The Office of Faculty Affairs and Faculty Development is pleased to provide an exciting new quarterly series to highlight new School of Medicine faculty hires. This inaugural article includes new clinical and research faculty hired in June, July, and August of 2024.
To promote collaboration and connectivity among our new faculty and within the UVA Health community, we’ve included a description of each new faculty member’s clinical and/or research interests. The included table is searchable by name, department, or other key words.
The next article in the series will feature the newly hired faculty arriving in September, October, and November; be on the lookout for the second article in Medicine in Motion this December.
Please join us in welcoming our new faculty to the School of Medicine and UVA Health!
| PHOTO | NAME | RANK | DEPARTMENT | STATEMENT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Lliam Brannigan, MBBCH | Associate Professor | Anesthesiology | Dr. Brannigan has a particular interest in liver transplantation and perioperative care of high-risk patients. |
 | Melissa Byrne, DO, MPH, FASA | Associate Professor | Anesthesiology | Dr. Byrne's research interests include curriculum design and implementation related to POCUS in graduate medical education. She is first author on a recent publication on POCUS in clinical practice and is a contributing author on the ASRA Pain Medicine expert panel which provides recommendations on POCUS education and training for regional anesthesiologists and pain physicians. |
 | Ryan Lee, MD | Assistant Professor | Anesthesiology | Dr. Lee works both in the TCV ICU and Emergency Department with research interests focusing on optimizing mechanical ventilation in patients requiring temporary mechanical support, specifically VV-ECMO. |
 | Jie Yang, PhD | Assistant Professor | Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics | Dr. Yang uses cutting-edge structural biology techniques to unravel the mechanisms of protein complexes, revealing their roles in physiology and human disease. |
 | Fanfan Du, PhD | Research Assistant Professor | Biomedical Engineering | Dr. Du is a postdoctoral scholar in Dr. Evan Scott’s Research Group. This group applies principles from biomaterials science, nanotechnology, and tissue engineering to the development of translational immunotherapies. |
 | Evan Scott, PhD | Professor | Biomedical Engineering | Dr. Scott is a world-renowned expert who is known for his accomplishments and innovations in developing novel drug encapsulation chemistries and nanocarrier formulations for drug delivery and biomedical imaging. |
 | Alexandra Hickman, MD | Assistant Professor | Dermatology | Dr. Hickman practices medical, surgical and cosmetic dermatology with research interests in melanoma immunology, equity and disparity in health systems, and medical education. She is committed to advocacy and works to improve legislation for dermatology patients and physicians at both the state and national levels. |
 | Brendan T. Byrne, MD | Associate Professor | Emergency Medicine | Dr. Byrne's primary research and clinical interests involve the delivery of complex care in austere environments; delivering the best medicine in the worst places and times. |
 | Rita Farah, PhD | Research Assistant Professor | Emergency Medicine | Dr. Farah is an epidemiologist whose research interests include student population, toxicologic exposures, substance use, mental health and disease surveillance. |
 | Abigail Kerns, MD | Assistant Professor | Emergency Medicine | Dr. Kerns is a toxicologist and emergency medicine phsycian interested in clinical toxicology and emerging substances of abuse. |
 | Nardos Makonnen, MD | Assistant Professor | Emergency Medicine | Dr. Makonnen is an emergency medicine physician whose main interest is global health and medical education. |
 | Kathleen Anne Mcpadden Noorbakhsh, MD | Associate Professor | Emergency Medicine | Dr. Noorbakhsh is a pediatric emergency medicine physician whose research and clinical interests include cost-effectiveness analysis, abusive head trauma screening, and best practices for supporting healthcare workers after difficult clinical cases. |
 | Lucas McWilliams, MD | Assistant Professor | Emergency Medicine | Dr. McWilliams is a pediatric emergency medicine physician who is dedicated to the treatment of sick children as well as the education of our future pediatric and emergency medicine doctors. |
