Alumni Scholars

Vincent A DiMaggio, MS, MD, is a physician who practices in both the inpatient and outpatient settings at the University of Chicago. After completing graduate and medical education at Georgetown Univeristy, he went on to residency at the University of Chicago. Dr. DiMaggio is trained in both internal medicine and pediatrics, sometimes referred to as “Med-Peds.” This practice includes care for patients from newborns to the elderly. His specific clinical interest involves the Transition from pediatric to adult general care of adolescents and young adults with chronic medical conditions of childhood. Academically, Dr. DiMaggio is a dedicated medical educator with ambitions to focus on the doctor-patient relationship. Notably, he completed a Fellowship in Clinical Medical Ethics at the MacLean Center of the University of Chicago in his last year of residency and completed a Chief Residency in Pediatrics in the following year. During residency, he was admitted to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honors Society as a resident educator by the Pritzker School of Medicine. Currently, he remains at the University of Chicago as Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics in the Comprehensive Care Program providing longitudinal care for high risk patients in both primary care and hospital medicine settings.

As of 2022, Dr. DiMaggio had joined the faculty of Brown MED-PEDS.

Douglas R. Dirschl, MD, is a highly accomplished surgeon and an expert in orthopaedics. He specializes in caring for patients with musculoskeletal trauma and fractures, as well as other injuries and diseases of the bones, joints and muscles.

Dr. Dirschl’s research focuses on the assessment of factors that influence reliability in classifying fractures. He has studied the quality of radiographs, as well as the use of decision-making strategies to enhance reliability. Dr. Dirschl also studies the biological basis of surgery, including the relationship between hemorrhage in pelvic fractures and pelvic bleeding. His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

A leader in medical education and health policy, Dr. Dirschl teaches medical students, residents and physicians about orthopaedic trauma, musculoskeletal pathophysiology and fractures. He has authored three books, more than 30 book chapters, and more than 75 peer-reviewed scholarly articles. In addition, Dr. Dirschl sits on editorial and review boards for several notable scientific journals, including the Journal of Orthopaedic Research, Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma, and Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.

Dr. Dirschl previously served as president of the American Orthopaedic Association.
As of 2023, Dr. Dirschl is the Chair of the Orthopaedic Surgery Department at Baylor College of Medicine.

Linda Druelinger, MD, is an expert in emergency medicine, providing the highest level of care to acutely ill or injured patients. Her major clinical interests include airway management, maxillofacial trauma, and postpartum emergencies.

Dr. Druelinger has a particular interest in medical education. She has been actively involved in both resident and student education, helping to develop curriculum at both introductory and more advanced levels. She is highly recognized for her outstanding teaching skills and has been named Teacher of the Year by Emergency Medicine residents multiple times. In 2010, she was the recipient of the Pritzker School of Medicine Leonard Tow Gold Humanism Award.

Annie Dude, MD, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. A University of Chicago graduate (Pritzker School of Medicine and Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies), she was trained at Duke University and the University of Illinois at Chicago in Obstetrics and Gynecology and completed her Maternal Fetal Medicine Fellowship at Northwestern Prentice Women’s Hospital. Clinically, she focuses on the care of pregnancies complicated by maternal medical illness, especially diabetes, HIV, and cardiac disease. She also works with patients through the Fetal and Neonatal Care Center (FNCC) whose pregnancies are complicated by fetal anomalies, often life-threatening. Optimal management for these pregnancies often involves coordinating care across multiple specialties, as well as complex decision-making that takes into account not just medical information, but patient values and goals. Dr. Dude has an interest in medical education, especially improving research during medical education, and serves as the Associate Fellowship Program Director for Maternal Fetal Medicine.

In 2020, Dr. Dude became an Assistant Professor of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

Dr. Gina Dudley completed her Medicine-Pediatrics residency at the University of Cincinnati in 2004. She currently serves as the director of the Adult Sickle Cell Care Team at the University of Chicago, where she treats patients with sickle cell disease in the inpatient and outpatient settings. She is a faculty preceptor for internal medicine and internal medicine/pediatrics residents and a clinician in the primary care group. Her clinical experiences and interests include transitional care for young adults with chronic diseases and health care for the homeless and vulnerable populations.

