Nadine Palermo

I was born in Hershey, Pennsylvania and grew up in Pittston, a small town in northeastern Pennsylvania. I attended Boston College, graduating with a degree in Biology. Following Boston College, I received a Masters from Boston University School of Medicine. For my Masters thesis, I studied the effects of Vitamin D analogues as a treatment for colon cancer, and I coordinated studies to evaluate the prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency in adolescents. I attended medical school at the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine. The CHA Internal Medicine Residency Program encompassed all the components I was looking for in a program, a strong academic teaching environment with physicians who are dedicated to serving the community. I am very excited to be part of Cambridge Health Alliance. Having lived in the Cambridge/Somerville area prior to medical school, I can truly appreciate the culturally rich and socioeconomic diverse patient population. I am presently involved with Clinical Microsystems Projects at the Cambridge Hospital campus and research at the Joslin Diabetes Center. My projects at the Joslin are directed at identifying barriers to patient self-management of Diabetes. Following residency, I plan to pursue a fellowship in Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism. I have studied dance for over 20 years I have instructed children's dance, choreographed and directed a dance organization in college. Some of my favorite hobbies include dance (ballet, jazz, hip hop), tennis, skiing, traveling, and spending time with my husband, son, family, and friends.

Susan Swords

A native of western Massachusetts, I have lived and worked in New England my entire life. I graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in biology. After college, I worked on a research study focusing on the prevention of acute exacerbations of childhood asthma requiring visits to the emergency department. This experience helped me to understand some of the practical barriers to the practice of preventive medicine; for example, the lack of adequate time for patient education in a typical primary care visit. I attended medical school at the University of Massachusetts in Worcester, MA with the goal of becoming a primary care physician. At UMass, I developed an appreciation and love for working with a multiethnic patient population with complex psychosocial and medical needs. I organized a student curriculum on complementary and alternative medicine, and received an Albert Schweitzer fellowship to teach yoga classes and meditation to medical students and to children and teenagers in a local community center. I value the practice of medicine as a holistic, patient-centered approach, and I chose CHA because of the institution's unique dual commitment to both community medicine and academic rigor.

Gaurab Basu

After growing up in the Bay Area, California, I moved east where I studied International Relations at Brown University. After college, I worked on a community tuberculosis prevention program at NYU School of Medicine's Center for Immigrant Health. I then pursued my medical degree at University of Vermont College of Medicine where I was chosen as a Schweitzer Fellow and worked on a project that coordinated care for HIV positive Somali and Congolese refugees in Burlington, VT. Between my 3rd and 4th year of medical school, I received a Sommer Scholarship to pursue an MPH at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. I concentrated in Human Rights and worked with the Gates Institute on a family planning study in West Bengal, India for my thesis. I am passionate about community-oriented primary care, research based health advocacy, international women's health, and human rights policy. I spend my free time with family and friends, reading, watching and playing sports, traveling and following politics. I feel deeply fulfilled by my work at CHA because I am part of a community that inspires me and pushes me to be a better health advocate.

Rachael Bedard

I grew up in Toronto, Canada. I studied history at Brown University where I was a campus coordinator of "Project HEALTH" and a CV Starr Social Entrepreneurship Fellow. Following graduation in 2005, I worked for a year and then enrolled at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. While attending medical school, I served as a New York City Mayor's Office Health Literacy Fellow, teaching health classes to adult learners in ESL and adult literacy classes in Harlem. I further developed these interests by co-founding "Students as Patient and Community Educators" with my now co-intern and dear friend, Alison Rapoport, a collaboration to teach medical students about health literacy and strategies for patient education. During my time at Sinai, I also co-founded "Mount Sinai Students for Universal Health Care and Clinical Compositions", a student writing group. I also received an INSPIRE research award enabling me to take 3 months of my fourth year to study the capacity of elders to make informed health insurance decisions. I am thrilled to be training at CHA and look forward to a career in academic medicine as a primary care physician.

