Associate Junior Faculty Scholars

Dr. Kelly Nelson Kelly is an Assistant Professor in the Section of Neonatology at The University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital. After attending The University of Notre Dame for her undergraduate degree, Dr. Kelly completed medical school at Loyola University Chicago, and then went on to complete her residency and fellowship at The University of Chicago. Since finishing her training, Dr. Kelly has been working in the Comer Children’s Hospital NICU as an attending neonatologist. Her additional interests include prenatal counseling through the Fetal and Neonatal Care Center (FNCC) as well as participation in the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics.

Dr. Nicole Leong is an Assistant Professor in the Section of General Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Chicago. After attending Stanford University for her undergraduate degree, Dr. Leong completed medical school at Northwestern University and residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Chicago. Immediately after residency, she joined the faculty at the University of Chicago where she cares for women through all stages of their reproductive health from adolescence to menopause. She has a special interest in female pelvic pain and is currently developing a comprehensive program of clinical care for women with this common but undertreated condition.

In addition, Dr. Leong is also dedicated to resident education, serving as director of the obstetrics and gynecology intern seminar series. In this role, she plans the curriculum, provides learning opportunities, and serves as a mentor for first-year residents in obstetrics and gynecology. She was awarded the Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Resident Teaching in 2015 and again in 2018.

Peter H. O’Donnell, MD, specializes in the treatment of genitourinary malignancies, including prostate, kidney, and testicular cancers — with particular expertise in bladder cancer.

Dr. O’Donnell is a well-published researcher with advanced training in pharmacology and pharmacogenomics (the study of genetic traits that cause differences between patients in drug responses and side-effects). He has an interest in the study of individualized care, which involves considering each patient’s genetic profile when determining chemotherapy and other therapeutic decisions. Dr. O’Donnell has several ongoing research projects. Currently, he is investigating how genetic factors affect chemotherapy drug outcomes — specifically for patients receiving the widely used chemotherapy drugs cisplatin and capecitabine, and for patients receiving chemotherapy as part of their treatment for bladder cancer.

Additionally, Dr. O’Donnell serves as principal investigator of the “1200 Patients Project,” a clinical study operated through the Center for Personalized Therapeutics at the University of Chicago. In this role, he leads an initiative exploring the possibility and benefit of incorporating broad pharmacogenomic testing into routine clinical practice for patients with any type of disease.

Dr. O’Donnell is also a member of the University of Chicago Committee on Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacogenomics. This committee aims to expand the educational mission of conducting research and training the next generation of scientists in clinical pharmacology, principles of therapeutics, molecular pharmacology, and pharmacogenomics.

2012 Pilot Grant Project: The 1200 Patients Project

Zainab Obaidi is a clinical academic nephrologist and assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago. She earned her medical degree from the University of Sharjah in 2011 then completed her internal medicine residency at Southern Illinois University in 2018. She then pursued an academic hospitalist fellowship at Johns Hopkins followed by a 2-year fellowship in nephrology yat the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Her academic work has been focused on clinical excellence and bedside teaching and clinical interest in thrombotic microangiopathies and glomerular diseases.

She enjoys teaching and has been recognized for her teaching skills among residents and fellows by winning several teaching awards. Her other interests include advocating for awareness of kidney disease and is the leader of the UChicago Kidney Club.

Dr. Nathan Olson is an accomplished Emergency Medicine physician and educator. He currently holds the position of Assistant Professor in the Section of Emergency Medicine at the University of Chicago Medicine. Dr. Olson his Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology from the University of California, San Diego earned his medical degree from Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia.

Following his medical education, Dr. Olson completed his residency training in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. During his residency, he received the Education College Award for Best Procedure Teacher two years in a row. Dr. Olson is an expert in simulation education and held the title of Simulation Program Director for the Emergency Medicine Residency at the San Antonio Military Medical Center. He also served as the Emergency Medicine Clerkship Simulation Director and was responsible for implementing simulation-based training for the residency program.

Currently, Dr. Olson serves as the Simulation Education Director for the Emergency Medicine Residency at the University of Chicago. He has been actively involved in research and has published several peer-reviewed articles in medical journals. His research focuses on topics such as emergency medicine resident grit, non-cognitive characteristics, and wellness curriculum development.

Dr. Olson’s commitment to professional development is evident through his active membership in professional societies such as the American College of Emergency Physicians and the American Academy of Emergency Medicine. He has also received numerous awards and honors, including the Outstanding Emergency Medicine Faculty Educator Award from the University of Chicago.

In addition to his academic and research contributions, Dr. Olson remains actively involved in clinical practice. He currently works as an Emergency Medicine physician at the University of Chicago, where he provides clinical care and mentors residents.

Outside of his professional responsibilities, Dr. Olson has contributed to the field through invited speaking engagements, both nationally and regionally. He has presented on topics such as simulation education, wellness interventions, and resuscitation techniques.

Dr. Olson’s dedication to teaching extends beyond his own institutions. He has been involved in teaching and mentoring medical students, residents, and fellows throughout his career. He has served as a course director, facilitator, and instructor for various educational programs, including simulation sessions, procedural training, and clinical shifts.

Dr. Nathan Olson is a highly accomplished and respected Emergency Medicine physician and educator. His expertise in simulation education, commitment to research, and passion for teaching have made him a valuable asset to the medical community and the community of UChicago Medicine.

