Senior Faculty Scholars

Dr. Nishant Agrawal attended Rutgers College, where he graduated 1st in his class. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine where he stayed to do an Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery residency. Dr. Agrawal worked with Drs. Sol Snyder and Bert Vogelstein, two of the leading scientists of our time. He went to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center for a head and neck surgical oncology fellowship. In 2009, Dr. Agrawal joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins and was then recruited to the University of Chicago in 2015. At the University of Chicago, his clinical area of focus is head and neck surgical oncology and his research interest is in the genetics of head and neck cancers and circulating tumor DNA as a biomarker. Dr. Agrawal is nationally/internationally recognized clinician, teacher, and research with seminal findings in head and neck cancer. He is Professor of Surgery and Director of Head and Neck Surgical Oncology.

Dr Alverdy is the Sarah and Harold Lincoln Thompson Professor of Surgery and Executive Vice-Chair of Surgery at the University of Chicago. He received his surgical training at the Michael Reese Hospital/University of Chicago program and completed a trauma/critical care fellowship at the University of California San Francisco. He performs a wide variety of gastrointestinal surgery involving the upper intestinal tract and pancreas. He is funded by the NIH to study the pathogenesis of sepsis and currently runs a laboratory that studies the microbial pathogenesis of multi-pathogen sepsis. Most recently he has received an NIH grant to study the microbial basis of anastomotic leak. He is the co-PI on a T32 training grant and has trained over 30 postdoctoral fellows in his laboratory over the last 25 years. He has published over 140 original manuscripts and 20 book chapters. Dr Alverdy is a fellow of the Institute of Molecular Engineering and hold patents on novel anti-infective compounds that target virulence expression across a broad spectrum of problematic intestinal bacteria.

2013 Pilot Grant Project: Dynamic Operational Mapping – Annotation for Patient and Family Education

Dr. Seeba Anam is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience known for her contributions to mental health research and advocacy, particularly in addressing stigma and promoting cultural competency in healthcare. She is a key figure in the REACT program, which focuses on recovery after violent injury, and has been instrumental in various initiatives to combat stigma against mental health.

In 2023, Dr. Anam was elected as the Deputy Representative to the American Psychiatric Association (APA) Assembly for the Asian American Caucus, a role highlighting her leadership in addressing discrimination. She also co-authored an impactful Action Paper on anti-Asian discrimination in media, which led to the APA Communications department developing a national press kit for journalists.

Dr. Anam’s research efforts extend to the University of Chicago Center for Asian Health Equity, where she published a JAACAP review of the film “Shang-Chi” and a significant chapter on clinical concerns affecting South Asian American youth. She also led a Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois-funded study on media, mental health literacy, and stigma in diverse Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities, aiming to create culturally tailored mental health education materials.

Currently, Dr. Anam’s pioneering work explores the potential of Narrative Medicine to enhance culturally informed care, improving patient-doctor relationships in diverse communities. Her innovative approach aligns with the mission of the Bucksbaum Institute, promising significant contributions to scientific discovery and clinical practice.

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. Bree Andrews is a neonatologist who specializes in complex care after Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) graduation. She directs a complex care clinic at both the University of Chicago and Larabida Children’s Hospital. She is core-faculty in the Department of Pediatrics and a new student cohort leader in the Bucksbaum Institute Clinical Excellence Scholars Track program for undergraduates at the University of Chicago. She has mentored many medical students, residents, and fellows in their scholarly research projects.

Most recently, she has developed a web-application to use at the NICU bedside to improve parenting engagement via Preeme +You. Bree’s Preeme +You project has received Bucksbaum Pilot Grant funding. She is also the neuro-developmental lead for the MIND (the Microbiome of Infant Neuro-Development) project, a translational approach to how the microbiome impacts premature infants over time. She also studies resuscitation at the border of viability (22-23 weeks gestational age), using data around shared decision making, cost, and outcomes to inform practice.

Dr. Angelos is the Linda Kohler Anderson Professor of Surgery, Chief, Endocrine Surgery, and Associate Director, MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics. Dr. Angelos is a highly regarded surgeon who has extensive experience in surgery of the thyroid, parathyroid, and adrenal glands. He is also an expert in treating endocrine cancers, including thyroid, parathyroid, and adrenocortical cancers, as well as islet cell tumors of the pancreas.

Dr. Angelos has a special interest in minimally invasive endocrine surgery, a type of surgery that is performed through small incisions. Minimally invasive surgery has many benefits for patients—from less scarring and pain, to a shorter hospital stay and a quicker recovery.

An accomplished author, Dr. Angelos has published several journal articles and book chapters on his research into improving outcomes of thyroid and parathyroid surgery, minimally invasive endocrine surgery, and best practices for thyroid cancer treatment.

Dr. Angelos is a recognized expert in medical ethics, and serves as associate director of the University of Chicago MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics. He has written widely on ethical issues in surgical practice and how to best teach medical ethics to surgical residents.

