Associate Program Directors
Drs. Waddah Alrefai, Christopher Fernandes, Alana Biggers, Colin Goodman, Patrick Godwin, Rachael King, Alfredo Mena Lora, Scott Borgetti, Ashley Binder, and Stefan Tchernodrinski Heading link
Waddah Alrefai, MD Heading link
Associate Program Director of Clinical Research and Mentorship
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. My approach to mentorship is defined by a dedication to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion for which I serve as a co-lead of the Bias Reduction in Medicine (BRiM) program in the Department of Medicine. I am pleased to welcome you to our residency program and to work with you toward productivity and high-quality scholarship.
Alana Biggers, MD, MPH, FACP Heading link
Associate Program Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine
I received my MD degree at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) College of Medicine, and I earned a Master of Public Health degree in chronic disease epidemiology from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. I also completed a public health fellowship at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). My interests are in health disparity research, and I aim to improve diversity and inclusion in medicine. I have a NIH/NHLBI career development award for research in type 2 diabetes mellitus and sleep in African Americans in underserved communities.
In addition to my role as the Associate Program Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the Internal Medicine Residency Program, I also serve in the Department of Medicine (DOM) as the co-chair of the DOM Inclusion Council (DOMIC) and was a previous consultant for the Bias Reduction in Internal Medicine (BRIM) Initiative, another NIH funded grant to address bias in academic medicine. I was recently awarded in July 2022 an ABIM Foundation award for a project to address microaggressions in medicine. Since my time at UIC, I have served as a mentor to many underrepresented in medicine (URiM) medical students to help them navigate through personal and career goals. I have also served as the faculty advisor to the UIC Chapter of SNMA for the past 5 years to help advise the organization in executing their yearly community service and school events. I continue to expand my role in the Chicago community by providing tips on healthy living through research, patient care and media outlets.
Scott Borgetti Heading link
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!
Chris Fernandes Heading link
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.
Colin Goodman, MD Heading link
Associate Program Director of Program Development and Recruitment
Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine
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.
Rachael King, MD Heading link
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.
Alfredo Mena Lora, MD Heading link
Associate Program Director of Educational Affairs and Recruitment
Assistant 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!
Stefan Tchernodrinski, MD, MS Heading link
Associate Program Director of Clinical Learning
Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine
I was born and raised in Bulgaria, where I graduated from medical school, finished residency, and practiced for a few years before coming to the United States to complete a residency in internal medicine at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. After a few years at Cook County, first as chief resident and then as academic hospitalist, I was hired at UIC where I love what I do – resident education and academic hospital medicine.
While at UIC, I have introduced point of care ultrasound (POCUS) training for the medicine residents, which has grown into a POCUS procedure service and a 1-year IM POCUS fellowship, now in its 4th year. I believe that POCUS is a fantastic and powerful tool that every clinician should learn to use, but it works only if added to solid clinical skills and reasoning. That is why I focus my teaching on both POCUS and clinical reasoning, with evidence-based medicine as an integral part of both. I also teach POCUS in Bulgaria, and volunteer nationally and internationally whenever I can. Medical gadgets fascinate me, with the potential to improve care and make it more affordable. UIC provides opportunities for all my projects. I am proud of the training our program offers to the residents and how our residents grow as clinicians.
Anna Maria Gramelspacher, MD Heading link
Associate Program Director of Humanism, Wellness, and Togetherness
Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine
Welcome to UIC! I am a general internist here at UIC and the Associate Program Director for Humanism, Wellbeing & Togetherness 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.
Cheryl Conner, MD, MPH Heading link
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 am a member of the Department of Medicine Inclusion Council, Co-Chair of the Jesse Brown for Black Lives Task Force at the VA, and I designed and implemented the ongoing Anti-Racism in Medicine (ARIM) curriculum for the UIC IM residents and faculty.