July 18, 2023
As we celebrate the green and sun of Summer, I want to take a moment to reflect on our continued growth, accomplishments, and the fun we have had and will continue to have together in serving our community.
I became Chair of the Department of Ob/Gyn at the literal start of the pandemic, so it seems apropos that this newsletter comes now at its end. I am proud of all the flexibility, creativity, patience, dedication and understanding we each demonstrated during what has been unprecedented times (I do hope we are done saying that)...
Many quickly registered the critical nature of the caregivers in the emergency departments, the intensive care units, and the medicine floors, to name a few. I knew then and I want to reiterate here and now that I saw you...each of you, functioning in that same capacity, as critical caregivers, addressing critical needs.
So much of what we did in reproductive health was essential, could not be delayed, and continued on. Amidst this, we have advocated for reproductive justice, for advancements in reproductive health equity, and for innovations in care delivery. There is obviously so much to do, and we are here to do it.
I want to thank the award-winning teams we will see across the pages of this newsletter and our accomplished colleagues who are highlighted throughout. Thank you for all that you do for our patients, each other, and our community.
Tiffany A. Moore Simas, MD, MPH, MEd (she/her)
Donna M. and Robert J. Manning Chair in Obstetrics and Gynecology Chair, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology
UMass Memorial Health
UMass Memorial Medical Group
UMass Chan Medical School
Professor, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, and Population & Quantitative Health Sciences
Medical Director, Lifeline for Moms
Obstetric Engagement Liaison, MCPAP for Moms
Newsweek America’s Best Maternity Hospitals 2022 and 2023
To help patients pick the best hospital for their family’s needs, Newsweek and the global market research and consumer data firm, Statista, rank “America’s Best Maternity Hospitals“each year.
The evaluation is based on three data sources: a nationwide online survey in which hospital managers and maternity healthcare professionals (e.g., neonatal care providers and OB/ GYN’s) were asked to recommend leading maternity hospitals; medical key performance indicator data relevant to maternity care (e.g., a hospital’s rate of cesarean births); and
patient satisfaction data (e.g., how patients rated a hospital’s medical staff for responsiveness and communication).
UMass Memorial Medical Center received 5 out of 5 ribbons for performance, with a quality metrics score of greater than 83%, a reputation score of greater than 68% and a patient score of greater than 80% through March 2023.
U.S. News evaluates how well hospitals perform in childbirth using C-section rates, newborn complication rates, breast milk feeding rates, early elective delivery rates, routine vaginal birth after cesarean delivery (VBAC) rates, episiotomy rates, whether a hospital meets new federal criteria for “birthingfriendly” practices, and whether a hospital tracked and reported their outcomes for patients of different races and ethnicities. UMass Memorial Medical Center has been recognized as High Performing in maternity care.
• Routinely offers to support VBAC with a rate of 22.1%.
• Episiotomy rate less than 5%.
• Recognized as BirthingFriendly due to implementation of patient safety practices to improve maternal outcomes.
• Tracks and reports race- and ethnicity-specific performance.
Each year, the Best of Central Mass Community’s Choice Awards recognizes more than 300 businesses and organizations. The awards program starts with public nominations, and from the top five nominees in each category, the voting round selects the finalists and winners.
Points of distinction:
• Never or rarely schedules delivery earlier than recommended.
• Excellent at minimizing avoidable C-sections.
simagnisquas as dolorrovitat autectum lame peruptatem doloremqui dem quia simaximus destor mi, to berovit latur aut ut rem volluptatia doluptis des maionseque voluption re expe pre voluptatur maximi, vid et quidundam.
• Newborn complications are rare.
UMass Memorial Medical Center was selected by Worcester County community members as the “Best of Central Mass” in two categories:
Best Women’s Health Services 2022
Coreped eos eostrundam, qui omni cusci non exeruptate delendi res re volorpore nobitat il maionestiis sitiur reste volor similibus sitaecumquos dis quamus sunto veriorem laut quo imil eum soluptas reperumque volore
• 42.0% of babies were exclusively breastfed or fed breast milk during their hospital stay.
