Robert Nardino, M.D., MACP
Program Director, Associate Professor of Medicine
Dr. Nardino became program director in 2016. He received his undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins University and graduated from the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago in 1990. He completed a residency in internal medicine at the Wright-Patterson U.S. Air Force Medical Center in Dayton, Ohio, and remained as a faculty member there for four years before relocating to Connecticut and the Hospital of Saint Raphael in 1997. He served first as a clinician educator and in 2000 became director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program, a position he held for 15 years. He then joined the Yale University School of Medicine faculty as a firm chief for the Yale Primary Care Residency Program. Dr. Nardino is active in the American College of Physicians and is past governor of the Connecticut Chapter. In 2020, he received the American College of Physicians Award For Outstanding Educator of Residents and Fellows.
Francesco S. Celi, M.D., M.H.Sc.
Dr. Celi is the Professor of Medicine and James E.C. Walker Chair of the Department of Medicine at UConn Health
Prior of joining UConn Health, Dr. Celi was the William G. Blackard Professor of Medicine and Chair of the Division of Endocrinology Diabetes and Metabolism at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.
Prior to joining VCU, Dr. Celi worked for ten years as Clinical Investigator at the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases in Bethesda, Maryland.
Dr. Celi is a graduate of the University of Rome “La Sapienza”, and a diplomate of the Board of Internal Medicine, with subspecialty in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism. Dr. Celi has completed his clinical fellowship in Endocrinology, at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. He was awarded the Masters in Health Sciences by Duke University.
Dr. Celi conducts clinical and translational research and his scientific interest is focused on the physiology and pathophysiology of thyroid hormone action as it relates to energy metabolism. Another area of research is in the mechanisms of adipose tissue differentiation and on the role of hormonal signaling on promoting differentiation of adipose tissue depots in thermogenic fat, able to dissipate energy.
Dr. Celi is a practicing endocrinologist, and his clinical interests are diabetes and thyroid disease, with a specific focus on thyroid hormone replacement therapy, imaging, fine needle aspiration biopsy, and multidisciplinary management of thyroid cancer.
During his tenure at VCU Dr. Celi has worked on innovative care delivery models for patients with diabetes including creating an inpatient diabetes management team, testing the use of continuous glucose monitoring for patents admitted with COVID-19, developing a protected discharge service with remote home monitoring, and instituting a pre-surgical diabetes optimization.
Eric Mortensen, M.D., M.Sc., FACP
Chief, Division of Internal Medicine, Clinical Research Track Director, UConn Health
Eric Mortensen, M.D., M.Sc., is a Professor of Medicine and a practicing internist and clinical epidemiologist who is Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine at UConn Health. He was formerly Director of the General Internal Medicine Fellowship at the UT Southwestern Medical Center and Chief of General Internal Medicine at the Dallas VA Medical Center. He has successfully mentored over 30 medical students, residents, fellows, and junior faculty. In 2015, he won the UT Southwestern Center for Translational Medicine Outstanding Mentorship Award due to his efforts. His research has been supported by AHRQ, NIH, and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Notably he was the PI of a NIH grant using nationwide VA data to examine the association of cardiovascular medications with pneumonia- and sepsis-related outcomes. He was also the PI of a project to develop and implement computer-based reminders to improve the length of stay for patients hospitalized with pneumonia.
Suparna Dutta, M.D.
Chief of Medicine, Hartford Hospital
Dr. Dutta is currently the Chief of Medicine at Hartford Hospital in Hartford, CT. Prior to this, she served as an Associate Professor of Medicine and Division Chief of Hospital Medicine at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, IL. She earned her Bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College in political science and biology. Prior to entering medical school, she worked on Capitol Hill for the Senate HELLP Committee under Senator Edward Kennedy as a health policy legislative assistant. After her time in DC, she went on to complete her M.D. from the University of Buffalo, and her M.P.H. (concentration in health policy) from Yale University. She trained at Yale University/Griffin Hospital in New Haven, CT in both internal and preventive medicine. Dr. Dutta has worked as an academic hospitalist over the past twelve years, serving on the faculty of Boston University, University of Miami, and Rush. Her academic interests include improving communication in the inpatient setting, the Affordable Care Act and national health care policy, perioperative medicine, observation care, provider wellness, and leadership development. She was named one of the American College of Physician’s Top Hospitalists of 2015, and currently serves as a member of the Society of Hospital Medicine’s public policy committee. Dr. Dutta serves on the CMS Hospital Star Ratings workgroup and provided support to the City of Chicago around inpatient bed utilization during the spring 2020 COVID pandemic. She was awarded fellowship in the American College of Physicians in 2018 and in the Society of Hospital Medicine in 2019. Throughout her career, she has won numerous awards, including recognition for excellence in medical student/resident teaching and leadership. Dr. Dutta lives in Burlington with her family, which includes three dogs and a toddler.