Genevieve Bergeron

I was born in Thetford Mines, Quebec. I studied natural sciences at Cégep de Thetford before attending medical school at Université Laval in Quebec City. While in medical school, I was fortunate enough to complete medical rotations in Peru, Lebanon and El Salvador. After graduating from medical school in 2009, I was awarded a Frank Knox Memorial Scholarship and Fulbright Fellowship and completed an MPH at the Harvard School of Public Health focusing on environmental and occupational health. I am thrilled to be here at Cambridge Health Alliance for residency training and be part of an institution committed to social justice, the public's health and serving a diverse underserved population. My hobbies include salsa dancing, hiking, reading historical fiction and watching musicals. I am a native French speaker and proficient in Spanish.

Irina Gavanescu

I was born in Bucharest, Romania. I attended medical school at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Carol Davila Bucharest. Deeply interested in autoimmune mechanisms of disease, I pursued a PhD degree in immunology/virology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and a post-doctoral fellowship at the Joslin Diabetes Center. Areas of research included basic mechanisms of autoimmunity in scleroderma and autoimmune polyglandular syndrome type I: I studied the choice of self-antigens and the activation of self-reactive lymphocytes in animal models of autoimmunity. My research was funded by a Ruth L. Kirschstein NIH National Research Service Award and published in peer-reviewed journals. At CHA I am training for a career in patient care, with the goal of blending medical practice and science in translational research work. I spend most of my free time with my husband and young daughter. I also like to read, watch movies and theater shows, listen to classical movies, and travel.

Firas Naji

Growing up as a child in Amish country outside of Pittsburgh, I aspired to make an impact on patients locally and abroad. I went to Wake Forest and North Carolina State Universities, where I founded several organizations that bridged university science departments with local middle schools. I volunteered in free health clinics, where I saw a potential career full of value and substance. There, I used my Botany degree to lead a study on the use of CAM in the NC Latino community, and presented the findings on National Public Radio. I pursued post-Bac studies at the UNC School of Public Health, and developed a new appreciation for a well rounded approach to patient care. I then went to the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine. I became an entrepreneur and authored the Medical French and Medical Spanish app's for the iPhone, found on iTunes, and used by tens of thousands of users worldwide. I reinvested profits into the community and to travel to Haiti to provide emergency relief after the quake. I decided to come to CHA because the program has a solid reputation in advanced medical education, and I am proud to become a part of the CHA/Harvard system as it revolutionizes the way medicine is practiced.

Alison Rapoport

I was born and raised in New York City and went to Pomona College in Claremont, California where I majored in Religious Studies, was active in modern dance choreography, and had a weekly call-in talk radio show called "Monday Night Live." My family has lived in Vietnam for the past decade, and while in college I also received a Freeman Foundation Fellowship to study Vietnamese veterans and society's commemoration of the War. After college I moved back to NYC and worked for one year as a research coordinator for quality improvement at Village Care of New York City, a health services provider for over 1,000 older adults and people living with HIV in Greenwich Village. I then attended the Mount Sinai School of Medicine where I developed an interest in health literacy. Along with my co-intern Rachael Bedard, we founded "Students as Patient and Community Educators", a collaboration with the third year medicine-geriatrics clerkship directors to teach medical students about health literacy and strategies for patient education. My clinical interests include Geriatrics, Infectious Disease, and medical education.

Michael Soliman

I was born in Alexandria, Egypt and attended one of the highly recognized schools in the area The University of Alexandria for undergraduate and medical studies. I then served as a medical intern and resident in Egypt. After immigrating to the US, I worked as a laboratory manager while preparing for residency training in the US. I completed several rotations at the Cambridge, Whidden and Somerville hospital campuses. My hobbies include computers and technology. I am fluent in Arabic. I feel privileged to be at CHA, It reminds me every day why I chose medicine as a career path. I have rotated in several Boston area hospitals and came to a conclusion that I can only be at CHA for my internal medicine training. Once I finish my training, I would be able to pursue any career path that I desire, either as a specialist or an internist with great confidence in my abilities and training. One of many advantages at CHA is our share of unique clinical cases that you would not expect to encounter in clinical medicine.