Best Maternity and Childbirth Center 2022
CONGRATULATIONS CAREGIVERS!
OB/GYN Department Chair Dr.
Tiffany Moore Simas, Senior Vice President of Clinical ServicesJack Bailey, and Senior Director of Women and Children Services
Kim Oliveira, nominated the Maternity Center team for the The Perinatal-Neonatal Quality Improvement Network of Massachusetts (PNQIN) Hospital Team Award to recognize the commitment the staff and faculty have to improvements and optimizing outcomes for patients, families, and providers.
PNQIN is a voluntary collaboration of hospitals, providers, public health officials, community organizations and families who work together to improve the quality of care for birthing people and babies. The group aims to eliminate health disparities and improve health equity among Massachusetts mothers, newborns, and their families.
The UMass Memorial Medical Center Obstetrics and Gynecology (OB/GYN) Department has been a participating member of PNQIN for many years. Our OB/GYN providers regularly participate in the open sharing of data for benchmarking to inform what we do and where we need to focus initiatives.
Dr. Moore Simas says this about the team:
Members of the UMass Memorial Medical Center Maternity Team, named at right.
“It is truly amazing to see what can be accomplished when a dedicated team works together – especially this team focused on quality improvement, patient and provider experience, and equity.”
Some of the birth equity quality improvement projects that the team has implemented in the Maternity Center include:
The PNQIN Hemorrhage Bundle, a standardized treatment plan for patients in stage 3 labor. In Q2 2022, after initiation of this order set, postpartum hemorrhage rates for our Black patients decreased from 10% to 8% and white patients’ rates were unchanged at ~6.5%.
TeamBirth, a program that uses structured communication and efficient, shared decision-making methods to enhance teamwork and understand preferences among individuals giving birth and those supporting and caring for them. Ten months into implementation, 84% of patients indicated high patient autonomy in the context of their clinical team, and 70% noted that ‘yes, definitely’ sharing preferences made a difference in their care.
Equity-focused Morbidity and Mortality (M&Ms), wherein structural and social determinants of health are examined for each case, and more dedicated specific discussions occur for cases where there was concern that the care would have been different if the patient
was not from a population marginalized by racism or socioeconomic disadvantage.
Newly developed doula program. 15 women from our community have been trained as doulas, with the goal of providing culturally and linguistically concordant doula care to the majority of our patients marginalized by racism and socioeconomic disadvantage. Patent and doula pairing will start in June 2023.
In a formal announcement of the award, the PNQIN Awards Committee acknowledged the UMass Memorial team with this statement:
Wendy Moan Nurse Manager, Labor and Delivery
Teresa Blass Assistant Nurse Manager, Labor and Delivery
Nora Scharf Assistant Nurse Manager, Labor and Delivery
Alyssa Sullivan Nurse Manager, Mother Baby Unit
Isabella Polselli Assistant Nurse Manager, Maternity
Marie O’Brien Nurse Education Safety Specialist, Maternity Center
Jodi Fortunato Nurse Education Safety Specialist, Maternity Center
Critical Care Obstetrics. This allows patients previously labored, or managed postpartum, in the Intensive Care Unit to be cared for directly in the Maternity Center, thus providing a safe and family-centered approach to labor and delivery for high-risk patients.
A fully dedicated 24/7 OB anesthesia service. This is a critical and appreciated change as our delivery volume and acuity continue to increase.
PCORI funding for a multi-site trial named the “EMPOWER study”, detailed as a ‘Communitybased, family-centered, traumainformed, anti-racist approach to timely detection and management
of early postpartum hypertension and perinatal mental health in those marginalized by racism and socioeconomic disadvantage.’
