Faculty

Program Director

Alda Maria Gonzaga, MD, MS
Program Director for Medicine/Pediatrics UPMC/Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
Dr. Gonzaga is an Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine. She completed her residency training in Combined Internal Medicine-Pediatrics in the at University of Pittsburgh in 2004. She is also a 2000 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine where she was the recipient of the distinguished Schweitzer fellowship award for her work with children with disabilities. Dr. Gonzaga completed her fellowship in General Internal Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center with a focus in Women's Health and Medical Education in 2006. She is the director of a transitional care clinic for adult patients with disabilities at UPMC Montefiore. Dr. Gonzaga is actively involved in resident education in both the outpatient and inpatient settings and is faculty advisor to all the Med/Peds residents.

Med-Peds Faculty

Natalia Morone, MD
Assistant Professor, General Internal Medicine
Dr. Morone completed her Med/Peds residency training at The Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center training program in Phoenix, AZ in 1997. She practiced Med/Peds in a community clinic and then in an ER in rural Colorado for 5 years before pursuing her combined Med-Peds fellowship at UPMC. Dr. Morone's research interests are in complementary medicine and the effects of mindfulness meditation on chronic pain in older adults. She serves as a clinical preceptor for our med/peds residents in the internal medicine clinic at Shea Medical Center at UPMC Shadyside.

Ateev Mehrotra, MD
Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine
Dr. Mehrotra is a 2004 graduate of the Harvard Combined Medicine/Pediatrics Residency Program where he received the Resident Teaching Award in 2004. He completed his medical school training at the University of California San Francisco in 1999. Dr. Mehrotra completed the Harvard Medical School Faculty Development and Fellowship Program in General Internal Medicine in 2006. Dr. Mehrotra’s research interests include health policy and quality improvement. Dr. Mehrotra will also serve as an inpatient hospitalist and clinical preceptor.

Jay K. Kolls, MD
Division Chief, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
Dr. Kolls completed his Med/Peds training at Louisiana State University in 1989 and completed his fellowship in combined adult/pediatric Pulmonology at LSU and Tulane Medical Centers respectively. He was named chief of the pulmonary division at CHP in 2003. His research interests include gene therapy for lung diseases, lung immunology, and host defenses against infection. Dr. Kolls serves as a faculty mentor for our residents.

Jonathan Spahr, MD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
A graduate of Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, PA, Jonathan Spahr completed his Internal Medicine/Pediatrics residency in 2002 at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, PA.  In 2006, he completed a fellowship in Adult and Pediatric Pulmonology at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, WI.  He currently is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Pediatric Pulmonology Division at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and his focus is on cystic fibrosis, lung transplantation and the transition of patients from childhood to adulthood.

Reed VanDeusen, MD, MS
Assitant Professor, General Internal Medicine and Pediatrics
Dr. VanDeusen completed his Med/Peds residency at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center in 2006 where he was the winner of the Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism and Excellence in Teaching Award. He also completed his medical school at the University of Cincinnati. is enrolled in the General Academic Med-Peds Fellowship program at the UPMC Health System. Dr. VanDeusen completed a fellowship in Med-Peds through the Clinician Educator Training Program at the University of Pittsburgh in 2008. He has an interest in resident ambulatory education. He is coordinating the med-peds clinic at the Turtle Creek Satellite Office, and serves a clinical preceptor there.