James Yeh

I am a graduate of Boston University School of Medicine, where I received the Henry J. Bakst Award in Community Medicine and was an Albert Schweitzer Fellow. I completed my undergraduate and graduate work at the University of California, Berkeley and Harvard University. I came to Cambridge for the perfect balance of academia, learning, and the opportunity to care for the underserved population.  My academic interests include medical education and evidence based medicine.  I will begin fellowship training next year at Brigham and Women's.

Dylan Bothamley

I grew up in San Diego, California with two younger brothers, and parents who both work in professions where they are able to pursue their interest in social justice. From an early age I fostered a love for travel visiting family members across the globe. I attended college at the University of California Santa Cruz where I played baseball and studied Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental biology. I then followed an interest in public safety and community policing as a 911 dispatcher in Monterey, California. The time I spent studying community policing heavily influenced my interest in the related field of public health, and ultimately medicine. I attended Medical School at Touro University Nevada College of Osteopathic Medicine. My interests in medicine include primary care, healthcare policy, education, and development. In addition to travel I enjoy playing just about any sport, reading anything I can get my hands on, and above all spending time with family and friends. I feel privileged to be a part of the Cambridge Health Alliance. I chose to pursue training here for the commitment CHA has to community medicine, its thoughtful academic structure, and the wonderful people I met while visiting the program.

Michelle Hauser

I grew up in Mason City, Iowa and moved to Minneapolis to begin my college journey in Culinary Arts at Le Cordon Bleu. My culinary internship took me to Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California – I immediately fell in love with Northern California and adopted it as my new home. Afterward, I moved further north to Humboldt County to get my Bachelor of Science degree in Cellular-Molecular Biology and Chemistry from Humboldt State University. While in undergrad, I wrote curriculum for and managed cooking schools, did genetics and cardiovascular bioengineering research and worked on numerous programs to increase the number of Native American students going to college in science and health-related fields. I have studied medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS), public policy at Harvard Kennedy School of Government and leadership through the Zuckerman Fellows Program. I also teach nutrition, lifestyle change and healthy cooking in HMS courses, CME and shared medical appointments. I combine interests in cooking, physical activity and health on my website, Chef in Residency. Throughout medical school, I have been dedicated to primary care and access to health care for all. This led to being a founding member of Primary Care Progress (PCP) and now to being a HMS Chapter Leader for this grassroots organization focused on innovation, education and research in primary care. CHA’s combination of excellent primary care training, patient-centered focus and supportive, innovative environment brought me back for residency after participating in the Cambridge Integrated Clerkship as medical student. Other activities include running marathons, spending as much time as possible hiking and generally playing outdoors, cooking, doing yoga and traveling.

Jennifer Huang

I was raised in Chicago, IL and majored in biology at MIT during college before attending Mount Sinai for medical school. Throughout my undergraduate and medical school years, I conducted basic science and clinical research in the fields of cancer biology, aging, and geriatric psychiatry. Toward the end of medical school, I realized that I enjoyed most the clinical management of both common and complex medical conditions in the field of general internal medicine and therefore chose to come here to Cambridge Health Alliance for residency. Here at CHA, I appreciate the emphasis placed on primary care training and the diversity of the patient population. I plan to eventually pursue a career in primary care. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my family and friends and watching movies.

Naomi James

I grew up in Washington DC, but headed south to Rice University in the swamp currently known as Houston, TX. At Rice, I studied humanities and social sciences, majoring in English literature. After a stint as a conductor’s executive assistant at the Houston Grand Opera, I headed back to Yankee territory, New York City, where I became a case worker for adults with developmental and physical disabilities at United Cerebral Palsy. Though I come from a medical family, this work in social services spurred my personal desire to become a physician. I dusted off my backpack to complete the pre-med requirements at Goucher College, and then returned to New York City to attend Mount Sinai School of Medicine. In medical school, I found a particular passion for the longitudinal care of adults with multiple medical issues. I am dedicated to patient-centered care.