Beginning in October of 2022, this initiative will be 5 years in length and ultimately will increase our efforts regarding remote home blood pressure monitoring and treatment, enhanced mental health monitoring and treatment, social determinants of health screening and resource connection.
Dr. Moore Simas spoke for the entire department when she said that we are incredibly proud of this team and are so very grateful for their relentless pursuit of quality and optimized outcomes for all the patients we serve.
Dr. Laura Cohen Director, Obstetric Anesthesia
Dr. Jie Zhou Anesthesia Site Chief, Memorial Campus
Dr. Gina Sullivan Director, Doula Program
Dr. Luu Ireland
Director, Dept of OB/GYN
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging
Anti-racism task force leader
Co-I on PCORI postpartum care grant
Dr. Kristina Gracey
Anti-racism task force leader
Co-I on PCORI postpartum care grant
Mark Curley
Program Manager
Center for Innovation and Transformational Change (CITC)
“Thank you for your unwavering commitment to improving the equitable health and well-being of mothers, infants, and families in Massachusetts!”Team members accepting the Hospital Team Award at the 2023 PNQIN Spring Summit in Norwood, MA on April 12.
By Christy Bassett
Tiffany A. Moore Simas, MD, MPH, MEd, the Donna M. and Robert J. Manning Chair in Obstetrics and Gynecology, chair of obstetrics and gynecology and professor
of
obstetrics & gynecology,pediatrics, psychiatry, and population & quantitative health sciences, and Nancy Byatt, DO, MS, MBA, tenured professor of psychiatry, obstetrics & gynecology, and population & quantitative health sciences spearheaded efforts to create new guidelines and resources that enable obstetriciangynecologists across the country to address perinatal mental health.
Perinatal mental health conditions are among the most common complications of pregnancy and the postpartum period and are the leading causes of pregnancy-related deaths.
Obstetrician–gynecologists are critical in addressing in addressing perinatal mental health to decrease preventable maternal morbidity and mortality. Moore Simas as a member of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Committee on Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) – Obstetrics co-led the development of, with Dr. Byatt in consultation, two CPGs that were published in the June 2023 issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
The two CPG’s, “Screening and Diagnosis of Mental Health Conditions during Pregnancy and Postpartum” and “Treatment and Management of Mental Health Conditions during Pregnancy and Postpartum,” focus on mood and anxiety disorders that are consistent with the best available scientific evidence. The conditions and symptoms reviewed include depression, anxiety, anxiety-related disorders, bipolar disorder, suicidality, and postpartum psychosis. The guidelines review recommended approaches to screening and diagnosis, and the safety and efficacy of pharmacologic interventions for perinatal depressive disorders, perinatal anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder during the perinatal period, and postpartum psychosis.
To support the implementation of these guidelines, ACOG is also making widely available multiple resources developed by Moore Simas and Byatt and the UMass Chan Lifeline for Moms team. These resources were respectively funded by the National Institute of Health, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the CDC Foundation, and ACOG via a cooperative agreement with the CDC, and include an eModule, a toolkit, and a guide for integrating mental health care in obstetric practice. The e-module educates obstetric care clinicians about mental health screening, assessment, differential diagnosis, triage, referral, treatment, follow-up, and monitoring, and is associated with CME activity. The toolkit contains easy to follow- actionable steps and algorithms for screening,
assessment, treatment, and follow-up. It also includes guidance for assessing intrusive thoughts about self-harm or harm to others including infant, suicidal thoughts, and includes suggested non-stigmatizing language. Finally, the integration guide was developed using a quality improvement framework and includes strategies, resources, and tools to customize implementation to specific practice environments and workflows. The guide includes practical tools for practice-level self-assessment and monitoring, step by step instructions, and guided video tutorials.
