and ethicists on research. Currently, she juggles part-time chaplaincy and teaching. She is ordained in the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ.

Camil Correia, MD, is a fourth-year Otolaryngology resident at the University of Chicago. She received her medical training at the Pritzker School of Medicine and completed her undergraduate studies at Yale University. Her research interests include improving the quality and safety of patient care as well as improving the practice of surgery, particularly understanding the ethical considerations of surgical training. Dr. Correia's current research focus includes the development of standardized regimens for prescribing opiates following outpatient surgery. Outside of academic interests, she enjoys spending time with her family, running, cooking, and reading.

Vincent DiMaggio, MD, received his medical degree as well as a masters in physiology and biophysics from Georgetown University. He is currently completing a Medical Pediatrics residency at University of Chicago Medicine.

Margaret Fahrenbach received a BA in Psychology from the University of Notre Dame in 2012 and then went on to receive her BSN from St. Mary’s College in 2013.  She is a pediatric nurse at the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital; she started her career on a general pediatric floor and now works in the Neonatal ICU.

Sabha Ganai, MD, PhD, received her Doctor of Philosophy in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Massachusetts, Amhurst and completed her residency in General Surgery at Baystate Medical Center, Tufts University School of Medicine. 

Alecia Greenlee, MD, attended Sacramento State University for her undergraduate studies and the University of California San Francisco for medical school. She also earned an MPH at University of California Berkeley between her third and fourth year of medical school. This was a part of the UCSF Program for Medical Education Urban Underserved program, which was created for medical students interested in working in underserved communities. After medical school, she went to Cambridge Health Alliance for Adult Psychiatry residency. She is currently a Consult Liaison Psychiatry Fellow at the University of Chicago with a special interest in trauma-informed care and collaborative care. 

Christopher Holbrook, MD, received his undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago and his medical degree from the University of Illinois. He completed a surgical internship at the University of Chicago before transitioning to internal medicine. Chris recently completed his IM residency training and was named chief medical resident at Saint Joseph Hospital. His clinical interests include critical care, medical futility, and healthcare disparities.

Michael Huber, MD, received his medical degree from University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and completed his residency and internship in the Department of Medicine at the University of Chicago. He is currently receiving a Master's in Public Health Sciences from the University of Chicago as well as a Hospital scholar in the Department of Medicine.

Dr. Hunter is a pediatric surgeon and physician-scientist. She obtained her undergraduate degree from Edinburgh, Scotland and studied medicine at Cornell University, NY. In addition to clinical work and clinical research, Dr. Hunter has had a long-standing interest in the origins and mechanisms of necrotizing enterocolitis. As a result of these works, she is the recipient of a number of grants and awards, including the Research Scholar Award from the American Gastroenterological Association and funding from the National Institutes of Health.  

Ann Jackson is a physical therapist who received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Physical Therapy from Georgia State University, a Masters of Public Health from the University of South Carolina and a Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Rosalind Franklin University. Her clinical interests include: children and adults living with neuromuscular conditions, rehabilitation needs following a cancer diagnosis/care, integration of community resources into long term care plans. Her research interests include: efficacy of service delivery models and outcome measures.

Edgardo Ed Javelona was in 3rd year of BS Biology when he decided to change his undergraduate degree to BS Nursing at the University of St La Salle in the Philippines.  Since he started his professional nursing career, he has only worked in intensive care unit (ICU) environments. He earned his masters’ degree in Nursing Informatics from the University of Phoenix. Currently, he is working on his dissertation to earn his doctorate degree of Philosophy in Nursing (PhD). He is intrigued by ICU nurses' perceptions and attitudes regarding patient and family-centered care, and how nursing characteristics affect their views and attitudes.

Casey Ketchum, RN, CCRN, is a Neurological ICU nurse at the Universerty of Chicago as well as a Surgical Trauma ICU nurse at Mount Sinai Hospital. She received her BSN from Valparaiso University in 2012. She recently attended the annual Nurse in Washington Internship in March, a program emphasizing public policy process and patient advocacy.

Reasheal Lehmann is a board certified Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner with the Advanced Practice Service at the University of Chicago. She received her Master of Science in Nursing in 2014 from the University of Illinois at Chicago and her Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2009 from Regis University. Her general clinical interests include hospital medicine and emergency medicine. Her research interests include clinical ethics training for advanced practice nurses and developing a clinical ethics curriculum for advanced practice nurses.

Daniel Meza, MD, received his B.S from Valparaiso University and MD from the University of Illinois-Chicago. He will be a PGY-3 at the University of Chicago, Internal Medicine residency program. He will be applying into pulmonary critical care fellowship this summer. He is interested in the end of life care and mechanical life support. 

Pringl Miller, MD, FACS, received her medical degree from the University of Chicago - Pritzker School of Medicine. She completed general surgery training at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital and has been practicing general surgery for 15 years. The last five years of clinical practice have been focused on emergency general surgery which solidified her interest in palliative care. She completed a fellowship in Hospice and Palliative Medicine at the University of Chicago June 2017 and will begin an appointment as Assistant Professor in the Departments of Surgery and Internal Medicine in the Section of Palliative Medicine at Rush University Medical Center fall 2017. Her clinical and research interests include integrating palliative medicine and surgical ethics into the clinical care of high risk surgical patients, devising a strategy for earlier referral of advanced cancer patients to either palliative or hospice care, clinical ethics relevant to the practice of physician aid-in-dying, and racial and ethnic disparities in the management of cancer and peri-operative related acute pain.