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

Megan Applewhite, MD, MA, FACS, is a board-certified general surgeon who specializes in endocrine surgery. She is also the Associate Director of the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics. She completed her general surgery residency at the Lahey Hospital and Medical Center in Burlington, MA, and her fellowship in endocrine surgery as well as clinical medical ethics at the University of Chicago. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Chicago, she was at Albany Medical College, where she was an Associate Professor of Surgery and the John A. Balint MD Chair for Ethics Education and Research.

Dr Applewhite’s clinical practice involves the surgical treatment of benign and malignant diseases of the thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal glands. She focuses her care on engaging in personalized and thoughtful discussions with patients about quality of life and patient reported outcomes for their particular diagnosis.

Her academic interests are in both the quality of care of patients with surgical endocrinopathies, as well as in clinical medical ethics, and the intersection between patient care and bioethics. Specifically, she has an interest in healthcare in the incarcerated patient population, research ethics and informed consent, and military medical ethics.  Since 2020, she has served as a Senior Bioethics Consultant to the Department of Defense Medical Ethics Center, which is charged with the development, evaluation and implementation of a systematic Department of Defense Medical Ethics Program across the entire Military Health System/DoD.

As a dedicated colleague and teacher, Dr. Applewhite enjoys the mentoring trainees and junior faculty. She recognizes the importance of team cohesiveness and support as critical to positive culture and flourishing at work.

Dr. Agnieszka Ardelt is trained in Neurology with sub-specializations in Vascular Neurology and Neurocritical Care. She cares for critically ill patients with brain and spinal cord injuries and participates in clinical trials involving this patient population. In May 2014, Dr. Ardelt became the Director of the Neurosciences Intensive Care Unit and Co-Director of the Comprehensive Stroke Center at the University of Chicago. Her work and research recognize the need to develop comprehensive multidisciplinary and longitudinal approaches to the care of patients. Dr. Ardelt is currently enrolled in a health care MBA program. Dr. Ardelt is committed to educating patient care-providers and is interested in real-time problem solving and communication in order to improve patient outcomes. She hopes to develop a system-wide, high-quality, longitudinal (pre-hospital to post-acute care) multidisciplinary delivery of care to patients with acute catastrophic neurologic conditions.

Dr. Ardelt is now a physician at MetroHealth in Cleveland, OH.

Dr. Arora is an Associate Professor of Medicine, Assistant Dean of Scholarship & Discovery, and Director of GME Clinical Learning Environment and Innovation at the University Of Chicago Medicine. As an academic hospitalist, her work broadly focuses on evaluating educational and clinical practice innovations that aim to improve the quality, safety, and value of care delivered by trainees in teaching hospitals. Her work to improve handoffs, supervision, professionalism and teaching value have been widely used by medical educators and has resulted in over 100 peer-reviewed publications, including JAMA and Annals of Internal Medicine, and have been featured in popular press such as the New York Times, CNN, NPR, and the Associated Press. She has provided testimony to the Institute of Medicine on resident duty hours and handoffs, and has testified to Congress on the need for physician payment reform. She is Principal Investigator of an NIH R01 to evaluate the effectiveness of a peer-led social media intervention to boost interest in research careers among youth and of an NIH R25 to train hospital staff to recognize sleep disorders and improve the sleep environment for hospitalized patients.

For her work, Dr. Arora has been recognized as ACP Hospitalist magazine’s Top Hospitalist in 2009, one of “20 People Who Make Healthcare Better” by HealthLeaders Media magazine in 2011, and as a Master to the Academy of Distinguished Medical Educators at the University of Chicago. She has also been recognized both locally and nationally for her outstanding mentorship of trainees and faculty through the SGIM’s Midcareer Education Mentorship Award, and the John D Arnold Mentoring Award and the Senior Faculty Education Mentorship Award at University of Chicago Medicine. As Co-Director of the Medical Education Research, Innovation, Teaching, and Scholarship (MERITS) fellowship, she has also mentored numerous faculty and fellows in their scholarly work. An active user of social media, Dr. Arora regularly tweets about current issues facing medical education @futuredocs.

Dr. Awad is the John Harper Seeley Professor of Neurological Sciences, Professor of Surgery, Neurology and the Cancer Center and the Director of Neurovascular Surgery. Dr. Awad is widely recognized for career long contributions and special skills in Neurovascular Surgery. He has made numerous scientific contributions including the characterization of subcortical ischemic lesions in the aged, advances in the understanding of the natural history and biologic behavior of vascular malformations of the brain, and technical advances in neurovascular and epilepsy surgery. His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1998, focusing currently on molecular mechanisms of cerebral vascular malformations and their biomarkers, and minimally invasive techniques for treating hemorrhagic stroke. Awad’s innovations are changing neurosurgical practice throughout the world, and he has trained scores of neurosurgeons, some of whom are leaders of neurosurgical departments in a number of countries.