The availability of all of the aforementioned resources is fortuitous given the new CPGs and that the Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (AIM) recently released their Perinatal Mental Health Conditions Patient Safety Bundle which was led by Moore Simas and Byatt amongst others. AIM patient safety bundles are structured ways of improving processes of care that when performed collectively and reliably, demonstrate improvement in patient care and outcomes. They are developed to help address preventable causes of maternal morbidity and mortality. As consistent with all AIM bundles, the Perinatal Mental Health Conditions Patient Safety Bundle is an online and printable bundle that addresses domains of Readiness, Recognition & Prevention, Response, Reporting & Systems Learning, and Respectful Equitable & Supportive Care as well as an
introduction video, and other resources and educational materials. To accompany this bundle, Dr. Moore Simas worked with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), as lead faculty, on a soon-to-be released “change package,” which will include the aforementioned, other and additional resources to assist with bundle implementation.
These new releases complement the ongoing work that Moore Simas and Byatt do for the UMass Chan Lifeline for Moms program and their growing National Network of Perinatal Psychiatry Access Programs.
2 million or 54% of births across the US. Further expansion is anticipated in the coming year given the current open funding opportunity for additional support of existing and new Access Programs through the Heath Research Services Administration notice of funding opportunity HRSA-23-085 titled Screening and Treatment for Maternal Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders. In addition to the state-based programs, there are also 2 national US programs and an Ottawa-based program in Canada. Access Programs strive to ensure patients receive timely and appropriate care, with the goal of significantly improving outcomes for parents, children and families.
The statewide Access Programs throughout the U.S. aim to increase the capacity of medical professionals to provide mental health care and referrals through training, toolkits, psychiatric consultation, and immediate resource provision or referrals, to help them address mental health conditions and substance use disorder among pregnant, postpartum, and lactating people. With 21 current state-based Member Programs, the Lifeline for Moms National Network of Access Programs has the potential to cover approximately
Through partnerships with ACOG, AIM, the National Network of Perinatal Psychiatry Access Programs, and other collaborators, the new guidelines, patient safety bundle, toolkits, emodule, and implementation guide are expected to reach 70,000 to 80,000 obstetricians across the United States. UMass Chan faculty members Moore Simas and Byatt have successfully led and developed new national standard of care for mental health in perinatal individuals, and we are thrilled to see more providers and patients receive the support they need to thrive.
Drs. Moore Simas and Byatt are grateful to all the obstetric care clinicians and patients with lived experiences of perinatal mental health that informed all of the resources.
UMass Chan Medical School investigators for the newly dubbed “EMPOWER Study”, a 5-year, $20 million multisite research project, funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), are hoping to begin recruiting patient participants at UMass Memorial Medical Center later this month. The study aims to identify, treat, and thus improve outcomes related to postpartum hypertension, mental health conditions, and ultimately social determinants of health, in populations historically underserved and at-risk by providing blood pressure cuffs and targeted outreach and support. EMPOWER stands for “Equity in Mental Health and blood pressure Postpartum care via Web-Enabled Remote monitoring.”
UMass Chan officially began implementing study framework in November 2022 and is now ready to take the next step in the project by actively recruiting patients who are expected to give birth in the coming months. Participants will receive support for 6 months following delivery. Study partners at Yale University and the University at Buffalo are also beginning to recruit participants. The 3 sites will implement a 3-tiered approach to increasing postpartum patient evaluation and support at staggered times.
In phase one, during the first year of the study, participating patients at UMass Memorial will receive our standard postpartum care, which will include newly implemented remote blood pressure monitoring.
After this initial period, the first tier of supplemental treatment will begin around May of 2024. In addition to monitoring and recording their blood pressure at home, these participants will discuss their blood pressure readings and their overall mental health with specially trained nurse practitioners who are familiar with anti-racism and trauma-informed care, via phone. The nurse practitioners will provide resources for physical and social-emotional support to participants as needed.
In early 2026, the study will implement a second tier of support, wherein new cohorts will be partnered with individual
community health workers who will visit them at home during the postpartum period. For this study, the community health workers are envisioned as postpartum doulas. During the visits, the community health workers will assess the patients’ well-being--including housing, employment, and food security. Again, resources for support will be provided as needed.
