Meet Our Internal Medicine Residents

Chief Residents
Third Year Residents
Second Year Residents
First Year Residents

Chief Residents 2011-2012

Kristy Cahill. I grew up locally in Burlington, Mass and received my undergraduate degree in biochemistry from UMass Amherst. After deciding that I loved medicine I attended UMass Medical School where I fell in love with primary care. CHA's internal medicine residency program was extremely attractive to me because it offered a strong inpatient medicine training while providing one of the strongest primary care educations in the area. Since my first day of internship I have found this to remain true. Throughout my time at CHA I have always felt I was receiving an outstanding education with an enormous amount of support from my co-residents, attendings, and all other clinical staff. CHA has provided me the balance I need to become a competent physician, devoted wife and now a new mom! I look forward to my future career as a primary care physician in Massachusetts and my chance to excel using all of the knowledge and skills CHA has provided me.

Malgorzata Dawiskiba. I was originally born in Poland but at the age of 2 immigrated to the US and subsequently to the Virgin Islands. During my undergraduate studies at Tufts University, I studied both Biopsychology and Fine Arts, with a focus in Community Health. Following graduation, I participated through AmeriCorps in the afterschool systems in the Boston area. I then returned to Tufts for medical school, with interests in both health disparities and international health. During my studies, I was given the opportunity to complete a research concentration working on a project focused on antioxidants in HIV in rural India. During my time at CHA, the culture and mentorship has helped me focus more intently on my interests in health disparities, which I hope to continue in my career ahead.

Third Year Residents

Anushka Bagga. I completed my medical education in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 2005 and was awarded a gold medal in surgery at the final MBBS examination. After this I worked for a year as a demonstrator in the department of anatomy at the faculty of medical sciences university of Sri Jayawardenepura. I completed my internship back in Sri Lanka in Internal Medicine and General Surgery following which I worked in anesthesiology for 1.5 years in the only pediatric cardiothoracic unit in Sri Lanka. In July 2009 I moved to the US and finished my internship in Internal Medicine at the Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center in the Bronx, NY. I moved to Cambridge this year and from my first experience here have felt it is a perfect fit. Catering to an undeserved population with the commitment I have seen among the faculty breeds a culture of social conscience which is indispensible for health care workers and human beings. I have been privileged to work with and be mentored by great human beings and fantastic physicians. By volunteering in Sri Lanka in war torn areas and in the army hospital I have found that a "heart" in medicine is as important as the actual medical expertise. This program I feel is exemplary in this aspect.

Nadir Khir. I was born and raised in Omdurman, Sudan. I studied at the University of Gezira, a renowned community-oriented medical school in Africa and Middle East, where I received awards for my work in primary care, rural development, and problem-based medical education. I also received scholarship from the World Health Organization to study Medicine in the Netherlands. After graduating from medical school, I was trained as a surgeon before coming to the US. I have always been interested in international health. My medical and multicultural background and language skills (English, Arabic, and Ethiopian) landed me at the Center of International Medicine at the Brigham and Woman's Hospital in Boston, where I worked as an international patient coordinator. I also volunteered as a public elementary school tutor in Boston. In my free time, I enjoy playing with my son and two daughters. I am excited to be part of CHA not only because Cambridge is a community and public hospital that serves a diverse and underserved patient population, but also because it has a strong academic teaching program and a commitment to primary care medicine.

Sara King. I grew up in New Jersey and then Oregon. I completed my MD and MSPH at Tulane University. I helped to found a student-run clinic after Hurricane Katrina, a community-wide health initiative in rural Louisiana and a primary care clinic in rural Kenya. I came to Cambridge to learn from and to be a part of the outstanding system of continuity between inpatient and outpatient, including a house-calls and comprehensive program for the elderly, for excellent evidence-based clinical medicine practiced and taught with wisdom and love, and to be among peers that are smart, vibrant and kind.

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, family, and friends.