Michael R. Grey, M.D., M.P.H., FACP, FAOEM
Chairman, Department of Medicine and Interim Chief Medical Officer
Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center/Trinity Health Of New England
Dr. Grey is a graduate of Harvard College where he majored in history and science. He received his M.D. degree from the University of Connecticut in 1984 and completed Primary Care Internal Medicine and Chief Medical residency at Cambridge Hospital. Following residency, he was awarded a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Washington where he also completed an M.P.H. and fellowship in occupational/environmental medicine. Dr. Grey joined the University of Connecticut in 1989 and during his 15 years on the faculty was involved at all levels of undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical education, including residency program director for the Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency Program, Occupational Medicine residency, and associate dean for continuing education. In 2004, Baystate Health recruited Dr. Grey as section chief in General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics and medical director of its largest teaching community health center. In 2007, he returned to Connecticut as chief of medicine at The Hospital of Central Connecticut where he remained for seven years. In 2014, Dr. Grey became chief medical officer of the Western Connecticut Medical Group, a 500 plus clinician multidisciplinary medical group in the greater Danbury region. In 2016, Dr. Grey returned to his roots when he was chosen to succeed Dr. Bernie Clark as chair of Medicine at Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center. He is a professor of medicine at the UConn School of Medicine and has held similar rank at the Frank H. Netters School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University, the University of Vermont, Tufts University, and Yale School of Nursing. Dr. Grey has published many articles relating to the history of medicine and public health, medical education and occupational/environmental medicine. He is the author or co-author of two books, New Deal Medicine, which focuses on the history of U.S. health care policy during the Great Depression and The Bioterrorism Sourcebook, a primer on bioterrorism for front line clinicians and public health officials. Dr. Grey is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Occupational/Environmental Medicine. In addition to his senior leadership portfolio, Dr. Grey's scholarly work has evolved from his roles as a medical educator, administrator of educational programs, expert in occupational and environmental medicine, primary care internist, and aficionado of the history of medicine. Dr. Grey lives in Simsbury with his wife Barbara and their Tibetan terrier, Quizzie.
Rebecca Andrews, M.S., M.D., FACP
Director of Ambulatory Education
Associate Program Director, Internal Medicine Residency
Dr. Andrews is the director of Ambulatory Education at UConn Health and an associate program director for the Categorical Internal Medicine Residency. She also serves as the co-chair for the Opioid Task Force and the physician lead for transformation to a certified Patient Centered Medical Home. As such, she is involved in the daily activities of the resident ambulatory clinic, mentoring, teaching, and increasing the quality of delivered care. Dr. Andrews received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, MA before relocating to Connecticut for medical school at UConn. She remained at the university to complete a residency including a chief medical resident year. Upon completing her residency, she practiced for three years at a community health center where she served as the medical director and a member of the company’s QA/QI team. She joined the faculty at UConn in 2009 where she developed the Office-Based Medicine track and developed patient-directed care pathways for chronic disease care. This served as the basis for a HRSA Primary Care Expansion Grant that she directs at the university. As a primary care provider, she sees patients with a focus on health prevention, disease-driven care models, and health care policy. Academic focuses are innovative education models including chronic pain/opioid education and success with difficult conversations. Beginning in 2017, she became the governor of the Connecticut chapter of the American College of Physicians.
Edgar Naut, M.D.
Associate Program Director, Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center
Dr. Naut received his Bachelor of Science degree in applied biology from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA) and his M.D. degree from Universidad Iberoamericana (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic). He completed his residency including a chief medical resident year in primary care internal medicine at the UConn. He is board-certified in internal medicine. After completing his residency, Dr. Naut joined Saint Francis Hospital as an academic hospitalist. He currently holds the academic rank of assistant professor in medicine from UConn. Dr. Naut is the associate hospitalist director at Saint Francis Hospital and his interest include transitions of care across the health care system.
Jaclyn Cox, D.O., FACP
Associate Program Director, UConn Health
Dr. Cox is a graduate of New York College of Osteopathic Medicine. She completed residency training at the University of Connecticut in internal medicine through the “dually-accredited” AOA/ACGME program. She is board-certified in internal medicine through AOBIM. After her residency, Jaclyn joined the team at UConn as an academic hospitalist. She is associate program director at UConn Health and also serves as the osteopathic recognition track director. Her academic interests include hospital safety and transitions of care and and preserving osteopathic identity in the single GME system.
