Senior Faculty Scholars

As an orthopaedic oncologist, Tessa Balach, MD, provides comprehensive surgical care for bone and soft tissue tumors. She treats a broad range of benign and malignant tumors in adults and children. As a member of the medical center’s multidisciplinary physician team, Dr. Balach works closely with other experts to provide highly specialized, individualized care for patients with common and rare bone and soft tissue tumors. She also provides surgical care for metastatic bone disease, often stabilizing weak bones to prevent fractures associated with breast, lung, prostate or kidney metastases.

Additionally, Dr. Balach specializes in joint replacement surgery, with particular expertise in hip and knee replacement.

Also an active researcher, she currently leads and contributes to clinical studies designed to advance the comprehensive treatment and management of bone diseases and injuries. Dr. Balach serves as a mentor and instructor to medical students, residents and fellows. She has also authored several articles in peer-reviewed journals and medical publications, in addition to delivering presentations at numerous professional meetings.

Dr. Joseph Baron enrolled as an undergraduate at the University of Chicago in 1954. The entirety of his subsequent career was at the University of Chicago except two years as a Research Associate at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Baron held several administrative positions at the University of Chicago including Chief Medical Resident, Interim Section Chief of Hematology/Oncology, Course Director for Clinical Pathophysiology, Course Director for Physical Diagnosis/History Taking, and Medical Director of the Clinical Coagulation Lab. Dr. Baron was the director of the first clinical trial of human erythropoietin in patients. He received the medical student basic science and Senior Medical Resident teaching awards. Other honors included the first Outstanding Clinical Service Award given by the Department of Medicine in 2006 and he was listed multiple times in Chicago Magazine and Best Doctors of America. Dr. Baron also served as Chairman of the Hospital Transfusion Committee and Interim Director of the Adult Sickle Cell Program.

Joseph Baron, MD, a longtime and highly respected and distinguished faculty member

Dr. Joseph Baron, phenomenal clinician and inspirational teacher

Dr. Yolanda T. Becker is a professor of surgery and director of kidney and pancreas transplantation at University of Chicago Medicine. She attended Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and completed her residency at Vanderbilt University. She them completed her transplant fellowship at the University of Wisconsin where she joined the faculty prior to coming to the University of Chicago.

Dr. Becker is a past Board President of the OPTN/UNOS (Organ Procurement and Transplant Network/United Network for Organ Sharing). She has served on the UNOS corporate affairs, nominating committee, and board governance subcommittees. She has chaired the Policy Oversight Committee, setting policy for organ transplantation nationwide. Dr. Becker has served as an elected member of the American Society of Transplantation (AST) board of directors and led several AST committees. In recognition of her work, Dr. Becker was named a Fellow of the American Society of Transplant and has also been awarded the “Friend of Nursing Award by the International Transplant Nurses Society.

Her current research interests include education of patients across the health literacy divide as well as the treatment of obesity in patients with kidney failure. Dr. Becker is committed to education; she have developed curriculum focused on communication, professionalism and practice-based learning, and she has received the Department of Surgery Excellence in Teaching award multiple times since 2011. Please join me in welcoming Dr. Yolanda Becker as a Senior Faculty Scholar.

In 2021, Dr. Becker retired from the University of Chicago and became a consultant at Transplant Solutions, LLC.

Karen Bernstein, MD, is a board-certified pediatrician who specializes in comprehensive adolescent medicine. Dr. Bernstein has a passion for helping children navigate the challenges of adolescence by promoting their physical, emotional and mental well-being, and she is dedicated to providing quality care and personalized treatment plans for her patients. Her practice focuses on diagnosing and treating a wide range of complex conditions impacting young adults, such as adolescent gynecology, risk taking behaviors and mental health, in addition to offering primary care for adolescents. Dr. Bernstein also treats eating disorders in children, collaborating closely with our psychiatry eating disorders program to ensure her patients receive multidisciplinary care.

Her goal is to build strong relationships with her patients and their families so that she can deliver the best possible outcomes. Dr. Bernstein is looking forward to helping adolescents thrive during this important stage of development. 

2014-2015 Senior Faculty Scholar – Retired

Anita Blanchard, MD’90, is a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology (OB-GYN) at UChicago Medicine and serves as Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education and Designated Institutional Official, supervising and supporting 133 residency and fellowships programs including 1023 residents and fellows. She maintains accreditation standards, promotes professional development, and fosters strategic initiatives and innovation in medical education. She served as the associate program director in OB-GYN for 5 years and residency program director for OB-GYN for 13 years prior to her promotion to the GME office in 2017. She has devoted 22 years of her career to medical education.

As a practicing gynecologist, Dr. Blanchard specializes in treatment of cervical dysplasia, menopause management, and geriatric gynecologic care. She is a former trustee and past vice president of the board of directors for the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, a former member of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) OB-GYN review committee, and the University’s co-PI of the ACGME Pursuing Excellence Initiative.

Dr. Blanchard is committed to enhancing Chicago’s South Side community by increasing the diversity of physicians and building programs to fulfill community needs. She has created innovative community programs including seminars highlighting maternal and adolescent topics. She also founded the Graduate Medical Education Resilience Initiative focused on physician wellbeing. Together with the Urban Health Initiative team, her Graduate Medical Education team launched a new program, Community Champions, facilitating resident and fellow participation in community engagement in Winter 2021.

