Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University

CHAIR PROFILES

BASIC SCIENCE Chairs Alvin V. Terry Jr., PhD Regents’ Professor and Chairman Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology

Appointment Date: 2014 Dr.Terry received his PhD in Pharmacology from the University of South Carolina in 1991. After training as a postdoctoral fellow and serving as an Instructor at the Medical College of Georgia, he joined the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy faculty in 1994. He directed the University of Georgia’s Graduate Program in Clinical and Experimental Therapeutics from 1999 to 2005, began a joint appointment at MCG in 2003, and in 2005 he began a position at MCG. Dr. Terry has also served as the Director of the Small Animal Behavior Core facility at MCG since 2003. He is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and has served on multiple study sections for federal funding agencies including the National Institutes of Health, Veterans Affairs, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

He has served as a member of the Scientific Advisory Panel of the Environmental Protection Agency Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act and as a consultant for multiple pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Terry is a licensed pharmacist in Georgia and South Carolina.

Specialties: Neuropharmacology, the impact of pharmaceutical and toxicological agents on cognitive function, drug discovery and development strategies for the treatment of neuropsychiatric illnesses (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, and drug abuse).

Vadivel Ganapathy, PhD Regents’ Professor and Chairman Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Appointment Date: 2001 Dr. Ganapathy received his PhD in Biochemistry in 1978 from the University of Madras, India. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Georgia Regents University, then joined the faculty in 1981 in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. His graduate work in India focused on the mechanisms of peptide absorption in the intestine. He continued his work in the field of membrane transport at the Medical College of Georgia. Ganapathy is a member of several professional societies, Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, American Association for Cancer Research, American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Association of Medical and Graduate Departments of Biochemistry, and the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. He is also on the editorial boards for the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and Pharmaceutical Research.

Specialties: molecular biology and pathophysiological relevance of plasma membrane transporters; role of transporters in the kidney, intestinal tract, liver, retina, and placenta; relevance of transporters to cancer and inflammation; use of transporters as delivery systems for drugs and prodrugs.

Varghese George, PhD Professor and Chairman Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology

Appointment Date: 2005 Dr. George received his doctorate in Statistics from the University of MissouriColumbia followed by his postdoctoral training in Statistical Genetics at the Louisiana State University Medical Center in New Orleans under the worldrenowned Professor Robert Elston. He continued his career as faculty in the Department of Biometry and Genetics at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, Division of Biostatistics at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and in the Department of Biostatistics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, serving as Director of the Biostatistics graduate program at Wisconsin and Alabama. Dr. George joined the Georgia Regents University faculty in 2005 as Professor and Chairman of the Department. He has an established track record of methodological and collaborative research. He has served as Director of a National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases-funded Annual Short course in Statistical Genetics, Co-Director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute-funded postdoctoral training program, and Co-Director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases-funded Annual Short Course in statistical genetics. He is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association, and an elected member of the International Statistical Institute. He is on the editorial board of Genetic Epidemiology.

Specialties: Bayesian inference, biostatistics, differential methylation, epigenetics, genetic epidemiology, and statistical genomics.

Lin Mei, PhD

Chairman of the Department of Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine

Appointment Date: 2014 Dr. Mei earned his medical degree from Jiangxi Medical College, Nanchang, China in 1982. In 1985 he received a master’s degree in neuropharmacology from the Institute of Pharmacology & Toxicology in Beijing and PhD in pharmacology & toxicology from University of Arizona in Tuscon in 1989. He did his postdoctoral training at Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine from 1989 to 1994. Dr. Mei, a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Neuroscience, is Associate Editor of the Journal of Neuroscience, Section Editor of Molecular Brain, and a member of the Editorial Board of NeuroSignals and Neuroscience Bulletin. He is a member of the International Advisory Board of the International Symposium on Cholinergic Mechanisms and chaired the 2012 Gordon Research Conference on Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology. Prior to coming to MCG, Dr. Mei was on faculty at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville and University of Alabama at Birmingham. He received the 2008 Mathilde Solowey Lecture Award in Neurosciences from the NIH’s Foundation for Advanced Education in Sciences and was a 2008 Distinguished Investigator of the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression. He was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in late 2013.

Specialties: Neuroscience, mental disorders, and muscular dystrophies.