Christine O'Malley, RN, graduated from St. Xavier University as an undergraduate with a BSN.  She holds an MS from UIC and an MSN from Rush University. Mrs. O'Malley is a neonatal nurse practitioner in the Comer NICU. She was a staff RN in the UCMC NICU for 16 years prior to becoming a practitioner, a position she took in 1992.  Her other work experiences include PICU nursing and clinical faculty for both undergraduate and graduate students through UIC and Rush University.  She is also the program director for neonatal resuscitation for pediatric house staff. Her research interests include ethics curriculum development for APN and clinical nursing staff. She and her husband like to travel, and they have 3 adult children.  

Emily Obringer, MD, is currently a pediatric infectious disease fellow at the University of Chicago Medicine. She received her medical degree from Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine and completed her residency at the University of Chicago. She is interested in exploring the possibility of offering an ethics consult as part of the pre-stem cell transplant work-up, specifically as it may relate to end-of-life care.

Cassandra Oehler, MD, is a second-year fellow in infectious diseases at the University of Chicago. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago, completed medical school at the University of Michigan, and medicine residency at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland. Her clinical interests include urban HIV care and end of life care. 

William Parker, MD, is an internal medicine resident at the University of Chicago, where he also graduated from medical school. His research focus has been transplantation ethics and he plans to pursue a career in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine.

Gina Piscitello, MD, received her undergraduate degree at Northwestern University, her medical degree from University of Minnesota, and is currently completing an internal medicine residency at the University of Chicago. Her interests include end of life care, moral distress, and patient-physician communication.

Natalie Reizine, MD, is an internal medicine resident at the University of Chicago. She completed a double major in biology and history at the University of Pittsburgh. She then went on to complete medical school at Loyola. She will be applying for a hematology and oncology fellowship this summer. Her interests include the early integration of palliative and supportive care services in oncologic patients, particularly those with hematologic malignancies. 

Lauren Robinson, MD, obtained her BA at Oberlin College studying biology and chemistry. She then moved to Atlanta to start a research fellowship at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studying tick-borne diseases. Dr. Robinson completed a joint MD/MPH program at Tulane University in New Orleans. She is currently a PGY-4 Psychiatry resident here at the University of Chicago. Her research will focus on stigma and psychiatric disorders, as it applies to the new Trauma Center. Outside of her professional work, she is an avid yogi, art-deco enthusiast, and rock musician. She has played guitar and sang in several rock bands in different cities. She is currently in an all-female KISS cover band here in Chicago.

Robert Sanchez, MD, is a PGY-4 resident in Internal Medicine & Pediatrics at the University of Chicago Medicine. He completed his undergraduate degree in History of Medicine at Yale University and attended the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. At Pritzker, he was chosen to be in the first group of Bucksbaum Institute Student Scholars. He is interested in ethical issues in Pediatric Critical Care and in the care for children and adults with disabilities. 

Kate Schechter received her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Chicago and her clinical social work training from the University of Chicago's School of Social Service Administration. She is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Rush University School of Medicine and a faculty member at the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis, where she received her certification in psychoanalysis. Dr. Schechter is in the private practice of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy in Chicago, and her ethnographic interests center on the cultural, organizational, and economic contexts of ethical decision-making in medicine. She received her B.A. from Wellesley College.

Darryl Schuitevoerder, MD, was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and lived in Australia for several years before relocating to Portland, Oregon. He received his Bachelor of Science in Human Physiology from the University of Oregon before returning to Australia to complete his medical degree at the University of Queensland. He recently completed a general surgery residency at Oregon Health & Science University and in August will begin fellowship training in Surgical Oncology at the University of Chicago. His research interests include medical student and resident education as well as immuno-oncology and clinical outcomes research. When not at work he loves spending time with his family and playing with his two young children.

Kinga Skowron, MD, is a General Surgery resident at the University of Chicago.  She graduated from the University of Chicago in 2009 and The Pritzker School of Medicine in 2012. She is currently in her second of two years of basic science research, studying bladder and pancreatic cancer in the laboratory of Dr. Ralph Weichselbaum.

Ashley Suah, MD, is a General Surgery resident at the University of Chicago. She received her undergraduate degrees from Florida State University and attended Indiana University for medical school. Her main interest related to surgical ethics involves the relationship between the trauma surgeon and the patient who has been subjected to violence. Specifically, she wishes to gain a deeper understanding of the stance surgeons take regarding the pathogenesis of urban trauma, beyond the operating room and intensive care unit.

Allison West, MD, is a Hematology and Oncology fellow at the University of Chicago. She received her undergraduate degree in French Literature from Emory University and her Medical Degree from the New York University. Allison’s clinical and research interests are in the inherited cancer syndromes. She works in the cancer risk clinic at the University of Chicago and is actively involved in research evaluating the role of inherited heterozygous BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations on hematopoietic function. Allison is excited to participate in the MacLean Ethics Fellowship and hopes to explore ethical challenges in cancer risk assessment and genetic testing.

Dominika A. Winiarski, PhD, is an instructor and postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychiatry, Section of Population Behavioral Health. She completed her clinical internship in child/adolescent/pediatric psychology at the Rush University Medical Center and her MA and PhD in clinical psychology at Emory University. Prior to enrolling at Emory, she completed an MA in developmental psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University with a concentration in risk and resilience. She completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology at Northern Michigan University. Her research examines the relationship between trauma, emotion dysregulation, and externalizing behavior in homeless youth. In her free time, she enjoys yoga, traveling, and exploring Chicago’s museums.