Senior Faculty Scholars

(1945-2013)

Dr. Joel Schwab was a Professor of Pediatrics. Dr. Schwab graduated from the University of Michigan in 1967 and received his MD degree from New York Medical College in 1971. He completed his pediatric residency at Northwestern University’s Children’s Memorial Hospital and was an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern until 1986 when he came to the University of Chicago. Dr. Schwab maintained a private pediatric practice, the Child Life Center, until 1996. For nine years, Dr. Schwab served as co-director of the Pediatric Clerkship. His outstanding teaching and contributions to humanism in medicine earned him numerous awards and accolades. He was selected as an honoree in the Pritzker School of Medicine’s class composite photograph for nine consecutive years. In 1998 he received the Faculty Teaching Award from the Faculty Dean of Medical Education and was voted Teacher of the Year by Pediatric Residents. In 2002, the Pritzker School of Medicine students nominated him for the American Association of Medical Colleges Humanism in Medicine Award. He also received the Pritzker School of Medicine Outstanding Clinical Teaching Award and the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award in 2006.

Dr. Schwab’s dedication to medical education spanned the medical career spectrum to include both medical students and undergraduate students. In addition to serving on the Pritzker School of Medicine’s Admissions Committee and Committee on Promotions, for ten years, he was the Faculty Director of the Health Professions Advising Office at the University of Chicago Collegiate Division. And in honor of Dr. Schwab’s contributions to medical education, the Clinical Excellence Track program “On Being a Doctor” has been renamed “The Joel Schwab, M.D. Program On Being a Doctor.”

Joel Schwab, Doctor and Mentor

Dr. Mindy Schwartz is the co-recipient of this years Faculty Physician Peer Role Model Award. Dr. Schwartz joined the faculty in 1987 as a faculty in the Primary Care Group, and has held a faculty position in the Section of General Internal medicine. She has maintained a busy clinical practice in addition to holding a variety of positions in the medical school and in the internal medicine residency program. Dr. Schwartz has been an award-winning teacher and was elected in 2010 as a Master of the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine Academy of Distinguished Medical Educators. Over the past 10 year she has studied and taught medical history to the medical students and to internal medicine residents. In May 2014, she was the local arrangements chair for the national organization of medical historians – the American Association for the History of Medicine.

In addition to her current academic interests, she has taught Nutrition in Health and disease in the Pritzker School of Medicine from 2001-9.

Dr. Schwartz currently serves as one of the medical school advisors- serving along with Brian Callender as the head of the Coggeshall Society. She also serves as the, Chapter advisor for the Gold Humanism Honor Society and she was Former Associate Program Director and Chair of the Internship Selection Committee for the Department of Medicine from 1994-2004.

Dr. Sonali Smith is an expert in the care and treatment of adults with all types of Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. She has a special interest in new agents for lymphoma, as well as stem cell transplantation and its role in improving the survival of patients with relapsed lymphomas.

An active researcher, Dr. Smith is involved in the development of promising agents for patients with non-Hodgkin and Hodgkin lymphoma. She is principal investigator on a number of innovative clinical trials. Many of the trials incorporate the collection of tumor and blood samples to study the effects of treatment on cancer cells through collaborative laboratories.

Dr. Smith frequently lectures to both physicians and patient groups on these topics. She serves on several national committees charged with improving treatment options for patients with lymphoma, providing physician education, and providing reliable information for patients through established websites. Dr. Smith also frequently performs peer reviews of research being considered for publication in major medical journals. Additionally, she has won several teaching awards at the University of Chicago.

David H. Song, MD, is an internationally recognized expert in plastic surgery with additional training in reconstructive microsurgery. He specializes in breast reconstruction and oncoplastic surgery—a combination of lumpectomy and reconstructive techniques.

Dr. Song is well recognized for his extensive experience with perforator breast reconstruction procedures, including deep inferior epigastric perforator flap (DIEP), superior gluteal artery perforator flap (SGAP), superficial inferior epigastric artery flap (SIEA), thoracodorsal artery perforator flap (TAP). He is also skilled in the use of acellular dermal matrix (AlloDerm) in implant breast reconstruction and in the reconstruction of abdominal wall defects. Additionally, Dr. Song has pioneered several techniques for the repair and reconstruction of chest wall defects. His research interests focus on outcome improvement in lumpectomy and mastectomy reconstruction. He is involved in several clinical trials exploring advancements in these procedures. In 2008, he received the Arthur G. Michel Clinician of the Year award from the Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization.

In addition, Dr. Song serves on the board of Medical Aid for Children of Latin America (MACLA), an organization that provides free surgical care for children with congenital deformities in the Dominican Republic. He is a fellow in the American College of Surgeons, and past president of the Chicago Society of Plastic Surgeons. Dr. Song is also a past board member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) and the Association of Academic Chairmen of Plastic Surgery (AACPS).

Dr. Song received an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, which further equips him to advance healthcare delivery, particularly in the areas of breast cancer awareness, treatment and prevention.

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

Dr. Song is now head of plastic surgery at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

Dr. Spitz is the Residency Training Director and Education Mission Director for the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience. She has been a national leader in psychiatric education, serving as President of the Association for Academic Psychiatry, and in educational leadership positions on the program committee of the American Psychiatric Association, and within AADPRT, the Psychiatry Training Directors’ Association. Her clinical interests include the treatment of refractory bipolar and unipolar affective disorders, management of psychiatric disorders in pregnancy, and in psychodynamic psychotherapy. She teaches courses on psychotherapy and on educational methodology for residents, and has received numerous teaching awards.