Sylvia Smith, PhD

Professor and Chairwoman Department of Cellular Biology and Anatomy Co-Director, James and Jean Culver Vision Discovery Institute at GRU

Appointment Date: 2013 Dr. Smith trained as a retinal cell biologist at the National Eye Institute in Bethesda, Md. She joined the Medical College of Georgia faculty in 1992. Dr. Smith is a Fellow of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. Her research in the area of retinal function, particularly degenerative diseases of the retina, has been continuously funded by the National Institute of Health since 1992. She is the basic science Co-Director of the GRU James and Jean Culver Vision Discovery Institute. Dr. Smith was recognized with an Exemplary Teaching Award from the Georgia Regents University Education Innovation Institute in 2013 and by the university’s Research Institute in 2007 with the Mahesh Distinguished Research Award. In 2010, she was among 54 women in North America selected a Fellow in the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine, or ELAM, Program. She is an editorial board member of the journal Ophthalmology and Eye Diseases and serves on the advisory board for BrightFocus foundation dedicated to improving treatment for patients with Glaucoma and Age-related Macular Degeneration. She is a member of the Association of Anatomy, Cell Biology and Neuroscience Chairpersons, the International Society for Eye Research, the European Association for Vision and Eye Research, and Women in Eye and Vision Research.

Specialties: Retinal cell biology, specifically understanding normal function of the retina and the consequences on retinal health when functions decrease; folate and homocysteine as related to retinal health; and retinal neuroprotection in diseases such as diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma.

R. Clinton Webb, PhD H. S. Kupperman Chair in Cardiovascular Disease Regents’ Professor and Chairman Department of Physiology

Appointment Date: 1999 Dr. Webb completed his PhD degree at the University of Iowa and postdoctoral training at the University of Michigan and Universitaire Instelling Antwerpen.

Before joining the Medical College of Georgia, he was Professor of Physiology at the University of Michigan. He is the 2013 recipient of the American Heart Association Council on High Blood Pressure Research’s Irvine Page-Alva Bradley Lifetime Achievement Award for his achievements in the field of hypertension and for serving as a role model through service, research, teaching, and training. Dr. Webb also received the 2012 International Society of Hypertension AstraZeneca Award and the Carl J. Wiggers Award from the American Physiological Society, for his contributions to hypertension and cardiovascular research, respectively, and was the inaugural recipient of the Bodil M. Schmidt-Nielsen Distinguished Mentor and Scientist Award from the American Physiological Society’s Women in Physiology Committee. He is a Past Chairman of the AHA’s Council for High Blood Pressure Research and a member of the council’s Scientific Sessions, Fall Conference, Leadership, and Awards Committees. He is a member of the AHA’s International Mentoring Program and Ethnicity and Gender Working Group as well as the Scientific Sessions Program and Council Operations Committees. He is a member of the Program Committee for the American Society of Hypertension. Dr. Webb is a past President of the Association of Chairs of Departments of Physiology and a member of the American Society of Hypertension Program Committee and Society for Women’s Health Research Isis Cardiovascular Network.

Specialties: Vascular physiology; hypertension; and male and female sexual function.

CLINICAL Chairs Cargill H. Alleyne, Jr., MD Professor and Marshall Allen Distinguished Chair and Chairman, Department of Neurosurgery Director, Cerebrovascular Service Director, Residency Program

Appointment Date: 2007 Dr. Alleyne completed his medical degree at Yale University School of Medicine, Neurosurgery residency at Emory University hospitals, and a Cerebrovascular and Skull-Based Surgery fellowship at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix. Dr. Alleyne was Assistant Professor and Assistant Residency Program Director at University of Rochester in New York before joining the Medical College of Georgia as Associate Professor and Academic Vice-Chair. He is past Chairman of the National Medical Association Neurology/Neurosurgery Section and a past President and member of the Board of Directors of the Georgia Neurosurgical Society. Dr. Alleyne is Co-Director of the Cerebrovascular Research Laboratory at GRU, and his research interests include treatment of cerebral vasospasm and novel treatments for stroke and aneurysms. He’s been named to the list of Best Doctors in America for Neurosurgery since 2007, to America’s Top Surgeons since 2009, and to Castle-Connolly’s regional Top Doctors in 2013.

Specialties: Vascular neurosurgery, endovascular neurosurgery, and skullbase tumors.

