Faculty

Yazan Al Jabiri, MD, is an Instructor in Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine. He obtained his medical degree from Jordan University of Science and Technology and completed his internal medicine residency at NYC Health and Hospitals/ Lincoln. Dr. Al Jabiri is highly interested in research with focus on Meta-analysis/Systematic reviews. Currently he has several active projects in gastroenterology and hepatology mainly in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis treatment and inflammatory bowel disease. He also has an interest in epidemiology and using large data bases for outcome research to reveal opportunities for possible interventions to improve the care and clinical outcomes of patients.

Mohammad Aldiabat, MD, is an Instructor in Medicine in the Department of Medicine, Division of Hospital Medicine. He obtained his medical degree from Jordan University of Science and Technology and completed his residency in internal medicine at NYC Health and Hospitals/Lincoln. Dr. Adiabat’s focus on geriatric inpatient care led him to pursue a Geriatrics Medicine Fellowship at NYU Langone, where he provided compassionate care to elderly patients hospitalized with various geriatric syndromes.

Currently, he is pursuing a master's degree in epidemiology and biostatistics at Harvard School of Public Health, with research interests centered around gastroenterology and inflammatory bowel disease epidemiology and outcomes research in the elderly population.

Dr. Aldiabat's primary goal is to investigate the epidemiology of gastroenterology and inflammatory bowel disease in the elderly population, with the ultimate aim of advancing their care and enhancing their quality of life.

Florence Michelle Almiron-Torralba, MD, is an Instructor in Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine. She works primarily on the Progressive Pulmonary Care Unit (PPCU), Hospital Medicine, and Bone Marrow Transplant Service as a Hospitalist. She provides direct patient care on these services. She has interests in teaching and mentorship of medical students and residents on their clinical rotation on the Progressive Pulmonary Care Unit, Hospitalist and Bone Marrow Transplant Service.

Amrullah Alsatli, MD, is an Instructor in Medicine in the Department of Medicine, Division of Hospital Medicine. He obtained his Bachelor Degree in Medicine and Surgery from Jordan University of Science and Technology. Dr. Alsatli had his first Internal Medicine Residency in Qatar. In 2015 he joined the Internal Medicine  Residency Program at Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio. He has been working as a Hospitalist and has been board certified since 2018. He joined the Division of Hospital Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis in 2023.

Dr. Alsatli is interested in clinical research, patient care, and medical education. He is currently enrolled in the Master of Science in Clinical and Translational Research at Georgetown University.

Elissa Arnold, MD, is an Instructor in Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine. She completed her residency here at BJH where she received formal training in medical education through the Washington University Teaching Physicians Pathway and has been appointed as a Key Faculty Member for the Internal Medicine residency program for the 2023-2024 academic year. Her research interests include pulmonary infections in immunocompromised patients and pulmonary vascular diseases; she has ongoing projects in both of these areas. She also has QI interests in improving interprofessional relationships and workflow on inpatient medicine and participated in the Medicine Interprofessional Working Group. Clinically, she spends her time on the Hospitalist and Oncology services and enjoys having learners with her on these services.

Jordan Atkins, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine and works primarily on the bone marrow transplant service as a hospitalist. He has an interest in teaching and mentorship of students and residents on the oncology service and aids in recruitment of internal medicine resident candidates through the IM program as an interviewer. Dr. Atkins has contributed to multiple clinical research publications within the realm of oncology, which aids in the management of the complex medical problems of solid organ and leukemia patients. He serves on the hospitalist BMT/Oncology and the patient care operations committees, with a primary focus on patient throughput, triage and QI for oncology patients.

Faris Bakeer, MD, is an Instructor in Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine, and he attends on a variety of services including oncology, BMT, medicine consults, and general hospitalist rotations.  He has an interest in education and is involved in teaching residents and medical students on hospitalist rotations and on medicine firm. He additionally has an interest in quality improvement projects as well as Infectious Disease and has previously published research involving the development and validation of a risk prediction score for enterococcal endocarditis. He also serves on the recruitment committee for the Division of Hospital Medicine and assists in recruitment for the Internal Medicine residency program as an interviewer.

