Academic Leadership
Academic Leadership
Colin Goodman, MD
I am a general internist at UIC, doing both primary care and hospital medicine. I am originally from Minnesota and lived there until finishing medical school at the University of Minnesota. I came to my top choice residency, UIC, and haven’t left since. During my residency, I was a part of the Academic Internal Medicine track and did a year as Chief Resident afterwards. I then joined the faculty in the Division of Academic Internal Medicine at UIC. One of my favorite parts of my job is teaching, and I currently work with residents and medical students in continuity clinics, on the inpatient wards, and in didactic settings.
What drew me to UIC for residency are the same things that have kept me here in the many years since. Our residency program provides excellent clinical training in a safe and supportive environment, and ensures residents have opportunities to excel in whatever career path they choose. UIC is committed to caring for patients in communities that are under-resourced and advocating for health equity and diversity while attracting people that share that same commitment. It is truly an honor to be able to work with my fantastic colleagues and patients, and to be a part of the leadership of the residency program that trained me.
Fred Zar, MD
I graduated from the University of Illinois College of Medicine and, shortly after completing my Internal Medicine Residency and Infectious Diseases Fellowship, I started my career in medical education as a Program Director for the next several decades and, in that role, trained have trained over 1,000 residents. I am proud to be the Vice Head for Education in the Department of Medicine and the Senior Associate Program Director and continue my work as part of a wonderful team dedicated to educating physicians in a diverse, welcoming, and educationally rich environment.
Clinically I am a hospitalist at UI Health where we care for an underserved population of patients that trust us with their health care and literally teach us medicine at the bedside every day. Even when I am not attending on the hospitalist service, I have a dedicated hour per week with the house staff where they present an unknown case for me to work through with the help of their wisdom.
In addition to my clinical work, I enjoy giving back to our medical school that allowed me the opportunity to become a physician. I am the Director of Integrated Science Education as well as Director of our Immunology Course and Co=Director of our Synthesis Course. These allow me to teach and mentor hundreds of medical students on their journey to this incredible place that you will all be at sooner than you think…graduation from medical school, becoming a physician, and spending the rest of your careers healing others.
My research interests have been focused on development of new therapies for infections that emerged during my career. I participated in several initial trials including zidovudine to treat Human Immunodeficiency Virus, aztreonam as a safe ß-lactam in patients with penicillin anaphylaxis, atovaquone in the treatment of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia, rifabutin for the prevention of Mycobacterium-avium complex infection, and ganciclovir to treat cytomegalovirus infections in immunocompromised individuals. Later work codified the role of vancomycin as first-line therapy for Clostridioides difficile infection.
Full disclosure, I am a chess nerd. I became a master in college and, although my rating has decayed faster than most radioactive actinides in the periodic table (please don’t look that up) I am still active nightly on chess.com.
Adam Mikolajczyk, MD
I have lived in the Midwest my entire life. I was born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago, received my bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame (Go Irish!), and then completed medical school, Internal Medicine residency, Chief Residency, and fellowships in Medical Education, Gastroenterology, and Transplant Hepatology at the University of Chicago. I then joined the University of Illinois Chicago in 2018 as a faculty member in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. I was strongly drawn to the institution’s unifying mission to care for marginalized and vulnerable patient populations across Illinois, as well as its nonhierarchical, collaborative approach to achieving this mission.
Unquestionably, being able to work alongside, educate, advocate for, and mentor our residents has been the most enjoyable part of my job as a physician. It was an incredible honor to serve as Program Director from 2022 to 2026, alongside Dr. Polick, Dr. Zar, and our APD, Chief Resident, and Administrative teams. I can proudly say first-hand that our residency program celebrates inclusivity, togetherness, and community engagement, fosters autonomy in clinical care, offers a wealth of educational opportunities, and truly embodies the university’s unwavering commitment to the underserved.
I am very excited to now serve as Director of Fellowship Advisement for the residency program, where I lead individualized coaching and mentorship for all those discerning future careers in subspecialty medicine and the fellowship application process. I derive great fulfillment from helping residents find career paths and opportunities that give them joy and purpose. Additionally, I am an Assistant Dean of Graduate Medical Education, where I provide oversight and support to all trainees and training programs at UI Health. I sincerely hope you consider joining our Internal Medicine Residency family; for me, doing so has made all the difference in my career.
