Current and Past Fellows

Addiction Medicine Fellows 2024-2025

Dominik Dabrowski, MD, MPH.

Dominik is from Staten Island, NY where he found his inspiration to pursue Addiction Medicine due to the local epidemic.

Prior to starting fellowship, he completed medical school at the American University of the Caribbean (St Marten) as well as residency in Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM) at Regions Hospital in Minneapolis, MN. He believes that there are not enough specialists cross trained in OEM and addiction, and hopes to make contributions in that intersection.

Ben Simmons, MD 

 Ben attended medical school at Georgetown University School of Medicine and then internal medicine residency at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. After internal medicine residency Ben served as chief resident, focusing on resident education and curriculum.

At the core of Ben's beliefs is the conviction that every individual, regardless of their background or circumstances, should be treated with equity and compassion. He believes in meeting people where they are in their life journey.

Ben envisions a career integrating his passions for addiction medicine and cardiovascular health. 

Alyson Porter, MD

Alyson is from Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she attended medical school and did an internship in psychiatry at the University of New Mexico. She completed residency training in preventive medicine and public health at the University of Massachusetts. During residency, she explored various maternal and child health issues, including health challenges and disparities in the prenatal, postnatal, and early childhood phases. She is interested in windows of opportunity for behavior change, upstream risks for substance use disorders and ripple effects of recovery, and ways to expand low barrier SUD treatment access for underserved populations. Other interests include social determinants of health, global health, harm reduction policy, narrative medicine, mindfulness-based therapies, literacy, and writing.

Addiction Medicine Fellows 2023-2024

Omead Mirgoli, MD

Omead started his Addiction Medicine Fellowship at Rutgers after completing his residency as a Chief Resident in Family Medicine at Hackensack Meridian Health in New Jersey. He discovered an appreciation for Addiction Medicine when he witnessed the profound impact that compassionate and evidence-based care could have on individuals grappling with substance use disorders. He aspires to integrating Addiction Medicine with his Family Medicine practice, delivering caring and understanding support, essential in reducing the stigma linked to Substance Use Disorder.

Iftekhar Mahmud, DO

Iftekhar was born and raised in Bangladesh. He attended the University Of Dhaka in Bangladesh, to complete his undergraduate in Medicine and Surgery. He started his career in medical research. He worked in the country’s top rated medical university in active clinical research. Dr. Mahmud moved to the United States in 2009 and continued his medical research in the field of Sleep Medicine, Obesity and Diabetes in the Princeton area of New Jersey for the next 6 years. He started his second medical degree at NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2015 and graduated in 2019. During medical school he was involved in various outreach activities with the community. He started his Transitional year training in 2019 at the Northwell Peconic Bay Medical Center. He completed his Family Medicine residency from Atlanticare Regional Meical Center. Iftekhar is very passionate about Addiction Medicine and will continue to work in the field and train other physicians in future.

Addiction Medicine Fellows 2022-2023

Poonam Kothari, MD

Poonam grew up in Jersey City and attending Undergrad and Medical School at Rutgers New Brunswick. She completed her residency in Emergency Medicine at Cooper University and plans to integrate Addition Medicine into her Emergency Medicine practice as well as care for patients in an office setting part-time.

Addiction Medicine Fellows 2021-2022

Julia Nath, MD

Julia started addiction medicine fellowship at Rutgers after finishing medical school and internal medicine residency at The University of Chicago. She is interested in primary care for underserved populations and intends to integrate addiction into her primary care practice. Originally from California, this is her first year living on the East Coast. She enjoys living in downtown Newark and you can find her looking like a tourist getting lost in NYC, dancing in Zumba class, or running with the Brick City Run Club.

Patrick Mcfadden, MD

Patrick is from Catonsville, MD. He started addiction medicine fellowship at Rutgers after finishing medical school at St. George's University School of Medicine and Obstetrics and Gynecology residency at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. He has a special interest in addiction in pregnancy. He shares his home with two dogs (Fanny and Gabby) and four sugar gliders.

Thai Tran, MD

I was born in Vietnam and raised in Atlantic City, New Jersey. I ended up in addiction medicine after witnessing the high prevalence in my hometown. I decided to do a fellowship to help those in my community. I love New Jersey and plan to live here for the rest of my life. I enjoy going to the Jersey boardwalk and beach in the summer.