 | Moira Elizabeth Smith, MD, MPH | Assistant Professor | Emergency Medicine | Dr. Smith is an informatician in the Department of Emergency Medicine whose work includes data analytics and reporting, quality improvement, electronic health record usability and workflow optimization, and clinical decision support. |
 | Peter Vandersteenhoven, MD | Assistant Professor | Emergency Medicine | Dr. Vandersteenhoven is an emergency physician whose primary research and clinical interests focus on EMS and prehospital medicine. |
 | Samantha Bolz, MD | Assistant Professor | Family Medicine | Dr. Bolz's clinical interests are preventive medicine and sports medicine. |
 | Priscilla Caldwell, MD | Assistant Professor | Family Medicine | Dr. Caldwell's clinical interests are behavioral health in the primary care setting, antiracism in medicine and medical education, the culturally competent care of refugee patients, and the care of individuals who identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community. |
 | Allie Mann, PhD | Assistant Professor | Family Medicine | Dr. Mann's clinical and research interests are in brief therapy interventions and sexual and gender minority healthcare. |
 | Wenbo Yan, PhD | Associate Professor | Medical Education | Dr. Yan will be responsible for the implementation of active learning strategies and content integration in pharmacology and physiology instruction in medical curriculum. |
 | G. Alden Adkins, MD | Assistant Professor | Medicine | Dr. Adkins' clinical interests include inflammatory arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, inflammatory myositis, systemic vasculitis, and medical education. |
 | Akua Boadu, MD | Assistant Professor | Medicine | Dr. Baodu is dedicated to providing comprehensive and compassionate patient care with an interest in quality improvement projects and clinical education. |
 | Benjamin J. Cahill, MD | Assistant Professor | Medicine | Dr. Cahill's clinical/research interests include post-acute and long-term care, geriatric syndromes and frailty. |
 | Aislinn Camoney, MD | Assistant Professor | Medicine | Dr. Carmoney's interests include preventative care and women’s health. |
 | Ludimila Cavalcante, MD | Associate Professor | Medicine | Dr. Cavalcante is the Associate Director of UVA Cancer Center Phase I Program and Medical Director of the Medical Sarcoma Program. |
 | Katirina Guinto, MD | Assistant Professor | Medicine | Dr. Guinto interests are in humanism, scholarship, and the drive to discover what makes this a profession worth pursuing. |
 | Rebecca Haug, MD | Assistant Professor | Medicine | Dr. Huag's clinical focus area is in Luminal Gastroenterology (GI), which she feels is a great combination of medical practice and procedural skills that also offers patients and providers continuity of care. In addition, she has special interests in Quality and Patient Safety and Medical Education. |
 | Nisha Hosadurg, MBBS | Assistant Professor | Medicine | Dr. Hosadurg's clinical and research interest are advanced cardiac imaging and women's heart health. |
 | John Manavalan, PhD | Research Assistant Professor | Medicine | Dr. Manavalan's interest is in pathogenesis and the treatment of hematologic malignancies with a focus on Large Granular Lymphocyte (LGL) Leukemia and Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). |
 | Laura E. Mitchell, MD | Assistant Professor | Medicine | Dr. Mitchell's interests are medical education and transitions of care. |
 | Ellen Nein, MD | Assistant Professor | Medicine | Dr. Nein's clinical interests are medical education and quality improvement. |
 | Christine Nelson, PhD | Research Assistant Professor | Medicine | Dr. Nelson's lab research centers on exploring the immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis and other non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), with a particular focus on both the protective effects of vaccination and the pathogenic responses that lead to lung disease. |
 | Eric Nolley, MD | Assistant Professor | Medicine | Dr. Nolly's interest are in serious illness communication, medical education, lung transplantation, the intersection of lung transplantation and palliative care, and critical care medicine. |
 | Erin J. Plews-Ogan, MD | Assistant Professor | Medicine | Dr. Plews-Ogan has broad interests across general medicine and is especially interested in palliative care for patients with advanced liver disease as well as transitions of care following hospitalization for patients struggling with serious health conditions. |
 | Yeshwanter Radhakrishnan, MBBS | Assistant Professor | Medicine | Dr. Radhakrishnan's clinical and research interests are in glomerular and tubulo-interstitial diseases. |
