Alumni Scholars

Camron Shirkhodaie graduated with honors from Vanderbilt University in 2019 with a B.S. in Biological Sciences and Medicine, Health and Society and a minor in Chemistry.

At Prtizker, Camron was the co-director of Maria Shelter Free Clinic, where he, along with the rest of free clinic leadership, were able to implement telemedicine to continue seeing patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, Camron was also a part of Reach Out and Read, Students for a National Health Program, and Middle Eastern and North African Student Association.

Under the mentorship of Dr. John Blair, Camron conducted research on outcomes of and risk factors associated with patients with concomitant deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism who receive catheter-directed therapy.

Dr. Silva is an Assistant Professor in the Section of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. She trained at the University of Chicago for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and completed an additional Reconstructive Microsurgery Fellowship at New York University.

Her research interests include improving the patient experience and outcomes in head and neck reconstruction. She is specifically interested in long-term outcomes, quality of life, and investigating how reconstructive details such as flap choice, design, and inset can improve outcomes. She is also interested in the benefits of collaboration amongst specialties who overlap in scope of practice and investigating avenues and barriers to collaboration.

Clinically, she focuses on complex reconstruction from head to toe and has a particular interest in head and neck and facial reconstruction for cancer and traumatic defects including facial nerve surgery.

Dr. Silva is the Quality and Patient Safety Improvement committee member for the division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and is a member of the new formed Department of Surgery Wellness Taskforce.

In 2020, Dr. Silva joined the faculty at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, KY.

David H. Song, MD, is an internationally recognized expert in plastic surgery with additional training in reconstructive microsurgery. He specializes in breast reconstruction and oncoplastic surgery—a combination of lumpectomy and reconstructive techniques.

Dr. Song is well recognized for his extensive experience with perforator breast reconstruction procedures, including deep inferior epigastric perforator flap (DIEP), superior gluteal artery perforator flap (SGAP), superficial inferior epigastric artery flap (SIEA), thoracodorsal artery perforator flap (TAP). He is also skilled in the use of acellular dermal matrix (AlloDerm) in implant breast reconstruction and in the reconstruction of abdominal wall defects. Additionally, Dr. Song has pioneered several techniques for the repair and reconstruction of chest wall defects. His research interests focus on outcome improvement in lumpectomy and mastectomy reconstruction. He is involved in several clinical trials exploring advancements in these procedures. In 2008, he received the Arthur G. Michel Clinician of the Year award from the Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization.

In addition, Dr. Song serves on the board of Medical Aid for Children of Latin America (MACLA), an organization that provides free surgical care for children with congenital deformities in the Dominican Republic. He is a fellow in the American College of Surgeons, and past president of the Chicago Society of Plastic Surgeons. Dr. Song is also a past board member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) and the Association of Academic Chairmen of Plastic Surgery (AACPS).

Dr. Song received an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, which further equips him to advance healthcare delivery, particularly in the areas of breast cancer awareness, treatment and prevention.

2013 Pilot Grant Project: Dynamic Operational Mapping – Annotation for Patient and Family Education

Dr. Song is now head of plastic surgery at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

Robert Steppacher, MD FACS and assistant professor in the Department of Surgery. Dr. Steppacher specializes in the medical, surgical, and endovascular management of aortic, carotid, and peripheral vascular disease. His interests also include treatment of venous disease and dialysis access. In addition to his clinical pursuits, Dr. Steppacher is also a Medical Director of Informatics at the University of Chicago. He has extensive expertise and interest in improving the electronic health record at UCM. Dr. Steppacher serves on numerous committees and taskforces at the local, regional, and national level. He is the director of arterial quality for the Mid-America Vascular Study Group and the chair of the medication optimization and EHR integration committees for the Society for Vascular Surgery. Dr. Steppacher research interests include using large data sets to foster improvement in vascular care and increasing the usability of the EHR.

In 2016, Dr. Steppacher joined the faculty at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center in Worcester.

Dr. Scott Stern is Professor of Medicine and Assistant Dean for Technology at the University of Chicago.

Dr. Stern is Co-Director of the Clinical Pathophysiology and Therapeutics, one of the most highly regarded courses in the Pritzker curriculum. Dr. Stern served as Co-Director of the Junior Clerkship in Internal Medicine from 1995-2013. Drawing upon his experiences as clerkship director, Dr. Stern served as the lead author of the textbook, Symptom to Diagnosis: An Evidence Based Guide, now in its 3rd edition.

Dr. Stern’s teaching has been recognized with numerous honors, including twelve-time receipt of a “Favorite Faculty Award”, three time recipient of The Robert and Susan Doroghazi Clinical Teaching Award for outstanding clinical teaching and two-time recipient of the Larry Wood Award for “selfless, tireless, and excellent teaching of medical students.” Dr. Stern was named as one of the six inaugural members of the University of Chicago Academy of Distinguished Medical Educators.

Dr. Jason Strelzow is an orthopaedic trauma and upper extremity surgeon, who provides comprehensive care for patients with fractures and injuries throughout the body with a special interest in upper limb pathology.