Considering the increasing rate of maternal morbidity and mortality that disproportionately affects Black patients and those that are socioeconomically disadvantaged, and the recent data revealing that mental health is the leading cause of maternal mortality, investigators are optimistic that this study will improve, and save, the lives of many. It may also provide data that allows caregivers to implement improved treatment plans in a multidisciplinary and sustainable way for families, as there is
• Primary Investigator, Tiffany Moore Simas, MD, MPH, MEd
• Co-Investigators Heidi Leftwich, DO, Cathy Violette, NP, and Luu Ireland, MD
• Kristina Gracey, MD, Family Medicine
• Lara Kovell, MD, Cardiology
Psychiatry Team:
• Nancy Byatt, DO
• Padma Sankaran, MA
• Kimberly Yonkers, MD
• Jessica Griffin, PsyD
• Heather Forkey, MD
• Taber Lightbourne, MD
• Kostova Zlatina- PhD
• Lindsey Ford
Research Team:
• Senior Program Manager, Dante Simone, BS
• Biostatistician, Kathy Leung, MPH
• Clinical Research Coordinator II, Tracy O. Yeboah, BS
• Clinical Research Coordinator I, Kelsey Mazeika, BS.
currently proposed MA legislation that would aim to reimburse doula care.
Patients will be recruited primarily from the postpartum floor. A daily pre-screening report of patients who have delivered within the past 24 hours, and who meet the insurance provider criteria, will be generated in EPIC. The OB/GYN research team will then screen the report for potential participants who meet other study criteria such as gestational age and primary language (only English and Spanish speaking patients will be considered at this time). Before approaching participants, the research team will communicate potential participants’ eligibility
with their nurses. The nurses will then seek permission from their patients for the research team to approach them. Educational flyers about the study will also be available in the prenatal clinics at UMass Memorial Medical Center for potential participants to call us with questions or interest.
Data collection is expected to end in October 2027 and subsequent years will be spent on data analyses and writing publications. Each study site plans to form a 7-member Community Advisory Board that will meet 4 times per year to discuss and evaluate the study’s progress and ensure that each site adequately incorporates the community’s needs on an ongoing basis.
Celebrating the academic advancements of four department faculty members
During Dr. Callaghan’s 8 years on faculty, she has had continuous academic and professional achievements. Her primary area of Distinction is Health Care Delivery, where she distinguishes herself with her national expertise in perinatal substance use disorders (SUD).
A critical adjunct to her health care delivery is Dr. Callaghan’s passion for educating learners of all levels regarding best practices in caring for persons
with opioid use disorder. She teaches and mentors inpatient and outpatient interdisciplinary care teams inclusive of, and not limited to, students, residents, fellows, attendings, nurses, and peer navigators, and across Ob/ Gyn, Emergency Medicine, Psychiatry, and Anesthesia.
While teaching and mentoring, Dr. Callaghan gets others to recognize and address their unconscious biases in addressing SUD. She
Dr. Matteson’s reputation is exemplary as a leader in Ob/Gyn. She has notable accomplishments in research funding, scholarly productivity, written and oral presentations, national committee leadership, academic administrative leadership, and curriculum development. She is nationally and internationally recognized for her work on menstruation and abnormal uterine bleeding and clinical research methods.
As Vice Chair of Academic Affairs and Research Division Chief for the Department of Ob/Gyn, Dr. Matteson provides leadership, strategic direction, and oversight for faculty professional development, education, and research department-wide with the goal of increasing faculty scholarship in education, research, advocacy, and clinical care, and optimizing faculty academic promotions and professional fulfillment.
purposefully decreases stigma and promotes equity, and a nurturing non-judgmental inclusive care environment.
Dr. Leftwich has been on faculty as a full-time clinicianeducator-investigator since 2014, as an active member of the Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) division of the OB/GYN Department. She provides patient care in multiple clinical sites, including labor and delivery, OB ultrasound and at regional outreach sites.
