Alumni Scholars

Dr. Edward Garrity is a Pulmonary and Critical Care Specialist focused on lung transplantation and the management of advanced lung diseases. Dr. Garrity is considered to be among the early adopters of lung transplantation as therapy for chronic lung diseases.

Dr. Garrity was deeply involved in the development of the current system for allocation of donor lungs for transplantation, and helped to reduce mortality of those awaiting the life-giving organs. Ed joined the faculty at The University of Chicago as a Professor of Medicine in 2005.

Dr. Garrity pursued a long-standing interest in Ethics via The MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics fellowship in 2017. He continues to devote energy to the Pritzker School of Medicine Admissions Committee and his own abiding interest in the compassionate care of his patients, including those served through the Bridgeport Free Clinic. Dr. Garrity is recognized as a wonderful doctor, who always does his best for his patients and who works to instill that same desire in his students and trainees.

Dr. Rebecca Garza earned her medical degree from the University of Illinois and then went on to complete an integrated plastic surgery residency at Stanford University. She then pursued an additional fellowship year of training in reconstructive microsurgery at the University of Chicago before joining the faculty as an Assistant Professor in the Section of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

Dr. Garza’s primary clinical focus is on breast reconstruction, lymphedema surgery, and complex reconstructive surgery of the head and neck, extremities, and trunk. She has additional expertise in cosmetic surgery and is working to strengthen resident education in this facet of plastic surgery.

Dr. Garza’s research interests include clinical outcomes in breast reconstruction and lymphedema surgery, as well as studying gender issues and parenthood in surgery. Dr. Garza left UChicago to pursue private practice.

Ahmeneh Ghavam, MD, MA, attended medical school at the American University of the Caribbean, followed by pediatric residency at the University of Arizona. Following residency, she completed fellowship in pediatric critical care at the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin/Medical College of Wisconsin. Dr. Ghavam subsequently joined the faculty at the University of Chicago where she is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the section of Critical Care Medicine. While in fellowship she developed an academic interest in pediatric bioethics and has completed a Master’s Degree in Bioethics from the Medical College of Wisconsin. Within bioethics, her area of academic focus lies at the intersection of organ donation and death determination, with a special interest in pediatric donation after circulatory death. In addition to her academic work, clinical time spent in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and Pediatric Sedation suite, Dr. Ghavam was also actively involved in medical education serving as the associate program director for the Pediatric Critical Care fellowship program. Dr. Ghavam is now a faculty member at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

Dr. Melissa Gilliam is Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics, Chief of the Section of Family Planning & Contraceptive Research, and Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion in the Biological Sciences Division, as well as Director of Ci3 at the University of Chicago.

An expert in pediatric and adolescent gynecology, Dr. Melissa Gilliam helps children, teens and women age 25 and younger who have complex gynecologic problems or need routine care. Dr. Gilliam specializes in managing common problems such as bleeding, painful periods, breasts cysts and abnormal pap smears and complex problems requiring pelvic surgery. She has expertise in providing preventive care and providing contraception to adolescents with other medical problems. Dr. Gilliam focuses on providing a youth-friendly atmosphere for girls and young women. She works closely with other specialists across the University.

An active researcher, Dr. Gilliam’s research focuses on contraception, family planning, youth development, and sexually transmitted infections. Specifically, she focuses on contraceptive use among teens and women who are at risk for unintended pregnancy.

In 2021, Dr. Gilliam was named Provost of Ohio State University.

Dr. David Glick is a Professor in the Department of Anesthesia & Critical Care. His clinical interests include the anesthetic management of vascular, thoracic and head and neck cancer patients as well as the care of patients in the Post-Anesthesia Care Unit (for which he has been the medical director since 2002). His research interests cover a wide range of clinical questions including the feasibility of processed EEG monitoring to decrease the risk of intra-operative awareness, the incidence of and risk factors for the development of deep venous clots around the time of surgery, ways to facilitate emergence from general anesthetics in children and patients for whom English is not the first language, the value and impact of surgical quality metrics, and the optimization of awake intubation techniques. He has published widely in these areas and students and residents in his lab have presented well over 100 abstracts at national and international meetings. He has received multiple awards for teaching and research mentorship and has been a track leader/cluster group leader for the clinical research tracks of the Pritzker Summer Research Program and the Scholarship & Discovery track for many years. Dr. Glick is currently Head of the Anesthesiology Department at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Laura Glick graduated from Tufts University with a B.A. in Psychology and Community Health. At Tufts, Laura was honored with the prestigious Presidential Award for Citizenship and Public Service. Laura conducted clinical and translational research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Under the mentorship of Dr. David Rubin, a Bucksbaum Institute Master Clinician, Laura has conducted research on Crohn’s disease, earning the Joseph B. Kirsner Research Award for Excellence in the Pritzker Summer Research Forum. Additionally, she is working with Dr. Vineet Arora to improve verbal handoffs in the hospital setting. As a medical student, Laura serves as the co-director of the Washington Park Pediatric Free Clinic, an executive board member of the Health Professions Recruitment and Exposure Program, a leadership council member of Peer Health Exchange, and as a member of the Adolescent Substance Abuse Program.

