Senior Faculty Scholars

Dr. R Parker Ward is a Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) at the University of Chicago. He received his BA at Middlebury College and attended medical school at the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his residency in internal medicine also at the University of Pennsylvania, serving and served as Chief Medical Resident. He then completed his fellowship in cardiovascular disease at the University of Chicago, prior to joining the faculty in 2001. Dr Ward is an expert in cardiac imaging, working in the echocardiography laboratory and serves as Director of Nuclear Cardiology/Stress Testing and Director of the Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship Program.

Dr. Ward has received been selected to receive multiple awards for outstanding teaching in the internal medicine residency program and cardiology fellowship program, and is a past recipient of the national American College of Cardiology W. Proctor Harvey Young Teacher Award. He has also been an annual faculty member/lecturer at the American College of Cardiology Board Review Course, and been named a “Top Cardiologist” by Chicago Magazine annually since 2018. Dr. Ward’s research interests focus on the application and utilization of cardiac imaging testing. He has published extensively on these topics and has co-authored multiple national guidelines aimed at improving the appropriateness and cost-effective use of cardiac imaging in clinical care.

Dr. Stephen G. Weber is the Chief Medical Officer and Vice President for Clinical Effectiveness at the University of Chicago Medicine. He is an Associate Professor in the Section of Infectious Diseases and Global Health.

Dr. Weber received his MD from the New York University School of Medicine and performed his residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Chicago, where he also served as Chief Medical Resident. He completed his subspecialty fellowship in Infectious Diseases at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, where he also received a Master’s Degree in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Since returning to the University of Chicago in 2002, Dr. Weber has served in a number of leadership roles focused on clinical quality and patient safety. He was the Chief Healthcare Epidemiologist and Medical Director of Infection Control from 2002-2011, and also served as the Medical Director of the Center for Quality from 2006-2011. He was later elected by the clinical faculty to serve as President of the Medical Staff in 2009. He assumed the position of Chief Medical Officer and Vice President for Clinical Effectiveness in May of 2011.

Dr. Weber has been recognized for his outstanding teaching by the University of Chicago Medicine Residency Program and is a two-time recipient of the Department of Medicine’s Outstanding Clinical Service Award. He has been recognized for his achievement in clinical research by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. His primary focus of investigation is the prevention of infection with multi-drug resistant organisms among hospitalized patients.

Dr. Brian H. Williams earned a degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the United States Air Force Academy. After six years of military service, he enrolled at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine.

Dr. William completed his general surgery residency at Harvard Medical School/Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a fellowship in trauma surgery and surgical critical care at Emory University/Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. Dr. Williams served as a trauma and acute care surgeon at UT Southwestern Medical Center/Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas where he also taught and mentored students, residents, and fellows.

Dr. Williams is known for his role in treating victims of the July 2016, Dallas police shooting. He was the surgeon working the night seven injured officers were transported to Parkland Memorial Hospital. At a press conference following the tragedy, his heartfelt comments about racism, gun violence, and policing touched thousands.

Dr. Williams’s interests focus on racial inequities in healthcare, diversity in medical education, and addressing the root causes of gun violence. In addition to his work as an academic surgeon, Dr. Williams travels the country speaking and sharing his unique insight on resilience, racial equity, and social justice.

Dr. Kenneth L. Wilson is an Associate Professor of Surgery. He completed his undergraduate degree at Emory University. He graduated from Howard University School of Medicine and completed his residency in General Surgery at Morehouse School of Medicine. His Trauma and Surgical Critical Care fellowship was completed at Henry Ford Hospital. Immediately following fellowship, he joined the faculty at Morehouse School of Medicine and was the Chief of Trauma for Morehouse School of Medicine and an Associate Director of Trauma for the Marcus Trauma Center at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. He is committed to serving as a trauma surgeon in large urban centers and has been involved in establishing the newly formed trauma center at the University of Chicago.

Dr. Wilson currently holds the rank of Colonel in the United States Army and has multiple deployments to Africa, Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. Dr. Wilson is actively involved in both resident and medical student training and has received several teaching awards. Along with being a teacher, Dr. Wilson is an active researcher, and has been widely published on multiple trauma topics including military trauma and trauma surgical outcomes. He is also interested in the association between race and socioeconomic status on trauma-related health outcomes.

Dr. James N. Woodruff is a professor of medicine and Dean of Students for the Pritzker School of Medicine.  In this role, he supports medical students in their professional development, specialty selection and residency application.  A graduate of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, Dr. Woodruff completed his internal medicine residency and chief residency in the department of medicine at the University of Chicago.  His 8-year tenure as director of the internal medicine residency program and 6-year tenure as the Department of Medicine’s vice chair for education provide him with broad perspective on the medical training pathway.  Dr. Woodruff remains a core faculty member of the internal medicine residency with responsibility for managing 14 fellowship-training programs. He is a practicing general internist, caring for patients in both ambulatory and inpatient settings on the South Side of Chicago.  His areas of scholarship include medical professional development, complexity in medicine, adaptive behavior, practical wisdom, and diversity & inclusion.

