Faculty Awards & Promotions Ceremony
Last week, we gathered to celebrate our exceptional faculty who have worked hard for to receive promotions and those whose work has earned them departmental recognition. We are grateful for the work of all our faculty. You make the Department of Internal Medicine a great place to practice medicine. The ceremony was hosted by Dr. John Inadomi, Department Chair.
We want to congratulate all awardees and faculty promoted!
Below you will find the award winners details and the list of faculty promotions:
Award Winners
Dr. Mary Beth Scholand - Thomas H. Caine Award for Clinical Excellence
Dr. Scholand received her medical degree and her training in Internal Medicine from Washington University in St. Louis. She was a Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine fellow at the University of Utah before joining our faculty in 2002.
Dr. Scholand joined the Division of Respiratory, Critical Care, and Occupational Pulmonary Medicine faculty at the University of Utah in 2002. She established and has led the Interstitial Lung Disease program for almost 20 years. Dr. Scholand is an outstanding academic physician with national recognition as an expert in the care of patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD). Beyond the clinical care she provides, Dr. Scholand is a highly impactful clinical investigator and an institutional leader advancing highly personal care for complex patients across the DOIM. She will be promoted to Full Professor next month.
Dr. Niru Ramkumar - William D. Odell and Margaret F. Odell Junior Investigator Award
Dr. Ramkumar chose to pursue basic research during her fellowship under the mentorship of Dr. Don Kohan and mastered the fundamentals of molecular biology and renal physiology techniques. She has been using molecular physiology approaches to study how the molecule (pro)renin receptor and the intrarenal renin-angiotensin system regulate sodium transport in the renal tubule, systemic blood pressure, and kidney function.
Dr. Ramkumar has a distinguished national reputation in this field and has been invited by many prestigious organizations to deliver lectures and write editorial reviews on this topic. Honor awards from the American Physiological Society, American Society of Nephrology, and American Heart Association (AHA) have also recognized her contributions. Recently, she was invited to present a 'Rising Star Lecture' at the 2022 AHA Council on Hypertension.
She is dedicated to attracting medical students into Internal Medicine and medical residents into academic Nephrology by serving as a great role model and holding discussion sessions to interact with them.
Dr. Adam J. Gordon - John R. Hoidal Senior Investigator Award
Dr. Gordon is a tenured Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Utah School of Medicine. Dr. Gordon graduated with a Medical Degree and a Master's Degree in Public Health from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, where he served as Advisory Dean before we were fortunate to recruit him to the University of Utah. Dr. Gordon was one of the country's first board-certified addiction medicine physicians.
His research and clinical mission is to improve the access and quality of care of patients who have vulnerabilities, including those with addiction disorders. Since arriving at the University of Utah in 2017, Dr. Gordon's research and leadership have transformed Utah's addiction research landscape by recruiting key new faculty members, winning large grants, establishing key programs, and teaching thousands of trainees nationally. He has served as the Founding Director of the Program for Addiction Research, Clinical Care, Knowledge, and Advocacy (PARCKA); the PI of the Greater Intermountain Node (GIN), a node of the NIH NIDA Clinical Trials Network; and the Associate Chief of Epidemiology. He launched the VA Vulnerable Veteran Innovative Patient-Aligned-Care-Team.
Dr. Neeraj Agarwal - Guy A. Zimmerman, MD Faculty Mentoring Award
Dr. Agarwal received his medical degree from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, residency at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, and completed a geriatric medicine fellowship. He completed a hematology/oncology fellowship at the University of Utah in 2007 and has been on faculty since then. He currently serves as the Senior Director for Clinical Translation at HCI, leads the GU oncology program in the Division, and directs HCI Investigator Initiated Protocol Development Committee.
His success in academics, clinical activities, and clinical trials investigation, combined with his extensive network of contacts and his commitment to mentoring, have put him in a position to successfully coach, mentor, and sponsor trainees and young faculty.
Dr. Martin Gregory - DOIM Lifetime Achievement Award
Martin Gregory, MD, PhD is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Utah School of Medicine. As a nephrologist, his clinical interests include general nephrology and hereditary renal diseases.