Her area of Distinction is Health Care Delivery where she has distinguished herself for her clinical expertise in diabetes, COVID-10, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and cervical insufficiency. She is a role model for clinical care,
scholarly pursuits, teaching, mentorship, and research. Dr. Leftwich is highly collaborative and has developed productive research relationships with the departments of medicine, pathology, ophthalmology and the Ob/Gyn division of reproductive endocrinology and infertility.
Her research really flourished during the COVID pandemic and she has made marked contributions to the academic literature in multiple clinical domains that guide care and have uncovered new areas of investigation. Her passion for research is palpable as
she engages and inspires the next generation of researchers through the students she mentors.
Dr. Leftwich’s productivity, leadership, and accomplishments have led to her recently being appointed as the MFM Fellowship Director.
Associate Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology
Dr. Kumaraswami has had an impressive array of academic and professional achievements over the past 11 years on faculty and is a role model for advocacy, education, and clinical care. Her primary area of Distinction is Health Care delivery, where she distinguishes herself as having established an essential clinical service that increases access to complex family planning and abortion services for the regional community. She is an outstanding clinician and educator. She has a passion
for teaching that has been well recognized for learners at all levels.
Dr. Kumaraswami has major educational leadership roles including being the Ob/Gyn Residency Director for the past 7 years and having founded the Ryan training program. In response to the nation’s need to provide abortion training opportunities to those in areas of the country that are not afforded these opportunities, she is seeking to expand elective education
through Planned Parenthood and our institution. She is recognized nationally for her family planning expertise and advocacy. She is now increasing her focus on Wellness.
The 23rd annual Women’s Faculty Committee Awards honoring women in science and health care for achievements in early career development, clinical service, mentoring, education, health equity and community service at UMass Chan Medical School were presented on Monday, May 8, 2023.
Dr. Kumaraswami, Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, accepts the award for Excellence in Clinical Services
The Excellence in Clinical Service Award acknowledges a woman faculty member who has made exceptional contributions to patient care in the UMass Chan Medical School/UMass Memorial Medical Center or Worcester community.
“In
Dr. Kumaraswami has demonstrated excellence in service by expanding access to contraception, performing routine surgical abortion care, and initiating abortion provision beyond 20 weeks gestation.
Prior to establishing this service, patients had to travel over 50 miles away to have their reproductive needs met. She was recruited to UMass Chan/ UMass Memorial Health to create this service, which now serves hundreds of patients annually, addressing care gaps in our state.
It was critical at the time, and more so now, given growing abortion access limitations and restrictions across the country.
In bringing this service to UMass Memorial Medical Center, she engaged, educated, and gained the trust of a multidisciplinary team of clinicians thus assuring values-congruent, evidencebased, team-based, quality, and
is
we recognize Dr. Kumaraswami for having developed the region’s only Complex Family Planning center, which is a referral center for central Massachusetts and beyond.” -TMS
compassionate care is delivered to patients in the region.
She leads comprehensive staff trainings focused on values clarifications and assuring those participating in care can do so holistically and compassionately.
Education is at the core of her approach to care.
Dr. Kumaraswami established and developed the Family Planning curriculum at UMass Chan Medical School, and as such has increased access to comprehensive contraceptive and abortion care locally, regionally, and nationally, now and into the future as she teaches generations of learners.
She is a staunch national advocate for reproductive rights. She is a recognized leader in her field and serves the family planning community through her service.
a post-Dobbs era, it
imperative
By Christy Bassett
On May 5, 2023 Dr. Ferraro completed the Physician Leadership Development Program (PLDP) through UMass Memorial Health and affiliate hospitals.
It is an honor for a physician to be selected for the PLDP program.
Following 8 months of learning, participants present thoughtful LEAD-focused improvement projects to system leaders during a “Shark Tank” event.