Program Leadership

Raquel Buranosky, M.D
Dr. Buranosky received her medical degree in 1994 from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Immediately following, she completed an Internal of Medicine Residency at the University of Pittsburgh, followed by a year of Chief Residency. In 1998, she began her General Medicine Fellowship where she received her Master's in Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health. In 2000, she was appointment Assistant Professor of Medicine and was a key Clinical Faculty in the section of Women's Health. At that time, she specialized in Women's Health and in particular, the care of underserved women. In 1997, she was appointed the Director of the Pittsburgh Women's Center Clinic. She was instrumental in developing the domestic violence curriculum at the medical student and residency program level. In 2004, she took over the position of Directorship of the Women's Health Residency Tract within the Internal Medicine Residency program at the University of Pittsburgh. In 2005, she was promoted to Associate Program Director for the entire program and subsequently became the Program Director of the Internal Medical Residency Program in 2007. Dr. Buranosky's teaching activities involve teaching medical students, medical residents, as well as residents in other departments as well as graduate students. Her teaching focuses on women's health, underserved care, and internal medicine topics.

D. Michael Elnicki, MD
Section Chief, Division of General Internal Medicine
UPMC Shadyside
D. Michael Elnicki, MD, is board-certified in internal medicine and geriatrics. He attended medical school at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Elnicki completed a residency in internal medicine at the University of Rochester and completed a general internal medicine fellowship at the University of North Carolina,Chapel Hill. Dr. Elnicki's chief research interest is medical education, and his primary clinical interest remains hypertension. He serves as the director of the General Internal Medicine Division at UPMC Shadyside and is Clerkship Director for the Combined Ambulatory Medical Clerkship for the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He has also been elected President of the Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine.

Alejandro Hoberman, MD
Chief, Division of General Academic Pediatrics
Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
Dr. Hoberman is the Chief of the Division of General Academic Pediatrics, and is a leader in clinical research and teaching in general pediatrics.

Dena Hofkosh, MD
Pediatric Residency Program Director
Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
Dr. Hofkosh is the director of the categorical pediatric program. She is an innovative educator who developed key new programs, such as the continuity clinic in practices and the communication course. She has also served as co-director for the Med/Peds program for the past two years and remains actively involved in our program. She is a general pediatrician who also is director of the Child Development Unit. She is responsible for integration of the residents into the core training program.

Wishwa Kapoor, MD, MPH
Falk Professor of Medicine and Interim Chair of the Department of Medicine
Dr. Kapoor is internationally known as a leader in primary care, having served as president of the Society of General Internal Medicine. His research deals with the epidemiology of common medical problems such as pneumonia and syncope.

Melissa McNeil, M.D
Dr. McNeil currently directs the Clinical Skills Course for the second year medical students, is Co-director of the third year internal medicine clerkship, directs the Area of Concentration for medical students in Women’s Health, and serves as the faculty advisor to both the Honor Council and SHARP student wellness committees. She has served on the Admissions Committee for the medical school and is currently the Vice Chair of the Student Promotions Committee. She is also active in both residency and fellowship education for the department of medicine, directing the Women’s Health Track of the Internal Medicine Residency and the Women’s Health Fellowship Program. Dr. McNeil is the Associate Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine and has been a longstanding member of the Department of Medicine Faculty Promotions Committee. She also serves as the Chair of the Department of Medicine Women and Family Task Force.

Gary Tabas, MD, FACP
Transitional Year Residency Program Director
UPMC Shadyside
Dr. Tabas served as program co-director for Med/Peds from its inception in 1999 through June 2004 and remains actively involved in our program. He also serves as the Transitional Year Residency Program Director at UPMC Shadyside. In addition he is director of Ambulatory Medical Education at UPMC Shadyside, coordinating continuity and ambulatory block rotations. He also co-directs Doctor-Patient rounds and is responsible for resident Journal Club. Dr. Tabas also has expertise in the area of computer-based learning and has developed web-based ambulatory teaching modules for the internal medicine program.

Asher Tulsky, MD
Program Director of Internal Medicine Residency Program
UPMC Shadyside
Dr. Tulsky is program director of the UPMC Shadyside Internal Medicine Residency Program. He also coordinates all University of Pittsburgh medical student activities at UPMC Shadyside, including physical diagnosis, third-year ambulatory medicine, and all fourth-year medicine rotations. He is a general internist with advanced training in communication skills and clinical epidemiology.