Dr. Gregory received his BM, BCh and DPhil Degrees (MD, PhD equivalents) from Oxford University. He received training in medicine and nephrology from the University of Otago, New Zealand, and Oxford University. He completed his residency at the University of London and at Oxford University, then fellowship in nephrology at Oxford University. He received further nephrology training at the University of Paris (VI). Dr. Gregory is board certified in Internal Medicine and Nephrology. In the past, Dr. Gregory served as Chief of Nephrology at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa and as Director of Dialysis Services, Bermuda Hospitals Board, Bermuda. He is currently a member of the Medical Advisory Board of the Alport Syndrome Foundation and a member of the Medical Advisory Board of the National Kidney Foundation of Utah and Idaho.
Dr. Michael Battistone - DOIM Mentor of the Year Award
“Dr Battistone has played an enormous role in my choice to become a rheumatologist, as well as help me find specific areas of interest within the field. I met Dr. Battistone early in intern year during the MSK week, where he and Andrea Barker co‐taught a week‐long course of diagnosis and management of common MSK problems encountered by internists. Despite the little exposure I had to rheumatology in medical school, the passion that he brought to teaching was infectious, and I realized he was someone I had to work with. I reached out to Dr. Battistone and he quickly included me in a project to get involved in rheumatology research. I worked with Dr. Battistone closely to develop this project, where he spent a good deal of time and effort helping me learn about the process of educational research so that I could use these tools in the future. Because of his support, I ultimately was able to present our work at the national rheumatology conference. Dr. Battistone was not only a supportive mentor for research, but he also gave a good deal of his free time to support me in navigating the next steps in my career. He was instrumental in my journey applying to rheumatology fellowship and beyond‐ helping me think about what kind of things I want out of my career rather than just the next steps in completing the application.
I feel incredibly lucky to have had the chance to build this relationship with him, and doubt that I would be on the track that I am without him. His dedication to trainees is one of the things that makes my experience to the University of Utah what it was, and he is an asset to the program.”
-Dr. Battistone's Nominator
Dr. Estelle Harris - Service to the Department Award
Dr. Estelle Harris made an enormous contribution in creating and leading the Huntsman ICU, in developing our APC cohort that staffed first the HICU and subsequently one of the MICU teams. She has played important roles on multiple department and hospital committees (leading the department clinical promotions committee for a number of years, the hospital critical care committee and CPR committees) and has been an important role model and mentor for large numbers of women physicians. She has been an expert clinician who is strongly committed to research and had had a major role in critical care translational research, both before and during COVID.
Promoted Faculty
|
Name |
Track |
Division |
Rank |
|
Line Kemeyou, MD |
Clinical |
Cardiovascular Medicine |
promotion to Associate Professor |
|
Pawan K. Sharma, MBBS |
Clinical |
Cardiovascular Medicine |
promotion to Associate Professor |
|
Juliana S. Simonetti, MD |
Clinical |
Endocrinology and Metabolism |
promotion to Associate Professor |
|
Tuan Pham, MD |
Clinical |
Gastroenterology |
promotion to Associate Professor |
|
I. Ray Thomason, MD |
Clinical |
Gastroenterology |
promotion to Associate Professor |
|
Heather Balch, MD |
Clinical |
General Internal Medicine |
promotion to Associate Professor |
|
Amy Cowan, MD |
Clinical |
General Internal Medicine |
promotion to Associate Professor |