After careful review of each LEAD project and Shark Tank presentation, Dr. Ferraro and colleagues have been awarded $15,000 for their project titled “Putting a Pause on Post-Partum Depression” by Executive Sponsor Andrew Karson, MD, Interim President of UMass Memorial Medical Group.
Dr. Karson says “These [awarded] projects promise to address areas needing improvement and I am excited to follow and support their progress.”
Dr. Erica E. Marsh, Vice Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Michigan Medical School and Chief of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, presented on Authentic Patient Centeredness: Applying the Many Lenses of Research to Optimize Care and Achieve Health Equity, at our annual department Research Day on June 14, 2023.
Richard E. Hunter dedicated his professional life to medical education and patient care. In honor of his distinguished career, his students and colleagues have established this annual lectureship.
The class of 2027 officially joined us on July 1, 2023
Medical School:
University of Massachusetts
T.H. Chan School of Medicine
Undergraduate School:
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
BS in Neuroscience and Spanish
Hobbies and Interests:
Half-marathon distance running is Alexandra’s favorite! However, she runs yearly the Chicago marathon with her family. She also loves hiking and biking around wherever she can travel and playing with her puppy, also known as her “sharkadoodle”. Chocolate chip cookies are her baking specialty.
Medical School:
Medical School:
University of Massachusetts
T.H. Chan School of Medicine
Tulane University School of Medicine
University of Connecticut
School of Medicine
Undergraduate and Graduate School:
Undergraduate School:
University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, MI
University of Montana, Missoula, Montana
Undergraduate School: Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts
BS in Biology
MA in English Teaching
BS in Neuroscience and Spanish
Hobbies and Interests:
Knitting hats and headbands is one of Rachel’s favorite hobbies. She loves exercising her energetic dogs, Roux and Cayenne. She also loves listening to audiobooks and likes beginner-level cooking.
Hobbies and Interests: Half-marathon distance is Alexandra’s favorite! However, she runs yearly the Chicago marathon with her family. She also loves hiking and biking around wherever she can travel. Playing with her puppy also known as her sharkadoodle. Chocolate chip cookies are her baking specialty.
Edesiri loves and practices kickboxing because it is swiftly paced, constantly changing, physically demanding, and emotionally rewarding. She also enjoys hot yoga and reading.
PGY-4 (2023-2024)
• Briana Jones, DO
• Ciarra Nickerson, MD
• Allison Payne, DO
• Aashna Saini, MD
• Rachel Taylor, MD
• Christopher DeAngelo, MD
• Brittney Gaudet, MD
• Margaret O’Neill, MD
• Zarah Rosen, MD
• Isabel Sausjord, MD
Medical School:
University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine
Undergraduate School: University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia BA in Global Studies with a specialization in Global Public Health
Hobbies and Interests: Rachael loves hot yoga. She uses it as a grounding meditative practice to clear her mind and relax her body. Cooking nutritious meals is one of her favorite activities to do with her Italian wife. They love exploring new cultures. Some of her favorite outdoor activities are hiking, kayaking, biking, and making farmer’s market runs!
Medical School: Boston University School of Medicine
Undergraduate School: Boston University, Boston, MA BA in Psychology and Biology with a specialization in Cellular Biology, Molecular Biology and Genetics
Hobbies and Interests: Akanksha is a website designer and has designed several websites as a freelancer. She loves cooking and shares her creations through her food Instagram account: @kank.kooks. She is a recreational swimmer and enjoys weightlifting and roller skating to maintain an active, healthy lifestyle.
• Hannah Caldwell, MD
• Rachael Clark, MD
• Jaslyn LaRae Kindel, MD
• Jessica Kloppenburg, MD, MS
• Kimberly Reimold, MD
• Alexandra Bennet, MD
• Rachel Himel, MD
• Edesiri Igbuya, MD
• Elizabeth Jackson, MD, MPH
• Akanksha Srivastava, MD