My husband is an opera singer. I am also a classically-trained singer and opera enthusiast. In April 2012, we welcomed our beautiful daughter into the world.

Jeffrey Marshall

Born in upstate NY and raised in the Adirondack Mountains, I spent most of my childhood living and playing outdoors, cycling, hiking and fly-fishing. I attended a small liberal arts college in upstate NY, where I studied philosophy and classics. Before beginning medical school, I took a year off, spending a few months traveling 10,000 miles through the national parks across the United States. The rest of the year was spent traveling up the coast of Italy and throughout Europe, while completing my graduate thesis in biomedical ethics.  I then moved to New York City to attend Mount Sinai School of Medicine, as part of the Humanities and Medicine Program.  I took an additional year of medical school to study public health, focusing specifically on survivors of torture and their barriers to health care. During that year I spent my time working with underserved immigrant populations in Queens, NY where I developed my interests in primary care.  My personal interests still include cycling and fly-fishing, as well as cooking, playing soccer, and enjoying the free time I have with my wonderful dog Guinness.

Christina Pham

I grew up in Southern California with a huge extended family, with grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, siblings and cousins all around. For college, I zipped up the coast to Stanford University, where I majored in Human Biology with a concentration in International Health Policy. As part of my concentration, I worked at the Institute of Medicine in Washington D.C. on health care policy and studied the UK's National Health Service at Oxford University (Magdalen College), gaining experience that has given me a deeper appreciation for the health care challenges the U.S. is facing today. After graduating from Stanford, I dabbled in business, working in management consulting and doing research at the Harvard Business School. While on a Fulbright Fellowship in Vietnam helping to develop the country's technology strategy, I worked with a medical devices company at a hospital in Hanoi, which rekindled my interest in medicine. I took a leap of faith, changed career paths and haven't looked back since. I went to medical school in San Francisco at the UCSF School of Medicine, married my college sweetheart, and had three kids along the way. In my spare time, I love to hang out with my kids, go dancing with my husband, take photographs with my ancient Nikon, and make fondant cakes for my friends.

Rebecca Rogers

I grew up just up the road from Cambridge in Lexington, MA, and spent 6 years outside the state – 4 years at Swarthmore College near Philadelphia, and 2 years doing bench research at the NIH – before returning to go to Harvard Medical School. I didn’t think I was interested in primary care when I started medical school, but after countless emotionally moving, intellectually stimulating, and productive meetings with patients in the primary care setting, I was convinced there was no better path for me. Organizing walking groups in Franklin Park and teaching sex-ed to teenagers during medical school got me interested in the community-oriented roles that PCPs can play. I took a year off following med school to accompany my husband to London, during which I fawned over the UK’s National Health Service and worked at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, helping with a literature review of how public health interventions can be delivered in a general practice setting. That year confirmed my interest in the overlap of public health and primary care, and in the various ways that services can be delivered to best serve the community. I am very excited to start residency at CHA, as it perfectly matches my interests in community health and academic medicine. While not in the hospital I like checking out local farmers markets, cooking, biking, and playing with our 2 adorable fluffy cats.

Neil Shah

I was born in Albany, NY but spent most of my childhood in Scranton, PA. I moved to Boston when I was 18 and have been here ever since. I went to Boston University and completed the Seven-Year Liberal Arts Medical Education Program where I studied medical science and business administration before starting medical school there. I initially matched into ophthalmology but fell in love with internal medicine during my internship at Carney Hospital. I decided to switch fields and feel blessed to have landed at Cambridge Health Alliance.

I am interested in learning how to implement systemic improvements in the health care system, and I'm excited about the potential for coordinated primary care and prevention to lead to those improvements. What drew me to CHA was the emphasis on strong primary care training and the chance to be surrounded by clinicians who seek out ways to improve our health care delivery systems.

