BUMC Faculty Appointments, Promotions – February & March 2023
Congratulations to the following Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine faculty on their recent appointment or promotion.
Professor
Camron Bryant, PhD, Pharmacology, is director of the Laboratory of Addiction Genetics whose research approach spans multiple disciplines, including genetics, pharmacogenomics, neurobiology, psychology, addictive disorders and pain. His research goal is to improve our understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms of addiction and translate these findings into new and more effective treatment and prevention strategies in humans. Dr. Bryant’s lab continues to focus on psychostimulant and opioid use disorders as well as binge eating. More recently, they have been developing and characterizing models for neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome for use in assessment of experimental therapeutics and improving long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes.
Thea James, MD, MPH, MBA, Emergency Medicine, has spent her career interrogating the root causes of perpetual low health status among patients in safety net health-care systems. Her work has evolved to understand the role that health-care systems, health providers, payors and structural policies play in creating inequities that drive predictable low health status, with economic exclusion being most profound. She championed social justice and social determinants of health before they became national concerns. Her extensive work led to a new discipline, Social Emergency Medicine. Dr. James received the AMA Excellence in Medicine Award in 2018. The American College of Emergency Physicians established the Dr. Thea James Social Emergency Medicine Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020 in recognition of her contributions, and she was named the first recipient. She is a founding member of the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention.
Lynn Moore, DSc, MPH, Medicine/Preventive Medicine & Epidemiology, focuses on the epidemiology of nutritional and metabolic disorders throughout the lifespan. Her findings that excess vitamin A caused birth defects led to changes in manufacturing and clinical practice. She also has studied the evolution of cardiometabolic dysregulation among children and adolescents, the effects of a DASH eating pattern in free-living adults and children on cardio metabolic outcomes, the role of dietary protein on functional outcomes in older adults, and weight change patterns and chronic disease outcomes including cancer, hypertension, and diabetes. Dr. Moore has a long record of teaching at Boston University. In her earlier faculty years, she taught two methodologic courses in epidemiology (an introductory course and an intermediate methods course) and then later served for several years as a facilitator in the school’s Integrated Problems curriculum for MD and MD/PhD students. Since 2016, she has been director of the Graduate Medical Sciences Nutrition & Metabolism programs.
Associate Professor
Lewina Lee, PhD, Psychiatry, is a clinical geropsychologist and principal investigator at the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ─ Behavioral Science Division at VA Boston Healthcare System. She investigates the role of psychosocial stress exposure in aging and health, and mechanisms which transit or alter the effects of stress on health across the lifespan. Dr. Lee’s scientific contributions include elucidating psychosocial and biological pathways linking adverse and favorable early-life experiences to later-life health, documenting individual differences in long-term adaptation following traumatic exposures, and identifying psychosocial factors which facilitate successful aging against a background of adversity.
Sabrina E. Sanchez, MD, MPH, Surgery, studies long-term and patient-centered outcomes related to trauma and emergency surgery, health-care disparities, and geriatric and palliative surgical care. She is particularly interested in the care of vulnerable populations, including the elderly, seriously ill, underserved and minority communities. Her research focuses on different aspects of patient-centered care in these vulnerable populations and how to improve it, including through the assessment and addressing of factors that differentially affect them, quality efforts in the care of older adults and the use of shared decision making in surgery. Academically, Dr. Sanchez is involved in multiple diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and works tirelessly toward a more diverse and inclusive surgical workforce as a key aspect of providing just and equitable surgical care.
Clinical Professor
Wendy Bernstein, MD, MBA, Anesthesiology, is an academic and clinical anesthesiologist who specializes in medical simulation. She joins BU/Boston Medical Center from St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton, where she was chief of anesthesiology. Prior to that Dr. Bernstein was professor of anesthesiology, chief of cardiothoracic anesthesiology and vice chair of education at the University of Rochester School of Medicine.
Frantz Gibbs, MD, Emergency Medicine, is a clinician-educator who comes to BU/Boston Medical Center from Brown University Warren Alpert Medical School and Lifespan Rhode Island Hospital where he served for 20 years in a variety of roles, including assistant medical director of emergency medicine and physician administrator triage officer of the day for the Lifespan Epicenter Interhospital Transfer System. He was the creator and first director of the Point of Care Ultrasound Program in the Emergency Department at Rhode Island Hospital.
Clinical Associate Professor
Isidore Berenbaum, MD, Psychiatry, is a long-term practitioner, administrator and teacher. He joined BU/Boston Medical Center as an attending psychiatrist in 1980. He has served as assistant director of the Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Service since 1990 and currently is assistant director of the Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellowship, having previously served as Program Director from 2004-2021. For 43 years he has promoted and been involved in the wellness and care of physicians, residents, medical students, nurses and other medical-surgical staff.
Joanne Favuzza, DO, Surgery, specializes in Colon and Rectal Surgery. Appointed Surgery Clerkship Director in 2020, she also serves as the department’s field-specific advisor for third- and fourth-year medical students. Dr. Favuzza was interim chief of colon and rectal surgery from June 2022-March 2023. She has mentored more than 30 current and former students since joining the Chobanian & Avedisian SOM faculty in 2019. An advocate for enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocols, which optimizes perioperative management and patient outcomes, Dr. Favuzza’s improvements have included updating colorectal surgery order sets and providing education for nursing and residents.
Shamaila Khan, PhD, Psychiatry, is a clinical psychologist with an expertise in trauma, multiculturalism, diversity and social justice. She is director of the Center for Multicultural Training in Psychology Program and director of the Center for Multicultural Mental Health at Boston Medical Center. Dr. Khan also directs the hospital’s Family Support Center, where she has helped provide crisis intervention and psychological first aid to survivors and families affected by the pandemic since 2020 and supported survivors of the Boston Marathon Bombings prior to that. She also leads multiple DEI initiatives including co-chair of the DEI committee, Diversity & Equity Council member of BUMG, Diversity Champion for the Department of Psychiatry, and inclusive pedagogy initiatives at BU.
Linda Piwowarczyk, MD, MPH, Psychiatry, focuses on psychiatric care and human rights advocacy for refugees, torture survivors and asylum seekers. Her work includes clinical treatment, research, advocacy and education on behalf of these unique populations. Dr. Piwowarczyk has served as director/co-director of the Boston Center for Refugee Health and Human Rights since 1998 and is senior advisor of the Immigrant and Refugee Health Center at Boston Medical Center.