Steffen E. Meiler, MD Professor and Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine

Appointment Date: 2014 Dr. Meiler is a graduate of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University School of Medicine in Frankfurt, Germany and spent 11 months at The Ohio State University College of Medicine as a visiting medical student on scholarship.

He returned to Ohio State for a research fellowship in heart failure, completed an internal medicine and anesthesiology residency at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, and a critical care fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He also completed research fellowships in molecular genetics and gene therapy at Harvard’s Cardiovascular Research Center. Meiler, an anesthesiologist, internist, and critical care specialist, came to MCG in 2002 from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School as the department’s Vice Chair for Research and Director of the Program of Molecular Perioperative Medicine and Genomics. He is Co-Director of the GRHealth Perioperative Executive Team, Chairman of the GRHealth OR Committee, and a member of the MCG Clinical Translational Science Advisory Committee and MD/PhD Admissions Committee. His research interests include identifying new genetic and pharmacological therapies for sickle cell disease.

Meiler is a member of the Executive Committee of the National Institutes of Health-funded Nanomedicine Center for Nucleoprotein Machines at the Georgia Institute of Technology that is pursuing nanomedicine-based gene correction technologies for sickle cell disease. His collaborative, federally funded studies at MCG are exploring ways to help patients with sickle cell avoid kidney and lung damage and pain.

Specialties: Airway and tracheal surgery, surgery for adult patients with sickle cell disease.

Monte Hunter, MD

Interim Chairman Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery Vice Chairman, Department of Orthopaedics Director, Georgia Regents Sports Medicine Center

Appointment Date: 2014 Dr. Hunter is a Morehead Scholar graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he played football for Coach Bill Dooley before earning his medical degree at Bowman Gray School of Medicine at Wake Forest University. He completed an emergency medicine and orthopaedic surgery residency at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and a clinical fellowship in sports medicine at the University of California Los Angeles. Dr. Hunter has over 25 years of experience in sports medicine practice, including serving as team physician for the Wake Forest University Demon Deacons and UCLA Bruins. He is currently a Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and was appointed Vice-Chairman of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery in 2007. He is the team physician for Georgia Regents University Jaguars and the Augusta Green Jackets. Dr. Hunter is an active member of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine and serves as Medical Director of Georgia Regents Tissue Procurement Center and on the Medical Board of Trustees of the Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation. He has authored and co-authored numerous scientific papers and book chapters, and has lectured regionally and nationally on the prevention and treatment of sports related injuries.

Dr. Hunter’s research interests include prevention and treatment of injuries and he was recently appointed to the first Georgia Regents Leadership Academy Executive Leadership Excellence Program.

Specialties: Sports-related injuries and rehabilitation, knee ligament reconstruction including ACL, PCL, and multiligament injuries.

Michael P. Diamond,MD

Appointment Date: 2013

William H. Brooks, M.D. Distinguished Chair in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Chairman Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Associate Dean for Research

Dr. Diamond earned his medical degree and completed an Obstetrics and Gynecology Residency at Vanderbilt University Medical School and a Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility fellowship at Yale University School of Medicine. He is Georgia Regents University’s inaugural Vice President for Clinical and Translational Sciences, who came to MCG in February 2013 from Wayne State University School of Medicine where he was Associate Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. Diamond is an expert in designing and implementing clinical trials whose study focus includes infertility and procedure-related adhesions. He is serving his fourth term as a consultant to the Obstetrics and Gynecology Device Panel of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. He has served as President of the Environment and Reproduction Special Interest Group of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, and Chair of the society’s Androgen Excess Special Interest Group. He is a past President of the Society of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility and the Society of Reproductive Surgeons. He is a member of the Surgical Collaborative in Obstetrics and Gynecology, where he represents the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the Society for Reproductive Surgeons and the Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. proliferation, tumor necrosis factor, and transesophageal echocardiography.

Specialties: Reproductive endocrinology.

David C. Hess, MD

Presidential Distinguished Chair and Chairman Department of Neurology Co-Director, Brain and Behavior Discovery Institute at GRU

Appointment Date: 2001 Dr. Hess earned his a medical degree from the University of Maryland in Baltimore.

He completed an Internal Medicine residency at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh before moving to Augusta to complete a Neurology residency at MCG. He is extensively involved in many aspects of stroke research, including being a Co-Founder of the telemedicine system, REACH, which allows patients brought to rural hospitals for a suspected stroke to receive rapid assessment and potential treatment with the clot buster tPA within the critical treatment window. He has been National Institutes of Health-funded in the area of acute stroke clinical trials and serves on the National Institutes of Health Neurological Sciences and Disorders K (grant) Study Section. He has been involved in developing stem cell therapies for stroke and has been selected as one of “America’s Top Doctors” yearly since 2001.