Outside the hospital, I enjoy playing and writing music. I play guitar, piano, bass, and drums. I also enjoy being on the water and am learning how to sail.

Camille Clarke

Born in Toronto, Canada I spent much of my childhood on the beautiful islands of the Caribbean Sea. I later completed my undergraduate degree at Oakwood University in Huntsville AL with a double major in Biology and French and a minor in Chemistry. While participating in outreach to the underserved in Africa and South America I developed an interest in patient empowerment through lifestyle education and counseling. The experiences left a deep impression, and prompted me to take a year off after graduation to pursue training in this field. I attended Medical school at Loma Linda University in Southern California where I participated in a number of prevention based programs as well as minority initiatives in both community and health sciences. Outside of medicine, I have several interests and hobbies but find creating beautiful memories with friends and loved ones the most rewarding and enjoyable. I am very excited about training at CHA because of its strong commitment to excellence in service and I look forward to continue in the tradition where the noble reasons for pursuing medicine are kept alive and well.

Anna Goldman

I was born and grew up in Norfolk, Virginia, and attended Brown University, where I majored in Art History and co-produced a documentary radio show, “Inside Out”, on Brown Student Radio. I took four years off between college and medical school, during which time I worked at the National Public Radio-affiliated nonprofit, StoryCorps; studied hand-drawn animation at RISD; and did a Masters of Public Affairs with a focus on health policy back at Brown. During my Masters program, I interned for the Lt. Governor of Rhode Island and designed/facilitated the first phases of a state-wide initiative to reduce the incidence of pressure ulcers in patients at health care facilities. In medical school at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, I pursued interests in primary care, health policy, health disparities, and medical education. I co-founded the Human Rights Clinic Program with Dr. Ramin Asgary, through which medical students participated in evaluations of political asylum-seekers and learned to write medical affidavits. I did research in medical education and was active in efforts to support primary care education at Mount Sinai. I was drawn to CHA because I admired its commitment to the idea that good medicine engages with the social needs of the individual and the community. I am honored to have the opportunity to train here.

Rachel Hathaway

I grew up near Albany, NY and from a young age I developed interests in both science and art. From age 9, I took lessons in drawing, painting, sculpture, and stained glass. Meanwhile, I had a growing interest in infectious diseases and public health. As an undergraduate at Cornell University, I did research in vector-borne disease transmission, bioterrorism, and host evasion of HIV infection. As a part of the Peer Educator program at the campus health center, I found that I was passionate about promoting patient self-advocacy and advancing health literacy. Additionally, I realized my love of teaching as a teaching assistant for a medical parasitology course, and an MCAT instructor for Kaplan during these years. I started the Cornell Art Club through which I taught my classmates to draw portraits and make stained glass. As a medical student at Boston University School of Medicine, I realized my interest in primary care through clinical experiences at a community health center. I am thrilled to be training at CHA because it has the perfect balance of academic excellence, teaching opportunities, and community health work. Outside of medicine, I spend my free time running along the Charles, trying out new recipes, reading fiction, working on art projects, and hanging out with my amazing boyfriend, Cameron.

Susan Inonog

Born and raised in Rhode Island, I crossed state lines to attend Mount Holyoke College in western Massachusetts and graduated with a BA in Neuroscience and Behavior. The metropolis of NYC beckoned, where I researched circadian rhythms at The Rockefeller University. Yearning an international health experience, the Peace Corps offered me a perfect opportunity to serve as a Health Education Volunteer in rural Bolivia and nurture my interests in community health, capacity-building, cultural competency, and helping underserved populations. I met my husband- a fellow volunteer- while in the Peace Corps, and we set off for adventures stateside after service. We moved to Monterey, California, where my husband pursued graduate studies and I continued to be engaged with the Latino community as a health educator at Salud Para La Gente clinic. We then headed to San Francisco to begin my medical training at UCSF. I am thrilled to return to my New England roots and join a community of caring, compassionate, and inspiring individuals at CHA. The commitment to innovating primary care, serving vulnerable populations, and training in a supportive atmosphere at CHA left the strongest impression on me when visiting programs around the country. Outside the hospital, I enjoy themed cook-offs, roadtrips, camping, hiking, hammocks, hot springs, catching live music, and exploring the restaurant scene.