|
Casey Gradick, MD, MPH |
Clinical |
General Internal Medicine |
promotion to Associate Professor |
|
Sarah Knish Hall, MD |
Clinical |
General Internal Medicine |
promotion to Associate Professor |
|
Ryan Murphy, MD |
Clinical |
General Internal Medicine |
promotion to Associate Professor |
|
Jason Penrod, MD |
Clinical |
General Internal Medicine |
promotion to Associate Professor |
|
Richard Rose, MD |
Clinical |
General Internal Medicine |
promotion to Associate Professor |
|
Susan Sample, PhD |
Lecturer |
General Internal Medicine |
promotion to Associate Professor |
|
Michelle Keown Sorweid, DO, MPH |
Clinical |
Geriatrics |
promotion to Associate Professor |
|
Tsewang Tashi, MD |
Clinical |
Hematology |
promotion to Associate Professor |
|
Laura Certain, MD |
Clinical |
Infectious Diseases |
promotion to Associate Professor |
|
Robert Odrobina, MD |
Clinical |
Infectious Diseases |
promotion to Associate Professor |
|
Jakrapun Pupaibool, MD, MS |
Clinical |
Infectious Diseases |
promotion to Associate Professor |
|
Terrence Bjordahl, MD |
Clinical |
Nephrology |
promotion to Associate Professor |
|
Arsalan N. Habib, MD |
Clinical |
Nephrology |
promotion to Associate Professor |
|
Divya Raghavan, MD |
Clinical |
Nephrology |
promotion to Associate Professor |
|
Robert Yenchek, MD |
Clinical |
Nephrology |
promotion to Associate Professor |
|
Sean Callahan, MD |
Clinical |
Respiratory, Critical Care and Occupational Pulmonary Medicine |
promotion to Associate Professor |
|
Gopi Penmetsa, MD |
Clinical |
Rheumatology |
promotion to Associate Professor |
|
Meenu Singh, MD |
Clinical |
General Internal Medicine |
promotion to Associate Professor |
|
Michael A. Incze, MD, MSEd. |
Clinical |
General Internal Medicine |
promotion to Associate Professor |
|
Sara W. Wikstrom, MD, FACP |
Clinical |
General Internal Medicine |
promotion to Associate Professor |
|
Name |
Track |
Division |
Rank |
|
Megan E. Vanneman, PhD, MPH |
Tenure |
Epidemiology |
award of tenure, promotion to Associate Professor |
|
Adam M. Spivak, MD |
Tenure |
Infectious Diseases |
promotion to Associate Professor and award of tenure |
|
Nirupama Ramkumar, MD, MPH |
Tenure |
Nephrology |
promotion to Associate Professor and award of tenure |
|
Dipayan Chaudhuri, MD, PhD |
Tenure |
Cardiovascular Medicine |
Tenure and promotion to Associate Professor |
|
Name |
Track |
Division |
Rank |
|
John J. Ryan, MD, M.B., B.Ch., BAO |
Clinical |
Cardiovascular Medicine |
promotion to Professor |
|
Anwar Tandar, MD, FACC, FRCPC |
Clinical |
Cardiovascular Medicine |
promotion to Professor |
|
Gerald Cochran, MSW, PhD |
Tenure |
Epidemiology |
promotion to Professor |
|
Juan F. Gallegos-Orozco, MD |
Clinical |
Gastroenterology |
promotion to Professor |
|
Sara Lamb, MD |
Clinical |
General Internal Medicine |
promotion to Professor |
|
Russell Vinik, MD |
Clinical |
General Internal Medicine |
promotion to Professor |
|
Josephine D. Abraham, MD, MPH |
Clinical |
Nephrology |
promotion to Professor |
|
Adhish Agarwal, MD |
Clinical |
Nephrology |
promotion to Professor |
|
Scott K. Aberegg, MD, MPH |
Clinical |
Respiratory, Critical Care and Occupational Pulmonary Medicine |
promotion to Professor |
|
Karl Sanders, MD |
Clinical |
Respiratory, Critical Care and Occupational Pulmonary Medicine |
promotion to Professor |
|
Mary Beth Scholand, MD |
Tenure |
Respiratory, Critical Care and Occupational Pulmonary Medicine |
promotion to Professor |
|
Joanne Jeter, MD |
Clinical |
Oncology |
promotion to Professor |
|
Name |
Track |
Division |
Rank |
|
Richard E. Nelson, PhD |
Tenure |
Epidemiology |
promotion to Professor, award of tenure |
|
Name |
Track |
Division |
Rank |
|
Owen Chan, PhD |
Tenure |
Endocrinology and Metabolism |
award of tenure |
|
Sara J. Knight, PhD |
Tenure |
Epidemiology |
award of tenure |
|
Joel D. Trinity, PhD |
Tenure |
Geriatrics |
award of tenure |
|
Siwen Hu-Lieskovan, PhD, MD |
Tenure |
Oncology |
award of tenure |