Ana Natale-Pereira, MD
Professor of Medicine
Director, Division of General Internal Medicine
Assistant Dean for Primary Care and Community Initiatives
Faculty Profile
Dr. Natale received her MD degree from Rutgers-NJMS, and an MPH in Urban Health Administration from the Rutgers-School of Public Health. She completed her residency in internal medicine, and served as Chief Resident, at University Hospital-NJMS.
Dr. Natale has been a faculty member of Rutgers-NJMS since graduation from residency, serving many roles. As the Division Chief for General Internal Medicine since 2012, Dr. Natale leads a Division of more than 30 faculty members, responsible for both inpatient and outpatient clinical services provided at University Hospital. She continues to teach medical students and residents in both inpatient and outpatient rotations. In addition to her clinical responsibilities, Dr. Natale serves as a board member of the Greater Newark Health Care Coalition, president-elect of the Medical Staff governing council of University Hospital, and chair of the UH Quality Steering Committee. In her role as the Assistant Dean for Primary Care and Community Initiatives, leads the strategic integration of Community Engagement, Research, and Education.
General Medicine/Primary Care
Suzanne Atkin, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine
Faculty Profile
Dr. Atkin graduated from Cornell University, the College of Arts and Sciences, where she received her BA and then attended New Jersey Medical School where she received both her MD degree and completed her residency training in Internal Medicine. Dr. Atkin became the Associate Director of the ED in University Hospital in 1992 and has held numerous administrative and academic positions, both at UH and NJMS. She was honored by her colleagues in 1999 when she was elected the first woman president of the UH Medical Staff and was also the Chief Medical Officer of UH. Also held the post of Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs at NJMS from 2005 to 2013. She sees patients regularly in the UH outpatient Internal Medicine Practice and teaches medical students and internal medicine residents. She is a fellow in the American College of Physicians and the American College of Emergency Physicians.
Manasa Ayyala, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Director, Humanism Center
Faculty Profile
Dr. Ayyala earned her MD from Temple University School of Medicine and completed her residency training in Internal Medicine at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Following residency training, she completed a General Internal Medicine Fellowship in Medical Education at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. During this fellowship, she completed formal longitudinal coursework through the Johns Hopkins Faculty Development Program in both curriculum development and teaching skills.
Dr. Ayyala joined the faculty in the Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in 2017 and leads curriculum development and implementation efforts around unconscious bias, microaggressions, and structural racism in the health equity and social justice longitudinal thread for clerkship students. Her work in curriculum development around topics of health equity and social justice has been presented regionally and nationally and published in peer-reviewed journals including Medical Teacher and The Journal of General Internal Medicine. Dr. Ayyala is committed to promoting physician wellness, health equity, and humanism in medicine. She has experience in physician wellness research and peer-support interventions spanning the learning continuum from undergraduate medical education to faculty wellness. She currently serves as faculty vitality champion representing the Department of Medicine in the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School Faculty Vitality Taskforce and Chair for the Department of Medicine Wellness Committee.
In September 2020, she was appointed as Director of the Healthcare Foundation Center for Humanism and Medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. The Center, founded in 2004 with a grant from the Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey, promotes dignity and respect for the individual, commitment to the relief of suffering, and the delivery of care that is kind, just, and humble.
Dr. Ayyala is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and practices general internal medicine in the primary care clinic at University Hospital’s Ambulatory Care Center and attends on the general medicine wards at University Hospital.
Piyumika de Silva, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Faculty Profile
Dr. de Silva is an Assistant Professor of Medicine working as a Primary Care Physician in the Academic Internal Medicine Practice. Piyumika was born in Sri Lanka. She was raised in Sri Lanka for the most part as well, except for the small hiatus which she spent in
England. For her medical education, she traded one paradise island for another and moved to Grenada to attend St. George's University. She came to NYC for the first time on a whim, during a long layover, on her way back to Sri Lanka from Medical School. It was truly love at first sight! After medical school she chose to be at Rutgers NJMS for residency because it allowed her to serve the diverse inner city population of the NYC metropolitan area while working with equally diverse colleagues. When she is not at work you will find her out and about in NYC with last minute tickets to a Broadway show or music event!
