Senior Faculty Scholars

Dr. Melanie Brown is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics with a focus on Critical Care, Palliative Care, Integrative Medicine and Clinical Medical Ethics. She is the medial director of the Comer Pediatric Comfort Team that has a primary mission of improving the quality of life of children with complex medical conditions. Dr. Brown’s research interests include a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute funded project, which examines ways to improve communication in the PICU for patients facing life-changing decisions. Dr. Brown is active in medical education and has leadership roles in the Pediatric Residency Program, the medical school, and the South Side community. She is a former Associate Program Director for the pediatric residency program, and currently is Chair of the parallel admissions committee at the Pritzker School of Medicine as well as Chair of the BSD Office of Diversity and Inclusion’s Trainee Committee. Dr. Brown is helping to develop and evaluate novel international curricula in Integrative Medicine.

Dr. Brown is now a physician at Children’s Hospital of Minneapolis in Minneapolis, MN.

Dr. Jeanne Farnan is Associate Professor of Medicine and Assistant Dean for Curricular Development and Evaluation at the Pritzker School of Medicine. She currently is leading new initiatives to perform comprehensive curricular review and adoption of competency-based medical education initiatives. Dr. Farnan is also Director of Clinical Skills Education and the Medical Director of the Clinical Performance Center. She is intimately involved with educating medical students in communication and physical examination skills throughout their time at Pritzker, as well as co-directing several well-subscribed electives which help graduating students transition to their graduate medical education training. Finally, Dr. Farnan’s scholarly interests focus on topics including professionalism and social media usage amongst physicians, communication during patient care transitions and supervision during residency training.

Dr. David Glick is a Professor in the Department of Anesthesia & Critical Care. His clinical interests include the anesthetic management of vascular, thoracic and head and neck cancer patients as well as the care of patients in the Post-Anesthesia Care Unit (for which he has been the medical director since 2002). His research interests cover a wide range of clinical questions including the feasibility of processed EEG monitoring to decrease the risk of intra-operative awareness, the incidence of and risk factors for the development of deep venous clots around the time of surgery, ways to facilitate emergence from general anesthetics in children and patients for whom English is not the first language, the value and impact of surgical quality metrics, and the optimization of awake intubation techniques. He has published widely in these areas and students and residents in his lab have presented well over 100 abstracts at national and international meetings. He has received multiple awards for teaching and research mentorship and has been a track leader/cluster group leader for the clinical research tracks of the Pritzker Summer Research Program and the Scholarship & Discovery track for many years.

Dr. Vinay Kumar is the Alice Hogge and Arthur Baer Distinguished Service Professor and former Chairman of the department of Pathology at the University of Chicago. He has made seminal contributions in the field of medical education and basic research. In 1974 his laboratory identified Natural Killer (NK) cells as a distinct population of lymphocytes with anti-tumor activities. Continuation of this work has led to discovery of NK cell receptors and the immunotherapeutic use of NK cells. He was elected to the American Association Advancement of Science for this “pioneering work on discovery of NK cells”. He is a passionate medical educator and has influenced medical education across the world for the past 35 years as the editor/author of Robbins Pathology text books. He is the senior editor of these books now in their 9th edition. Robbins Pathology is the most widely used medical text in the world with translations into 13 languages. He has served on the US National Board of medical Examiners as test writer and he recently coauthored a report on competency based education commissioned by AAMC/HHMI. He has played an active role in curricular reforms globally with special interest in his native India. He believes that technology can be a powerful democratizing force in medical education and is developing innovative ways to use technology for educating health science professionals.

Dr. Michael Lee is an accomplished orthopaedic spine surgeon who treats a broad spectrum of pathology from a simple disc herniation to complex tumor and deformity of the spinal column.

Dr Lee’s research interests are similarly broad. His oft-cited publications include shared decision-making with patients to the stability of the spine using biomechanical cadaveric models to models predicting the safety of spine surgery based on individualized patient and surgical factors. His work led to the SpineSage web model for predicting complication after spine surgery (SpineSage.com). He has presented his research internationally. He has authored 2 textbooks, chaired 4 courses, acquired several grants to support his research and has more than 80 peer-reviewed publications. He also writes a regular column in Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research focusing on patient safety.

In addition to his research accomplishments, he has been an invited speaker at several national courses teaching surgical spine techniques to other practicing spine surgeons. He serves as manuscript reviewer for several journals including Spine and The Spine Journal.

Dr. Marcangelo is a consultation-liaison psychiatrist and psychiatric educator. He joined the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience in 2008 and has served as the Director of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry ever since. In this role, he directs the psychiatric clerkship and is the director of the Human Behavior in Health and Illness course for second year Pritzker students. He has researched the use of Objective Structured Clinical Examinations in psychiatric evaluation. He is also a founding member of the Clinical Skills Initiative Taskforce for the Association of Directors of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry. In this role he has participated in the development of nearly a dozen clinical modules that are being used internationally to facilitate psychiatric education of medical students. Clinically, Dr. Marcangelo has served on the inpatient psychiatry consult service at the University of Chicago since 2008, each year providing over 500 psychiatric consultations for patients in the hospital. He has also served as the director of the transplant psychiatry program and evaluates approximately 100 transplant candidates each year. He has worked with the liver transplant team and currently works with the kidney, heart, and lung transplant teams. He also maintains an active psychotherapy practice.

