Leadership Team

Chairman Welcome

Welcome to the Cleveland Clinic. We provide a World Class training experience commensurate with our commitment to our patients to provide World Class Care. Education of those who serve is a vibrant and dynamic part of the tripartite mission of Cleveland Clinic envisioned by the founders in 1921 and remains so today. The excitement and energy that is palpable on the first day of orientation is evident throughout each day of residency training. Whether your long term goal is a career in primary care, subspecialty care, hospital medicine or research, the Cleveland Clinic provides a highly innovative and supportive learning environment that will prepare and propel you to your future goals and success. If you join us here for training, you will certainly work hard and be more than prepared for the remainder of your career. Moreover, you will have the opportunity to grow as a person, clarify your vision, and move further toward a lifelong journey of learning and service. We welcome your interest!

Chairman, Cleveland Clinic Community Care

Program Director Welcome

Welcome to the Cleveland Clinic Internal Medicine Residency Training Program!

Where Every Resident Receives a World Class Education

Greetings applicants! 

We thank you for visiting our website and for considering the Cleveland Clinic Internal Medicine Residency Program (IMRP) for your Internal Medicine training home.

On behalf of our Program members including current and past residents, faculty and administrative leadership, I gratefully welcome you! It is my pleasure to introduce you to our Program as you navigate your own residency program search.

In many ways our residency is a reflection of our sponsoring institution. In that regard, Cleveland Clinic was founded in 1921 on three main principles: 

• To provide better care of the sick
• Investigation into their problems, and
• Education of those who serve

As a founding principle, medical education has remained a driving force throughout the Cleveland Clinic’s 100 years of existence. The Cleveland Clinic Internal Medicine Residency Program works to advance the institution’s commitment to “further education of those who serve.” We seek to provide innovative, comprehensive, and high quality clinical and experiential learning opportunities within a rigorous and supportive academic setting. We remain committed to supporting the success of all residents, who upon completion of the program will possess excellent clinical skills, and who are well poised to thrive in virtually any practice environment or subsequent training experience. 

Two key ingredients in a successful residency are exposure to a diverse patient population complemented by faculty committed to your education and professional identity formation. We feel you will be exposed to both during your residency at the Cleveland Clinic.

Although Cleveland Clinic is a large tertiary academic medical center with additional campuses in Florida, Nevada, Canada, Abu Dhabi and London, the majority of patients cared for in Cleveland are from the surrounding community. Caring for a diverse population of patients from around the world, across the state of Ohio, and from our own local communities exposes our trainees to an unparalleled spectrum of diseases and the potential for creating a healthier population. The diversity of our patient population also inspires and motivates us to combat structural racism and promote inclusion, equity and justice in health education, healthcare, and in our patient communities. These are core tenets of the mission of the Cleveland Clinic and the IMRP. 

All of our faculty participate in clinical practice to a significant degree, and many are nationally and internationally recognized for outstanding clinical care, extraordinary education, and landmark research. Our program faculty are also deeply committed to mentoring residents in their professional development and do so through teaching and role-modeling exceptional clinical care, and coaching residents to conduct and present high quality research projects. Our faculty are well positioned and supported to help our residents in their pursuit of clinical careers in general internal medicine, hospital medicine, or further subspecialty training. 

Our academic environment is further enriched through being the primary training site for the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine (CCLCM) students. We are also one of the three primary sites in Cleveland for clerkship training for the University Track students from Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) School of Medicine. A new addition to the Cleveland Campus is the state-of-the-art, 11-acre Case Western Reserve University Health Education Campus which houses 2,200 nursing, dental, physician assistant students and CCLCM/CWRU medical students all under one roof. It provides further opportunities in medical and inter-professional education for our residents, especially our Clinician Educator Track (CET) residents.