Dhvani Doshi, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Director, Obesity Medicine Program
Faculty Profile
Dr. Doshi is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Rutgers NJMS and the Director of the University Hospital Weight Management Center. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Rutgers University, New Brunswick and her medical degree from Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. She simultaneously completed a master’s in public health from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Dr. Doshi completed her Internal Medicine Residency at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, in the well-recognized Primary Care Track.
She established the weight management program in the Ambulatory Center and has been practicing obesity medicine since 2019. She is board certified in Internal Medicine and a diplomate of the American Board of Obesity Medicine.
Alla Fayngersh, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Director, Medicine Clerkship
Faculty Profile
Dr. Fayngersh completed her medical degree at University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and moved to New York City to for internal medicine training at Mt. Sinai Hospital and Medical Center. Dr. Fayngersh began her career at Englewood Hospital in New Jersey where she worked for 8 years, becoming the Associate Program Director and Site Director for medical student education. Her commitment to academics and teaching led her to join NJMS, where she continues to have many roles including Assistant Professor in Medicine, Resident Preceptor in the Ambulatory Care Center, and Medicine Clerkship Director for medical students. As an active member in the medical school at NJMS and nationally through the Association of American Medical Colleges, Dr. Fayngersh is a leader in the development of medical school curricula and student performance assessment using innovative tools. Dr. Fayngersh is a great asset to our institution as she guides trainees in both inpatient and outpatient settings to not only learn from her clinical skills and vast medical knowledge but to synthesize complex medical information in an accurate and concise manner.
Robert Fede, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Faculty Profile
Dr. Fede received his medical degree from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, formerly (UMDNJ) and completed his residency training in Internal Medicine at University Hospital. He joined the faculty of Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in 1991, and has since been working as an assistant professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine. He is active in the medical education of students and residents. Dr. Fede is a native of Newark, NJ.
Mirela Feurdean, MD FACP
Associate Professor of Medicine
Director, Internal Medicine-Preventive Medicine Residency Track
Faculty Profile
Dr. Feurdean has been a clinician educator and a primary care physician for the underserved since 2004. She served as Program Director for the Rutgers NJMS Internal Medicine residency program from 2016 to 2022. She has been recognized by residents with multiple teaching awards. She spearheaded and helped develop and implement the focus tracks in the Internal Medicine residency at NJMS and the POCUS curriculum, and she received the 2022 Department of Medicine Award for Innovations in Medical Education. Dr. Feurdean is the co-founder and the Medicine Director of the 4-year Combined Internal Medicine-Preventive Medicine residency track at NJMS
Emily Gordon, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Director, Urban Health Track Residency Program
Interim Program Director, Addiction Medicine Fellowship
Faculty Profile
Dr. Gordon received her medical degree from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in 2009 and completed a residency in Social Internal Medicine and Primary Care at Montefiore Medical Center, earning board certification in Internal Medicine. She joined the faculty at New Jersey Medical School in 2012 and currently provides primary care to patients at the clinic affiliated with University Hospital, in addition to precepting Internal Medicine residents in their primary care clinic. She is the director for the Urban Health track within the residency program and is currently interim Program Director for the Addiction Medicine fellowship at New Jersey Medical School. Her professional interests include integrating Addiction Medicine into Primary Care and physician and medical trainee wellness. Dr. Gordon is currently a fellow in the Addiction and Overdose track in the Bloomberg American Health Initiative at Johns Hopkins University, a program which culminates with a Masters in Public Health.
Iris Herrera, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine
CMIO University Hospital
Faculty Profile
Dr. Iris Herrera completed her Internal Medicine Program at Bronx Lebanon Hospital, she is an associate professor of Internal Medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. She is the Chief Medical Information Officer for University Hospital. Born in the Dominican Republic, she immigrated to Newark, NJ at the age of nine. Her experiences growing up in Newark served as a catalyst for working in areas where her cultural background is an asset in better serving the community. It's wonderful to be able to communicate with a patient in their native language.
Neil Kothari, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine
Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education
DIO
Faculty Profile
Dr. Kothari earned his BA in 1996 from Columbia University, and his MD from UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School in 2000. He completed residency training at Bellevue Hospital/New York University Medical Center from 2000 to 2003, and then served as Chief Medical Resident at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center from 2003 to 2004.