Mahima Pandey. I was born in Nepal and attended medical school at the Lady Hardinge Medical College in New Delhi, India. After immigrating to the US, I completed preliminary medicine internship at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine (Bronx) residency program, New York. I have conducted research in liver transplantation at Westchester Medical Center, New York. I enjoy travelling, dancing, reading, cooking and theatre. I anticipate a career in primary care medicine. CHA has provided me the opportunity to grow both in my academic and clinical performance and has helped me balance life and patient care. It is a great community to work in.

Ziv Paz. I was born in Israel and attended Hadassah medical school at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. During medical School I conducted a basic research which led to two original publications and MSc degree. Before starting my residency in CHA, I was involved in few research projects in the fields of Rheumatology and Autoimmunity and completed a one year research fellowship in the Rheumatology department of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). I joined the Cambridge Health Alliance program because I knew I will get an active support to achieve my career goals. I am fluent in Hebrew and I spend my spare time with my wife and children, reading and continuing my research work in BIDMC.

Kavita Sharma. I was born in India. I attended medical school at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College in Jabalpur, India, where I participated in a number of community-based prevention programs in family planning and immunization. After graduation from medical school, I was a house officer at the Hindu-Rao Hospital and the RBTB Hospital in New Delhi. Before starting here at Cambridge Health Alliance, I volunteered time at various facilities and completed a transitional year at MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham. CHA's active involvement and advocacy for community health and social justice is what attracted me the most to the program. And needless to say the prospect of staying close to the beautiful Boston and Cambridge area was the clincher. A walk in the park, experiments in the kitchen and watching Hindi movies are some of the things I enjoy doing in my free time.

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.

Second Year Residents

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 interest includes medical education and I enjoy the opportunities teaching and working with medical students and interns. I look forward to a career in academic medicine and continuing my role as an editor with the First Aid for the Boards. Outside of the hospital, I enjoy traveling around the world, exploring new places, cooking/eating, and riding my bike.

First Year Residents

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.

Jeffrey Marshall. Born in upstate NY and raised in the Adirondack Mountains, I spent most of my child hood 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, then moved to New York City to attend Mount Sinai School of Medicine, as part of the Humanities and Medicine Program. My clinical and research interests include refugee and immigrant health, and community based research and advocacy. I took an additional year of medical school to study public health, focusing specifically on survivors of torture and their barriers to health care.

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.

This past year I spent working with underserved immigrant populations in Queens, NY where I developed my interests in primary care and public health. My personal interests still include cycling and fly-fishing, as well as cooking, playing soccer, and enjoying the free time I have with my lovely girlfriend and my wonderful dog Guinness.

Elizabeth Kwo. I grew up in Taipei and San Francisco and attended college at Stanford University majoring in Human Biology. After graduation, I conducted research on senior healthcare as a Fulbright Scholar in Taiwan, which solidified my interest in geriatrics. I attended Harvard Medical School and Harvard Business School for a joint M.D./M.B.A. program and published papers in dementia care and pharmaceutical branding. I also worked in healthcare clinics in Nepal, Guatemala, Mexico, and Ghana, Before starting residency, I worked for various healthcare companies in medical device, biotechnology,and telemedicine to gain business management experience. I knew CHA was the the best fit for me to continue my interest in medical management and care coordination for patients. This institution has been a wonderful place to train and become a proficient primary care physician. In the future, I plan to create innovative geriatric care practices that preserve the health of seniors. I have a passion for sports, experimental cooking, and traveling.

"No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars or sailed an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit." - Helen Keller

"In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer." - Albert Camus

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 excited to pursue my interests in immigrant healthcare, human rights, and kidney disease at CHA. I speak Spanish after extended time in Latin America.

My husband, Jameson, is an opera singer. I am also a classically-trained singer and opera enthusiast. Together, we enjoy traveling, cooking, and playing with our two adopted cats.

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.

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. For the past five years, 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. Throughout medical school, I have been dedicated to primary care and access to health care for all. This lead 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. I am a distance runner looking forward to running the Big Sur Marathon in April. Other hobbies include spending as much time hiking and generally playing outdoors as possible, cooking, yoga and traveling. I also plan to take up my violin practice again soon...

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.

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.