We have a unique and well-developed interactive curriculum that covers clinical medicine as well as aspects of patient safety, quality improvement, high value care, leadership development, emotional intelligence, race and racism, implicit bias, clinical reasoning, problem-based learning, humanism, professional development, scholarship, and evidence-based medicine. Additionally, we have several innovative tracks within our residency program which allow residents to further explore individual interests and career paths including: 

• Veterans Administration (VA) Center of Excellence Track
• Primary Care Track
• Clinician Educator Track
• Research/Clinical Scholars Program Track
• Hospital Medicine Track

Our outstanding and diverse internal medicine residents remain highly appreciated members of the Cleveland Clinic medical community and vital partners in helping us provide world class care to our patients. Follow us on twitter @CCF_IMchiefs and join us in celebrating our city, our program, our culture, and our outstanding residents!

We sincerely feel the IMRP at the Cleveland Clinic is a truly remarkable program within a world class academic and clinical institution. We are glad that you are interested in joining us and welcome you again. Please feel free to reach out to our program office with any questions. 

Sincerely, 

Richard M. Wardrop, III, MD, PhD
Program Director, Internal Medicine Residency Program
Vice Chair – Academic Department of Medicine
Staff Physician, Department of Hospital Medicine
Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH 

Leadership Team

Associate Program Directors

	Andrei Brateanu, MD Clinical Practice: Ambulatory practice at Stephanie Tubbs Jones (STJ) Health Center Areas of Interest: Chair, Clinical Competency Committee (CCC), resident scholarly activity
	Jessica Donato, MD Clinical Practice: Hospital Medicine Areas of Interest: Director, Patient Safety, Quality Improvement and Health Systems Science Education
	Catherine Fleisher, MD Clinical Practice: Ambulatory practice in General Internal Medicine (G10), inpatient academic medicine faculty Areas of Interest: Chair, Resident Performance Improvement Committee
	Stacey Jolly, MD, MAS Clinical Practice: Outpatient General Internal Medicine (G10) Areas of Interest: Director, Ambulatory Education and Primary Care Track, resident scholarly activity
	Megan McGervey, MD Clinical Practice: Hospital Medicine Areas of Interest: Chair, Program Evaluation Committee, coordination and execution of the Annual Program Evaluation and the Program’s Annual Action Plan
	Mohammad Mohmand, MD Clinical Practice: Hospital Medicine Areas of Interest: Chair, IMRP Curriculum Committee
	Rohit Moudgil, MD Clinical Practice: Cardiovascular Medicine Areas of Interest: Director, Subspecialty Education
	Jazmine Oliver, MD Clinical Practice: Hospital Medicine Areas of Interest: Director, Inpatient Education and Hospital Medicine Track
	Ammar Saati, MD Clinical Practice: Cardiovascular Medicine Areas of Interest: Director, IMRP Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) Curriculum

Core Faculty

	Chaya Abelow, MD Clinical Practice:Hospital Medicine Areas of Interest: Health systems science, QI, inpatient education
	Nicole Frerichs, DO Clinical Practice: Outpatient General Internal Medicine (G10) Areas of Interest: Ambulatory education, IMRP social determinants of health curriculum
	Ari Garber, MD Clinical Practice: Gastroenterology Areas of Interest: Resident scholarly activity
	David Gugliotti, MD Clinical Practice: Hospital Medicine Areas of Interest: Medical student educational initiatives
	David Harris, MD Clinical Practice: Palliative and Supportive Care Areas of Interest: Professional development programming, diversity equity and inclusion
	Lakshmi Khatri, MD Clinical Practice: Ambulatory practice at Beachwood Family Health and Surgery Center Areas of Interest: Lead, Community Based Ambulatory Education
	Luke Kim, MD, MEd Clinical Practice: Geriatric Medicine at Skilled Nursing Facilities, geriatric ambulatory practice at Cleveland Clinic main campus, and Hospital Medicine Areas of Interest: Subspecialty education initiatives
	Natalie Kral, DO Clinical Practice: Hospital Medicine Areas of Interest: Co-Director Community Service and Engagement Programs, clinical reasoning programming
	Elise Kwizera, MD Clinical Practice: Hospital Medicine Areas of Interest: Director, Diversity Equity and Inclusion Council
	Yael Mauer, MD Clinical Practice: Ambulatory practice at Beachwood Family Health and Surgery Center Areas of Interest: Community ambulatory education, faculty development, diversity equity and inclusion
	Robert Mayock, MD Clinical Practice: Hospital Medicine Areas of Interest: Resident performance improvement
	Ali Mehdi, MD, MEd Clinical Practice: Nephrology and Hypertension Areas of Interest: Program evaluation
	Amy Teleron, MD Clinical Practice: Hospital Medicine Areas of Interest: Faculty development, health systems science, quality improvement education
	Vicente Velez, MD Clinical Practice: Hospital Medicine Areas of Interest: Director, Clinician Educator Track (CET)
	Christopher Wee, MD Clinical Practice: Hematology/Oncology Areas of Interest: Subspecialty curricular initiatives, resident scholarship