He joined NJMS in 2004 and was appointed Associate Program Director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program. From 2008 to 2010, Dr. Kothari served as Co-Course Director of Physician?s Core, the 2 year pre-clerkship course that teaches students the ?art? of medicine including interviewing skills, physical diagnosis, ethics, humanism, and cultural awareness. From 2010 to 2016, he was Program Director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program, greatly improving the program's academic reputation, scholarly output, and fellowship match. During his tenure he also served as Vice-Chair for Education in the Department of Medicine. In 2013 he was appointed Assistant Dean for Graduate Medical Education (GME), and then promoted to Associate Dean for GME in 2016.
Dr. Kothari has been the recipient of several teaching honors, including 5 Golden Apple Awards, the Internal Medicine Residency Program Faculty Teaching Award, and the Foundation of UMDNJ Excellence in Teaching Award. In addition, he has been inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society and the Master Educators' Guild.
Daniel Matassa, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Program Director, Internal Medicine Residency Program
Faculty Profile
Dr. Matassa obtained his medical degree from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in 2013, stayed for his residency, and served an additional year as Chief Resident at the VA site. He joined our faculty in 2017 as Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine and Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency equipped with extensive experience in medical education, through his work as a professional tutor for both the USMLE Step Exams and ABIM Internal Medicine Certification Exam.
As Associate Program Director, Dr. Matassa served as the Director of the Clinician Educator Track and the Chair of the Clinical Competency Committee. He has also co-established a primary care addiction clinic to expand our patients’access to medication-assisted therapies and counseling services.
Dr. Matassa was named Program Director in 2022. His aptitude for teaching and mentorship is well recognized at our institution. He has been given the Best Teaching Attending Award at University Hospital four times, and the medical school has presented him a Golden Apple three times. As Program Director, Dr. Matassa’s will look to optimize resident wellness, innovate novel curricula, and expand educational opportunities across the three training sites.
Rafael Nigri, MD
Clinical Instructor
Faculty Profile
Dr. Nigri received his Medical Degree from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO) in Brazil. He then completed an Internal Medicine Residency at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) before applying for a residency position in the United States. Dr. Nigri came to Rutgers NJMS, initially as an Internal Medicine resident in 2019, and then after completion, assumed a position as Clinical Instructor for the Internal Medicine Department. Dr. Nigri has an interest in Academic Internal Medicine and alternates between working as private primary care physician, clinic preceptor, and an attending on the inpatient service. He is interested in all areas of Internal Medicine, reflected by his diverse research publications and compassionate care.
Maria Soto-Greene, MD
Vice Dean and Professor of Medicine
Director, Hispanic Center of Excellence (HCOE)
Faculty Profile
Dr. Maria Soto-Greene is Professor and Executive Vice Dean at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (NJMS). She has amassed over 30 years of experience in all aspects of medical education. Initially, Dr. Soto-Greene focused on the care of the critically ill patient, honing in on the significance of physician/patient communication, and the impact on vulnerable patients and their loved ones. These experiences, combined with her own life in a family which was uninsured and educationally and economically disadvantaged, influenced her to champion initiatives for individuals from similar backgrounds. Dr. Soto-Greene is committed to advancing the school’s health equity and social justice education with the goal of attaining health equity. Dr. Soto-Greene has been continuously funded by federal and private agencies since the early 1990’s and has passionately worked to create unequaled opportunity for thousands of Hispanic and other individuals under-represented in medicine and science. These programs support individuals beginning at the pre-college level through medical school faculty, contributing to career advancement and cultivating the next generation of champions for social justice. Equally important, she has been a leader in disseminating best practices to other medical schools. Dr. Soto-Greene is a past Chair for the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Group on Diversity and Inclusion and a past President of the Hispanic-Serving Health Professions Schools (HSHPS). She has been the proud recipient of numerous awards recognizing her contributions to advancing diversity in medical education and faculty including being named for the AAMC 2019 Herbert W. Nickens Award. However, her greatest pride is routed in her identity as a Latina (Puerto Rican).
