Alumni Scholars

William A. McDade, MD, PhD, specializes in obstetrical anesthesiology, as well as the treatment of sickle cell disease. He works extensively to reduce cultural disparities in medicine and to help patients who have limited access to health services.

Dedicated to increasing opportunities for underrepresented minorities in higher education, Dr. McDade serves as the director of three Pritzker Pipeline Programs designed to introduce local high school and undergraduate students to research and clinical medicine with the aim of helping them develop careers in the biomedical sciences. He also leads two additional pipeline programs for the University that are designed to increase diversity in the professoriate. In 2005, Dr. McDade founded the James E. Bowman Society — an academic medicine mentoring society that provides support for the advancement of minority individuals. He now serves as a Deputy Provost for the University where he focuses on enhancing campus diversity among the faculty.

Dr. McDade has mentored students in his lab, where his work focuses on the biochemistry of sickle cell disease. Early in his career, he established a relationship between the use of nitric oxide and its ability to break down sickle fibers within red blood cells. He currently is the primary investigator of a National Health Lung Blood Institute research training grant that brings students into the lab while simultaneously teaching ethics and scientific literature skills. An active member of the sickle cell community, Dr. McDade serves on the National Institutes of Health Sickle Cell Disease Advisory Committee.

Dr. McDade is also a leader in medical education where he is a member of the American Medical Association’s Council on Medical Education. He is also a director for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Dr. McDade has held many leadership roles at the University of Chicago, previously serving as Associate Dean for Multicultural Affairs in the Pritzker School of Medicine.

Dr. McDade has been a past president for the Chicago Medical Society, the Cook County Physicians Association, the Prairie State Medical Society, and the Chicago Society of Anesthesiologists. He represents the American Society of Anesthesiologists in the AMA House of Delegates and currently serves as the Vice-President of the Illinois State Medical Society.

In 2016, Dr. McDade became the Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer of the Ochsner Health System in New Orleans, LA.

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.

Monica Vela, MD is an Associate Professor of Medicine and the Associate Dean for Multicultural Affairs at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. Since joining the University of Chicago faculty in the Department of Medicine in 1997, Dr. Vela has established herself as a leader in scholarship and education related to health care disparities and diversity in medicine.

Dr. Vela is actively involved in teaching of both medical students and medical house staff. She serves as the Course Director of the Clinical Skills Teaching module for the Pritzker School of Medicine. And in 2006, Dr. Vela piloted and implemented an innovative new curriculum in health care disparities, which has become an important feature of the curriculum at the Pritzker School of Medicine. Her work has been presented nationally and published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine and has gained broad attention as it is one of the few required courses on health care disparities among American medical schools.

Dr. Vela serves as Chair of the national Society of General Internal Medicine’s Disparities Education Task Force. Her other interests include issues of medical professionalism and the doctor-patient relationship. At the University of Chicago, Dr. Vela plays an active role in the recruitment and support of students underrepresented in medicine. She is also meaningfully engaged in a similar role as the Vice Chair for Diversity in the Department of Medicine.

In 2021, Dr. Vela joined the faculty at the University of Illinois College of Medicine.

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

Sarah Collins, MD, is a specialist in urogynecology. In the Center for Pelvic Health, Dr. Collins works with a multidisciplinary team of experts dedicated to helping patients overcome physical, social and emotional challenges associated with pelvic floor disorders.

Dr. Collins is skilled in open, robotic, laparoscopic, and vaginal surgical techniques. In her research studies, she has investigated ways in which treatment for pelvic floor disorders affect quality of life.

2013 Pilot Grant Project: Predictors of satisfaction with surgical decision-making in elderly women undergoing gynecologic surgery

As of 2016, Dr. Collins joined the faculty at Northwestern University in Chicago, IL.

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.

Pamela McShane, MD, is a skilled lung specialist with particular expertise in the treatment and study of bronchiectasis.Dr. McShane’s research interests include the origin, microbiology, and treatment of bronchiectasis. She developed a large registry of patients who have bronchiectasis in order to learn more about the natural history of this disease, and to provide opportunities for patients to participate in research trials. Dr. McShane is also investigating the roles of individual factors — such as immune deficiency, autoimmunity, and ethnicity — in the cause and natural history of bronchiectasis.

In 2019, Dr. McShane joined the faculty at the University of Texas Health East Texas in Tyler, TX.

Yasmin Sacro is an outstanding junior clinician-educator who’s been named as a Core Faculty member for the University of Chicago Internal Medicine residency program, based on her superior clinical skills and teaching abilities. She sees a high volume of adult primary care patients and is known by patients as an outstanding clinician. Yasmin teaches residents in the Primary Care Group and also at Community Health — the community-based free clinic, where she’s taking the lead on developing curriculum for residents about providing care in this underserved and very challenging setting.

As of 2015, Dr. Sacro is a physician at Denver Health in Colorado.

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.

Dr. Culbertson is a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Vice Chairman of Clinical Affairs. Dr. Culbertson is an expert in the diagnosis and treatment of urogynecologic conditions, including: urinary incontinence; prolapse of the vagina, bladder and/or uterus; and other disorders of the pelvic floor. She specializes in vaginal and minimally invasive surgical treatment of urinary incontinence and prolapse, including robotic surgery. She is part of an interdisciplinary care team in the Center for Pelvic Health.

Dr. Culbertson often lectures on the surgical treatment of urinary incontinence and prolapse at universities and scientific meetings. She has been recognized for outstanding resident teaching and has won the Golden Apple Award for teaching excellence three times at the University of Chicago. Dr. Culbertson is actively involved in increasing public awareness of female pelvic floor disorders through her work with the American Urogynecologic Society.

2013 Pilot Grant Project: Predictors of satisfaction with surgical decision-making in elderly women undergoing gynecologic surgery

Dr. Culbertson is now a physician at Geisinger Caring in Danville, PA.