Dr. Spitz obtained her medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania and completed her residency training and fellowship in inpatient psychiatry at the University of Chicago. She was Residency Training Director and Director of the Inpatient Service at Tufts-New England Medical Center, and spent three years in Norwich, England as a Consultant Psychiatrist for the National Health Service, where she led the Psychiatry Service in Norwich and redesigned the delivery of psychiatric services for that city’s population of 170,000 adults. She is interested in the impediments to delivery of psychiatric services, and a supporter of a single payer system of care.

Dr. Sarah Stein is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics in the Department of Medicine, Section of Dermatology, where she is the Director of Pediatric Dermatology. She is an expert in the diagnosis and management of childhood skin diseases, including dermatitides, pigmentary disorders, birthmarks, vascular anomalies, disorders of hair and nails, infectious skin conditions, and cutaneous manifestations of internal diseases.

Dr. Stein has a special interest in the presentation of skin disease in children of color. She is a member of the Pediatric Dermatology Research Alliance and collaborates on research initiatives to better characterize and manage pediatric skin disorders.

Dr. Stein is the Dermatology Residency Program Director and has developed initiatives to improve resident continuity of care experiences and adoption of the milestone evaluation process. She is a fellow in the Academy of Distinguished Medical Educators and she has received the Department of Medicine’s Excellence in Education and Clinical Care Award and the Department’s Postgraduate Teaching Award.

Dr. Scott Stern is Professor of Medicine and Assistant Dean for Technology at the University of Chicago.

Dr. Stern is Co-Director of the Clinical Pathophysiology and Therapeutics, one of the most highly regarded courses in the Pritzker curriculum. Dr. Stern served as Co-Director of the Junior Clerkship in Internal Medicine from 1995-2013. Drawing upon his experiences as clerkship director, Dr. Stern served as the lead author of the textbook, Symptom to Diagnosis: An Evidence Based Guide, now in its 3rd edition.

Dr. Stern’s teaching has been recognized with numerous honors, including twelve-time receipt of a “Favorite Faculty Award”, three time recipient of The Robert and Susan Doroghazi Clinical Teaching Award for outstanding clinical teaching and two-time recipient of the Larry Wood Award for “selfless, tireless, and excellent teaching of medical students.” Dr. Stern was named as one of the six inaugural members of the University of Chicago Academy of Distinguished Medical Educators.

Dr. Christopher Straus M.D. is a board certified radiologist with special interest in musculoskeletal and interventional radiology. He attended the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago and then completed his residency and fellowship training at the same institution. He now practices as an Associate Professor in the Department of Radiology. He initially incorporated an administrative interest when first hired when his first chair asked him to preserve his general radiology skills and assist in meeting the more broad departmental needs by interpreting images in numerous departmental subspecialties beyond his initial post graduate training in IR. This more global outlook has led to administrative leadership positions, serving concomitantly as Radiology Medical Director of patient services, Associate Medical Director of Radiology Operations and as the Director of Student Education.

Recently efforts have been concentrated in the realm of education and expanding the role as Radiology Director of education by serving on various committees and task forces, including the invitation to serve on the board of the Alliance of Medical Student Educators in Radiology (AMSER) and board of the Association of University Radiologists (AUR). The radiology department’s role in basic education of medical students has increased significantly with efforts to change how medical imaging is not only taught to medical students but clear attempts to improve patient understanding and effective optimal allocation of these imaging resources.

Administratively, Dr. Straus has a specific interest in patient safety and issues of communication. He has served as a consultant for numerous years and looks forward to expanding these important issues with relative national radiology professional organizations. At the University of Chicago Medical Center he serves on many related committees pertaining to his interests including Forms and Medical records, Patient Safety, Housestaff outreach and the Claims and Review Committee to name a few.

Dr. Mary Strek is Professor of Medicine, Director of the Interstitial Lung Disease Program, and Director of the Pulmonary Medicine Consult Service at the University of Chicago.

Dr. Strek is a pulmonary doctor who studies clinical phenotypes, natural history, outcomes, and therapy in chronic non-malignant lung diseases. Her contributions include the recognition of the role of autoimmunity in airway and parenchymal lung disease and the comprehensive multidisciplinary evaluation of patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) and bronchiectasis. Her investigations have elucidated the role of ethnicity in patients with ILD and bronchiectasis and mediastinal lymphadenopathy as a “biomarker” prognosticating ILD. Ongoing investigations study the genetic and environmental risk factors associated with chronic lung disease.

Dr. Strek has been an investigator on research supported by the NIH, the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation, and the Duchossois Family Institute. Honors include the international CHEST Distinguished Educator Award, the Authur H. Rubenstein Mentorship in Academic Medicine Award, and selection as a Fellow of the American Thoracic Society and the American College of Chest Physicians. She has mentored numerous junior colleagues and trainees to independent academic careers.

Dana Suskind, author of the upcoming book, Thirty Million Words: Building A Child’s Brain, (Dutton, September 2015), is Professor of Surgery at the University of Chicago, Director of the Pediatric Cochlear Implant Program and Founder and Director of the Thirty Million Words Initiative. Based on scientific research that shows the critical importance of early language exposure on the developing child, Thirty Million Words helps parents enhance their home language environment in order to optimize their child’s brain development and, therefore, his or her ability to learn. An evidence-based intervention, Thirty Million Words is supported by a broad coalition of public and private partnerships and is an extension of Dr. Suskind’s Project ASPIRE, which she created to assure that her patients from disadvantaged backgrounds reached their full listening and spoken language potentials. Dr. Suskind’s ultimate goal, and that of her dedicated team, is to help all children reach their full potentials and to close the ever-widening achievement gap.