Alfredo Mena Lora, MD
Associate Program Director of Innovation in Education and Recruitment
Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine
I was born and raised in the Caribbean, spending my formative years in Haiti and my native Dominican Republic. I moved to the beautiful city of Chicago and completed both my internal medicine and infectious diseases training at the University of Illinois. At UIC, I found great mentors and developed a strong commitment to scholarly work and medical education. I was a chief resident and chief infectious diseases fellow during my training and now serve as core faculty for the internal medicine and infectious diseases training programs. I have a passion for teaching and truly love interacting with medical students, residents and fellows. My research interests include infection prevention, antimicrobial resistance and global health. I enjoy studying antimicrobial resistance and implementation of innovative infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship strategies in community hospital settings in resource limited settings in the United States and abroad.
The University of Illinois has a long history of excellence in medicine which dates back to the late 19th century. For generations, our institution has trained superb clinicians and researchers and has served the diverse communities of Chicago with compassionate, innovative, high- quality care. Our Department of Medicine is full of talented clinicians and researchers that will provide you with all the mentorship you need to develop your career in medicine. Our goal is to give you all the tools and opportunities to make you an outstanding internist and give you the skills for you to grow in whichever direction you choose to in this great field that is medicine. I look forward to meeting you this recruitment season and would love to talk to you more about our program, our mission and our city!
Chris Fernandes, MD
Associate Program Director of Inpatient Medicine and Individualized Learning
Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine
Hi! I am from the Chicago suburbs, received my Bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan (Go Blue!), and completed medical school here at UIC. I completed my Internal Medicine Residency at the University of Chicago, and Chief Residency at Mercy Hospital.
I returned to UIC because of the commitment to serve the community and opportunity to work with incredibly talented residents, students, and faculty. I am currently the Associate Program Director for Inpatient Medicine and the Medical Director of Hospital Medicine for the University of Illinois Hospital.
Rachael King, MD
Associate Program Director of Ambulatory Medicine
Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine
I was raised in Florida, born to Jamaican parents. I completed my undergraduate degree at the University of Florida, receiving a bachelor’s in psychology with a minor in anthropology, and my medical degree at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine with a distinction in health disparities. Needing to leave the heat, I came to Chicago to complete my residency and chief year at UIC, and I stayed on as an attending ever since! I mostly work as a primary care internist, but I do some inpatient wards throughout the year. I also serve as a Physician House Advisor in the UIC College of Medicine as well as program director for the IM residency’s Urban Global Health track. I have an interest in underserved medicine, women’s health and recruitment of underrepresented minorities into medicine.
After my chief year, I had the opportunity to work at many other places in Chicago, but I stayed at UIC because of the faculty’s commitment to the patient population that UIC serves. We have the privilege to serve those who are marginalized and traditionally underserved and the people that work here aren’t doing it for the money or the accolades, they are doing it because, like me, they truly love taking care of this population.
Debi Mitra, MD
Associate Program Director of Clinical and Simulated Learning
Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine
I am an academic hospitalist at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center and serve as the Associate Program Director for Clinical Learning and Simulation. I grew up in the Midwest before heading to the East Coast to attend Cornell for college and medical school. I then completed my residency training at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and have been an academic hospitalist ever since.
After previously working at the University of Illinois Hospital, I recently joined the faculty at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center. It is a privilege to work alongside our residents and medical students as we provide exceptional care to our nation’s Veterans.
My academic interests include curriculum development, simulation-based medical education, and coaching. I look forward to meeting you in the Simulation Center and working together to enhance your clinical skills.
Ana Mauro, MD, MPH
Associate Program Director of Advocacy and Engagement
Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine
I was born and raised in Argentina before moving to the United States; I earned my undergraduate degree and Master degree of Public Health from Florida International University before completing medical school, Internal Medicine-Pediatrics residency, and an additional Chief Resident year at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC).
Throughout my career, I have been driven by a passion for health equity, advocacy, and improving the lives of patients and communities. I believe physicians have a unique responsibility to serve as agents of change by not only providing excellent clinical care, but also working to address the systems and barriers that influence health outcomes.
I currently serve as the Associate Program Director for the Med-Peds Residency Program at UIC and am honored to also serve as the Associate Program Director of Advocacy and Engagement for the Internal Medicine Residency Program. In these roles, I am passionate about mentoring future physicians, fostering meaningful community engagement, and creating learning environments where residents feel supported, empowered, and inspired to advocate for their patients.
My professional interests include medical education, physician leadership, health equity, advocacy, and community engagement. I am grateful for the opportunity to help train the next generation of physicians while working alongside colleagues who share a commitment to improving the health of our patients and communities.