Maun R Baral, MD, joined the Division of Hospital Medicine as an Instructor in Medicine after recently completing his Internal Medicine Residency in 2023. Currently, his primary responsibility involves caring for acutely ill patients admitted to the oncology and general medicine floors. He finds great satisfaction in the complexities and nuances of hospital medicine, with a particular passion for point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS), high value care, and medical education. Additionally, he takes special interest in expanding his knowledge and role in the oncology and Bone marrow transplant department.

Rachel Bardowell, MD, FACP, is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Fellow of the American College of Physicians with special interests and training in Quality and Safety and Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS). She is Vice Chief of Safety and Quality for the Division of Hospital Medicine as well as Associate Vice Chair of the Department of Medicine for Inpatient Safety and Quality.  For the Internal Medicine residency program she is a member of the Core Faculty and Co-Director of POCUS. She attends on a mix of the General Medicine Inpatient teaching service (FIRM medicine), Procedure team, and Hospitalist Direct Care. Areas of interest include curriculum development in POCUS, patient flow, and high value care.

Erin Baum, MD, is an Instructor in Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine. She serves as the attending physician for the general medicine inpatient teaching services as well as the hospitalist direct care services, including day and night care of admitted patients. She serves on the division's patient care operations and education committees and is also the faculty advisor to the WUSM Internal Medicine Interest Group. Dr. Baum enjoys teaching and mentoring medical students and residents as well as the opportunity to be involved in student and resident recruitment. Her other areas of interest include medication reconciliation accuracy improvement and night float curriculum development.

Matthew Brinkmeier, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine.  He attends on the internal medicine inpatient teaching service (FIRM medicine), the bedside Procedure Team, the Medicine Consult service, and provides consultation at The Rehab Institute of Saint Louis in addition to providing direct care on our Hospital Medicine Service.  His clinical interests include medical education, point of care ultrasonography, and optimization/customization of the electronic medical record system.  Dr. Brinkmeier chairs on the Formulary Subcommittee of the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee and is active in the Division’s Epic EMR Task Force.  He previously served as the Secretary for the Saint Louis chapter of the Society of Hospital Medicine.

Natalia Brito Rivera, MD, MPHS, is an Instructor in Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine. She works as a hospitalist primarily on the internal medicine service and medical oncology service providing direct patient care and teaching medical students and residents in a clinical setting. She has an interest in medical education and student mentoring and aids in the recruitment of internal medicine candidates as an interviewer. She serves in the Medical Education Committee and the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Allyship and Social Justice (IDEAS) Committee.

Monique Bruinsma, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine.  She received her medical degree, masters in immunology, and residency training at Washington University/BJH.  In her clinical endeavors, she cares for acutely ill hospitalized medicine patients.   She has an interest in using information technology to improve the efficiency and safety of patient care.  She also fosters the development of physician trainees by providing didactic teaching as well as attending frequently on the general medicine teaching service.

Dennis Chang, MD, is an Associate Professor in the Division of Hospital Medicine and the Interprofessional Education (IPE) MD Thread Director, and Co-Director of the Inpatient Clinical Immersion at Washington University in St. Louis. He was previously affiliated with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City where he served as the 3^rd year Medicine Clerkship Director and the Director of Education and Faculty Development for the Division of Hospital Medicine.

He received his BS from Yale University, his MD from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and completed his Internal Medicine residency at NYU.

Miguel A. Chavez Concha, MD, is an Instructor in Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine and works primarily on the bone marrow transplant service as a hospitalist. He is trained in Infectious Diseases and has an interest in infections in immunocompromised patients and antimicrobial stewardship. He has implemented guidelines for antimicrobial and diagnostic stewardship within the bone marrow transplant services. Dr. Chavez has contributed to multiple clinical research publications within the realm of infectious diseases. He participates with the Hospital Epidemiology and Infection Prevention Committee as well as the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program from Barnes Jewish Hospital. He also has an interest in medical education and is the educational coordinator for the infectious diseases’ curriculum of the internal medicine residency program.

Justin Chen, MD MHPE, is an Instructor in Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine with a special interest in qualitative methods and dissemination and implementation research to increase equitable implementation and uptake of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines. Previously as the Chief Resident in Quality and Safety and medical education fellow at Washington University School of Medicine, he has led many projects that includes redesigning the patient safety and quality improvement rotation for the WUSM IM residency program and implementing the electronic handoff tool currently used at the John Cochran VA. His current scholarly interest is designing and implementing a polypill, or fixed-dose combination pill, for heart failure reduced ejection fraction that has been proposed to transform the heart failure treatment paradigm.