Sonia Oyola, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Family Medicine and currently serves as the Medical Education Director, Clerkship Director and co-director of the Culinary Medicine Programs for the University of Chicago’s Department of Family Medicine. Dr. Oyola earned her MD from the University of Illinois, College of Medicine at Chicago in 1997 before pursuing her residency in Family Medicine at John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County. She is an Andrew Weil Integrative Medicine Fellow and has Homeopathy Certification through the Center for Education and Development of Homeopathy. Her clinical practice is at Heartland Health Centers where she provides Primary Integrative Family Medicine and Integrative Medicine Consults. For her work to promote, trauma-informed care, social justice and challenge inequities in health and health care, Dr. Oyola was recently selected as an awardee from the Health & Medicine Policy Research Group, and has been identified by Pritzker students to receive the Arnold P. Gold Foundation’s Leonard Tow Award, a nomination for the AAMC Humanism in Medicine Award and most recently, been inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha (AΩA) Honor Medical Society AΩA Society. Additionally, Dr. Oyola is the Founder and President of the Chicago domestic violence non-profit, Be Alright, since 2009.

Dr. Patel is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Associate Program Director of the Pulmonary/Critical Care Fellowship Program. As an academic clinical trialist, she specializes in complex multidisciplinary interventions aimed at improving outcomes in patients with respiratory failure. Her overall hypothesis is that many ICU complications are perpetuated by current standard care practices and that choosing mobility over immobility, mental animation over sedation, and spontaneous versus controlled respiration will improve outcomes. Her research career is built on this “less is more” approach to inform investigational trials that rely on collaborative team building, innovation, and program development. This approach has inspired her investigations of early mobilization in mechanically ventilated patients and helmet ventilation in ARDS, which was recognized as among the top three clinical research achievements of 2016 by the Clinical Research Forum and referenced internationally to guide COVID-19 pandemic response. Her efforts and commitment to medical education has also been recognized in teaching awards from the University of Chicago Internal Medicine Residency.

Dr. Pritesh Patel is an Assistant Professor of Radiology with specialization in Abdominal and Pelvic Imaging. He joined the University of Chicago in 2014 after completing an Abdominal Imaging fellowship at Harvard University’s Massachusetts General Hospital.

He is actively involved in medical student, resident, and fellow education and serves as the Director of Quality Improvement and Patient Safety for the department of Radiology.

His research interests are centered in leveraging new and existing technology, including artificial intelligence, to improve the quality of patient care and educational content. Given his passion for quality improvement, he is currently working on projects to significantly reduce error rates in oncologic imaging, reduce IV contrast dosage on patients with renal insufficiency, reduce radiation dose by utilizing spectral CT over conventional CT, and appropriately triaging patient for STAT imaging studies in collaboration with the department of Internal Medicine. Other research interests include prostate, liver, and gynecologic imaging.

Most recent publication topics include prostate MRI and the use of natural language processing in radiology reports. Dr. Patel has also presented numerous educational exhibits at major radiologic conferences, and been an invited lecturer to international conferences.

Tiffany Patton, MD is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Pediatrics, Section of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition. She completed her training in Pediatrics at John H. Stroger, Jr Hospital of Cook County, where she also served as chief resident. Dr. Patton completed her fellowship in Pediatric Gastroenterology at the University of Chicago before joining as faculty.

Her clinical interests include eosinophilic gastrointestinal disease, non-IgE food allergies, abdominal pain, inflammatory bowel disease, constipation, nutritional deficiencies, and fecal microbiota transplantation. Dr. Patton is committed to medical education, serving as the Pediatric Gastroenterology clerkship director for medical students, faculty mentor for pediatric residents, and a member of the scholarship oversight committee for Pediatric Gastroenterology fellows.

Her research interests include eosinophilic gastrointestinal disease, intestinal microbiome, and fecal microbiota transplantation. Specifically, she is focused on early life risk factors contributing to alterations of gut bacterial populations and how this effects development of gastrointestinal diseases. Dr. Patton serves on several national committees focused on promoting patient knowledge and scientific advancement in these fields. She is the author of several book chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles.

Dr. Perez-Gutierrez is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery, specializing in kidney and liver transplantation.

Dr. Perez-Gutierrez received her medical degree from the University of Veracruz in Mexico, where she graduated summa cum laude. She then completed her General Surgery residency at the National Institute of Medical Science and Nutrition in Mexico City.

Dr. Perez-Gutierrez then spent three years at the Thomas Starzl Transplantation Institute at the University of Pittsburgh performing translational research, focusing on tolerance induction models using cell immune therapy.

She completed an abdominal transplant fellowship and pancreatic islet transplantation fellowship at the University of Chicago and has played an important role in the clinical growth of the Abdominal Transplant Program.

Due to her experience in pediatric transplant surgery acquired during her fellowship, Dr. Perez-Gutierrez is the primary pediatric kidney transplant surgeon at the University of Chicago.

As a Spanish-speaking transplant surgeon, Dr. Perez-Gutierrez is dedicated to helping Hispanic patients and their families who seek the highest-quality transplant care, and she is part of the newly established Hispanic Transplant Program. Her academic work has focused on transplant outcomes and biomarkers. Dr. Perez-Gutierrez has been instrumental in the development of the biorepository of the University of Chicago Transplantation Institute, which has the goal of fostering transplant research and collaborations. At the same time, she continues her own translational efforts, which are demonstrated in her multiple peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals.