Faculty

Eric Howell, M.D.
Associate Professor, Medicine
Division Director, CIMS

Eric Howell, M.D., earned degrees in science and medicine at the University of Maryland. He completed a residency in internal medicine at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, serving for one year as chief resident.

Dr. Howell joined CIMS in 2000 and, just after that, became chief of the Zieve Medical Units at Johns Hopkins Bayview. Since then, while maintaining his role as chief of the Zieve Medical Units, he has led CIMS to grow exponentially in staff and academic caliber.

Through his service on numerous committees at Johns Hopkins Bayview, as well as other Johns Hopkins institutions, and his dedication to teaching twice-weekly lectures to medical students and the Professorship in the Colleges Advisory Program, he continues to demonstrate his committment to excellence. In 2006, Dr. Howell was awarded the prestigious Professors Award for Teaching Excellence for his many contributions to education at Hopkins. In 2009, he was elected to the board of directors of the Society of Hospital Medicine and also received their Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Selected Publications

Flora Kisuule, M.D., MPH
Assistant Professor, Medicine
Associate Division Director, CIMS

Flora Kisuule, M.D., MHS, earned a medical degree at the University of Minnesota and a master's in public health at The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. She completed a residency in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.

Joining CIMS in 2004, with interests in combining the fields of public health and hospital medicine, she has defined public health roles for the hospitalist and engaged in creating hospital-based public health interventions.

Currently, Dr. Kisuule is creating a Tobacco Management Service that will serve to promote tobacco cessation in hospitalized patients. Her work is supported by a Legacy Foundation grant. She also has developed a hospitalist fellowship program for The Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Kisuule is a member of the Society of Hospital Medicine, the American College of Physicians and the American Medical Association.

Selected Publications

Kittane Vishnupriya, M.B.B.S.
Instructor, Medicine
Assistant Division Director, CIMS

Kittane Vishnupriya, M.D., earned a medical degree from Mysore Medical College in India. He completed an internship and residency in general internal medicine at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center and Sinai Hospital.

Dr. Vishnupriya is board-certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and is an associate member of the American College of Physicians.

Jennifer Bracey, M.D.
Instructor, Medicine
Assistant Division Director, CIMS

Jennifer Bracey, M.D., earned a medical degree from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, SC. She completed a residency at Emory University. She's recevied several honors, including induction into Alpha Omega Alpha and an award for providing the most outstanding ambulatory care in her residency class at Emory.

Dr. Bracey is very interested and active in health policy, advocating for general internal medicine. In 2009, she attended Hill Day in Washington, DC, on behalf of the Society of General Internal Medicine.

Melinda Kantsiper, M.D.
Assistant Professor, Medicine
Associate Director of CIMS at Howard County General Hospital

Melinda Kantsiper, M.D., earned a medical degree at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey - New Jersey Medical School. She completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at Boston University Medical Center.

A member of the Johns Hopkins Bayview Cancer Committee, Dr. Kantsiper serves as coordinator of the weekly Tumor Conference. Her research focues on improving communication between breast cancer survivors and their oncologists, surgeons and primary care providers. She also is assistant director of the Division of Hospital Medicine and serves as director of recruitment.

Dr. Kantsiper is a member of the the American College of Physicians, the Society of General Internal Medicine and the Society for Hospital Medicine.

Selected Publications

Mayy Chahla, M.D.
Assistant Professor, Medicine

Mayy Chahla, M.D., earned bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and biological sciences at the University of California, Irvine. She completed medical school at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, as well as a residency in internal medicine at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.

Dr. Chahla joined CIMS in 2008. She is a member of the ACP and Phi Beta Kappa Society.

Selected Publications

Shalini Chandra, M.D.
Assistant Professor, Medicine

Shalini Chandra, M.D., MS, a member of the American Medical Association and American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, earned a medical and master's degrees from Wayne State Univeristy. While there, she also completed residencies in internal medicine and pediatrics.

Sabrina Chaklos, M.D.
Instructor, Medicine

Sabrina Chaklos, M.D., earned a degree in biochemistry at Simmons College in Boston, MA. She received medical training at Tufts University School of Medicine, also in Boston, and completed a residency in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.

Shaker Eid, M.D.
Assistant Professor, Medicine

Shaker Eid, M.D., earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry and medical degree from the American University of Beirut (AUB) in Lebanon. He also completed a post-doctoral research fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at AUB and a residency in internal medicine at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore.