 | Nathan Roberts, MD | Assistant Professor | Medicine | Dr. Roberts' focus is on Lymphoma treatment and developing a clinical investigative program in Lymphoma. |
 | Lisette Rodriguez, MD | Assistant Professor | Medicine | Dr. Rodriguez's main clinical and research interest is in endocrine disorders related to cancer and/or cancer treatment, as well as management of pre-existing endocrine disorders in patients with cancer. |
 | Patrick L Stafford, MD | Assistant Professor | Medicine | Dr. Stafford's clinical and research interests are in the interventional cardiology. |
 | Matthew Van Dongen, MD | Assistant Professor | Medicine | Dr. Van Dongen is most interested in clinical care and medical education related to the diagnosis and treatment of cognitive disorders. |
 | Sarah M. Verga, DO | Assistant Professor | Medicine | Dr. Verga's interests include palliative care for patients with co-existing substance use disorder, mindfulness-based stress reduction for patients and healthcare providers, and the impact and utilization of outpatient and home-based palliative care. |
 | Kathleen Waybill, MD | Assistant Professor | Medicine | Dr. Waybill's interestes are in the intersection of palliative care and pulmonary, specifically identifying palliative care needs to provide goal concordance care for patients with end stage lung disease. She is also interested in communication surrounding end of life in the ICU. |
 | Sarah Dremel, PhD | Assistant Professor | Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology | Dr. Dremel's interests combine molecular virology and computation biology to reveal mechanistic underpinnings of host and viral gene expression. |
 | Brady L. Spencer, PhD | Assistant Professor | Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology | Dr. Spencer's interests are the study of mechanisms of bacterial secretion in Gram-positive bacteria, and determining how secreted bacterial effectors impact host barriers and/or imprint the microbiota and mucosal immune responses, resulting in dysbiosis and systemic infection. |
 | Xuemei Huang, MD, PhD | Professor and Chair | Neurology | Dr. Huang's interest are in the Movement Disorders patient care and translational research on neurodegeneration related to aging and diseases. |
 | Jose Posas, MD | Associate Professor | Neurology | Dr. Posas' interest is in enhancment of multidisciplinary collaborations in sports neurology/concussion and headache management. |
 | Robert Kang Shin, MD | Professor | Neurology | Dr. Shin's special interest is in health disparities in multiple sclerosis and visual problems associated with MS and other demyelinating disorders. |
 | Rachael Stone, PharmD | Research Assistant Professor | Neurology | Dr. Stones' interests are in implementation science project focused on pharmacogenomics and stroke risk. |
 | Lori McMahon, PhD | Professor | Neuroscience | The McMahon laboratory uses preclinical models to investigate how neurodegenerative disease and neuropsychiatric illness modifies function of neural circuits involved in learning and memory, with a specific focus on sex differences. |
 | Andrew Carlson, MD | Professor | Neurosurgery | Dr. Carlson is a vascular neurosurgeon and clinical investigator, bringing NIH funding and high-tech bedside monitoring equipment to study spreading depolarization, an event that occurs during stroke and other brain trauma that he hopes to detect early and treat in novel ways. |
 | Bridget Donovan, MD | Assistant Professor | Obstetrics & Gynecology | Dr. Donovan recently completed her fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and has a strong interest in accreta research, offering opportunities for collaboration in advancing understanding and treatment of this condition. |
 | Karen Jefferson, MD | Assistant Professor | Obstetrics & Gynecology | Dr. Jefferson specializes in obesity and anti-aging medicine within the field of obstetrics and gynecology and is actively working alongside the DEI group, presenting opportunities for collaboration in metabolic health and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. |
 | Shannon Weatherford, MD | Assistant Professor | Obstetrics & Gynecology | Dr. Weatherford is dedicated to comprehensive obstetric and gynecologic care with a strong emphasis on community service and public health initiatives, fostering opportunities for collaboration in patient-centered care and health policy. |
 | Matthew Joseph Deasey, MD | Assistant Professor | Orthopaedic Surgery | Dr. Deasey's professional interests include hip and knee surgery, more specifically knee joint preservation through ligament reconstruction, cartilage restoration, and realignment procedures, and in the shoulder: arthroscopic stabilization, rotator cuff repair, and shoulder arthroplasty. |