In 2020, Dr. Marcangelo joined the faculty a Northwestern University.

Michael Millis, MD, Professor of Surgery at the University of Chicago since 1994 is the Chief of the Section of Transplantation and Director of the University of Chicago Transplant Center. He is certified by the American Board of Surgery in both General Surgery and Surgical Critical Care. He is an internationally renowned expert in pediatric and adult liver transplantation. Dr. Millis has pioneered new techniques of operating on the liver, and has performed more liver transplants than any other surgeon in the region. He is know for his clinical technical skills as well as developing supportive relationships with his patients and their families.

Recognized for his successful interactions with China and other resource challenged areas, lead to his appointment as Vice Chair for Global Surgery at the University of Chicago Medicine in 2015. His goal is to broaden efforts to the increasingly important emerging area of Global Surgery, coordinate and strengthen clinical, research, educational, and humanitarian efforts for faculty, trainees, and students.

Dr. Millis’s research explores the application of cellular technology to patient care. For instance, he is investigating how hepatocyte transplantation, extracorporeal assist technology and stem cells can assist in the care of patients with liver disease or liver tumors. His research interests also include health and policy ethics. He is currently engaged with former Vice Minister of Health of the People’s Republic of China and current Director of the Organ Transplant and Donor Committee, Jiefu Huang, to help improve the practice and policy of transplantation in China, which is supported by the China Medical Board. He has been instrumental in assisting China move from the use of organs from executed prisoners to a voluntary citizen based organ donation system. He has co-authored articles published in high profile journals such as Lancet with Vice Minister Huang regarding changes in transplant regulation and policy in China.

Dr. Millis has been host to dozens of physicians and scientists from China desiring clinical and scientific experience in the United States. His focus in surgical research has been clinical and translational studies aimed primarily on improving graft and patient survival suffering from liver disease. In addition he has organized multiple clinical trials in China and is also a member of Chicago’s Sister City Committee. Dr. Millis has authored or co-authored more than 100 articles in medical journals and has visited and lectured at hundreds of universities and medical centers around the world.

Dr. Olopade, a board certified internist and medical oncologist, is the Walter L. Palmer Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine and Human Genetics, Dean for Global Health and Director, Center for Clinical Cancer Genetics at The University of Chicago. Dr. Olopade earned her medical degree from the University of Ibadan College of Medicine in Nigeria. She trained in internal medicine at Cook County Hospital in Chicago and in oncology, hematology and cancer genetics at the Joint Section of Hematology and Oncology at the University of Chicago.

A leader in cancer genetics, Dr. Olopade studies familial forms of cancers, molecular mechanisms of tumor progression in high-risk individuals as well as genetic and non-genetic factors contributing to tumor progression in diverse populations. Her current laboratory research is focused on using whole genome technologies and bioinformatics to develop innovative approaches to democratize precision health care for all and thereby reduce global health disparities.

Dr. Olopade is an expert in cancer risk assessment and individualized treatment for the most aggressive forms of breast cancer based on an understanding of the altered genes in individual patients. She stresses comprehensive risk reducing strategies and prevention in high-risk populations, as well as earlier detection through advanced imaging technologies.

Dr. Olopade is an at-large member of the American Board of Internal Medicine Board of Directors. She is also an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. She has received numerous honors and awards, including honorary degrees from Bowdoin University, Princeton University, North Central College and Dominican University, Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Scientist and Exceptional Mentor Award, American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professorship, MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, Officer of the Order of the Nigeria Award, and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Freedom from Want Award. Dr. Olopade currently serves on the Board of Directors for the National Cancer Advisory Board, Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the Lyric Opera.

Dr. Helene Rubeiz is Associate Professor of Neurology and has served as the Residency Program Director since 2006. She oversees all aspects of neurology residency training at the University of Chicago. Dr. Rubeiz is a graduate of the American University of Beirut School of Medicine. She did her internship training at the Cleveland Clinic and her Neurology residency training at the University of Chicago. She joined the Neurology faculty at the University of Chicago in 1997. Dr. Rubeiz is routinely involved in supervising/teaching residents and fellows in the clinical setting. Her clinical interests are in general neurology and clinical neurophysiology, particularly electromyography.

Michael Schreiber, MD, is an expert in neonatal-perinatal medicine and pediatric critical care. He is a member of a multidisciplinary team of specialists that treats more than 1,000 premature and critically ill babies each year.

Dr. Schreiber’s research focuses on finding new and better therapies to improve the care and quality of life for premature babies. He served as the director of two important studies showing that inhaled nitric oxide reduced the risk of physical and developmental complications related to premature birth. Dr. Schreiber is also interested in ethical issues associated with neonatal and pediatric intensive care.

A popular teacher and speaker, Dr. Schreiber has lectured at universities, hospitals and medical meetings around the world. He is an author on more than two hundred scientific reports. In addition, he serves as an ad hoc reviewer for many medical publications including the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Journal of Perinatology, Pediatric Research, Journal of Pediatrics, and the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.