Dr. Soto-Greene received her B.S. degree in Medical Technology from Douglass College. She received her M.D. degree from the New Jersey Medical School, completed her internal medicine training at University Hospital, and her Masters in Health Professions Education at the MGH Institute of Health Professions. She is a board certified internist.
Jared P Walsh, MD, FACP
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Associate Program Director and UH site Director, Internal Medicine Residency Program
Faculty Profile
Dr. Walsh attended Boston College where he earned a degree in Psychology, with a focus on Biopsychology through the Honors Program. After graduation, he worked at the Massachusetts General Hospital where he was a clinical research coordinator for multi-center pharmacogenetic clinical trials. Afterward, he attended Boston University School of Medicine where he earned his medical degree. Upon graduation, he moved to Rochester, NY where he completed his Internal Medicine residency and served as a Chief Resident at the University of Rochester. Subsequently, he joined the faculty in the General Medicine Division where he focused on medical education, clinical program development, health equity, and primary care with a focus in addiction medicine, behavioral health, HIV, and Hepatitis C.
During his time in Rochester, Dr. Walsh was elected as the Marshall Lichtman Dean’s Teaching Fellow, a competitive two-year honor open to faculty at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry who are committed to academic careers. Through this, Dr. Walsh developed online learning modules for the treatment of opioid use disorder and motivational interviewing communication skills training. He served as the chair of the health system’s Opioid Task Force Treatment Committee, developing a novel mobile treatment program for substance use disorders and co-authoring system-wide guidelines for the management of opioid use disorder. In addition, Dr. Walsh served as a Kohn Senior Teaching Fellow, Associate Director of the Internal Medicine Ambulatory Education Curriculum, and Clinical Research Methodology Training Program Fellow, as well as received multiple awards for patient care and teaching. He was elected to fellowship in the American College of Physicians in 2021. In August of 2022, Dr. Walsh joined the faculty at Rutgers- NJMS as the Associate Program Director and Site Director for University Hospital.
Eric Chyn, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Program Director, Geriatric Medicine Fellowship
Faculty Profile
Dr. Chyn is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine and Director of the Geriatric Medicine Fellowship Program at Rutgers Health New Jersey Medical School. He earned his Bachelor of Science in 2009 from University of British Columbia. He received his Doctor of Medicine in 2013 from St. George’s University in Grenada, West Indies. He completed his Internal Medicine Residency in 2016 at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Queens Hospital Center Program and Geriatric Fellowship in 2017 at the Mount Sinai Hospital
Dr. Chyn has been a Faculty member at the New Jersey Medical School since 2020. He initiated the first geriatric care and consultation clinic, housed within the Ambulatory Care Center. He initiated the first inpatient geriatrics consultation service within the University Hospital System.
Katherine Fung, DO
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Faculty Profile
Dr. Fung graduated from Rowan University, School of Osteopathic Medicine, in New Jersey. She completed her Internal Medicine residency training at Bayonne Medical Center/Rowan School of Osteopathic Medicine. She completed her Geriatric Fellowship at Hackensack University Medical Center/Rutgers, New Jersey Medical School (NJMS). Before medical school, she was interested in the legal aspect of medicine and healthcare, and she completed her Master of Science degree in health law at Seton Hall Law School. After graduated from the Geriatric fellowship, she served the prison patients at the New Jersey state prison systems prior to joining NJMS. Now, she will continue to serve the adult/geriatric patients here and help develop the Geriatric Program at NJMS.
Luis Alzate-Duque, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics
Faculty Profile
Luis Alzate-Duque received his medical degree from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in 2014 and completed his medical residency training in combined Internal Medicine/Pediatric at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in 2018. He completed an Academic Medicine Fellowship through the Hispanic Center of Excellence at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and is currently completing his Master's in Public Health with a focus in Urban Public Health. He is focusing on cancer care disparity research in Latino communities. His interests include research on health disparities in primary care, community outreach and engagement of underserved populations, and urban public health. He is an Assitant Professor of Medicine with Rutgers NJMS.
Brent Parris, MD, FAAP
Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics
Faculty Profile
Dr. Parris is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in 2007 from the University of Chicago. He received his medical degree in 2013 from the State University of New York at Stony Brooke, and completed a dual residency program in Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital in 2017. He is double-board-certified in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics.