Dr. Blanchard earned a bachelor’s degree in Neurobiology and Physiology from Northwestern University and completed medical school and her OB-GYN residency at the Pritzker School of Medicine. She is active in many civic organizations and enjoys living in the South Side community she serves with her husband, Martin Nesbitt and their five children.

Diana Bolotin MD, PhD, is an Associate Professor and Section Chief of Dermatology and Director of the Dermatology Ambulatory Practice and Director of Dermatologic Surgery at the University of Chicago where she is actively engaged in patient care, resident teaching and clinical research on cutaneous malignancies. Dr. Bolotin is a graduate of University of California, Berkeley (A.B. with Honors), University of Chicago Biological Sciences Division, Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology (Ph.D.) and University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine (M.D.). She completed an internship in Internal Medicine and residency training in Dermatology at the University of Chicago where she served as chief resident. Subsequent to her Dermatology training, she completed a Procedural Dermatology/ Mohs Micrographic Surgery and Cutaneous Oncology fellowship at Northwestern University. She returned to the University of Chicago as an Assistant Professor and Director of Dermatologic Surgery in 2011.

As a fellowship-trained Mohs micrographic surgeon, Dr. Bolotin has expertise in a wide range of medical and surgical treatments in cutaneous oncology, including Mohs micrographic surgery and excisional treatments of cutaneous neoplasms. Her clinical and academic interests span the field of cutaneous oncology, leadership and trainee and junior faculty mentorship. Having graduate training in skin biology, she is particularly interested in non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) biology, clinical behavior and treatments. Her current research focuses on clinical trials and translational research on molecular underpinnings of NMSC as well as novel approaches to advanced NMSC therapy. She is a recipient of a Medical Dermatology Society Mentorship Award, several Chicago Dermatologic Society Research Awards, an American Society for Dermatologic Surgery (ASDS) Cutting Edge Research Award and an ASDS President’s award for her contributions to the specialty.

Dr. James Brorson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology, Medical Director of the University of Chicago Comprehensive Stroke Center, and Neurology Clerkship Director for the Pritzker School of Medicine. Dr. Brorson is an active clinician and researcher who specializes in stroke prevention and treatment. He research and care of patients has helped make the UChicago Medicine a center for treatment of cerebrovascular diseases and stroke, including leading participation of the medical center in the NIH-sponsored Stroke Trials Network, and in 3 current clinical trials in stroke prevention and treatment.

Dr. Brorson’s laboratory research focuses on the role of excitatory glutamate receptors in neuronal degenerative diseases. His clinical education research is on validation of objective structured clinical examination in neurology. Dr. Brorson was inducted as a Fellow of the Academy of Distinguished Medical Educators, and as an alumni honoree of the Alpha Omega Alpha Society. He has received clinical teaching awards from both medical students and neurology residents.

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. Halina Brukner is Professor of Medicine and Associate Dean for Medical School Education. She led the planning and implementation of the Pritzker Initiative curriculum and oversees all aspects of curricular and academic issues for the Pritzker School of Medicine. Dr. Brukner is also the Director of the Academy of Distinguished Medical Educators. A graduate of Yale University and the New York University School of Medicine, Dr. Brukner did her internship and residency training in Internal Medicine at the University of Chicago. She joined the faculty in General Medicine in 1985, and has served as clerkship director in Internal Medicine (1986-1999); Director of the Primary Care Group (1995-99); Vice-Chairman of the Department of Medicine (1999-2004); and Associate Dean for Medical School Education (2004-present). Dr. Brukner was a general internist in the University of Chicago Primary Care Group and is currently enjoying retirement.

Dr. Brian Callender is an adult hospitalist in the section of Hospital Medicine and an Associate Professor of Medicine. He attended the Pritzker School of Medicine and continued at the University of Chicago for his residency training in internal medicine. He is a graduate of the Medical Education Research Innovation Teaching and Scholarship (MERITS) fellowship and the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics fellowship.

An academic hospitalist, Dr. Callender is interested in how the health humanities can improve the patient experience, provider-patient relationships, and our understanding of the illness experience and the practice of medicine. These interests have led to the development of a number of courses that explore the phenomenology of illness and the visual culture of medicine including: The Body in Medicine and the Performing Arts; The Narratives and Aesthetics of Contagion: Knowledge Formation and the COVID-19 Pandemic; Graphic Medicine: Comics Creation as Knowledge Formation; Graphic Medicine: Concepts and Practice; The Art of Healing: Medical Aesthetics in Russia and the US; Death Panels: Exploring Dying and Death Through Comics; and [Re]Framing Graphic Medicine: Comics and the History of Medicine

His interest in the visual culture of medicine has resulted in the co-curation of several exhibitions at the University Library’s Special Collections Research Center: Imaging and Imagining: The Human Body in Anatomical Representation (2014); The Fetus In Utero: From Mystery to Social Media (2019); [Re]Framing Graphic Medicine: Comics and the History of Medicine (2022)

Dr. Callender is particularly interested in the field of graphic medicine, defined as the intersection of comics, health, and medicine. These interests include teaching graphic medicine courses, using comics in patient education and science communication, conducting workshops on comics-making for patients and providers, and researching the historical and contemporary uses of comics within healthcare. He is a co-editor of the Graphic Medicine Series at the Penn State University Press and was co-chair of the 2022 Graphic Medicine conference held at the University of Chicago.