Folasade Ajayi, MD, poses with her certificate with Theodore DaCosta, director of Saint Michael’s residency program.
After starting their residencies in the summer of 2020 at the height of the pandemic, 22 doctors completed their three-year internal medicine residency at Saint Michael’s, a teaching affiliate of New York Medical College.
The graduates were recognized during Saint Michael’s 59th Annual Certificate and Awards Ceremony held May 30 at Nanina’s in the Park.
“I want to congratulate you all, and thank you for the care you’ve provided to our patients for the last three years,” said Saint Michael’s CEO Alan Sickles, MD. “Each and every one you played an important part creating a great atmosphere in our hospital.”
For Theodore DaCosta, MD, the start of the class in 2020 coincided with the beginning of his tenure as the director of Saint Michael’s residency program.
“What I, realized over time,” Dr. DaCosta said, “is that I thought I was going to be educating them, but it turned out they were educating us.”
One example, Dr. DaCosta cited was a resident who told him one day she was biased. It led her developing a course for her fellow residents designed to thwart implicit bias.
The resident, Manogjna Prasad, MD, won a national award for the program from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).
In addition to Dr. Prasad, those who completed their residencies were: Hossam Abed, Folasade Ajayi, Chrystina Kiwan, Ahmed Abbas, Ruhma Ali, Raed Atiyat, Sneha Bijoy, Shawn Gupta, Riyashat Kazmi, Gowthami Kogilathota-Jagirdhar, Apoorva Kommidi, Alicia Kovach, Dilesha Kumanayaka, Kalee Larsen, Rime Mehannek, Raheel Naseeruddin, Aditya Patel, Nirav Patel, Afshan Tabassum, Sindhusha Veeraballi, and Benjamin Weber.
In addition, Sonya Wali, completed a residency in podiatric medicine.
Saint Michael’s also offers fellowships for physicians seeking advanced training. Sahithi Chittamuri, MD, completed a fellowship in hematology/oncology and Saraswathi Lakkasani, MD, and Dema Shamoon, MD, completed fellowships in Gastroenterology.
Several awards were given in honor of Saint Michael’s physicians who were dedicated to teaching residents.
The Philip D’Ambola Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching was awarded to Hossam Abed, MD.
The award was named after Dr. D’Ambola, who cast the deciding vote as a member of the hospital’s executive committee that made Saint Michael’s a teaching hospital more than a half century ago. The award was presented by his great niece, Lesly D’Ambola, MD, who also did her residency at the hospital years ago.
The Dr. Peter Ho Memorial award was given to Mohammed Nabil Rayad, MD.
The award was named after Dr. Ho, who was born in Vietnam and served as a surgeon alongside American doctors during the Vietnam War. He was an Infectious Disease fellow at the hospital in 1983. When he was invited by drug reps to dinner, he would only go on the condition that he be allowed to take food and bring it to a homeless shelter. Dr. Ho died in 1985 and the Saint Michael’s HIV/AIDS clinic is named in his honor.
The Dr. George Perez Achievement for Outstanding Medical Teaching was awarded to Hamid Shaaban, MD.
The award was named after Dr. Perez, who was chief of Infectious Disease at Saint Michael’s until his death in 2011. Dr. Perez consistently won the best teacher award during his years at the hospital.
Intern of the year was won by Min Choo Tan, MD, and Murad Qirem, MD. Residents also awarded a nurse of the year award to Mark Zanoria, RN.
