Associate Junior Faculty Scholars

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

Diana Mitchell, M.D. is an Instructor of Pediatric Critical Care. She cares for critically ill patients in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

Dr. Mitchell received a Bachelor of Arts in History from Indiana University. She worked for several years as a youth education director for AmeriCorps in Denver, Colorado before entering medical school at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. Dedicated to working with children from the Southside of Chicago, Dr. Mitchell completed her Pediatric residency, Chief Residency, and subspecialty training in Pediatric Critical Care at The University of Chicago.

Dr. Mitchell’s research interest focuses on multidisciplinary medical education using medical simulation. Simulation based training uses high fidelity computerized mannequins to train members of the pediatric critical care team. Dr. Mitchell implemented and currently runs a curriculum for pediatric residents and nurses that focuses on caring for a critically ill pediatric patient. The goal of this curriculum is to train all members of the medical team to provide competent and compassionate care to the most critically ill children.

2012 Pilot Grant Project (joint project with Dr. Alisa McQueen): Communications During Pediatric Resuscitation

Dr. Mitchell practices at Advocate Children’s Medical Group in Illinois.

Lolita (Maria) Alkureishi, MD, is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics, in the Section of Academic Pediatrics. Following her residency at UCSF, Dr. Alkureishi served as the Pediatric Medical Director for the San Mateo County Keller Center for Family Violence Intervention. Since joining the University of Chicago as faculty in 2011, she has continued her commitment to caring for underserved children and her outpatient clinical time is based at the Friend Family Health Center Pulaski location, a Federally Qualified Health Clinic which serves primarily underserved Spanish-speaking patients. Dr. Alkureishi has a particular interest in advocating for and developing curricula to improve patient-centered technology use in order to enhance, rather than compete with, communication and the patient-doctor relationship and she has received a number of awards and grants in recognition of her work.

Dr. Alkureishi also serves as the Clerkship Director for Pediatrics, and oversees all fourth year sub-internships and electives within the Department. Dr. Alkureishi is a Fellow of the Academy of Distinguished Medical Educators and was a recipient of the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award, the Richard M. Rothberg Faculty Award for Excellence in Patient Care and Resident Education, and was an AOA Faculty Inductee.