Chief Medical Residents

2023-2024 Internal Medicine Chief Residents

 

John Gaskill, DO
gaskilj@ccf.org
Medical School: VA – Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine

 

Lauren Granat, DO, MS
granatl2@ccf.org
Medical School: NY – New York College of Osteopathic Medicine of NYIT

 

Jason Kirincich, MD
hkirincj2@ccf.org
Medical School: Croatia – University of Zagreb

 

Caroline Olt, MD
oltc2@ccf.org
Medical School: GA – Emory University School of Medicine

 

Helene Puzio, DO
puzioh@ccf.org
Medical School: NJ – Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine

 

Nivaas Thanoo, MD
thanoon@ccf.org
Medical School: IL – Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Sub-Specialty Education Coordinators (SECs)

The Subspecialty Education Coordinators (SECs) play a vital role in the Internal Medicine Residency Program.

They partner closely with the IMRP Leadership Team and contribute to the high quality education and experience of our residents.

The SECs assist in residency subspecialty curriculum and clinical rotation design. They are excellent teachers, and provide feedback to the residents regarding their performance. They also work to continually improve their rotations by regularly reviewing and incorporating resident feedback.

The Subspecialty Education Coordinators (SECs) play a vital role in the Internal Medicine Residency Program.

They partner closely with the IMRP Leadership Team and contribute to the high quality education and experience of our residents.

The SECs assist in residency subspecialty curriculum and clinical rotation design. They are excellent teachers, and provide feedback to the residents regarding their performance. They also work to continually improve their rotations by regularly reviewing and incorporating resident feedback.

 

Saurin Bhatt, MD Subspecialty Education Coordinator, Emergency Medicine	Bassam Estfan, MD Subspecialty Education Coordinator, Hematology/Oncology	Angel Coz Yataco, MD Subspecialty Education Coordinator, Critical Care Medicine
Michael Faulx , MD Subspecialty Education Coordinator, Cardiology	James Fitzgibbon, MD Subspecialty Education Coordinator, Emergency Medicine	Ari Garber, MD Subspecialty Education Coordinator, Gastroenterology & Hepatology
David Harris, MD Subspecialty Education Coordinator, Palliative Medicine	Deborah Hornacek, MD Subspecialty Education Coordinator, Vascular Medicine	Stacey Jolly, MD Subspecialty Education Coordinator, Ambulatory Internal Medicine
Lelia Khan, MD Subspecialty Education Coordinator, Endocrinology	Luke Kim, MD Subspecialty Education Coordinator, Geriatrics	Bethany Lehman, DO Subspecialty Education Coordinator, Infectious Disease
Robert Marquardt, DO Subspecialty Education Coordinator, Neurology	Ali Mehdi, MD Subspecialty Education Coordinator, Nephrology	Linda Mileti, MD Subspecialty Education Coordinator, Rheumatology
Jazmine Oliver, MD Subspecialty Education Coordinator, Inpatient Internal Medicine	Emily Pennington, MD Subspecialty Education Coordinator, Pulmonary Medicine	Christopher Wee, MD Subspecialty Education Coordinator, Hematology/Oncology