Specialties: Cerebrovascular disease and remote provision of stroke care.

Joseph Hobbs, MD

Appointment Date: 1998

Georgia Academy of Family Physicians Joseph W. Tollison, MD, Distinguished Chair and Chairman Department of Family Medicine Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Primary Care

Dr. Hobbs completed his medical degree in 1974 and a Family Medicine Residency in 1977, both at the Medical College of Georgia. He joined the Department of Family Medicine faculty after his residency where he has served as Residency Program Director, Predoctoral Education Director, Inpatient Service Director, and Vice Chair of Academic Affairs. Dr. Hobbs is Secretary of the Association of Departments of Family Medicine and is serving a second term on the association’s Board of Directors. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Pisacano Leadership Foundation, the philanthropic foundation of the American Board of Family Medicine. He served as a member of the American Board of Family Medicine Board of Directors from 2003-08 and of its Executive Committee from 2006-08. He received the 2010 President’s Award from the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine and was selected as a Bishop fellow for the American Council on Education in 2009. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Georgia Academy of Family Physicians Educational Foundation, the academy’s Task Force on Health Policy, and a Board Trustee for its philanthropic foundation, the Georgia Healthy Family Alliance. He is Project Director of several Health Resources and Services Administration/U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grants to train and educate students and family medicine residents, and to develop family medicine faculty.

Specialties: Distributed medical education in community clinical venues; quality assurance/quality improvement of chronic disease management in primary care; acid-base, fluid, and electrolyte disturbances in primary care; health care financing; rural health educational and clinical affiliations; faculty/resident academic practice transformation; health care disparities.

Charles G. Howell, MD

Appointment Date: 2011

Moretz/Mansberger Distinguished Chair and Chairman Department of Surgery Surgeon-in-Chief, Children’s Hospital of Georgia Chief, Section of Pediatric Surgery

Dr. Howell earned a medical degree in 1973 and completed his General Surgery residency in 1978, both at the Medical College of Georgia. He completed a Pediatric Surgery Research Fellowship followed by a Pediatric Surgery Clinical Fellowship at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania in 1982. Dr. Howell is currently Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics. He is an Ad Hoc Reviewer for a number of journals including the Journal of Pediatric Surgery and American Journal.

Specialties: Neonatal surgery; minimally invasive surgery in children; 24hour pH monitoring for esophageal reflux in children; and management of children’s operating rooms.

Feng-Ming (Spring) Kong, MD, PhD

Appointment Date: 2013

Professor and Chairwoman Department of Radiation Oncology Co-Leader, Lung Multidisciplinary Clinic Co-Director, Lung and Esophageal Programs GRU Cancer Center

Dr. Kong received her MD and PhD degrees from Fudan University in Shanghai, China, and holds a master’s degree in Clinical Trial Design and Data Analysis from the University of Michigan. Dr. Kong completed residencies at Fudan University and Washington University in St. Louis, a postdoctoral fellowship at Duke University, and an internship at the University of Vermont. Dr. Kong, who worked as the lead of thoracic radiation oncology research in University of Michigan Hospitals between 2003-13, also has served as Chief of Radiation Oncology at the Ann Arbor VA, and Chair of the National Field Advisory Board of VA Radiation Oncology. She has served as an expert panelist in practice appropriateness of the American College of Radiology and National Comprehensive Cancer Network Guidelines in Lung Cancer. She served as CoChair of translational research in several Radiation Therapy Oncology Group trials and is the national Principal Investigator of an RTOG randomized trial on mid-treatment PET-guided individualized adaptive treatments. Dr. Kong is President Elect of the American Association for Woman Radiologists/Radiation Oncologists and is the founding Chair of the Board and the first President for Sino-American Network for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology. Dr. Kong is a Senior Associate Editor of the International Journal Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics.

Specialties: Radiation oncology; treatment of lung and esophageal cancer; Imaging- and biomarker-guided personalized cancer therapy.

