Faculty Educator Directory

The Three Rivers Curriculum features educators hired by UPSOM to perform specific duties—as longitudinal educators (small group facilitators), clinical skills preceptors, and content leads.

Faculty in these roles will play a crucial role in the success of the curriculum, and will connect over time with our learners. We have a diverse group of educators—MDs and PhD’s, junior and senior faculty, and diverse demographics/backgrounds that will be of excellent contribution to our curriculum. 

Content Leads

Content
Faculty
Email
Pathology/Histology
Steve Truschel
Anatomy
Lydia Strattan
Radiology
Char Branstetter
Pharmacology
Jon Beckel
Biochemistry
Martin Schmidt
Genetics
Mylynda Massart/Christine Munro
Immunology
Penelope Morel/Smita Iyer
Microbiology/Infectious Disease
Jim Bina/Peter Volpe 
Antiracist and Health Equity Solutions (AHES)
Felicia Savage-Friedman 
Intro to Being a Physician
Amanda Brown/Jason Chang
Population and Community Health
Alfred Shoukry
Statistics for clinicians and biomedical researchers
Aaron Brown
Research design/LRP
Peter Drain/John Maier
Ophthalmology
Evan Waxman
Otolaryngology
Rachel Whelan 
Ethics/Law
Julie Childers

Course Directors

Course
Faculty
Email
Cardiology
Jenifer Lee/Natalie Stokes
Nephrology
Mohan Ramkumar/Blaise Abramovitz
Pulmonology
Stephanie Maximous/Rachel Wojcik
maximoussi@upmc.edu/raw184@pitt.edu
Digestion and Nutrition
Kristen Critelli/Lama Farhat
Rheumatology
Siamak Moghadam-Kia
Dermatology
Angela Guerrero
Endocrinology
Alexandra Clark/Ron Codario
Reproduction, Sexual Health, Gynecology
Rob Powers/Sara Sakamoto
Musculoskeletal
John Fowler/Deniz Olgun
Psychiatry/behavior
Melanie Grubisha
Shelly Kucherer 
Oncology
Louis Rapkin
Emily Geramita
Neuroscience
Bill Yates/Alexis Franks
Medical Interviewing
Beth Bollinger/Brianna Rossiter
Physical Exam Skills
Andrew Klein
Intro to Clinical Medicine
Ben Sprague, Danielle Heffner, Erin Cummings

Thread Leads

Thread
Faculty
Email
Social Medicine
Thuy Bui
Interprofessional Education
Greg Castelli/Joe Suyama
Leadership
Suzi Templer/Sarah Merriam
Clinical Reasoning
Deborah Dinardo/Casey McQuade

Program Leads

Program Faculty Email
Primary Care Accelerated Track (PCAT)
Amanda Casagrande
Longitudinal Alliance Program (LAP)
Lisa Podgurski/Beth Oczypok
Community Alliance Program (CAP)
Andrew McCormick/Maya Ragavan
Clinical Skills Preceptors (CSP)
Drew Klein/Eloho Ufomata
Longitudinal Educators (LE)
Melinda Hamilton/Julie Childers
Professional Enrichment Courses (PEC)
Stephanie Gonzalez
Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS)
Emily Lovallo
Streams Emily Geramita geramitae@upmc.edu

Block Directors

Block
Faculty
Email
Keystone Funadmentals
Martin Schmidt
Organ Systems
Rob Powers
Patient Centered Care
Reed Van Deusen

Longitudinal Educators (LEs)

Faculty
Department
Email
Adolph (Chick) Yates Orthopaedic Surgery yatesaj@upmc.edu
Amber Hoffman* Pediatrics hoffmana13@upmc.edu
Amitava Mukherjee
Radiation Oncology
Andrew McCormick Pediatrics aam94@pitt.edu
Angela Garcia PM&R garciaam@upmc.edu
Arjun Pennathur CT Surgery arjunp@pitt.edu
Brett McAninch
Pediatrics
Carmen Coombs Pediatrics carmen.coombs2@chp.edu
Cesar Escobar-Viera Psychiatry casperca2@upmc.edu
Claire Yanta
Neurology
Colleen Ebbert Family Medicine ebbertck@pitt.edu
Jennifer Baldwin Pediatrics jlb440@pitt.edu
John Maier
Family Medicine
Kishore Vellody*
Pediatrics
Louis Rapkin
Pediatrics
Mohammad Al-Bataineh
Medicine
Oscar Escobar* Pediatrics escobaro@pitt.edu
Ossama Kashlan Medicine ossamakashlan@pitt.edu
Peter Drain
Cell Biology
Robert Powers
OB/GYN
Robin Maier
Family Medicine
Sima Weaver Family Medicine weaversi@pitt.edu
Smita Iyer
Pathology
Sylvia Choi*
Pediatrics
Tatiana Villatoro Pathology tvlltr@pitt.edu
Tony Tarchichi* Pediatrics trt25@pitt.edu
Wassim Chemaitilly* Pediatrics wac42@pitt.edu
William McIvor
Anesthesiology
mcivor@pitt.edu
*jobshare

Clinical Skills Preceptors (CSPs)

