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Alumni Scholars

Since its founding in 2011, the Bucksbaum Institute has appointed, trained, and supported the research of, more than 514 physicians, medical students, and undergraduate student scholars. This map reflects the locations of more than 65 faculty and graduated medical student scholars who have moved from the University of Chicago to other academic programs. Their training at the Bucksbaum Institute will enable them to develop strong doctor-patient relationships and provide excellent patient care.

Dara Richer Adams, MD

Dara Richer Adams, MD

2010-2011 STUDENT SCHOLAR – ALUMNI

Bio

Dara graduated summa cum laude and with election to Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Pennsylvania in 2009 with a BA in Biological Basis of Behavior and Hispanic Studies. Following graduation, Dara worked in consulting for three years at Bain & Company. As a medical student, Dara has conducted research with Vineet Aurora on the relationship between patient satisfaction and communication among their providers.

Dr. Adams completed an Otolaryngology Residency the University of Chicago and is currently a Fellow in Rhinology and Skull Base Surgery at Mass Eye and Ear in Boston, MA.

Hasenin Al-Kahersan, MD

Hasenin Al-Kahersan, MD

2010- 2011 STUDENT SCHOLAR – ALUMNI

Bio

Hasenin Al-Kahersan, graduated with highest distinction and election to Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Michigan in 2013 with a BS in Cell & Molecular Biology and Arabic & Islamic Studies. As a medical student, he has researched the pathophysiology of cataracts with Eric Beyer, MD/PhD. He has also helped to analyze Simfield, a cost-effective glaucoma-screening tool. After his first year, Hasenin travelled to Germany and Poland as a Medical Fellow with the Fellowship at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics, examining both physician involvement in Nazi crimes and issues in contemporary medical ethics.

Dr. Al-Khersan is an Ophthalmology Resident at the University of Miami Beascon Palmer in Miami, FL.

Allen S. Anderson, MD

Allen S. Anderson, MD

2012-2013 SENIOR FACULTY SCHOLAR – ALUMNI

Department of Medicine
Bio

Dr. Anderson is an Associate Professor of Medicine, Director, Advanced Heart Failure Program, and Medical Director, Cardiac Transplant Service. Dr. Anderson is a highly skilled specialist in heart failure and the care of patients before and after heart transplant. He has extensive expertise in the medical management of heart failure and cardiac transplant recipients.

Dr. Anderson is currently researching promising new therapies and techniques to treat the condition. He is actively involved in national studies involving mechanical circulatory support. Here at the University of Chicago, Dr. Anderson works side by side with other medical and surgical heart failure experts to determine the best treatment plan for each patient. Dr. Anderson is known for his excellent patient care and teaching skills.

In 2013, Dr. Anderson joined the faculty at Northwestern University in Chicago, IL.

Danielle Anderson, MD

Danielle Anderson, MD

2011–2012 ASSOCIATE JUNIOR FACULTY SCHOLAR – ALUMNI

Department of Psychiatry
Bio

Dr. Danielle Anderson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience.

She completed her medical degree at University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine. She received training in psychiatry at the University of Chicago and fellowship training in geriatric psychiatry at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Her interests include psychiatric complications that arise in dementia, late life depression, and how medical education impacts the empathy of developing physicians. She believes that communication and conveying understanding to diverse populations are essential to clinical excellence.

Dr. Anderson joined the faculty at Northwestern University in Chicago, IL in 2015.

Abena Appah-Sampong, MD

Abena Appah-Sampong, MD

2018–2019 STUDENT SCHOLAR – ALUMNI

Bio

Abena Appah-Sampong graduated with honors from the University of Chicago in 2016 with a BA in Public Policy and Biology. As an undergraduate, Abena volunteered childcare and tutoring services at the Maria Shelter. After college, Abena completed a public interest fellowship at the Cook County Health and Hospitals System, where she worked to build infrastructure implementing the health system’s strategic plan and conducted analyses advocating for the addition of bilingual nursing staff.

As a medical student, Abena is the co-director of the Maria Shelter clinic and serves on the Wellness committee. She co-organized a conference for Black and Latina Women in Medicine in the Chicagoland area and was also as a mentor for HPREP, a healthcare pipeline program for underrepresented minorities. She is also working with Dr. Neda Laiteerpong to forecast future racial disparities in diabetes complications using simulation modeling.

Dr. Appah-Sampong is currently a surgical resident at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Agnieszka Ardelt, MD, PhD

Agnieszka Ardelt, MD, PhD

2016–2017 SENIOR FACULTY SCHOLAR – ALUMNI

Department of Neurology, Department of Surgery
Bio

Dr. Agnieszka Ardelt is trained in Neurology with sub-specializations in Vascular Neurology and Neurocritical Care. She cares for critically ill patients with brain and spinal cord injuries and participates in clinical trials involving this patient population. In May 2014, Dr. Ardelt became the Director of the Neurosciences Intensive Care Unit and Co-Director of the Comprehensive Stroke Center at the University of Chicago. Her work and research recognize the need to develop comprehensive multidisciplinary and longitudinal approaches to the care of patients. Dr. Ardelt is currently enrolled in a health care MBA program. Dr. Ardelt is committed to educating patient care-providers and is interested in real-time problem solving and communication in order to improve patient outcomes. She hopes to develop a system-wide, high-quality, longitudinal (pre-hospital to post-acute care) multidisciplinary delivery of care to patients with acute catastrophic neurologic conditions.

