Associate Program Directors

Jared Walsh, MD

Dr. Walsh attended Boston College where he earned a degree in Psychology, with a focus in 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. Afterwards, 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, 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.

Jennine Michaud, DO

Dr. Michaud earned her Bachelor of Science Degree in 1999 from William Paterson University and attended medical school at the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine. She completed her Internal Medicine residency at New Jersey Medical School from 2004-2007, and then served as Chief Medical Resident in 2008. She completed her Nephrology fellowship in 2010, followed by a second fellowship in Transplant Nephrology.

Dr. Michaud joined the faculty of New Jersey Medical School in 2011 in the Department of Medicine and its Nephrology division. She also served as the Associate Clerkship Director for the 3rd and 4th-year medical students until 2014, when she ultimately moved to the East Orange VA Medical Center. Dr. Michaud then assumed the role of Associate Program Director and VA Site Director for our Internal Medicine residency program. She continues to be heavily involved in resident and student education through lectures, morning reports, and patient care.

Sunil Sapru, MD, FACP, FRCP Edin

Dr. Sapru was born in Kashmir, India, where he completed his undergraduate studies with distinction before going to medical school at the Government Medical College in Srinagar, University of Kashmir. He completed postgraduate training in Internal Medicine at the Sheri-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences and worked as an Internal Medicine specialist in India and Oman. He ultimately moved to the USA and furthered his education by completing an internship at SUNY Buffalo and residency at Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center (CBMC), where he received the “Outstanding Graduating Resident” award.

After completing his training, Dr. Sapru remained at CBMC as a clinician educator in their Internal Medicine residency program. He was promoted to Associate Program Director in 2010 and then served as Program Director from 2012 until CBMC became a fully integrated site in our program. Since July 2020, Dr. Sapru has assumed the role of Associate Program Director and CBMC Site Director for our residency. Dr. Sapru is a distinguished educator and mentor, holding academic appointments at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and St. George’s School of Medicine. In 2017, he was presented with the Laureate award by the New Jersey Chapter of the American College of Physicians (ACP), and in 2018 he was elected to the Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, UK. Additionally in 2021, Dr. Sapru was elected as Northern Governor of the ACP New Jersey Chapter.

Emily Gordon, MD

Dr. Gordon grew up in New York City and attended Cornell University for her undergraduate studies. She graduated from New Jersey Medical School in 2009 and completed a Primary Care and Social Internal Medicine Residency at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. She developed an interest in treating patients with substance use disorders during residency and helped to start a primary care addiction clinic once she came back to NJMS as a faculty member in 2012. Aside from her role as Associate Program Director for our Urban Health Track, Dr. Gordon is also the Program Director for the Addiction Medicine Fellowship. Dr. Gordon’s other professional interests include Narrative Medicine and resident wellness, areas to which she has made numerous impactful contributions within our program and institution.

Mirela Feurdean, MD, FACP

Dr. Feurdean earned her medical degree from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Gr. T. Popa,” Iasi, Romania, in 1995. She completed a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the same institution before moving to the US in 2000 where she furthered her education by completing residency in Internal Medicine at New York Medical College.

Dr. Feurdean joined New Jersey Medical School in 2013 as Associate Program Director for three times University Hospital, with a primary focus of expanding and improving the program’s outpatient clinical and educational activities. In that role, she developed and implemented the Urban Health Track. From 2016 to 2022, Dr. Feurdean served as Program Director for the residency program. As PD, she spearheaded and helped develop and implement other focus tracks in the Internal Medicine residency at NJMS and received the 2022 Department of Medicine Award for Innovations in Medical Education. She is a distinguished educator and mentor and has received several “Teacher of the Year" awards from medical residents and has been nominated several times by students for the Golden Apple Award. Dr. Feurdean is the co-founder and the Medicine Director of the 4-year Combined Internal Medicine-Preventive Medicine residency track at NJMS.

Piyumika de Silva, MD

Born and raised in Sri Lanka, Dr. De Silva's journey in medicine began in Colombo, where she completed her pre-medical education. Her academic excellence earned her a scholarship to St. George's University in Grenada, where she graduated magna cum laude. She then completed her residency at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (NJMS), receiving the award for Best Teaching Resident along the way.

Following residency, Dr. De Silva took on the role of Chief Medical Resident of Ambulatory Care. During this time, she faced the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic head-on. She designed and implemented an academic telehealth model that ensured continuous care for underserved patients and preserved ambulatory training for our residents.

In 2020, Dr. De Silva joined the NJMS faculty as Assistant Professor of Medicine at University Hospital. Hitting the ground running, she spearheaded multiple initiatives in her focus areas of healthcare operations leadership, population health, and medical education. One of her standout projects, the Multidisciplinary Hypertension Management Protocol, made significant strides in achieving blood pressure control in our patient population. With an eye always on enhancing the resident experience, Dr. De Silva also introduced the innovative Ambulatory POD System, which not only increased resident-patient continuity of care but also improved collaboration and coordination within the healthcare team. Her commitment to the residents shone through as she earned the Best Teaching Attending award at University Hospital for two consecutive years.

Her contributions led to her appointment as Associate Program Director for Ambulatory Care in 2022 and Director of Ambulatory Care for General Internal Medicine in 2023. In these roles, Dr. De Silva continues to drive initiatives promoting wellness and collaboration, enhancing the ambulatory care experience for patients, providers, and staff alike. Her passion lies in fostering a healthier population through strategic health system management. She strives to inspire residents to become champions of high-quality, value-based, patient-centered care, believing that well-trained physicians are key to transforming healthcare delivery. Through her innovative approach, Dr. De Silva is working to shape the future of healthcare, one improvement at a time.