Junior Faculty Scholars

Dr. Christopher Kramer is an Assistant Professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery in the Section of Neurocritical Care. He received his medical degree from the Chicago Medical School. He then went on to pursue his Neurology residency training at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona followed by his Neurocritical Care fellowship at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota before joining the faculty at the University of Chicago in 2015.

Dr. Kramer has a passion for medical education and serves as the Neurocritical Care Fellowship Program Director and as a member of the Neurology Resident Education Committee and the Clinical Competency Committee. He is currently enrolled in the Medical Education Research, Innovation, Teaching and Scholarship (MERITS) program at the University of Chicago. Nationally, he was involved in the creation of the Essentials of Neurocritical Care, an educational endeavor for providers through the Neurocritical Care Society. He is a faculty advisor to neurology residents, is developing a simulation-based curriculum for learners of various levels and backgrounds on neurological emergencies.

His research interests include the impact of communication on providers and families in the neurocritical care unit, novel treatments for acute ischemic stroke, penetrating traumatic brain injury, prognostication after cardiac arrest, and brain death.

Nicola Orlov is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Associate Program Director for the Pediatric Residency Training Program, and Co-Clerkship Director for the Pritzker School of Medicine. She is a graduate of the Pritzker School of Medicine and where she stayed to complete her Residency Training and Chief Resident year. She completed an MPH at Columbia University and graduated from The Medical Education Research Innovation Teaching and Scholarship (MERITS) fellowship at the University of Chicago. She currently serves as the Chapter Advisor at the PSOM for the Gold Humanism Honor Society.

Dr. Orlov is a Pediatric Hospitalist. Her recent academic work has been focused on improving the sleep and health of hospitalized children. She has a strong interest in teaching communication skills and was recently award funding from the Bucksbaum Institute to support the development of an innovative curriculum that uses improvisational theatre to hone the communication skills of students. Her work will be the first to objectively measure the impact of improv on student communication, adaptability, and confidence. Whether at the bedside, in the classroom or through her research, Dr. Orlov’s passion is focused on improving medical training with the goal of improving patient experience.

Dr. Jason Strelzow is an orthopaedic trauma and upper extremity surgeon, who provides comprehensive care for patients with fractures and injuries throughout the body with a special interest in upper limb pathology.

Jason completed medical school and orthopaedic surgery training at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. He then completed additional fellowship training in Hand and Upper Extremity at the Hand and Upper Limb Center in London Ontario, Canada and a Trauma fellowship at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in Scotland in the United Kingdom.

Along with being dedicated to his clinical work, Dr. Strelzow is the Associate Residency Program Director for Orthopaedic surgery and is heavily involved in clinical research. He is currently exploring research on patient-reported outcomes related to elbow trauma, shoulder trauma, and total elbow replacements. He has an active interest in evaluating the functional outcomes around urban trauma, PTSD and urban ballistic injuries with the goal of improving patient care and returning patients to normal activity as soon as possible. Dr. Strezlow received a 2019 Bucksbaum Institute Pilot Grant with co-PI Dr. Jennifer Wolf a Senior Faculty Scholar. And, he is an associated editor for the Journal of Hand Surgery.

Dr. Lisa Cannon earned her medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. While there, she took a year to focus on narrative medicine and received a distinction in medical humanities. She also received the John J. Morton and John H. Morton Memorial Scholarship for her focus on patient care.

Dr. Cannon went on to complete her general surgery residency at New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center. She completed her colon and rectal fellowship at the University of Chicago, and stayed on as faculty. She serves on several committees for the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons. Her clinical interests include inflammatory bowel disease and benign colorectal disorders, implementing enhanced recovery pathways for the section, and prudent use of minimally invasive techniques.

Dr. Cannon has a strong interest in the patient-physician interaction and surgical quality with emphasis on safe patient handoffs and interdisciplinary team communication. She is the recipient of the Department of Surgery Excellence in Teaching Award ’16.

In 2012, Dr. Cannon joined the faculty at the University of Rochester in New York.

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.

Dr. Shellie Williams is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Section of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine. She practices and teaches housestaff both Geriatric and Palliative Medicine in the hospital, clinic, longitudinal care and home settings. She has a commitment to optimizing the care management of complex elderly patients and improving health literacy and decision making of those with acute and chronic serious illness.

Dr. Williams is a respected educator in her roles as Director of Geriatric Medicine and Palliative Medicine Education at Pritzker School of Medicine, Coleman Palliative Education Faculty, SHARE network community educator and University of Hawai’i Micronesian community educator. Dr. Williams Co-Developed a geriatric skills curriculum, which has trained over 700 Pritzker students and over 170,000 educators & students nationwide. She has also developed a palliative care communication curriculum, which is offered as a patient simulation experiential for medical students entering internship.

Dr. Williams’ current clinical research focuses on cultural influences on dementia awareness, knowledge, and care decision-making. She is a member of the University of Chicago Academy of Distinguished Medical Educators.

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. 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. De Souza participates in both clinical and outcomes research studies on malignancies of the upper aerodigestive tract, especially head and neck cancers. His research focuses on the use of novel therapeutic agents along with measurements of financial burden, patients’ preferences, and the trade-offs between the risks and benefits of cancer therapies. His research has sought to integrate outcomes research, patient preferences, health policy, and economics into clinical practice. His ultimate goal is to increase access to essential cancer therapies by providing policy makers and scientific communities with the required information on patient preferences and on barriers that lie between cancer patients and access to care.

De Souza has authored and presented papers and given lectures on head and neck malignancies, reimbursement methods in oncology, and evidence-based care. He is the principal investigator for a trial examining the role of SPECT-CT in the follow-up of patients with locally advanced head and neck cancers.

De Souza earned his MD from the University of Rio de Janeiro State. He completed his residency specializing in internal medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center in 2008 and a fellowship focusing on hematology/oncology at the University of Chicago in 2011. Dr. de Souza is currently pursuing his MBA at Booth to aid in his research about Cost Communication in Hematologic Malignancies. His ultimate goal is to increase access to essential cancer therapies by providing policy makers and scientific communities with the required information on patient preferences and on barriers that lie between cancer patients and access to care.

Dr. Jonas de Souza is now the Medical Director for Humana in Louisville, KY.

2013 Pilot Grant Project: A Pilot Program of Cost Communication in Hematologic Malignancies

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