Majority of New Faculty Hires Have Ties to UB Med School

Of the 29 faculty who have joined the school in the past several months, 15 have completed fellowships, residencies, medical or doctoral degrees at UB.

The new faculty are as follows:

Manreet Basra, MBBS, is a cardiologist with expertise in the comprehensive care of cardiac problems in adults.

Basra, who is a clinical assistant professor, completed her fellowship in cardiovascular medicine and her internal medicine residency at UB.

Hiroko Beck, MD, is an assistant professor with expertise in clinical cardiac electrophysiology.

Beck specializes in the evaluation of arrhythmia and its associated symptoms.

Jessy J. Alexander, PhD, is a research associate professor.

Alexander's research aims to understand the role of the innate and adaptive immune system in health and disease. She has special interest in glomeruli and the blood-brain barrier of the kidney and brain.

Sun O. Park, MD, is a clinical assistant professor specializing in infectious diseases.

Park’s research interests focus on HIV and hepatitis C virus co-infection. She collaborates with researchers from the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition and participates in clinical trials for anti-retroviral agents and new agents to treat clostridium difficile.

Robert F. Glover, MD, is a clinical assistant professor specializing in cardiology.

Along with his teaching responsibilities, Glover maintains an active outpatient cardiology practice through UBMD. He completed UB residencies and a UB fellowship.

Nitu Kataria, MD, is a clinical assistant professor specializing in bioinformatics and general internal medicine.

Kataria comes to UB from the Medanta Heart Institute in India. She completed her internal medicine residency at UB. Her research expertise includes heart failure and preventive health care.

Bruce R. Troen, MD, is a professor of geriatric and palliative medicine.

Troen comes to UB from the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami.

Jessica L. Reynolds, PhD, is a research assistant professor.

Reynolds completed her PhD in pathology at UB and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Division of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology.

Janki A. Patel, MD, is a clinical associate professor of internal medicine and pediatrics.

Patel served as chief resident of UB’s combined internal medicine and pediatrics residency.

Elizabeth Kuruvilla, MD, is a clinical assistant professor.

Kuruvilla comes to UB from Kindred Hospital of Albuquerque.

Allan E. Kornberg, MD, MBA, is a clinical associate professor and chief of the Division of General Pediatrics.

Most recently, he served as executive director and CEO of the animal protection organization Farm Sanctuary, and as senior vice president, chief medical officer and chief operating officer for the National Initiative for Children’s Healthcare Quality.

Kornberg completed a UB residency.

Danielle M. Goetz, MD, is a clinical assistant professor.

Goetz comes to UB from Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland, where she held multiple roles, including director of pediatric bronchoscopy. She earned her medical degree at UB.

Deepali Handa, MD, is a clinical assistant professor specializing in neonatal-perinatal medicine.

Handa comes to UB from Cohen Children's Medical Center of New York, where she completed her neonatal-perinatal medicine fellowship and pediatrics residency.

Amanda Persaud, MD, is a clinical assistant professor.

Persaud joined the faculty after completing her pediatrics residency at UB.

Anthony Caterina, MD, is a clinical assistant professor.

Caterina comes to UB from Johns Hopkins University and Greenspring Pediatric Associates in Baltimore.

Peter S. Martin MD, MPH, is a clinical assistant professor with research interests in child and adolescent psychiatry and forensic psychiatry.

Martin comes to UB from the University of Rochester, where he completed his forensic psychiatry and adolescent psychiatry fellowships. He completed his general psychiatry residency at UB. He also earned his medical degree and Master of Public Health degree at UB.

Sourav Sengupta, MD, MPH, is a clinical assistant professor. 

Sengupta comes to UB from the Center for Public Service Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh, where he completed his fellowship.

Matthew S. Pihlblad, MD, is a clinical assistant professor with research expertise in pediatric ophthalmology and strabismus.  

Pihlblad comes to UB from the University of California at Los Angeles, where he completed his fellowship. He completed his opthalmology residency at UB, where he served as chief resident.

Gareth M. Lema, MD, PhD, is an assistant professor. 

Lema comes to UB from the Flaum Eye Institute at the University of Rochester, where he completed his fellowship. He holds a medical degree and a PhD in biophysics from UB.

Ping Li, MD, is an assistant professor whose research focuses on epilepsy and sleep disorders. 

Li completed a fellowship in clinical neurophysiology, her neurology residency and an internal medicine internship at UB.

Weiguo Liu, MD, PhD, is a clinical assistant professor who specializes in surgical pathology. 

Liu uses next generation sequencing to analyze genomic alternations in ampullary carcinoma. He is also interested in evaluating liver fibrosis using quantitative image-analysis tools. Liu completed his pathology residency at UB.

Rajeev Sharma, MBBS, is a clinical assistant professor with expertise in abdominal organ transplantation surgery.

Sharma comes to UB from the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where he completed one of his fellowships. 

Elizabeth A. Wohlfert, PhD, is an assistant professor.

Wohlfert comes to UB from the Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases at the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, where she was a research fellow.

Teresa L. Danforth, MD, is an assistant professor with expertise in female urology, male voiding dysfunction and neurogenic bladder.

Danforth comes to UB from the University of Southern California, where she completed her fellowship. She completed her urology residency, internship and medical degree at UB.

Penelope S. Chun, MD, is an assistant professor. 

Chun comes to UB from the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Rochester Strong Memorial Hospital, where she served as director of the emergency ultrasound division and fellowship.

Erica L. Olsen, MD, is a clinical assistant professor. 

Olsen comes to UB from Staten Island University Hospital, where she was an attending physician and director of medical student education. 

Feraas Jabi, MD, is an assistant professor who completed his nuclear medicine residency at UB, where he served as chief resident.

Ananda C. Dharshan, MBBS, is a clinical assistant professor. 

Bonnie T. Gleason, MD, is a clinical assistant professor.