Tao Xie, MD, PhD, specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of various movement disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), multiple system atrophy (MSA), cortical basal ganglionic degeneration (CBGD), Huntington’s disease (HD) and chorea, tremor, dystonia, hemifacial spasm, blepharospasm, tics, and Tourette syndrome. He uses medications, botulinum toxin injection and deep brain stimulation surgery for treatment of these neurological conditions.

In his clinical research, Dr. Xie studies the effectiveness of deep brain stimulation for the treatment of various movement disorders. He is actively involved in clinical trials for Parkinson’s disease, PSP and HD. His laboratory research is focused on identifying and characterizing genes related to Parkinson’s disease and dopaminergic neuron degeneration.

Dr. Xie is a physician in the University of Chicago Center for Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders. Dedicated as a Center for Advanced Research by the American Parkinson Disease Association, this multidisciplinary center combines clinical expertise with state-of-the-art therapies and groundbreaking research.

2012 Pilot Grant Project: Annual Education Event for Support Group of Patients with Parkinson’s Disease

Dr. Diane Yamada is the Joseph Bolivar DeLee Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Chief of the Section of Gynecologic Oncology at the University of Chicago. An expert in the comprehensive care of women with gynecologic malignancies, Dr. Yamada’s clinical research interests include complex surgery for women with ovarian/fallopian tube cancer and high grade endometrial cancer, the use of intraperitoneal chemotherapy and clinical trials. She is currently the principal investigator for a University of Chicago led multi-institutional randomized phase II placebo controlled clinical trial examining the use of metformin in conjunction with standard chemotherapy followed by metformin maintenance therapy. She is the author or co-author of over 70 publications.

In 2010, Dr. Yamada started the University of Chicago/NorthShore University Health System gynecologic oncology fellowship program and is currently the fellowship program director. She has held a number of national leadership positions including gynecologic oncology division board member for the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG), board of directors member for the Society for Gynecologic Oncology (SGO), chair of the communications committee for SGO, and leader of the gynecologic cancer education committee for the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

Dr. Carina Yang is an Associate Professor of Radiology, Vice Chair of Diversity & Inclusion, and the Director of Pediatric Neuroradiology. She also served as the Director of the Neuroradiology Fellowship for 8 years. Dr. Yang is an expert in interpretation of neuroradiological CT and MR examinations, and promotes techniques to minimize radiation exposure and performing imaging without the need for extended sedation for pediatric patients.

A triple major at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Yang completed her medical degree at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and stayed local to complete her Radiology Residency as well as Neuroradiology Fellowship at Northwestern. She previously worked in Pediatric Neuroradiology at Children’s Memorial Hospital here in Chicago.

Dr. Yang is highly devoted to educating students, trainees, and radiologists from around the world. She was the recipient of the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine Medical Education Research, Innovation, Teaching and Scholarship (MERITS) in 2016-2017. She was also selected as a Semi-Finalist for Most Effective Radiology Educator “Minnies” in 2022 on AuntMinnie.com,

She is a leader in the field of medical simulation in radiology. She developed a simulation program to train radiology residents and fellows in the diagnosis and management of contrast reactions. She also co-directed a similar, larger scale hands-on workshop at the Radiological Society of North America. She also explored image-guided spine procedures using a lumbar task trainer and ImmersiveTouch virtual reality and haptic simulator. Dr. Yang has authored several peer-reviewed articles on the use of simulation in radiology.

Dr. Yang co-founded the Chicagoland Radiology Expo, now in its 7^th year, which provides medical students an opportunity to learn about the field of radiology through a series of interactive panels and hands-on activities. In particular, sessions on underrepresented minorities and women in radiology help to promote diversity in this specialty. She continues to shape the departmental diversity program, with emphasis on recruitment processes and community outreach.

She has completed multiple international visiting professorships imparting pediatric neuroradiology knowledge across the world, including Newfoundland, India, Hong Kong, and most recently Ethiopia, as the 2019 Anne G. Osborn American Society of North America International Outreach Professor. She hopes to continue to further her worldwide educational endeavors.

Dr. Tanya L. Zakrison is an Associate Professor of Surgery and is a member of the Section of Trauma & Acute Care Surgery at the University of Chicago. She is the Director of Critical Trauma Research, which explores the connection between interpersonal trauma, critical race theory and racial capitalism.

Dr. Zakrison attended medical school at the University of Toronto where she completed her residency in General Surgery. After a fellowship year in Adult Critical Care Medicine at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center, she spent a year at the Ryder Trauma Center, University of Miami for her second fellowship year in Trauma Surgery. After her fellowship years, Dr. Zakrison completed a Master in Public Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with coursework in Baltimore and Barcelona. Dr. Zakrison was faculty at the University of Miami until joining the Department of Surgery at the University of Chicago in 2019.

Since joining the faculty at the University of Chicago, Dr. Zakrison has been awarded the Department of Surgery Excellence in Teaching award in 2019-20. She has mentored numerous medical students, surgical residents, graduate students and junior faculty to research excellence, presenting at national conferences and publishing peer-reviewed manuscripts on topics such as intimate partner homicide, homicides while incarcerated, the ethics of concurrent COVID-19 trials, penetrating brain injury and others. Dr. Zakrison has been awarded a Bucksbaum Institute Pilot Grant to develop a Structural Justice Curriculum for trainees in trauma to improve patient care, reduce moral injury and address the structural causes of intentional, interpersonal trauma.