Dr. Ardelt is now a physician at MetroHealth in Cleveland, OH.

Yolanda T. Becker, MD

Yolanda T. Becker, MD

2019–2020 SENIOR FACULTY SCHOLAR – ALUMN

Department of Surgery
Bio

Dr. Yolanda T. Becker is a professor of surgery and director of kidney and pancreas transplantation at University of Chicago Medicine. She attended Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and completed her residency at Vanderbilt University. She them completed her transplant fellowship at the University of Wisconsin where she joined the faculty prior to coming to the University of Chicago.

Dr. Becker is a past Board President of the OPTN/UNOS (Organ Procurement and Transplant Network/United Network for Organ Sharing). She has served on the UNOS corporate affairs, nominating committee, and board governance subcommittees. She has chaired the Policy Oversight Committee, setting policy for organ transplantation nationwide. Dr. Becker has served as an elected member of the American Society of Transplantation (AST) board of directors and led several AST committees. In recognition of her work, Dr. Becker was named a Fellow of the American Society of Transplant and has also been awarded the “Friend of Nursing Award by the International Transplant Nurses Society.

Her current research interests include education of patients across the health literacy divide as well as the treatment of obesity in patients with kidney failure. Dr. Becker is committed to education; she have developed curriculum focused on communication, professionalism and practice-based learning, and she has received the Department of Surgery Excellence in Teaching award multiple times since 2011. Please join me in welcoming Dr. Yolanda Becker as a Senior Faculty Scholar.

In 2021, Dr. Becker retired from the University of Chicago and became a consultant at Transplant Solutions, LLC.

Steven Bhutra, MD

Steven Bhutra, MD

2010-2011 STUDENT SCHOLAR – ALUMNI

Bio

Steven graduated from Stanford University in 2012 with a BS in Biology with distinction. In medical school, he has developed an ongoing IRB-approved clinical trial on treating leukemia patients. Currently, Steven is the co-president for the Latino Medical Student Association, the local coordinator for ASAP, a youth substance abuse prevention program, and president of the Oncology interest group.

Dr. Bhutra is currently a Pain Medicine Fellow at the University of Virginia Health in Charlotesville, VA.

Daniel Brauner, MD

Daniel Brauner, MD

2018–2019 ALUMNI SCHOLAR

Department of Medicine
Bio

Daniel Brauner has worked as a geriatrician for 33 years, seeing patients in the clinic, nursing home, hospital and their homes, first at UIC and then at the U of C arriving in 1994 when he also joined the faculty at the MacLean Center. Previously at UIC he also had an appointment in the Department of Medical Humanities where he worked with Suzanne Poirier teaching literature to young students of the health professionals and was among the first to apply critical theory to the medical endeavor, deconstructing the chart and medical presentation in the early 1990s. This was also when he began his obsession with understanding the resonant meaning behind advance directives as embodied by the DNR order. He began this enquiry at the U of C working with Victor Yngve professor of Anthropology and Linguistics where they studied the discourse of persons with dementia, and he ultimately developed an instrument for assessing decision-making capacity using linguistic theory. His most recent work for the past several years has focused on an historical analysis, specifically of resuscitation as a metaphor for understanding the current crisis in American Medicine. As a result of this work he is currently working on a new model for physicians, he calls the Patientist. Among his administrative responsibilities Dr. Brauner has served as the director of the Geriatrics Fellowship Program and is currently the Co-director the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics, Consult Service and is also a long time Assistant Director of the Center.

Julia Bregand-White, MD

Julia Bregand-White, MD

2020 ALUMNI SCHOLAR
2019–2020 ASSOCIATE JUNIOR FACULTY SCHOLAR

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Bio

Julia Bregand-White, MD is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She was trained at the University of Illinois at Chicago in Obstetrics and Gynecology and completed her Maternal Fetal Medicine Fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh, Magee Womens Hospital. Clinically, she focuses on the care of pregnancies complicated by fetal anomalies and has taken the administrative and clinical lead in developing the Fetal and Neonatal Care Center (FNCC). The FNCC is a brand new program which has coordinated the care of over 200 patients in just over a year offering accurate evaluation and diagnosis of complex fetal conditions and facilitating prenatal collaboration with pediatric subspecialists to improve the outcome of these complicated pregnancies. Dr. Bregand-White has an interest in medical education, serves as the Associate Fellowship Program Director and oversees the fourth year sub-internship. She has developed a series of educational initiatives within the Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine to improve evidence based clinical consensus as well as the education of sonographers and trainees.

In 2020, Dr. Bergand-White joined the faculty at the University of California, Irvine Health (UCI) in Orange, CA.