Faculty Department Email
Adam Yates Emergency Medicine amy35@pitt.edu
Agnieszka Bialy Emergency Medicine bialya@upmc.edu
Allison Cipriani* Medicine ciprianial3@upmc.edu
Amanda Casagrande Family Medicine casagrandeaj@upmc.edu
Amanda McCoy Orthopedic Surgery ajm390@pitt.edu
Aimee Pickering Internal Mediciner anp219@pitt.edu
Angela Garcia PM&R garciaam@upmc.edu
Ankur Doshi Emergency Medicine doshiaa@upmc.edu
Anna-Binney McCague Pediatrics mccaguea2@upmc.edu
Anthony Cyr Surgery cyrar@upmc.edu
Arjun Pennathur CT Surgery arjunp@pitt.edu
Ashten Ebersbacher* Medicine ebersbacheram@upmc.edu
Benjamin Sprague Medicine spragueb@upmc.edu
Brian Heist Medicine heistb@upmc.edu
Bryce Bredell Emergency Medicine bredellb@pitt.edu
Chelsea Dahl* Medicine dahlcf@upmc.edu
Christopher Wynkoop* Medicine wynkoopcl@upmc.edu
Daniel Atwood Pediatrics dta24@pitt.edu
Deborah Brooks Emergency Medicine brooksdm@upmc.edu
Desiree Neville* Pediatrics desiree.neville@chp.edu
Emily Geramita* Medicine emg247@pitt.edu
Eric Anish Medicine anishea@upmc.edu
Erika Hoffman* Medicine erika.hoffman@med.va.gov
Erin Cummings Pediatrics eec70@pitt.edu
Evette Yassa Family Medicine yassaes@upmc.edu
Gaetan Sgro Medicine gaetan.sgro@pitt.edu
Gary Pollock Emergency Medicine gfp7@pitt.edu
Heather Mikes Family Medicine mikesh@upmc.edu
Jacqueline Weaver-Agostoni* Family Medicine agostonijs@upmc.edu
James Van Meerbeke Emergency Medicine jpv23@pitt.edu
Jason Chang Emergency Medicine changjs2@upmc.edu
Jason Edinger PM&R jme58@pitt.edu
Jen Chen* Medicine jecchen@ucdavis.edu
Jessica Oh* Medicine ohjh@upmc.edu
Jillian Kyle Medicine roperj@upmc.edu
Joshua Shulman Emergency Medicine jas135@pitt.edu
Julie McCausland* Emergency Medicine mccauslandjb@upmc.edu
Kathryn Levens* Medicine leyensk@upmc.edu
Kory Gebhardt Emergency Medicine Gebhardtkm2@upmc.edu
Krupa Patel* Medicine patelks4@upmc.edu
Laura West Pediatrics laura.west@chp.edu
Lauren Navitasky Medicine navitskylg@upmc.edu
Leah Koenig Medicine koeniglj3@upmc.edu
Linda King Medicine lik6@pitt.edu
Lisa Podgurski* Medicine podgurskil@upmc.edu
Louis Rapkin Pediatrics lbr17@pitt.edu
Margaret Shang Pediatrics shangm2@upmc.edu
Mary Ratay Emergency Medicine rataymk@upmc.edu
Matan Arnon* Medicine arnonm2@upmc.edu
Matthew Dougherty Emergency Medicine doughertymj3@upmc.edu
Matthew Pihlblad Ophthalmology matthew.pihlblad@pitt.edu
Melissa Tavarez Pediatrics mmt49@pitt.edu
Michael Simonson* Medicine mgs107@pitt.edu
Michael Turturro Emergency Medicine turturro@pitt.edu
Mioara Manole Pediatrics mioara.manole@chp.edu
Mohamed Hagahmed Emergency Medicine hagahmedmb2@upmc.edu
Natan Cramer* Pediatrics nmc67@pitt.edu
Noopur Doshi Family Medicine doshin@pitt.edu
Nursen Gurtunca Pediatrics nursen.gurtunca@chp.edu
Palash Samanta* Medicine samantap@upmc.edu
Peter Volpe* Medicine volpepj@upmc.edu
Pooja Bhatt* Medicine mahadeshwarps@upmc.edu
Raquel Zemtsov Family Medicine zemtsovrk@upmc.edu
Rebecca Green Medicine reg62@pitt.edu
Rickquel Tripp Emergency Medicine tripprp@upmc.edu
Robin Maier Family Medicine maierrm@upmc.edu
Rowena Pingul-Ravano* Family Medicine pingulravanord@upmc.edu
Sandy Tadros Anesthesiology sat377@pitt.edu
Sara Spinella Medicine sas1136@pitt.edu
Sarah Jones Medicine jonessa3@upmc.edu
Shea Ford* Medicine fordsa2@upmc.edu
Stacy Bartlett Family Medicine stb125@pitt.edu
Stasa Tadic Medicine std45@pitt.edu
Steven Leers Surgery leerssa@upmc.edu
Tabinda Saleem* Internal Medicine tas540@pitt.edu
Tahniat Syed Pediatrics tahniat.syed@chp.edu
Tara Sunder* Medicine sundert@upmc.edu
TJ Walk Medicine walktj@upmc.edu
William Trautman Family Medicine trautmanwj@upmc.edu
Yolandee Bell-Cheddar Critical Care Medicine yrb2@pitt.edu
*jobshare