Jason completed medical school and orthopaedic surgery training at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. He then completed additional fellowship training in Hand and Upper Extremity at the Hand and Upper Limb Center in London Ontario, Canada and a Trauma fellowship at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in Scotland in the United Kingdom.

Along with being dedicated to his clinical work, Dr. Strelzow was the Associate Residency Program Director for Orthopaedic surgery and was heavily involved in clinical research. He is currently exploring research on patient-reported outcomes related to elbow trauma, shoulder trauma, and total elbow replacements. He has an active interest in evaluating the functional outcomes around urban trauma, PTSD and urban ballistic injuries with the goal of improving patient care and returning patients to normal activity as soon as possible. Dr. Strezlow received a 2019 Bucksbaum Institute Pilot Grant with co-PI Dr. Jennifer Wolf a Senior Faculty Scholar. And, he is an associated editor for the Journal of Hand Surgery.

Audrey L. Tanksley MD was born and raised on the south side of Chicago in the Roseland community. She attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale and received a Bachelor of Arts in Biological-Sciences. Following this she attended Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield, IL and completed studies in general medical education. During the time in Springfield, Dr. Tanksley, was vice president of the class of 2009, served as a student representative to the AAMC, assisted with LCME accreditation and received a grant to provide health and oral screenings to the people of Sangamon County. Dr. Tanksley returned to the Chicagoland area to complete her Internal Medicine residency training at UIC/ Advocate Christ Medical Center where she also served as chief resident. Upon completion of chief year, Dr. Tanksley transitioned into a 2 year Medical Education Research Fellowship at The University of Chicago Medical Center.

As a Medical Education, Research, Innovation, Teaching and Scholarship (MERITS) fellow at the University of Chicago, Dr. Tanksley’s academic work focused on healthcare disparities, communication, professionalism and resident supervision. She also assisted with investigations of the TEACH pipeline program for high school students. Her scholarly work has been presented at various regional and national conferences, including the Association of American Medical Colleges and the Society for General Internal Medicine. She is currently conducting an analysis of a novel curriculum created to teach residents how to obtain Informed Consent using a culturally sensitive approach. She has also worked on improving patient safety through resident supervision in the ambulatory environment.

As a General Internist, Dr. Tanksley supervises internal medicine residents and students caring for patients in the primary care clinics and general medical floors. She has worked closely with Drs. Arora and Farnan on qualitative research with high school students using focus groups, and is experienced with the use of Atlas software. She has also worked on quantitative projects as well and is experienced with the use of STATA software.

Dr. Tanksley now practices with ACCESS Community Health in Chicago, IL.

Kathryn Thompson graduated magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame with a BS in pre-professional science and theology. As an undergraduate, Kathryn worked as a caretaker for a neighbor with cerebral palsy and was as a mentor-in-faith through the Institute for Church Life. She conducted audiology research at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and was a part-time surgical technician. She also performed piano bi-weekly at the Holy Cross House retirement home in South Bend, Indiana.

At Pritzker, Kathryn is a laboratory coordinator for the Community Health Clinic and volunteers as a minister of spiritual care at the hospital. She participated in Pritzker’s annual REMEDY service-learning trip to Peru. Under Dr. Bree Andrews and the Preeme+You project, Kathryn researched parent engagement at the NICU bedside. Under the mentorship of Dr. John Yoon, Kathryn conducts a focus group at Montgomery Place, exploring how seniors process aging through the lens of the Christian faith.

Ashley graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2010 with a B.S. in Public Health, and minors in Mathematics and Chemistry. She spent two years working as a CDC public health associate in infectious disease epidemiology at the New Mexico Department of Health. As a 2013 Schweitzer Fellow, Ashley designed and implemented the first ever overdose prevention program at Cook County Jail. Under the mentorship of John Schneider, a Bucksbaum Faculty Scholar, Ashley has conducted research on the social networks of injection drug users in an HIV outbreak in Athens, Greece.

Dr. Tsang is a family medicine physician in San Francisco, CA.

Dr. Jennifer Tseng is a board-certified surgical oncologist and Assistant Professor of Surgery with the University of Chicago Medicine. She earned her medical degree from the University of California, Davis and completed her general surgery residency at Oregon Health and Science University. She received fellowship training in clinical immunotherapy at the National Cancer Institute and complex general surgical oncology at the University of Chicago Medicine. She is a senior fellow with the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics and previously was a theme issue editor for the American Medical Association’s Journal of Ethics. Her research interests include ethical considerations in clinical trials, the use of surrogate decision makers and prophylactic surgery.

Dr. Tseng integrates the latest research in clinical trials in caring for patients with breast cancer, melanoma and sarcoma. She is a prior national resident representative for the Surgery Residency Review Committee of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and is an Associate Program Director for the general surgery residency and complex general surgical oncology fellowship. She is an Education Scholar with the American Society of Clinical Oncology and is pursuing a Masters in Health Professions Education with the University of Illinois at Chicago.

As of 2022, Dr. Tseng is a surgeon with City of Hope Cancer Treatment and Research Center in California.