Senior Faculty Scholars

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.

Debra Stulberg, MD, provides comprehensive primary care for patients of all ages, including infants and senior citizens. Dr. Stulberg is also has a special interest in women’s health and family planning in addition to supporting LGBTQ health. 

As part of Dr. Stulberg’s commitment to her patients, she remains an avid researcher who investigates ways to improve primary care and reproductive health. Dr. Stulberg has been published as several peer-reviewed journals, including Family Medicine, American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Contraception and more.

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.

Dr. Helen Te is a Professor of Medicine and the Medical Director of the Adult Liver Transplant Program. She earned her Medical Degree from the University of the Philippines and pursued residency training in Internal Medicine at Rush University Medical Center. Dr. Te completed her fellowship training in Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at the University of Chicago and stayed on to join the faculty.

Her primary clinical interests are in dealing with the complications of cirrhosis to allow for optimal patient management and health restoration following liver transplantation.

Dr. Te serves on the committees of national societies and has gained a reputation for being a compassionate and astute hepatologist. She has been recognized by her peers with the Department of Medicine Clinical Service Award in 2016 and in 2017, and externally as one of America’s Top Doctors consistently since 2011.

Dr. Te’s passion lies foremost in patient care and she finds ways to deliver the optimal personal care that is essential for each patient by earning their trust and placing herself in their shoes.

Dr. Marie Tobin is an Associate Professor and is the Director of Consult-Liaison and Emergency Psychiatry. In particular, her practice focuses on the delivery of psychiatric services to medically ill hospitalized patients, and treating the psychiatric morbidity in cancer patients. Additionally, Dr. Tobin is the director of the Emergency Psychiatry Course and the Consult-Liaison Case Conference for residents and fellows, as well as a lecturer for medical students in their clerkship. She is also on the Committee of Task Force to Review Professionalism in the Medical School at the University of Chicago.

Dr. Alison Tothy is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and the Associate Chief Medical Officer for the University of Chicago Medicine. Dr. Tothy serves as the physician leader responsible for working to improve the patient experience at the University of Chicago Medicine. Dr. Tothy provides physician leadership and oversight in development, implementation, and execution of the vision and strategy of the Patient Experience and Engagement Program. Dr. Tothy’s works seeks to promote a culture of patient centered care that emphasizes compassion and outstanding service.

Dr. Tothy’s clinical practice is in Emergency Medicine at the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital where she is the Section Chief and Medical Director of Pediatric Emergency Medicine. Please join me in congratulating Alison Tothy on her appointment as a Bucksbaum Institute Senior Faculty Scholar.

Dr. Kiran K. Turaga is a renowned surgical oncologist with a specific expertise in metastatic cancers. He grew up in India and completed his medical training from the prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). He completed his surgical residency from Creighton University and his fellowship from The Moffitt Cancer Center. He also holds a Master’s in Public Health from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

Dr. Turaga is interested in the patient centered management of patients with complex malignancies. Prior to joining the University of Chicago, he was the Sharon Wadina Endowed Professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Some of his initiatives have included patient navigation, trimodality prehabilitation for patients undergoing complex cytoreductive surgery and early use of supportive oncology in the management of patients. Along with the regional therapies team, he has successfully created one of the premier programs for cytoreductive surgery and regional therapies in the nation which attracts patients from across the country.

Dr. Turaga’s research has focused on patient outcomes with oligometastatic cancers and he has published over 110 journal articles. He has contributed scholarly works to foremost oncological textbooks about peritoneal surface malignancies and is currently the section editor for the Annals of Surgical Oncology for the regional therapies section. He is interested in disease prediction, modeling and delivery of optimal care for his patients.

He is also the fellowship director for the Complex General Surgical Oncology Fellowship program at the University of Chicago/Northshore program. He has been awarded the Department of Surgery Excellence in Teaching award in 2016-17.

As of 2023 Dr. Turaga joined the faculty at Yale School of Medicine

Gaurav A. Upadhyay, MD, FACC, FHRS is an expert in cardiac rhythm devices and Associate Professor at the University of Chicago Medicine. He cares for patients with arrhythmia, syncope, and heart failure. Dr. Upadhyay focuses on innovative electrical therapies in heart disease, including cardiac resynchronization therapy, conduction system pacing strategies (including His bundle, left bundle branch area pacing, and endocardial LV pacing), autonomic modulation, and machine-based learning to improve heart failure (HF) management. Dr. Upadhyay strives to improve the quality of life for his patients. His goal is to implement pioneering technologies to treat symptoms of heart failure and improve overall health.

Paralleling his focus on patient care, Dr. Upadhyay is an active clinical investigator. An invited national and international speaker, he has authored or delivered over 150 manuscripts, invited talks, and book chapters. He is also deeply committed to teaching, and seeks out opportunities to collaborate and engage trainees in teaching at the bedside as well as in transforming models of care.

Dr. Upadhyay received his medical degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, then completed his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. He remained for an additional Cardiology Fellowship.

Dr. Upadhyay’s publications may be found here.