Junior Faculty Scholars

Dr. Lyon’s academic interests encompass global health, human rights scholarship and advocacy, social medicine, prisoner health, and medical education. He has collaborated with Partners In Health [www.pih.org] in Haiti and at other sites for more than 18 years. He has been extensively involved in physician, nurse, and community health worker training for more than a decade. He is on the board of the Human Rights Program at the University of Chicago and teaches health and human rights at the College Dr. Lyon is the lead faculty on a University of Chicago Delhi Center funded project to advance “Rights-based Approaches to Tuberculosis” in collaboration with the Law School. Dr. Lyon is the lead faculty for the Global Hospital Medicine Fellowship at the University of Chicago, with fellows now working between Chicago and Haiti, Rwanda, and China.

Closer to home, Dr. Lyon is a primary care and hospital medicine physician in the University of Chicago Comprehensive Care Program. Continuing “global health at home,” Dr. Lyon delivers home-based primary care on the South Side of Chicago providing continuity between house calls and the hospital. Third year Pritzker students are now accompanying Dr. Lyon to learn from house calls during their core Family Medicine Clerkship.

In 2020, Dr. Lyon joined Partners in Health.

In 2016, Dr. Lyon joined the faculty at Heartland Alliance in Chicago, IL.

Dr. Dejan Micic earned his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. He completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Michigan where he received the Laurie Edmunds Award for his service as an intern. He completed his subspecialty training in gastroenterology at the University of Chicago where he received the Gastrointestinal Research Foundation (GIRF) fellows research award. Dr. Micic completed additional training in Clinical Nutrition at Northwestern University before returning to the University of Chicago to join the faculty in the Section of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition.

His clinical interests include the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and the management of gastrointestinal conditions that result in nutritional disorders, such as short bowel syndrome and celiac disease.

His broad research interests include studying how patients respond to medical therapies in IBD and predicting their health outcomes. He is also active in IBD and nutrition related translational research studies. His interests in nutrition include the management of parenteral nutrition, identification of malnutrition and nutrition education.

Dr. Micic has a strong clinical and educational interest in improving the quality and management of patients requiring nutritional support.

Parth Modi is an Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Section of Urology and is a specialist in the management of urologic cancers, especially bladder and prostate cancer.

Dr. Modi attended medical school at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and received his MD in 2011. He completed Urology residency at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in 2017. He subsequently went on to complete Urologic Oncology fellowship training and an MS degree in Health and Health Care Research at the University of Michigan before joining the faculty at the University of Chicago in 2020.

His research is focused on improving the delivery of health care by informing payment and workforce policy. As a Bucksbaum Scholar, he is studying how to optimize the training and utilization of nurse practitioners and physician assistants in the context of surgical care. In addition to his clinical practice and research, Dr. Modi is a faculty member of the MacLean Center for clinical medical ethics with interests in financial conflicts of interest, informed consent, and the ethical implications of health care policy.

Dr. Neethi Pinto received her Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy from Stanford University. She completed the Jane Addams fellowship in Philanthropy and directed an enrichment program for at risk youth before returning to Stanford for medical school. In 2001, she came to The University of Chicago where she completed a pediatric residency, chief residency, critical care fellowship and a Masters of Science in Health Studies and then joined the faculty. Dr. Pinto cares for patients in the pediatric ICU and on the Pediatric Sedation Service. She serves as a resident faculty advisor and directs a monthly journal club. She has established an evidence based medicine curriculum for pediatrics. She leads a cohort of undergraduate students in the Bucksbaum Institute Clinical Excellence Scholars track. Dr. Pinto’s research interests focus on the long-term outcomes of children who survive critical illness.

Dr. Pinto was appointed as a Senior Faculty Scholar in 2018.

In 2019, Dr. Pinto joined the faculty at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania.

Dr. Saunders is an Assistant Professor in the Section of General Internal Medicine. Since coming to the University of Chicago, she has completed a combined internal medicine-pediatrics residency, a research fellowship in hospital medicine, clinical medical ethics fellowship at the MacLean Center and medical education (MERITS). In addition to her clinical work in GIM, she serves as the Research Subject Advocate for the Institute of Translational Medicine and the University’s Living Donor Advocate Physician where she works with potential living donors to make sure they have the appropriate medical and psychosocial evaluation as well as a full understanding of the risks of living donation. Dr. Saunders’ research focuses on reducing disparities and improving the quality of care received by patients with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD). She is currently NIH-funded to develop and test an educational module for hospitalized patients with advanced CKD in order to increase their knowledge about and preparation for renal replacement therapy. She is also the Assistant Dean of Multicultural Affairs at the Pritzker School of Medicine.