Dr. Eid is a member of the American College of Physicians and the American Heart Association.

Selected Publications

Venkat Gundareddy, M.D.
Instructor, Medicine

Ché Harris, M.D.
Instructor, Medicine

Ché Harris, M.D., earned a degree in biology from Saint Mary’s College of Maryland, followed by a master’s in biotechnology at The Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Harris completed medical training at Howard University College of Medicine and a residency at Howard University Hospital in Washington D.C.

Dr. Harris is a member of the American Medical Association and the American College of Physicians.

George Kargul, M.D., MS
Instructor, Medicine

George Kargul, M.D., MS, earned an undergraduate degree in mathematics at the University of Michigan. After earning a master of science in general biology at Wayne State University, he was awarded a pre-IRTA fellowship to work at the Laboratory of Genetics at the NIA/NIH. While at the NIH, his work included informatics research in genomic sequence analysis, mouse developmental genomics and the development of the largest mammalian cDNA microarray at that time.

Following his fellowship at NIA/NIH, Dr. Kargul earned a medical degree from Wayne State University and completed a residency in internal medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals. During his residency, he also served as a research proposal reviewer for The Implementation Group, a Washington DC based consulting firm which helps researchers and organizations acquire federal funding.

Dr. Kargul joined the CIMS faculty following his residency. His current academic interests include genomics, informatics and hospital medicine. He is a member of the American Medical Association, the Pennsylvania Medical Society, the American Psychiatric Association, the Wayne State University Alumni Association and the Society of Physics Students. He also was awarded a lifelong membership in the mathematics honor society, Pi Mu Epsilon.

Selected Publications

Waseem Khaliq, M.D., MPH
Instructor, Medicine

Waseem Khaliq, M.D., MPH, earned a medical degree at the King Edward Medical University (Pakistan) and a master's in public health at the University of Minnesota. He completed residency training in internal medicine at the University of Illinois.

Joining CIMS in 2010, Dr. Khaliq holds research interests in cancer prevention and surveillance, genetic risk factors for breast and prostate cancer, evidence-based medicine, epidemiology and quality improvement in medical care. He is a member of the Johns Hopkins Bayview Cancer Committee and serves as coordinator of the Tumor Conference. He also is a member of Society of Hospital Medicine.

Dmitry Kiyatkin, M.D.
Assistant Professor, Medicine

Dmitry Kiyatkin, M.D., earned a medical degree at Indiana University School of Medicine. He completed a residency in internal medicine at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.

Prior to coming to the Medical Center, Dr. Kiyatkin served as an emergency department extern at St. Francis Hospital in Indiana. He also completed a summer research fellowship with the National Institute for Drug Abuse.

Dr. Kiyatkin is a member of the Society of Hospital Medicine.

Amy Knight, M.D.
Assistant Professor, Medicine

Amy Knight, M.D., earned a medical degree at the University of Virginia and completed a residency in internal medicine at the University Hospitals of Cleveland. After practicing primary care for five years at a community health center in Baltimore, she joined CIMS in 2000.

Dr. Knight has completed coursework in research methods, statistics and epidemiology. She also participated in the Johns Hopkins Faculty Development Program and subsequently conducted a comprehensive survey of all past participants of the program, resulting in several publications.

Since coming to Johns Hopkins Bayview, Dr. Knight has developed an interest in using information technology to improve the quality of health care. She completed a National Library of Medicine course in medical informatics, led the development and study of a computerized discharge documentation tool, and was instrumental in the implementation of a computerized provider order entry (CPOE) and electronic documentation.

In addition, Dr. Knight serves as medical advisor to the Medical Center's Department of Information Services, and is on the Pharmacy & Therapeutics Committee and Medical Affairs Council. She is a member of the Society of Hospital Medicine, the American Medical Informatics Association and the Society of General Internal Medicine.

Selected Publications

Janet Record, M.D.
Assistant Professor, Medicine

Janet Record, M.D., earned a medical degree at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. She completed a residency in general medicine at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.

Dr. Record teaches a section of the Evidence-Based Medicine course for interns and is part of the medical housestaff at Johns Hopkins Bayview. She will serve as chief resident for the internal medicine residency program during the 2007/2008 academic year.