Jeffrey Choi, MD, is an Instructor in Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine. He received his medical degree and completed his internal medicine residency training at Washington University in St. Louis/Barnes-Jewish Hospital. He is interested in general inpatient care with a focus on safe transitional care and health literacy and provides direct clinical care in various settings including general day and night hospitalist medicine, oncology, and BMT. He enjoys working with medical student and resident trainees in his clinical practice and plans to become more involved in general medical education within the department. He is also interested in clinical operations and serves on the patient care operations committee.

Kelsey Chow, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine. She has been a member of the Orientation Committee for the past two years to help design orientation materials and presentations to help incoming hospitalists become familiar with the Division of Hospital Medicine and Wash U. She also has an interest in reducing hospital readmissions, and has contributed to decreasing hospitalizations during her time as a hospitalist at Rush by writing action plans for patients frequently admitted to the hospital. She is also currently on the Readmission Committee at BJH. She also enjoys teaching both medical students and residents while on the Hospitalist service as well as Firm service at BJH.

Jaspur Min Coleman, MD, is an Instructor of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine. She received her medical degree from Washington University in St. Louis and completed her internal medicine residency at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. She cares for patients on the clinical hospitalist services at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital, and The Rehabilitation Institute of St. Louis.  She also enjoys attending on the medicine teaching service.  Dr. Coleman has an interest in resident and medical student education, and she assists in recruitment of internal medicine residency candidates as an interviewer. She serves on the recruitment and physician wellness committees for DHM.

Stephanie Conner, MD, FACP, FHM, is an Associate Professor of Medicine and the Director of POCUS for the Division of Hospital Medicine, as well as the Medical Director for the Inpatient Medicine Teaching Service (Firm 2). She has an interest in point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS), medical education, clinical operations, and quality improvement. She attends frequently on the inpatient medicine teaching service and bedside procedure service, and cares for patients directly on the hospitalist service. Dr. Conner is involved in both regional and national POCUS education and CME conferences and serves on the Executive Council of the Society of Hospital Medicine POCUS Special Interest Group. She is the recipient of a grant from the Barnes Jewish Hospital Foundation for the development and implementation of a POCUS curriculum for hospitalist faculty. She has published several articles on developing POCUS curricula and inpatient medical education in recent years.

Tony Dao, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine.  He is from Dayton, OH and completed medical school at Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED) in Rootstown, OH.  He is passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and graduate medical education.  He directs OUTmed, an organization for LGBTQIA+ trainees, faculty and staff, and he is an associate program director for the IM Residency Program.  Clinically, he attends on the inpatient teaching services and direct care services.  His favorite part of the job is getting the opportunity to work with the internal medicine residents.

Bethany Dement, MD is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine. She works on the oncology and bone marrow transplant services, and she has an interest in teaching medical students rotating on these services. Additionally, she serves on the hospitalist BMT/Oncology committee.

Radha Devi, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine. She did her residency in Chicago and worked as a hospitalist in one of the Mayo Clinic satellite locations prior to joining the division in 2017. She is the Co-Director of the recruitment committee for the division. Radha has interests in patient safety and quality improvement and serves on the patient safety and quality committee within the Division of Hospital Medicine.  She serves as the Medical Director for the North Campus Medicine Floors 7900 and 8900. She cares for patients on the direct hospitalist service, FIRM medicine, and BMT, and is involved in teaching residents and medical students. Other areas of interest include interprofessional teamwork, advancement of women, and diversity initiatives within the division.

Cady Edwards, MD, is an Instructor in Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine and serves as co-director of the Medicine Triage Attending service. She spends most of her clinical time as a nocturnist taking care of patients overnight. She serves on the patient care operations committee and has special interest in patient throughput, triage, and distribution overnight. She also works at Barnes-Jewish West County and serves on the Barnes-Jewish West County Pharmacy & Therapeutics committee. She is a recent recipient of the Covid STAR award recognizing significant clinical contributions during the Covid-19 pandemic. She has a special interest in physician wellness, particularly for full time nocturnists.