Dr. Benjamin Shogan is an Assistant Professor of Surgery within the division of colon and rectal surgery. After completing medical school at New Jersey Medical School, he completed general surgery residency at the University of Chicago followed by a colon and rectal fellowship at the Mayo Clinic. Dr. Shogan treats all colorectal diseases with a particular expertise and interest in colorectal cancer.

In addition to being a busy clinician, Dr. Shogan runs an active NIH funded clinical, translational, and basic research program trying to improve the outcomes in patients with colorectal malignancies. His research focuses on how gut bacteria can be manipulated to decrease the cancer recurrence and the morbidity of surgery. He also has a passion for education and mentorship, mentoring the many medical students, residents, and fellows that rotate through surgical services and the research laboratory.

Sarah Shubeck, MD, MS, is a breast surgical oncologist who specializes in the care of patients with benign breast conditions and breast cancer. In addition to Dr. Shubeck’s commitment to her clinical practice, she is also passionate about using research to improve healthcare. Some of her research has included studying the value, variation and quality of surgical care. Dr. Shubeck’s research interests are focused on understanding current cancer care delivery and the development and implementation of evidence-based health care policy that can promote equitable outcomes experienced by individuals with breast cancer and beyond.

Dr. Olórtegui was born in Poland. She grew up in the countryside outside of Chicago, and eventually moved to the big city.  She received her B.S. From the University of Chicago in 2009, followed by her M.D. from the UChicago Pritzker School of Medicine in 2012. She stayed at UChicago for residency and fellowship, and recently joined the Department of Surgery, Section of Colon and Rectal Surgery as an Assistant Professor. She completed the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics Fellowship in 2016, and now serves as faculty at the MacLean Center.

Dr. Olórtegui’s clinical interest is in the care of patients with diseases of the colon, rectum, and anus, especially inflammatory bowel disease. She is also passionate about improving the quality of surgical care. Dr. Olórtegui is launching the University of Chicago colorectal surgery clinical outcomes database, and is actively collaborating with researchers at other major academic centers in order to improve our understanding of the intricacies of colorectal diseases, surgeries and their outcomes.

In working with trainees, Dr. Olórtegui developed a special interest in teaching and mentorship. During her training, Dr. Olórtegui was honored with the Hans Frimpong Spirit in Surgery Award, as well as the Golden Apple Teaching Award. She was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society by the graduating Pritzker School of Medicine Class of 2019. In her first year as faculty, she was awarded an Excellence in Teaching Award from the Department of Surgery. Dr. Olórtegui is interested in developing a formal curriculum for teaching professionalism to budding surgeons.

Dr. Sarah Sobotka is Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Section of Developmental and Behavioral (DBP) Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics and Medical Director of the Comer Outpatient DBP Program.

Dr. Sobotka received her medical degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and Master of Science for Clinical Professionals from the Department of Public Health Sciences. She completed residency training in Pediatrics at Northwestern University/Lurie Children’s Hospital and subspecialty DBP Training at the University of Chicago. Since 2017 Dr. Sobotka has served as Associate Director of the IL Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (IL-LEND) Program, which provides long-term, graduate-level interdisciplinary training to improve the health and well-being of individuals with disabilities.

Dr. Sobotka is currently funded by the NICHD for a project utilizing mixed methods to study children with invasive home mechanical ventilator assistance and to describe patient, family, and healthcare system factors which influence long hospitalizations and readmissions. Dr. Sobotka is interested in developing interventions for children at risk for severe neurodevelopmental disabilities, particularly those who have survived critical illness, to reach their developmental potentials.

Dr. Stepan is an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in hand and upper extremity surgery. He has specific clinical expertise in treating in brachial plexus and complex nerve injuries. For patients with these life altering injuries, he has started a multi-disciplinary brachial plexus and complex nerve injury clinic at the University of Chicago.

His research interests include understanding how social determinants of health affect outcomes in hand surgery and creating a better understanding and treatment pathway for ballistic upper extremity trauma, specifically nerve injury. He also has partnered with Community Health to provide hand care and surgery for uninsured patients.

Prior to arriving in Chicago, Dr. Stepan graduated from St. John’s University where he played Division I soccer. He then earned an MD and Masters of Science in Clinical Investigation while completing his NIH TL1 Pre-doctoral grant at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. After medical school he completed an orthopedic surgery residency at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York followed by a hand and microvascular surgery fellowship at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.