Through a Johns Hopkins Faculty Development Course in curriculum development, Dr. Record currently is working with CIMS and the Division of General Internal Medicine to develop a fellowship in hospital medicine. In 2008, she will participate in the implementation of the program.

Dr. Record is a member of the American College of Physicians.

Selected Publications

Rajiv Thakkar, M.D., MBA
Assistant Professor, Medicine

Rajiv Thakkar, M.D., MBA, earned a medical degree at Gujarat University, B.J. Medical College in Ahmedabad, India. After undergoing additional post-graduate training there, he pursued a research fellowship in pediatric urology and cardiology at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. He also completed a residency in general internal medicine at Union Memorial Hospital. During his residency, Dr. Thakkar received the John K. Mulholland Research Award, as well as an award for the Best Scientific Poster at the annual American College of Physicians (ACP) meeting in 1999.

While serving as a hospitalist for Baltimore Medical System from 2001 to 2005, Dr. Thakkar conducted bedside teaching for medical students and housestaff, participated in research on portable echocardiograms and ran an outpatient minor procedure clinic. He joined CIMS in 2006.

Dr. Thakkar completed a Business in Medicine certificate program in 2004 and earned an MBA in medical services management in 2008.

Selected Publications

Haruka Torok, M.D., MS
Assistant Professor, Medicine

Haruka Torok, M.D., MS, earned a medical degree at Hokkaido University in Japan, and completed a residency and chief residency in general internal medicine at Teine Keijinkai Hospital in Sapporo, Japan. She then completed a residency and fellowship in general internal medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where she also earned a master's degree in medical education.

Dr. Torok is currently involved in several medical education research projects. In addition to pursuing curriculum development projects, she plans to be involved in education at all training levels at CIMS.

Renee Wright, M.D.
Assistant Professor, Medicine

Renee Wright, M.D., earned a medical degree at Howard University College of Medicine and completed a residency in internal medicine at Howard University Hospital.

After joining CIMS in 2006, Dr. Wright became director of the medical consult service and co-coordinator of the hospitalist elective for medical students and residents. She plans to conduct a quality-improvement project involving follow-up of abnormal test results after patients are discharged from the hospital.

Selected Publications

Scott Wright, M.D.
Professor, Medicine
Academic Mentor, CIMS

Scott Wright, M.D., academic mentor for the CIMS faculty at Johns Hopkins Bayview, is renowned for significant contributions in medical education research. Specifically, he has:

• taken the lead nationally in investigating the influence and importance of role modeling in medical education;
• described the prevalence and challenges of problem residents;
• written about ethical issues that emerge at the intersection of biomedical and business cultures in the managed care setting;
• studied the transformation of medical literature as it moves toward electronic publication;
• investigated the promotion process and criteria for clinician-educators in academia;
• written about resident research and research mentoring; and,
• studied the process of personal and professional growth of physicians.

Supported by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation as the senior investigator of a quantitative and qualitative multi-institutional study of personal and professional growth in housestaff, the quality of Dr. Wright’s work in medical education has been widely recognized both nationally and internationally. His studies have been published in the important journals in the field, including the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Annals of Internal Medicine, Journal of General Internal Medicine, American Journal of Medicine and Academic Medicine.

Currently, Dr. Wright is involved in a national initiative, funded by the American Medical Association, to develop a Medical Education Research Consortium. In mentoring a large number of individuals, a treasured role that is expanding, his involvement in research studies related to hospital medicine, quality improvement and new content areas in medical education is ever-evolving.

Roy Ziegelstein, M.D.
Professor, Medicine and Cardiology
Executive Vice-Chair, Department of Medicine
Associate Director, Internal Medicine Residency
Academic Mentor, CIMS

Roy Ziegelstein, M.D., professor of cardiology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and executive vice-chair/ deputy director for education in the Division of Medicine at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, is a recipient of several awards for excellence in teaching and mentoring, including:

• The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine's Professor's Award for Distinction in Teaching in the Clinical Sciences
• the C. Lockard Conley Award for Contributions to Resident Education and Research of the Maryland American College of Physicians (ACP)
• The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine's George J. Stuart Award for Outstanding Clinical Teaching
• the Maryland ACP's Theodore E. Woodward Award for Medical Education
• the Diversity Recognition Award, presented by the Johns Hopkins Institutions Diversity Leadership Council (only recipient from the JHU School of Medicine)

Dr. Ziegelstein is a graduate of the Boston University School of Medicine and is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society.