Paula Lueras

I was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and am a true carnivore who loves a good comedy show.  Coming to the US the summer before starting high school gave me little time to learn English.  Learning Spanish simultaneously later gave me the opportunity to teach English to native Spanish speakers during my college days at Loyola University Chicago, and enriched my connection and work with underserved Latino communities in Colorado and Utah.  After Loyola, I completed my MPH at Tufts with a concentration in health services, management and policy while working full time on cancer and neurobiology research projects at MGH.  While at the University of Utah School of Medicine, I served as the first Hispanic woman to be the President of her medical class – twice.  I was also an active member of the Latino Medical Student Association.  My interest in geriatrics flourished early.  I soon became an AOA Fellow investigating the role of patient navigation in the American Indian geriatric population.  My ultimate goal is to balance the clinical responsibilities of being a geriatrician with the public health and leadership roles that are fundamental in geriatrics.  CHA could not have been more perfectly matched for me to achieve this and to work with like-minded individuals in an atmosphere that fosters the ultimate training and formation of the primary care leaders of tomorrow.

Amy Pasternack

I grew up in nearby Brookline, and while leaving the Boston area has never been my strong suit, I’m happy to live in a place where my roots have grown deep.  I went to Harvard College, where I focused on molecular and cellular biology, Spanish, and a student-run homeless shelter.  I got interested in primary care during college through an internship at Boston Health Care for the Homeless, and my experiences since then have only reinforced this plan.  After college, I spent a year in northern California with the homeless healthcare program of a safety net hospital, working on migrant farmworker health care and hepatitis C treatment, before returning to Harvard for medical school.  I took a year off during med school to work on a community health worker-based intervention for Medicaid patients with multiple chronic diseases that was piloted at CHA.  While the intervention ultimately hit some challenges, I had a great time training the community health workers on medical topics and writing curriculum for them to use with their patients.  Should I encounter any free time in the coming years, I’m excited to continue cooking lots of lentils, reading Russian novels, trying to play guitar, biking, hiking, and cross-country skiing (snow permitting).

Christina Phillips

Born and raised in Hartford, CT I attended Yale University where I majored in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology and played on the varsity basketball team.  After college I received a Master’s of Arts in exercise science from the University of Connecticut, worked at Hartford Hospital doing clinical and laboratory research, and coached basketball and tennis at my former high school.  I attended medical school at the University of Connecticut and I am excited about continuing my training at Cambridge Health Alliance.  With interests in primary care, sports medicine, and quality improvement, I am looking forward to pursuing these areas as a resident.  In my spare time I enjoy reading, traveling, practicing Spanish, running, pick-up basketball games, tennis, golf, and spending time with family including my 5 nieces and nephews.

Lello Tesema

I am originally from Addis Ababa Ethiopia, but was raised a global nomad of sorts. I spent the earlier part of my childhood living in various countries in sub-Saharan Africa, and by the time I arrived to college, I had lived in 7 different countries. At Cornell University, I majored in Economics and Religious Studies. After college, I took some time off to work in HIV preventive health research while cultivating my interests in advocacy and community organizing.  At Mount Sinai School of Medicine I was involved in various community health and outreach initiatives including a women’s health literacy project at a South Bronx methadone maintenance clinic and community vaccination drive in partnership with our local district Department of Health.  My experiences reinforced my passion for social justice, community medicine and access to care amongst vulnerable populations. I'm thrilled to be a part of such an inspiring medical community with shared values. In my spare time, I enjoy travelling, spending time with family and friends, and discovering new music.