Tim Evans, MD, is an Instructor in Medicine and Pediatrics within the respective Divisions of Hospital Medicine. He attends as a hospitalist on both the hospitalist and oncology services at Barnes-Jewish Hospital (BJH). He attends as a hospitalist/nocturnist at St. Louis Children’s Hospital (SLCH) on both teaching and non-teaching teams and provides direct care to pediatric patients in the emergency departments of several community hospitals. He serves on the Quality Improvement and Patient Safety (QIPS) Committee, with an active role in safety event reviews at BJH. Areas of interest include medical education, patient safety and quality improvement (PSQI), curriculum development in PSQI, and mentorship.

Arafat Ali Farooqui, MD, is an Instructor in Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine. He received his medical degree from the King Edward Medical University Lahore, Pakistan and completed his internal medicine residency at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY. He has a special interest in oncology and cardiology with particular focus on performing systematic reviews and conducting meta-analyses. He works as an attending physician on the General Medicine and Oncology hospitalist services.

Safa Farrag, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Fellow of the American College of Physicians. She is dual board certified for both the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) and the American Board of Quality Assurance and Utilization Review Physicians (ABQAURP). She has special interest and experience in implementing Quality methodology and Safety tools to provide high value care and improve outcomes. Dr. Farrag attends General Medicine Inpatient Teaching service (FIRM medicine), Consults service, and Hospitalist Direct Care.  She has published several articles on quality improvement and women’s health, and has won several awards for the best QI projects and for her dedication to teaching and patient care service.

Carol Faulk, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine with interests in resident well-being and medical education.  She is core faculty and Director of Well-being for the Internal Medicine residency program.  She is also co-director of the Internal Medicine-Advanced Clinical Rotation, which is a rotation similar to a traditional medicine sub-internship for the phase III medical students.  She attends on a mix of the General Medicine Inpatient teaching service (FIRM medicine), Procedure team, and Hospitalist Direct Care.

Kathryn Filson, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Co-Director of Patient Care Operations within the Division of Hospital Medicine. She has an interest in clinical patient care, system wide operations, medical education and financial structures. She is the Chair of the Compensation Committee within the Division of Hospital Medicine and helped develop the current bonus incentive structure. Dr. Filson has been with the Department of Medicine since 2018 and spends her clinical time attending on direct patient care services & supervising residents on the inpatient Firm Medicine teams.

Catherine Finneran, MD, MPH, is an Instructor in Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine. Prior to joining the Division, Dr. Finneran worked in public health research and programming in the Southeastern United States, where she contributed to projects addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic among sexual minorities and gender-diverse persons. A passionate researcher, her area of interest comprises ways in structural violence and oppression impact persons most at risk for health care disparities. Her work also focuses on graduate medical education of intern and resident physicians, with a special interest in infectious diseases, antibiotic management, and early identification and treatment of sepsis.

Dr. Jaime Flores-Ruiz, MD, holds the position of Instructor in Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine. In this role, he serves as the primary physician for medicine inpatients at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Additionally, he is responsible for supervising interns and residents who are rotating on the Hospital Medicine service. Dr. Flores-Ruiz also works as an Internal Medicine consultant at the Psychiatric Care at Delmar Center. He is a member of the IDEAS committee, which focuses on improving health quality. As part of this committee, he contributes to initiatives aimed at enhancing healthcare practices and outcomes. Dr. Flores-Ruiz volunteers at Affinia Healthcare Clinic providing post-hospital care to patients who face socio-economic barriers and have limited access to healthcare services.

James Matthew Freer, MD, is an Associate Professor of Medicine and member of the Society of Hospital Medicine.  He works on the hospitalist service at both BJH and BJWC and attends on the inpatient medicine teaching service and the bedside procedure service.  His interests include teaching of medical students and residents and supervising residents performing bedside procedures.  Since 2007, Dr. Freer has served as the Director of the Procedure Service.  He served as the editor and authored much of the Washington Manual of Bedside Procedures.  Dr. Freer has also authored numerous book chapters and two papers on a variety of topics.  Dr. Freer has been the invited discussant at the Clinicopathologic Conference (CPC) seven times.  His other areas of interest include procedural simulation training, Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS), and clinical operations at BJWC hospital.