 | Benjamin Lovin, MD | Assistant Professor | Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery | Dr. Lovin specializes in the medical and surgical care of patients with hearing and balance disorders and other diseases of the temporal bone. |
 | Julie C Fanburg-Smith, MD | Professor | Pathology | Dr. Fanburg-Smith's professional interests include Musculoskeletal Pathology and Hematopathology, as well as Research in non-neoplastic and neoplastic mesenchymal lesions, and identification of new entities with diagnostic classification. |
 | Matthew McCord, MD | Assistant Professor | Pathology | Dr. McCord's professional interests include how CNS tumors progress and respond to therapy, with the ultimate goal of developing new and improved therapies, as well as acquired temozolomide (TMZ) resistance in glioblastoma (GBM) and its associated genotypic and phenotypic features. |
 | Vanessa L. Smith, MD | Assistant Professor | Pathology | Dr. Smith's professional interests include Neuropathology, spanning the spectrum of developmental, neoplastic, infectious, and neurodegenerative. |
 | Evan Anderson, PhD | Assistant Professor | Pediatrics | Dr. Anderson is interested in finding creative solutions to improve community access to pediatric mental health services and is on a crusade to help families/communities build healthier relationships with their screens. |
 | Alexandra Biller, DO | Assistant Professor | Pediatrics | Dr. Biller is interested in the diagnosis and treatment of inflammatory gastrointestinal diseases in children, specifically Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Celiac disease, and Eosinophilic Esophagitis. |
 | Emily Carroll, MD | Assistant Professor | Pediatrics | Dr. Carroll is interested in graduate and undergraduate medical education and is hoping to apply her research to support non-traditional trainees at UVA. |
 | Anisha R. Gerber, MD | Assistant Professor | Pediatrics | Dr. Gerber is interested in global health and community-based research to evaluate environmental impacts on pediatric kidney health. |
 | Kelly Gurka, PhD, MPH | Associate Profesor | Pediatrics | Dr. Gurka is passionate about community engagement and inclusion of participants from groups historically excluded from the research enterprise. |
 | Julia Lovin, MD | Assistant Professor | Pediatrics | Dr. Lovin is a pediatric cardiologist specializing in noninvasive imaging with a strong interest in medical education. |
 | Julee Sunny, MD | Assistant Professor | Pediatrics | Dr. Sunny is interested in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease and nutrition within Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition. |
 | Megan Yunghans, MD | Assistant Professor | Pediatrics | Dr. Yunghans practices general pediatrics and has an interest in mentoring medical students and residents. |
 | George Souza, PhD | Research Assistant Professor | Pharmacology | Dr. Souza's research interests are in neural control of blood pressure and respiration. |
 | Aileen Giordano, MD | Assistant Professor | Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation | Dr. Giordano's clinical interests include neuro rehabilitation, with particular focus on patients with strokes, non traumatic brain injuries and traumatic brain injuries, as well as implementation of early rehabilitation interventions in the acute care setting. |
 | William W. Ide, MD | Assistant Professor | Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation | Dr. Ide is dedicated to diagnosing and treating children with a wide range of congenital and acquired physical disabilities with a goal is to enhance their physical function, mobility, and quality of life through comprehensive, individualized treatment plans that may include physical therapy, medications, and assistive technologies. |
 | Diana Pham, MD | Assistant Professor | Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation | Dr. Pham's clinical interests include wound care, from surgical, pressure, and to diabetic ulcers, including limb preservation. |
 | Yuqi Guo, MD | Research Assistant Professor | Plastic Surgery, Maxillofacial, and Oral Health | Dr. Guo's professional interests are in flowcytometry, cell culture, three-dimensional micro-computed tomography analysis, histopathology, biomarker staining, and imaging analysis. |
 | Xin Li, PhD | Professor | Plastic Surgery, Maxillofacial, and Oral Health | Dr. Xin Li's professional interests include succinate signaling in regards to periodontitis progression, as well as novel remedies for periodontal bone loss. |
