Senior Faculty Scholars

Nora Jaskowiak, MD, is a well-regarded professor and surgeon focusing on the surgical management of breast cancer, along with endocrine surgery, thyroid cancer, and parathyroid disorders.

She is surgical head of the University of Chicago Breast Center, which is dedicated to all women’s breast health needs. The Center offers each woman a comprehensive care plan whether they are self- or physician-referred, or seeking a second opinion.

Dr. Jaskowiak has also performed research under the supervision of Ralph Weichselbaum, MD, investigating how blocking the action of vascular endothelial cell growth factor, a substance that encourages the growth of new blood vessels, can dramatically increase the anti-tumor effects of radiation therapy.

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.

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.

Savitri E. Fedson, MD, is a cardiologist who specializes in heart failure and heart transplantation. Dr. Fedson is part of a team of medical and surgical specialists who provide a full range of treatment options to improve the pumping ability of the heart in patients with heart failure. If transplantation is required, she cares for patients before and after transplant to ensure the best outcome. Dr. Fedson is actively researching comparisons between invasive and non-invasive hemodynamic measurements, and heart failure prevention.

Dr. Fedson joined the faculty at Baylor University in Waco, TX in 2015.

Dr. Melissa Gilliam is Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics, Chief of the Section of Family Planning & Contraceptive Research, and Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion in the Biological Sciences Division, as well as Director of Ci3 at the University of Chicago.

An expert in pediatric and adolescent gynecology, Dr. Melissa Gilliam helps children, teens and women age 25 and younger who have complex gynecologic problems or need routine care. Dr. Gilliam specializes in managing common problems such as bleeding, painful periods, breasts cysts and abnormal pap smears and complex problems requiring pelvic surgery. She has expertise in providing preventive care and providing contraception to adolescents with other medical problems. Dr. Gilliam focuses on providing a youth-friendly atmosphere for girls and young women. She works closely with other specialists across the University.

An active researcher, Dr. Gilliam’s research focuses on contraception, family planning, youth development, and sexually transmitted infections. Specifically, she focuses on contraceptive use among teens and women who are at risk for unintended pregnancy.

In 2021, Dr. Gilliam was named Provost of Ohio State University.

William A. McDade, MD, PhD, specializes in obstetrical anesthesiology, as well as the treatment of sickle cell disease. He works extensively to reduce cultural disparities in medicine and to help patients who have limited access to health services.

Dedicated to increasing opportunities for underrepresented minorities in higher education, Dr. McDade serves as the director of three Pritzker Pipeline Programs designed to introduce local high school and undergraduate students to research and clinical medicine with the aim of helping them develop careers in the biomedical sciences. He also leads two additional pipeline programs for the University that are designed to increase diversity in the professoriate. In 2005, Dr. McDade founded the James E. Bowman Society — an academic medicine mentoring society that provides support for the advancement of minority individuals. He now serves as a Deputy Provost for the University where he focuses on enhancing campus diversity among the faculty.

Dr. McDade has mentored students in his lab, where his work focuses on the biochemistry of sickle cell disease. Early in his career, he established a relationship between the use of nitric oxide and its ability to break down sickle fibers within red blood cells. He currently is the primary investigator of a National Health Lung Blood Institute research training grant that brings students into the lab while simultaneously teaching ethics and scientific literature skills. An active member of the sickle cell community, Dr. McDade serves on the National Institutes of Health Sickle Cell Disease Advisory Committee.

Dr. McDade is also a leader in medical education where he is a member of the American Medical Association’s Council on Medical Education. He is also a director for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Dr. McDade has held many leadership roles at the University of Chicago, previously serving as Associate Dean for Multicultural Affairs in the Pritzker School of Medicine.

Dr. McDade has been a past president for the Chicago Medical Society, the Cook County Physicians Association, the Prairie State Medical Society, and the Chicago Society of Anesthesiologists. He represents the American Society of Anesthesiologists in the AMA House of Delegates and currently serves as the Vice-President of the Illinois State Medical Society.

In 2016, Dr. McDade became the Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer of the Ochsner Health System in New Orleans, LA.

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.

Monica Vela, MD is an Associate Professor of Medicine and the Associate Dean for Multicultural Affairs at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. Since joining the University of Chicago faculty in the Department of Medicine in 1997, Dr. Vela has established herself as a leader in scholarship and education related to health care disparities and diversity in medicine.

Dr. Vela is actively involved in teaching of both medical students and medical house staff. She serves as the Course Director of the Clinical Skills Teaching module for the Pritzker School of Medicine. And in 2006, Dr. Vela piloted and implemented an innovative new curriculum in health care disparities, which has become an important feature of the curriculum at the Pritzker School of Medicine. Her work has been presented nationally and published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine and has gained broad attention as it is one of the few required courses on health care disparities among American medical schools.

Dr. Vela serves as Chair of the national Society of General Internal Medicine’s Disparities Education Task Force. Her other interests include issues of medical professionalism and the doctor-patient relationship. At the University of Chicago, Dr. Vela plays an active role in the recruitment and support of students underrepresented in medicine. She is also meaningfully engaged in a similar role as the Vice Chair for Diversity in the Department of Medicine.

In 2021, Dr. Vela joined the faculty at the University of Illinois College of Medicine.

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. 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