Michael P. Madaio, MD Virgil P. Sydenstricker Professor and Chairman Department of Medicine

Appointment Date: 2008 Dr. Madaio is a graduate of Albany Medical College. He completed his medicine residency at Medical College of Virginia, including a year as chief resident. Following clinical and research fellowships in Nephrology at Boston University and a research fellowship in Immunology at Tufts University, he held faculty positions at Tufts, the University of Pennsylvania and Temple. In addition to his Chair responsibilities, Madaio is an attending in Nephrology, and has an active laboratory focused on immunology mechanisms of renal disease. He has served on National Institute of Health, National Kidney Foundation, American Heart Association and Lupus Foundation of America study sections. Dr. Madaio currently serves on a variety of editorial and advisory boards and committees, including the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine Research Committee, the Association of Professors of Medicine Nominating Committee and editorial boards for the Journal of the American Society and the International Journal of Clinical Rheumatology, and he is an ad hoc grant reviewer for the National Institute of Health’s National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

Specialties: Lupus nephritis and glomerular disease.

Charles W. Linder, MD Interim Chairman, Department of Pediatrics Pediatrician-in-Chief, Children’s Hospital of Georgia

Appointment Date: 2014 Dr. Linder is a graduate of the Medical College of Georgia. He completed a pediatrics residency at Fitzsimmons General Hospital and Colorado General Hospital in Denver and a pediatric allergy and respiratory disease fellowship at MCG. He served as a major in the U.S. Army Medical Corps before joining the faculty of the MCG Department of Pediatrics. He was named Professor in 1981, Associate Dean of Medicine in 1985, and Director of the Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine from 1972-99. He has served as an Assistant Hospital Administrator, Chief of Staff, and Chief Medical Officer for the university’s teaching hospitals. Dr. Linder was named Professor of Pediatrics and Associate Dean Emeritus in 2001 but has remained an active volunteer faculty member. His memberships include the Child Health Finance Committee of the Georgia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Committee on Development of the American Academy of Pediatrics. He is a past President of the Georgia Chapter of the Academy and former Chairman of the Academy’s Southeastern District.

Specialties: Primary care and prevention, fluid and electrolyte therapy.

W. Vaughn McCall, MD Case Distinguished Chair and Chairman Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior

Appointment Date: 2012 Dr. McCall completed his medical degree and postgraduate psychiatric training at Duke University. He came to MCG after serving nearly a decade as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. He also completed a master’s degree in Epidemiology while at Wake Forest University. He is board certified in general psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry, and sleep disorders medicine. His research interests include depression, electroconvulsive therapy, quality of life, and insomnia and has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health since 1995.

Specialties: Sleep disorders and geriatrics.

Julian J. Nussbaum, MD Chairman Department of Ophthalmology Co-Director, James and Jean Culver Vision Discovery Institute at GRU

Appointment Date: 2001 Dr. Nussbaum is a 1976 graduate of the University of Miami School of Medicine who completed his ophthalmology residency at the Medical College of Georgia in 1980. He simultaneously completed fellowships in vitreous and retina surgery at Retina Associates in Cambridge, Mass.; clinical ophthalmology at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary of Harvard Medical School; and research at the Eye Research Institute of the Retina Foundation of Boston. He joined the faculty of the Henry Ford Health System in 1982 where he built and directed the Retina Service. Ten years later he was named Chairman of Henry Ford Eye Care Services. In 2001, Nussbaum returned to the Medical College of Georgia as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology. He has overseen the department’s growth in the immediate Augusta community as well as the surrounding region, including Edgefield, S.C. and Washington, Ga. where he regularly sees patients. In 2008, he was instrumental in coordinating the development of the Georgia Regents University’s James and Jean Culver Vision Discovery Institute, bringing together clinical and basic science faculty from across the campus of the University’s colleges and departments to collaboratively address the issues of vision services and research at GRU.

Specialties: Retina/vitreous.

James V. Rawson, MD Warren Professor and Chairman Department of Radiology and Imaging

Appointment Date: 2003 Dr. Rawson graduated from Tufts Medical School in 1989. After an Internship at Lemuel Shattuck Hospital, he completed a radiology residency at New York Medical College in 1994. Dr. Rawson pursued additional training at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at Washington University with a fellowship in Body MRI. He then joined the faculty at the Medical College of Georgia. Dr. Rawson is a member of the American College of Radiology Economic Commission and chairs the ACR Committee on Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payments and Committee on Economic Issues in Academic Radiology. He also chairs the ACR Committee on Governmental and Regulatory Issues in Academic Radiology. He is on the editorial boards of the Journal of the American College of Radiology and Cureus. He serves as a Board Member of the Society of Chairs in Academic Radiology Departments, the Georgia Radiological Society, and the Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute. He served a four-year term on the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Ambulatory Payment Classification Advisory Panel and is a standing reviewer for Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute.