2012 Pilot Grant Project: Development of a Patient Care Card for Individuals with Sickle Cell Disease

As of 2013, Dr. Dudley entered private practice in Memphis, TN.

Nicole Dussault graduated summa cum laude and with honors in Economics from Columbia University, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. As an undergraduate, Nicole volunteered as an Emergency Department patient advocate for survivors of sexual assault. After graduation, she conducted healthcare economics research at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Her work on the financial impact of the Affordable Care Act was featured in Liberty Street Economics.

At Pritzker, Nicole is a Quality Improvement Coordinator for the Maria Shelter Clinic, a founding member of Pritzker TECH, and a part of the University’s Hotspotting team. Nicole and fellow medical students also spearheaded a project to improve patient care for survivors of sexual assault in the University of Chicago ED, working with Drs. Keme Carter and Sonia Oyola. Under Dr. Matthew Churpek, she is also developing a machine learning algorithm to identify infection in hospitalized patients.

Dr. Dussault is currently an internal medicine resident at Duke Health.

Jonathan Emerson Kohler, MD MA is the senior fellow in pediatric surgery at the University of Chicago. Dr. Kohler holds degrees with honors from Brown University, where he studied biology and theatre, and from the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago, as well as a masters degree in health communications from Emerson College. Prior to medical school, he worked in theatre and as a health care reporter for the daily Standard-Times in New Bedford, MA. His research interests include the effect of patient and parent expectations on outcomes in pediatric surgery, and on the role of mass media in forming and modulating those expectations. Projects include production of several patient and parent education programs for the University of Chicago, University of Washington, and Boston Children’s Hospital, and development of several medical drama pilots for network television with Imagine Television and CBS Studios. He is the founder of the medical narrative consulting company RxCreative, which helps produce accurate medicine on television, and helps doctors use narrative techniques to teach their patients. He completed his general surgery training at the University of Washington.

Dr. Kohler is a member of the faculty at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Savitri E. Fedson, MD, is a cardiologist who specializes in heart failure and heart transplantation. Dr. Fedson is part of a team of medical and surgical specialists who provide a full range of treatment options to improve the pumping ability of the heart in patients with heart failure. If transplantation is required, she cares for patients before and after transplant to ensure the best outcome. Dr. Fedson is actively researching comparisons between invasive and non-invasive hemodynamic measurements, and heart failure prevention.

Dr. Fedson joined the faculty at Baylor University in Waco, TX in 2015.

(1988-2021)

Brooke Gabster graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University in 2011 with an A.B. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Before medical school, Brooke worked for Deloitte Consulting LLP, where she helped the Military Health System design innovative programs to reduce tobacco use and obesity, and guided Navy Medicine’s implementation and evaluation of a patient-centered medical home model of care at over one hundred clinics. In addition to her domestic health experience, Brooke has worked on global health projects in Germany, Thailand, and South Africa.

At the Pritzker School of Medicine, Brooke is the co-director of the Maria Shelter Clinic, a free clinic in a homeless shelter in Englewood. She also helps evaluate and improve the medical school curriculum as a member of the Pre-Clinical Curriculum Review Committee. Additionally, under the mentorship of Dr. David Meltzer, Brooke is conducting research about how a new model of care designed to increase physician-patient continuity might improve discussions about end-of-life care: her project titled “The Impact of the Comprehensive Care Physician Program on Advance Care Planning” earned Honorable Mention for Excellence in the Pritzker Summer Research Program.

Dr. Gabster is an Internal Medicine Resident at Stanford University in Stanford, CA.

Sean Gaffney graduated magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame in 2009 with a BA in Philosophy and Economics. Following graduation, Sean taught for two years at a high school in the Rio Grande Valley while completing a M.Ed. through Notre Dame’s ACE program.

As a medical student, Sean is the co-coordinator of CommunityHealth Clinic, a free clinic on Chicago’s west side. He also serves as a member of the Pre-Clinical Curriculum Review Committee, charged with reviewing the first two years of medical school curriculum.

Under the mentorship of Drs. Vineet Arora and Jeanne Farnan, Sean completed a research project titled “Transitions of Care and Transitioning to Training: Teaching and Assessing a Core Entrustable Professional Activity for Entering Residency,” which earned Honorable Mention for Excellence in the Pritzker Summer Research Program.

Dr. Gaffney is a Medicine Resident at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, NC.