Alumni Scholars

Dr. Hightower is the Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Technology Officer (CDTO) of the University of Chicago Medicine, and the CEO and co-Founder of Equality AI. She is the former Chief Medical Information Officer (CMIO) and Sr. Director of Health Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at the University of Utah Health and former CMIO and Chief Population Health Officer (CPHO) at University of Iowa Healthcare. Her executive leadership experience spans healthcare digital transformation strategy and operations, population health, and diversity, equity, and inclusion, with academic medical centers, clinically integrated networks, and accountable care organizations, and early-stage investor financed healthcare tech.

Dr. Hightower is an expert and a nationally sought speaker in Responsible AI and the intersection of digital technology with health equity, diversity, and inclusion. She strives to ensure that the value from digital transformation of healthcare is equitable across all stakeholders, including our most vulnerable.

In addition to leading digital strategy and operations at UChicago Medicine, she leads Equality AI, an early-stage investor backed healthcare tech startup. Equality AI is on a mission to end algorithmic bias in healthcare. Data scientists are the newest members of the care team. Equality AI empowers digitally enabled care teams to achieve health equity goals through responsible AI and tools to develop algorithms that address bias, fairness, and performance.
Dr. Hightower is a champion for health equity, diversity, and inclusion awareness and initiatives. She developed the Healthcare IT Equity Maturity Model (HITEM) to dismantle structural bias hardwired in healthcare IT and develop an inclusive and equity minded healthcare IT culture. Dr. Hightower was recently recognized by Health Data Management as one of the “Most Powerful Women in Healthcare IT” and “25 leading CMIOs at healthcare organizations.” She was recognized by Becker’s Hospital Review as one of “50 hospital and health system CMIOs to know”.

Dr. Hightower received her Medical Degree, as well as a Master of Public Health, from the University of Rochester School of Medicine, followed by residencies in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego. She also holds an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. Dr. Hightower has moved full-time in the CEO role for Equality AI.

Ashley Hite, graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 2013 with a BA in Psychology, Neuroscience and Philosophy and a minor in Children‘s Studies. Following graduation, Ashley taught and coached sports teams for a year at a charter school in Newark, NJ.

Under the mentorship of Dr. Beth Plunkett, Ashley completed a research project titled “Exploration of Barriers Facing Physicians in Diagnosing and Treating Obesity.” This summer, under the advisement of Dr. Vela and with two of her fellow classmates, she served as a TA and coordinator for the Chicago Academic Medical Program, where they exposed minority students to the field of medicine through enrichment and mentoring. She also was invited to attend the Hazelden Betty Ford Summer Institute for Medical Students where she gained insight into the approach to treatment of the chemically dependent person through lecture, group therapy sessions and meals with patients with patients and specialty groups.

In medical school, Ashley was the co-President of Students National Medical Association (SNMA) and served on a free clinic board as Education chair of Maria Shelter Clinic, a free clinic for women in Englewood. She also served as the co-director of the Psychiatry Interest Group. Ashley was the fundraising chair for REMEDY, a medical service group, and this summer went on a medical service trip to Peru.

Dr. Hite is a Medicine Resident at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Jennifer Hofer is an anesthesiologist who specializes in critical care medicine. Jennifer’s affiliation with The University of Chicago has been since college in 1996, through to medical school, residency and fellowship, and now the present as a member of the faculty. She has specific interests in resident education, peri-operative care, and intra-operative coagulopathy including the effects of cell saver administration on bleeding, and outcomes of off-label Factor VII administration.

She has published in Anesthesiology Clinics on “Taking the septic patient to the operating room” and in book chapters on topics including common ICU procedures, electrolyte abnormalities, and pre-operative anesthesia assessments. Jennifer is a Bucksbaum Institute fellow and has an interest in developing the doctor-patient relationship to help physicians become first line responders to identify and stop human trafficking.

2012 Pilot Grant Project: Physicians as First Line Responders Against Human Trafficking

Brenna graduated from Dartmouth College in 2009 with an AB in Economics and Environmental Studies. As a medical student, under the mentorship of Marshall Chin and Monica Peek, a Bucksbaum Institute Jr. Faculty Scholar, Brenna has conducted research on ways to improve diabetes care and outcomes on the South Side of Chicago. Brenna has also conducted research in collaboration with Pilar Ortega to assess barriers to Emergency Department utilization of interpreter services.

Dr. Chase is a Pediatric & Urban Health Resident at Children’s Hospital in Boston, MA.

Dr. Hyman received his BA from the University of Pennsylvania in 1980 and his M.D. from the University of Vermont College of Medicine in 1984. He completed his surgical internship and residency at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, New York, and his colon and rectal fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio.

Dr. Hyman is currently Professor of Surgery, Chief of the Section of Colon and Rectal Surgery and Codirector of the Center for Digestive Diseases at the University of Chicago Medicine. He has authored more than 175 peer-reviewed original articles or textbook chapters.

Dr. Hyman serves on many regional and national committees, and is a member of numerous national organizations and societies. He has been President of the Vermont Chapter of the American College of Surgeons, Associate Editor of Diseases of the Colon and Rectum, Principle Investigator of the New England and Vermont Colorectal Cancer Quality Project, and Chairman of the Standards Committee of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons. He is Treasurer of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons and its Research Foundation, serves on the Board of Directors of the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery, is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery and Chairs the ACS Advisory Council for Colon and Rectal Surgery.