Specialties: Body MRI, health economics and policy, process improvement and innovative medical education.

Amyn Rojiani, MD, PhD

Appointment Date: 2010

Edgar R. Pund Distinguished Professor and Chairman Department of Pathology Clinical Service Chief of Pathology Georgia Research Alliance A Distinguished Cancer Scientist

Dr. Rojiani earned his medical degree at Sind Medical College at the University of Karachi in Pakistan, completed a PhD in experimental neuropathology at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and an Anatomic Pathology residency at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. He then completed an Adult and Pediatric Neuropathology fellowship at Vancouver General Hospital and B.C. Children’s Hospital at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. His previous appointments include Director of Neuropathology and Autopsy at Moffitt Cancer Center and Professor of Oncologic Sciences, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of South Florida in Tampa. He recently completed a term as Vice President of the American Association of Neuropathologists. His research is directed toward understanding the role of vasculature and host microenvironment in central nervous system NS metastasis. Dr. Rojiana has been actively engaged in tissue banking for over a decade and Co-Chairs the Advisory Committee that oversees GRU’s Tumor Bank.

Specialties: Neuropathology.

Richard B. Schwartz, MD Professor and Chairman Department of Emergency Medicine and Hospitalist Services

Appointment Date: 2004 Dr. Schwartz is a 1989 graduate of Wayne State University School of Medicine. He completed his internship at William Beaumont Army Medical Center and an Emergency Medicine residency at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Wash. He served with the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) during Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He also served with the 1st Special Warfare Training Group (Airborne) and the Joint Special Operations Command (Airborne). Schwartz was Chief of Emergency Medicine at Eisenhower Army Medical Center before joining the MCG faculty and received numerous awards during his Army service including the bronze star and two meritorious service medals. He was one of the original developers of the American Medical Association National Disaster Life Support Courses.

More recently he has worked with the National Tactical Officers Association on development of standardized training for tactical emergency medical support. His has served as Editor of three Disaster Medicine textbooks and written chapters for three additional texts. Dr. Schwartz is an active participant in the Terrorism Injuries: Information Dissemination and Exchange project with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has helped lead efforts for standardized disaster triage through the National Association for EMS Physicians. He is also a medical device innovator and has developed a unique video airway management system.

Specialties: Emergency medicine, disaster medicine and preparedness.

Stilianos E. Kountakis, MD, PhD

Appointment Date: 2014

Professor and Chairman, Department of OtolaryngologyHead and Neck Surgery Director, Rhinology and Skull Base Surgery Fellowship Director, Georgia Sinus Center

Dr. Kountakis is a graduate of the University of Texas-Houston Medical School; completed a general surgery residency at UT-Houston Medical School, Hermann Hospital MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Memorial Hospital System of the Texas Heart Institute; and an otolaryngology residency at UT-Houston Medical School, Hermann Hospital, Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital, and MacGregor Medical Associates. He completed a PhD at the University of Crete Medical School. He came to MCG in 2003 from the University of Virginia, Charlottesvile, where he was Director of the Division of Rhinology and Virginia Sinus Center. Dr. Kountakis is Vice President of the American Laryngological, Rhinological, and Otological Society, Southern Section, and a member of the Board of Directors and Past President of the Georgia Society of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. He is Past President of the American Rhinologic Society and received the society’s 2011 Golden Mirror Teaching Award. He is Editor-in-Chief of the first encyclopedia of otolaryngology, the five-volume “Encyclopedia of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery.” His research interests include pathophysiology and pathogenesis of sinusitis, surgical outcomes, immune parameters in sinusitis, allergic fungal sinusitis, pathophysiology of nasal polyps, and leukotrienes in chronic sinusitis. He is consistently ranked among America’s Best Doctors.

Specialties: Diseases of the nose and sinuses, acute and chronic sinusitis, rhinology, endoscopic sinus surgery, nasal polyps,nasal obstruction, deviated nasal septum, nasal allergies,nasal and sinus tumors.