Anna Maria Gramelspacher, MD
Associate Program Director of Health Humanities and Resident Wellbeing
Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine
Welcome to UIC! I am a general internist here at UIC and the Associate Program Director for Health Humanities and Resident Wellbeing for our Residency Program. I grew up in the Midwest, attended Indiana University for undergrad where I majored in English Literature and Spanish. From there I joined Teach for America and taught high school for two years on the South Side. It was during this time that I fell in love with the great city of Chicago. After completing my two years in TFA I went to medical school at Indiana University then came back to Chicago for IM Residency at Loyola. I joined the UIC faculty after completing my residency in 2015. I chose to join the faculty at UIC for the opportunity to practice primary care while also having the enriching opportunity to teach medical students and residents.
During my first few years at UIC I worked to establish a curriculum in the Health Humanities for our Medical Students and Residents, establishing our first Narrative Medicine Elective in GME and partnering with the Art Institute of Chicago for a program in Visual Thinking Strategies and the Art of Observation. I am pleased that these programs have continued to grow along with our program to the point where we have an official APD position dedicated to this work! You will not find this in many programs and it’s one thing that makes UIC incredibly special.
Scott Borgetti, MD
Associate Program Director of Quality and Safety
Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine
I was born and raised in northwest Indiana and went to Indiana University in Bloomington where I majored in psychology. For medical school I attended the Indiana School Medicine in Indianapolis. I was fortunate enough to match at UIC for internal medicine residency and then was able to stay for an extra year as a chief resident. It was during my chief resident year that I confirmed my calling to work in medical education while working under our previous long tenured program director Dr. Zar. I stayed at UIC for my Infectious Disease fellowship which cemented my lifelong mission of caring for marginalized and underserved patients such as our HIV patient population.
Since joining the Infectious Disease faculty in 2019 I have been able to serve as an associate program director for the Infectious Disease fellowship. My clinical focus is on transplant infectious diseases which allows me to treat the many infectious complications our immunocompromised patients suffer from. I also serve as the associate medical director for infection prevention, and I look forward to continuing my work on improving patient safety in my new role as an associate program director for the Internal Medicine residency with a focus on patient safety and quality improvement. I am very excited to be a part of our residency leadership team – I have great admiration and respect for my colleagues on the team and cannot wait to work with all of our amazing residents!
Cheryl Conner, MD, MPH
Associate Program Director of Jesse Brown VA Medical Center
Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine
I grew up in P.G. County, Maryland and attended Yale University for my undergrad degree in Sociology. I earned my MD at Eastern Virginia Medical School and then came to UIC for my Internal Medicine residency. I knew I wanted a career in academic medicine and was happy to be chosen for a Chief year at UIC. During residency and as junior faculty, I took classes and obtained my MPH in Epidemiology from the UIC School of Public Health. My research and advocacy interests are anti-racism, police violence, the carceral system, and the opioid epidemic.
I have practiced Hospital Medicine at the VA since 2013 and became the Section Chief of Hospital Medicine in 2021. The Jesse Brown VA Medical Center is an integral part of the residency experience at UIC, and serves as a teaching hospital for medical students, resident physicians, fellows, and clinical faculty members from UIC. The Jesse Brown VA Medical Center consists of a 200-bed acute care facility and four community-based outpatient clinics. The inpatient tower opened in 2008 and is one of the more modern VA inpatient facilities nationwide. Our VA is one of the most diverse VA Medical Centers in the country—in terms of both patient population and staff.
Waddah Alrefai, MD
Director of Physician Scientist Development Program and Resident Scholarly Activities
Professor of Medicine
I am a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and a Research Career Scientist at Jesse Brown VA Medical Center. I have been associated with the University of Illinois Chicago for most of my career since I started my post-doctoral training and then joining the faculty in the Department of Medicine. I can certainly attest that UIC is a great place for training and professional development. My primary academic focus is basic science and translational research. I lead a laboratory research program that focuses on understanding the roles of bile acids as mediators of gut-liver crosstalk. My research aims to determine how alterations in these physiologically important molecules affect gut microbiota and influence gut and liver functions. The goal is to understand how these changes contribute to the pathophysiology of diseases such as Inflammatory Bowel Diseases and liver disorders. My studies also investigate the mechanisms of intestinal cholesterol absorption to understand their roles in the development of metabolic disorders and diabetes mellitus. I am interested in translating the basic science observations to bed side to validate our discoveries in a clinical setting and to identify biomarkers for the diagnosis and/or assessment of disease severity.
I am highly committed to education and mentorship at different levels of training including medical students, residents, and fellows. My mentorship core values are to stimulate innovation, support excellence in education, and foster continuous learning while imparting training and service to the next generation. I am pleased to welcome you to our residency program and to work with you toward productivity and high-quality scholarship.