He is the recipient of many teaching awards including Clinical Teacher of the Year, University of Vermont, College of Medicine 1993/94, 1994/95 and 1997/98. He has received the Jerome S. Abrams Teaching Award in 1992/93, 1993/94 and 1997/98, the Howe Outstanding Surgery Faculty Award 2000/2001, 2004/2005, 2010/2011 and the Humanism in Medicine Award, University of Vermont, College of Medicine 2001/02. He was designated as Teacher of the Year by the Chief Surgical Residents in 1991, 2007, 2009 and 2014 at UVM, and at the University of Chicago where he received the Robert Baker Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2015.

In 2005, he delivered the Commencement Address at the UVM College of Medicine graduation, was voted as Physician of the Year by the Vermont State Medical Society in 2011, and received the Distinguished Academic Achievement Award from the Alumni Association of the University of Vermont College of Medicine in 2014.

Dr. Kelly Hynes earned her medical degree from the Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. She then went on to complete her Orthopaedic Surgery residency at the University of Ottawa in Ontario, Canada. She completed her Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Reconstruction Fellowship at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.

Her clinical interests are foot and ankle trauma surgery, adult foot deformity correction and reconstruction and Arthroscopic surgery of the Foot and ankle. She sits on several committees at a national and international level including the Canadian Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society Executive Committee, the Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society Mentoring Committee and the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society Young Physicians Committee.

At the University of Chicago, she was the Ambulatory Medical Director for Orthopaedic Surgery, Medical Director of Informatics and a core member of the Quality Committee for Orthopaedic surgery. She is interested in improving efficiency and quality of care through informatics.

Dr. Shilpa Iyer is an Assistant Professor of Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery (Urogynecology) in the department of Obstetrics & Gynecology. She first completed a joint degree in medicine and public health with a focus on epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She then completed her residency in Obstetrics & Gynecology at the combined program at Massachusetts General Hospital/ Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA. She then returned to Chicago to complete a fellowship in FPMRS at the University of Chicago before joining the faculty in July 2017. Her clinical focus is pelvic organ prolapse, overactive bladder, stress incontinence, bladder pain, fistulas, and other complex pelvic floor disorders. She often has medical students, residents, and fellows in her clinic and operating room and enjoys clinical and surgical teaching. Her research interests include the pathophysiology and treatment of overactive bladder and bladder pain as well as long term clinical outcome measures. She has presented at national and international meetings, published in urogynecology journals, and is most proud of mentoring trainees in their research endeavors.

Dr. Lindsay Jaeger is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Section of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, and the Medical Director of the Comer Children’s Emergency Room. She is also the Medical Directors of the UChicago Medicine sections of Emergency Medical Services and Disaster Preparedness. Dr. Jaeger received her medical doctorate from Tulane University School of Medicine and completed her pediatric residency training at The Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. Her post-doctoral training also included fellowships in pediatric emergency medicine and emergency medicine ultrasound at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine and an EMS fellowship at UChicago Medicine.

Dr. Jaeger presented research at several national conventions, including an EMS Telemedicine Pilot project at the National Association of EMS Physicians Annual Meeting. Much of her research experience is multidisciplinary, focusing on pediatrics as well as obstetrics, gynecology, nephrology, and cardiology, among others. Dr. Jaeger also serves on the EMS Medical Directors Consortium committee for Chicago EMS, the EMS for Children Illinois Chapter, and is the Co-Chair of a subcommittee of the National EMS for
Children. Through working with each of these organizations, her focus is on developing EMS protocols, policies, procedures on pediatric cardiac arrest and airway care, transport protocols, and education on medication administration. This focus on pediatric prehospital care reduces health disparities by addressing educational and policy gaps and barriers. As of 2023, Dr. Jaeger has joined the faculty at Emory University.

Tyrone Johnson graduated magna cum laude from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2015 with a BS in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics. He is a former coordinator of the UCLA Mobile Clinic Project, an interdisciplinary street-side free clinic that provides medical and social services to the homeless of West Los Angeles.

As a 2017 Schweitzer Fellow, Ty developed a holistic wellness curriculum for underserved and housing-insecure adults in Chicago’s Uptown. At Pritzker, Ty has served as co-director of the Maria Shelter Clinic, as a board member of the Student National Medical Association (SNMA), and as a member of the Identity & Inclusion Committee.

Under the mentorship of Dr. Lolita Alkureishi, Ty has conducted research on methods of improving patient-centered communication in the Electronic Medical Record era. He is also working with Dr. Elizabeth Tung to investigate the impact of community violence on chronic disease in Chicago’s West and South Side neighborhoods.

Dr. Johnson is a Medicine Resident at the University of California, San Francisco.

Dr. Kahn is Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Section of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, & Nutrition and is faculty at The MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics. She received her medical degree from New York University School of Medicine and completed her residency and fellowships in pediatric gastroenterology and medical ethics at the University of Chicago.

Dr. Kahn specializes in the evaluation and treatment of digestive diseases in children and adolescents. She has a particular interest in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Dr. Kahn is the founder and Director of the Transitional IBD Clinic, a unique program that provides multidisciplinary specialty care for teens and young adults with IBD. Dr. Kahn’s research focuses on novel treatments for IBD and improving patient care for patients with IBD. Specifically, she is interested on adherence, self-management, and the transition of care from pediatric to adult IBD specialists.

Dr. Kahn is a member of the faulty at Boston Children’s Hospital in Massachusetts.