Dr. Glick is a Hospital Resident at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, CT.

Dr. Golden is Associate Professor, Medical Student Clerkship Director, and Associate Residency Program Director in the Department of Radiation and Cellular Oncology. He completed residency at the University of Chicago. He is a graduate of the Pritzker School of Medicine Medical Education Research Innovation Teaching and Scholarship (MERITS) fellowship and completed a Masters of Health Professions Education (MHPE) at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Dr. Golden’s clinical practice is at the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center at Silver Cross where he treats a broad array of cancers with external beam radiation. Dr. Golden focuses on educating his patients about their disease and treatment process with the goal of reducing anxiety and improving treatment compliance and outcomes.

His academic interests focus on patient and trainee education. In 2017 Dr. Golden received a pilot grant from the Bucksbaum Institute to develop a graphic narrative discussion guide to help providers communicate to patients what to expect during the radiotherapy treatment process.  Along with additional extramural funding from the Radiation Oncology Institute and collaborators at The University of Chicago, IIT Institute of Design, UIC, and Harvard, he has since developed a series of seven Communicating the External Beam Radiotherapy Experience (CEBRE) guides and three Communicating the Gynecologic Brachytherapy Experience (CoGBE) guides. In addition, the CEBRE en Español guides are culturally appropriate translations of the original CEBRE guides in Spanish.  The discussion guides have been downloaded for use internationally.  Dr. Golden also founded the Radiation Oncology Education Collaborative Study Group (ROECSG), which develops, implements, and evaluates radiation oncology curricular innovations using a collaborative group study model. As of 2022 ROECSG has over 600 members representing more than 200 member institutions around the globe.  Dr. Golden enjoys spending time teaching and mentoring medical students and residents and he received the Radiation and Cellular Oncology Resident Physician teaching award in 2015. As of 2023, Dr. Golden has joined the Radiation Oncology staff at Rush University in Chicago, IL.

Raymon Grogan, MD, is a specialist in the surgical management of thyroid, parathyroid, and adrenal gland diseases. He has expertise in the surgical management of endocrine cancers as well as benign endocrine gland disorders.

As a clinician and a scientist, Dr. Grogan is actively involved in clinical, translational, and basic science research. He is currently working on identifying genetic and proteomic biomarkers in thyroid and adrenal tumors. Understanding the genetic and molecular changes in these tumors could lead to better diagnosis and treatment strategies for patients with cancer. The ultimate goal is to improve patients’ lives by translating state-of-the-art research findings into everyday clinical practice.

Dr. Raymon Grogan is the section chief of endocrine surgery at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX.

2013 Pilot Grant Project: “A Formal Curriculum in Surgical Professionalism and Ethics”: To enhance and encourage the professionalism of surgical residents and their understanding of the central concepts of surgical ethics

2012 Pilot Grant Project: Understanding of the Psychology of Thyroid Cancer Patients in an Era of Increasing Incidences

Dr. Gustin is a faculty member of the University of Chicago Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care. He is boarded in both Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine. He was a candidate for the Hospice and Palliative Care Medicine boards in 2012. His background is centered on being a physician educator, which is evident from his multiple teaching awards. His research focuses on the use of high fidelity simulation in medical student, resident, and fellow education.

2013 Pilot Grant Project: An Acute Pain Patient with Advanced Stage Cancer AND A Hospice Patient with Respiratory Distress in the ER: Improving Resident Physician Communications with Patients at the End of Life Utilizing Simulation Training

2012 Pilot Grant Project: Improving Patient Perception During Disclosure Conversations if Unanticipated Outcomes

Dr. Gustin joined the faculty at Loyola University in Chicago, IL in 2015.

Reem Hamoda graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2016 with a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology and Community Health Assessment; she continued her studies at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University, where she received a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology in 2018. Reem is passionate about improving access to and reducing racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in healthcare for chronic disease patients. Her previous volunteering work includes management of a free clinic social services program in Pittsburgh and designing and implementing a quality improvement initiative aimed to improve interpreter services at an Atlanta refugee clinic. As a graduate student and junior epidemiologist, Reem contributed to numerous research and quality improvement projects related to improving access to transplantation for end-stage renal disease patients.

At Pritzker, Reem served as the referrals coordinator for Washington Park Free Clinic, admissions liaison for the Student National Medical Association (SNMA), and mentor for the HPREP program. Under the mentorship of Dr. Milda Saunders, Reem currently conducts epidemiological research elucidating racial/ethnic and gender-specific disparities in placement on the deceased donor waiting list for renal transplantation.