In 2018, Dr. Parris joined the NJMS faculty, working as a physician-educator. His clinical responsibilities include outpatient primary care at the Med-Peds Resident Clinic and inpatient coverage shifts at the University Hospital. He is also currently the Epic Physician Champion for NJMS, and is involved in the clinical informatics committees at the University Hospital. His academic areas of interest include clinical informatics, medical education, and educational informatics.
Natalie A. Sous, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics
Assistant Director, Ambulatory Care Clerkship
Faculty Profile
Dr. Sous received her medical degree from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, followed by a combined Internal Medicine and Pediatrics residency training. Dr. Sous currently serves as the Assistant Director of the Ambulatory Primary Care Clerkship Program. She joined the faculty of Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in 2019 and has since been working as a clinical instructor for both medicine and pediatrics. She is Board certified in both Pediatrics and Internal Medicine.
Alan Y Tso, MD, MA
Associate Professor of Medicine
Director, Ambulatory Care Clerkship
Faculty Profile
Dr. Tso graduated from SUNY Upstate Medical Center at Syracuse and completed his combined internal medicine and pediatrics residency in Baystate Medical Center in Springfield Mass. Currently, Dr. Tso is the Director of the Ambulatory Primary Care Clerkship at Rutgers, NJMS in Newark. Prior to this role, he was the Medical Director in the Charles B Wang Community Health Center and the Associate Director of Primary Care with the New York University Student Health Center. Before joining Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Dr. Tso was the lead physician in Mt. Sinai Beth Israel in Internal Medicine Residency Program. In 2017, Dr. Tso received the Cullman Family Award ranking in the top 1% nationally in provider communication.
Kristin Wong, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine & Pediatrics
Program Director, Internal Medicine-Pediatrics Residency Program
Faculty Profile
Dr. Kristin Wong is a practicing physician treating children and adults. She received her medical degree from University of Kansas School of Medicine. In the last year of her combined Internal Medicine and Pediatrics residency at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Dr. Wong served as Chief Resident for Medicine-Pediatrics. She stayed an additional year as Chief Resident for Internal Medicine at University Hospital. Since 2017, she has been the Medicine Pediatrics Program Director, in this role, she oversees the clinical training of the combined residency program, educating and training residents and medical students as they participate in electives and rotations within the division. She was also promoted to Associate Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics in 2022. Her clinical interests include primary care services for patients of all ages, transitioning adolescents and young adults from pediatric/family-centered care to adult/patient-centered care, chronic pain management, mother-baby health, and weight management. She is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Pediatrics.
Occupational and Preventive Medicine
Shaun Shahani, DO, MPH
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Director, Occupational Medicine Service
Faculty Profile
Dr. Shaun Shahani is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine and Director of Occupational Medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (NJMS). He also serves as Core Faculty for the Preventive Medicine Residency at Rutgers NJMS. He is double board certified in both Preventive Medicine and Occupational Medicine. Originally from California, Dr. Shahani completed a dual degree program at Touro University California, where he obtained his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine and Master of Public Health degrees. After graduating from the Preventive Medicine Residency at Rutgers NJMS, Dr. Shahani worked for four years in Ocean County, New Jersey as an Occupational Medicine Physician for Hackensack Meridian Health. His clinical and research interests include the Workers' Compensation system, Tobacco Cessation, and Aerospace / Aviation Medicine.
Pauline Thomas, MD
Professor of Medicine
Director, Preventive Medicine Residency
Faculty Profile
Dr. Polly Thomas has practiced public health, pediatrics, and preventive medicine in NYC and in NJ for over 40 years. She started as an EIS officer with CDC, then researched the epidemiology of pediatric HIV, supervised HIV surveillance and the establishment of the World Trade Center Health Registry with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and now oversees preventive medicine training at NJMS. Until mid-2023 she maintained a part time practice in Pediatrics. She received her medical degree from Yale Medical School. She is board certified in Pediatrics and Preventive Medicine. Her areas of interest include Public Health, Public Health Practice, Preventive Medicine, Lifestyle Medicine, Pediatrics, Climate and Health, HIV.