 | Daniel Robert Cherñavvsky, MD | Research Associate Professor | Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences | Dr. Cherñavvsky's research is focused on the use of technology for the treatment of diabetes in pediatric and adult populations, including all types of diabetes. His research also involves the integration of physical, mental, and social health in chronic diseases by studying the psychosocial implications of these diseases and expands to minority populations' access to technology for the treatment of chronic diseases. |
 | Katharine E. Daniel, PhD | Assistant Professor | Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences | Dr. Daniel's research uses mobile phone technology and intensive time series methods to investigate the real-world effects of anxiety and emotion dysregulation with a particular focus on developing personalized, context-aware digital mental health interventions to help individuals navigating the complex emotional challenges of living with cancer. |
 | Hema Kher, MD | Assistant Professor | Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences | Dr. Kher's clinical interests include psychosocial oncology, and she will be starting a psychiatry clinic in the Emily Couric Cancer Center this fall. |
 | Joseph Andrew Legan, MD | Assistant Professor | Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences | Dr. Legan's clinical interests include substance use disorders, alcohol associated liver disease, community outreach, and bioethics and health humanities. |
 | Jamie Osinovsky, MD | Assistant Professor | Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences | Dr. Osinovsky works both in the hospital and in outpatient clinics. While in the hospital, her focus is on Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, which is an integration of medical and psychiatric practice, where she gets to work in an interdisciplinary setting with colleagues in both medicine and surgery. While in her outpatient clinics, she has a multitude of interests, some of which include peri-natal/reproductive psychiatry, general adult psychiatry, outpatient C-L clinic that bridges patients out of the hospital into long-term care, and a GME clinic for medical providers in the UVA system who are in need of psychiatric care. |
 | Kexin Xu, PhD | Professor | Public Health Sciences | Dr. Xu's research explores the molecular mechanisms by which epigenomic and epitranscriptomic landscapes regulate context-specific gene expression with a long-term goal is to leverage insights into the roles of epigenetic proteins to develop targeted therapies for specific human pathological conditions. |
 | Tianpeng Zhang, PhD | Assistant Professor | Radiation Oncology | Dr. Zhang aims to unravel genome integrity maintenance within tandem repetitive sequences, and shed light on their associated etiology and therapeutic vulnerabilities. |
 | Merry Mani, PhD | Associate Profesor | Radiology and Medical Imaging | Dr. Mani’s research interests are in developing cutting-edge MRI techniques to enhance the precision and efficiency of neuroimaging methods for pushing the boundaries of brain disorder diagnostics, treatment as well as basic science research. |
 | Natalie Cain-Wisdom, MD, MPH | Assistant Professor | Radiology and Medical Imaging | Dr. Cain-Wisdom has experience and clinical interest in Global Health and underserved patients in our own communities, and she hopes to leverage her expertise in these areas going forward! |
 | Adanna C. Akujuo, MD | Professor | Surgery | Dr. Akujuo is a cardiothoracic surgeon with expertise in minimally invasive valvular surgery and complex mitral valve repair. |
 | Chuanxi Cai, PhD | Associate Professor | Surgery | Dr. Cai's interests are in molecular and cellular therapy for tissue injury and repair in cardiovascular diseases. |
 | Kim Insua de la Cruz, MD | Associate Professor | Surgery | Dr. de la Cruz ia an adult cardiothoracic surgeon with a specialty focus on complex aortic disease. |
 | Matthew R. Noorbakhsh, MD | Associate Professor | Surgery | Dr. Noorbakhsh is a trauma and critical care surgeon hired as Director of the UVA Trauma Program. |
 | Chengli Shen, MD, PhD | Research Associate Professor | Surgery | Dr. Shen is a Biostatistician, providing biostatistics and bioinformatics support. |
 | Thomas H. Shin, MD, PhD | Assistant Professor | Surgery | Dr Shin is a bariatric surgeon-scientist interested in immunometabolism and AI applications in digital surgery platforms. |
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