Educational program updates, October 2026

Over approximately the past two years, our educational programs have been evolving in terms of structure and leadership. We want to share an overview of these changes in one place. First, however, we want to acknowledge where we’ve been.

Earlier this year, we announced Professor of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Suzanne Lopez, MD, would be stepping down as Vice Chair of Education, a position she has held since July 2021. We are immensely grateful for Dr. Lopez’ leadership and vision these last five years as she guided all our educational programs to become robust and learner centered. Fortunately for us in the Department, Dr. Lopez will stay on as faculty and, fortunately for her patients, she will be able to focus more on her clinical practice.

On October 26, we will welcome our new Vice Chair of Education Professor of Pediatric Nephrology Jyothsna Gattineni, MD. Dr. Gattineni joins us from UT Southwestern in Dallas.

The listing below illustrates a summary of the leadership and structural changes at all levels of our educational programs. Please review thoroughly for your awareness as we launch fully into this new chapter.

Medical Student Programs

Amalia Guardiola, MD, assumed this new director role last year to ensure consistency across all undergraduate medical education.

Director

Assistant Director, Pediatric Clerkship

Wan Hsuan “Sherly” Chen, DO, Pediatric Clerkship

Pediatric Residency Programs

There are three distinct yet overlapping residency programs housed in the Department of Pediatrics. The program directors and associate directors work together to meet all ACGME standards for their trainees.

Residency Program Directors

Associate Program Directors: Categorical Pediatric Residency

Monaliza Evangelista, MD, Associate Program Director

Hunter Hamilton, MD, Associate Program Director

Sushma Hebbar, MD, Associate Program Director

Nikita Khetan, MD, Associate Program Director

Associate Program Director: Combined Pediatrics and Medical Genetics Residency

Hope Northrup, MD, Medical Biochemical Genetics

Associate Program Director: Pediatric Neurology Residency

Sarah Lund Wilson, MD

Fellowship education programs

Elizabeth Hillman, MD, MEd, took on this new position to create alignment across the scholarly work of all fellowship programs.

Director

Fellowship Program Directors

Asha Davidson, MD, MPH, Adolescent Medicine

Adriana Prada Ruiz, MD, Cardiology

Simi Abraham, MD, Child Abuse Pediatrics

Konstantinos Boukas, MD, Critical Care Medicine

Michael Yafi, MD, Endocrinology

Essam Imseis, MD, Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition

Ann Marshburn, MD, Pediatric Hospital Medicine

Norma Perez, DO, Infectious Diseases

Hope Northrup, MD, Medical Biochemical Genetics

Jennifer Kinney, MD, Nephrology

Mary Kay Koenig, MD, Neurometabolic and Neurogenetics

Nivedita Thakur, MD, Neurology Movement Disorders

Cindy K. Jon, MD, MPH, Pulmonary Medicine

 

---