Margo Girardi, MD, SFHM, is an Associate Professor in Medicine, Core Clinical Faculty for the Internal Medicine Residency Program, and the Medical Director for the Inpatient Medicine Teaching Service (Firm 1). She has an interest in medical education, clinical operations, quality improvement, and physician wellness. She attends frequently on the inpatient medicine teaching service and medicine consult service, as well as caring for patients directly on the hospitalist service. Dr. Girardi has recently focused on diabetes care, and she is the recipient of a grant from the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Foundation for the development and implementation of SQ insulin protocols for DKA patients on medicine.

Tracey L. Godbold, MD, is an Instructor in Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She attends on a variety of inpatient clinical services and teaching rotations, including the bone marrow transplant service, the General Medicine Inpatient teaching service (FIRM medicine), and the Procedure Team. She also enjoys caring for patients directly on the general inpatient hospitalist service and serving as a consulting physician at the Rehabilitation Institute of St. Louis (TRISL). Her clinical interests include Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) for clinical diagnosis and procedural management, high-value inpatient care, and teaching resident physicians.

Madeline Grondalski, MD, is an Instructor in Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine and works primarily on the oncology and bone marrow transplant services as a hospitalist. She has an interest in teaching and mentorship of students and residents on the oncology and bone marrow transplant services. She helps with interviewing candidates for the Division of Hospital Medicine as well as aiding in the orientation of new hospitalists. Dr. Grondalski services on the oncology/BMT committee and the orientation committee. Prior to her medical training she completed her nursing education with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and is a Registered Nurse, which helps strength her interests and patient centered care.  Dr. Grondalski has a special interest in multidisciplinary communication, patient experience, and medical trainee wellness.

Geneva E. Guarin, MD, MBA, is a Clinical Instructor in Medicine. She completed her Internal Medicine residency training at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in June 2023. Currently she serves in the BMT/Oncology committee. Her areas of interests include medical education, quality improvement projects, hematology and oncology research, and wellness in hospital medicine. She is passionate about lifelong learning and taking care of patients.

Maria Gurrieri, MD, is a Staff Physician at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and a Voluntary Clinical Instructor in Medicine. She works full time taking care of patients in the Pulmonary Progressive Care Unit, Bone Marrow Transplant service, Hospitalist service, and at PCDC. She serves in the Faculty Development Committee, where she contributed to the development of the “Roads to Success” seminar series for the hospitalist faculty.

Ihab Hassanieh, MD, is an Instructor of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine. He has an interest in teaching and mentorship of students in the hospitalist service and is part of the research committee within the Division of Hospital Medicine. His research interests are in cardiac research and dissemination and implementation of evidence-based interventions. Expanding his expertise, he is currently pursuing dual master's degrees in business administration and clinical investigation. His bibliography includes significant contributions to cardiology research, with a focus on innovative treatment approaches and clinical outcomes. Dr. Hassanieh's work embodies a commitment to enhancing healthcare through rigorous research, teaching, and direct patient care.

Krysta Heath, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine.  She completed internal medicine residency at Washington University in St. Louis/Barnes-Jewish Hospital.  Her primary role is direct care of hospitalized patients at both Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital.  She has a particular interest in nocturnist medicine.  She serves on the patient care operations committee and has an interest in patient triage and throughput as well as admission efficiency.

Benjamin L. Hoemann, MD is an Instructor in Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine. He received his medical degree from the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and surgeons and completed his internal medicine residency at Washington University in St. Louis. He has a special interest in addiction medicine, point-of-care ultrasound, and medical education. He is a member of the Quality Improvement and Patient Safety committee within the division. He works as an attending physician on the general medicine and oncology hospitalist services.

Thomas Hoyt, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine with special interests in resident and undergraduate medical education. He currently serves on the Gateway Medicine Clerkship Clinical Competency Committee for Phase 2 Medical Students. Additionally, he is a member of various committees with a focus on improving care for patients with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD). He attends on a variety of services including the General Medicine Inpatient Teaching Service as well as Hospitalist Direct Care at both Barnes-Jewish Main and West County Hospitals.