Ugochukwu Okoroh, MD

Ugo Okoroh started Addiction Medicine Fellowship at Rutgers after finishing medical school and completing a residency in Emergency Medicine at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center. He is interested in Emergency Medicine, Addiction and Pain medicine. Ugo was born in Nigeria, grew up in England and move to New Jersey. He is very outgoing and enjoys the many outdoor activities the Tristate area offers. When he is not micro dosing he enjoys spending time with family and friends, snowboarding, hiking, traveling and off course Netflix.

Addiction Medicine Fellows 2020 – 2021

Cheryl Monteiro, MD

Cheryl grew up in Scotch Plains, NJ and then went to The College of New Jersey.  After college, she volunteered with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in Chicago where she found a passion for bicycling and working with under served populations. She attended New Jersey Medical School and then completed her residency in General Internal Medicine/Primary Care at Brown in Providence RI. While working nights, she decided it would be a good idea to bicycle from Rhode Island to New Jersey, so she did.  She is excited to return to Newark for her Addiction Medicine Fellowship. In the future she hopes to integrate Addiction Medicine into a General Medicine career.

Louis Lerebours, MD

Louis Lerebours is a first gen Haitian American from Miami, FL. He attended the University of Florida where he majored in kinesiology. After undergrad Louis worked as a lab tech before matriculating to Meharry Medical college in Nashville, TN. He went on to become a post doctoral fellow at The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy prior to completing Family and Community Medicine residency at Meharry. Louis' sought training in addiction medicine to combat health disparities that exist in terms of access and treatment of substance use disorders in marginalized communities. Additionally he hopes to provide compassionate and empathetic care that is crucial in curbing stigma associated with SUD. Louis' research interest include exploring social network transformation by investigating barriers/facilitators to potential recruitment of a drug-use social network member into treatment. During his free time Louis enjoys boating and jet skiing. He also considers himself an up and coming grill master.

Adanna Ukazu, MD

My name is Adanna Ukazu, I am an Obgyn by training and decided to pursue a carrier in addiction medicine given the growing number of women who deal with undiagnosed or under diagnosed Substance use disorder. My passion is taking care of underrepresented minorities and people with scant resources. I am currently a Reach Yale Fellow and my research area of interest is looking at the way a multi care system for treatment of substance use disorder improves pregnancy and postpartum outcomes. My goal is to continue to make sure all people with substance use disorder get high quality care. My hobbies include cooking and bonding with my four beautiful daughters.

Ryan Golden, MD

Ryan Golden grew up on Cape Cod, MA.  He first became interested in social justice issues through his volunteer work with homeless outreach groups in his community.  Ryan graduated with a degree in biochemistry from Stonehill College in Easton, MA.  He went on to medical school at St. George's University and completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Rutgers NJMS.  Prior to medical school, he worked as a case manager for a supportive housing group that served at risk individuals, including those with substance use disorders.  Ryan's interest in Addiction Medicine grew from treating veterans with substance use disorders at the East Orange VA Hospital.

 Addiction Medicine Fellows 2019 - 2020

Emily Buirkle, MD

Emily Buirkle, MD is originally from Ridgewood, New Jersey.  She attended college at Cornell University and medical school at NYU, where she discovered an appreciation for Addiction Medicine while rotating through a detox unit.  She completed her Internal Medicine residency at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign before joining the Addiction Medicine fellowship at Rutgers.  During her fellowship, Emily completed a scholarly project on buprenorphine microdosing and won a prize for her work at the ACAAM national meeting. After graduation, she will be continuing her work on campus as an outpatient Addiction specialist at the CARE Center.

Seyed Parham Khalili, MD

Seyed Parham Khalili,MD was raised in Chicago, and attended the University of Chicago for his undergraduate studies, graduate school in public policy analysis, and ultimately, medical school. He previously completed a residency in Family Medicine at Columbia University and a Geriatrics (IM) fellowship at Weill Cornell, subsequently serving as junior faculty. Prior to coming to Rutgers for an Addiction Medicine fellowship, he provided primary, geriatric and palliative care across a variety of rural and urban settings in Pennsylvania and New York. During fellowship, he continued his research on substance use disorders among older adults.  After graduation, he will be joining faculty at University of Southern California as a primary care doctor and geriatrician with a focus on addiction.