Jose Pichardo, M.D.
Associate Program Director, Hartford Hospital
Dr. Pichardo graduated from Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra, in Dominican Republic. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at St. Vincent’s Medical Center as well as being designated a Chief Resident at the institution. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine. Dr. Pichardo joined Hartford Hospital in 2020 as an academic hospitalist and serves as an assistant director for the teaching division of the Department of Medicine. He took on the role of site director in 2021. His areas of interest include graduate medical education, high value care, health equity, and hospital emergency response systems of care. He is bilingual in English and Spanish.
Shiromini Herath, M.B.B.S., FACP
Site Director, UConn Health
Dr. Herath completed her residency at UConn and joined the faculty of UConn Health as a hospitalist in 2007.
She graduated from University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Her interests include quality improvement, readmissions and practice of evidence based medicine.
John Osowski, M.D.
Site Director, Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center
Dr. Osowski is a graduate of Albany Medical College, where he also did his internal medicine residency training. He is a hospitalist and has won several teaching awards as an inpatient educator at Saint Francis Hosptial.
Jennifer Broess, D.O.
Site Director, Hartford Hospital
Dr. Broess graduated from the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine after which she completed her Internal Medicine Residency training at the University of Connecticut. Prior to joining the Department of Medicine at Hartford Hospital in July 2023, she was an academic hospitalist at Rush University Medical Center from August 2020 to June 2023. She is board-certified in Internal Medicine and has won teaching awards while in residency and at Rush. Her areas of interest include graduate medical education, antibiotic stewardship, and resident wellness.
Susan Levine, M.D.
Ambulatory Site Director, UConn Health
Medical Director, UConn Immigrant Health
Dr. Levine received her undergraduate degree from Wellesley College and her M.D. degree from the Medical College of Pennsylvania as well as an M.P.H. degree from UConn. She joined the UConn faculty in 1998 and served as our associate program director for several years. After a hiatus in private practice, Dr. Levine has recently returned to UConn as our ambulatory site director on the Farmington campus. Her areas of academic interest include global health and medical ethics.
Mariela J. Morales Jimenez, M.D., FACP
Ambulatory Site Director, Hartford Hospital
Dr. Morales was born and raised in Guatemala and is a graduate of Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala City. She completed residency training at Houston Methodist Hospital where she also served as chief resident. Dr. Morales is board-certified in Internal Medicine. After residency, she joined a group primary care practice in Washington state and then moved to Connecticut to be close to family. Dr. Morales joined the Adult Primary Care Clinic at Hartford Hospital in 2022 and then became the Ambulatory Site Director in 2023. Her passion is working with the underserved community of Hartford, especially the Hispanic population, to help address the health disparities that they face and to narrow the gap. Clinical interest currently is the implementation of use of continuous glucose monitors in primary care.
Eugene Constantinou, M.D.
Ambulatory Site Director, VA Connecticut Healthcare System, Newington Campus
Dr. Eugene Constantinou received his undergraduate and M.D. degrees from Boston University. He completed residency in primary care internal medicine at Yale University in 1999. Dr. Constantinou worked in private practice in Massachusetts until 2001 then in Connecticut in affiliation with Griffin Hospital, Derby, CT and its Primary Care Residency. In 2007, he joined the VA Primary Care Clinic in Newington CT and the teaching faculty of the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. He holds the position of assistant clinical professor of Medicine and oversees the training of UConn Internal Medicine residents at the VA in Newington and is also the Primary Care chief for Newington.
Angela Stein, M.D.
Ambulatory Site Director, Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center/Trinity Health Of New England
Dr. Stein graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in Biology and completed her medical degree in 2009 at the University of Connecticut. She completed her Internal Medicine residency training in the categorical program at UConn, where she was chief resident. Dr. Stein was in a primary care private practice for seven years before returning to the teaching faculty at UConn in 2020. Dr. Stein is an assistant professor of medicine and ambulatory site director for the Saint Francis Gengras ambulatory clinic. She is also a fellow in the American College of Physicians.
Jennifer D. Baldwin, M.D., FACP
Patient Safety Faculty Expert, Director of Hospital Medicine, UConn Health
Dr. Baldwin serves as the Patient Safety Faculty Expert for the UConn Categorical Internal Medicine Residency Program and as the Director of Hospital Medicine for UConn Health. Dr. Baldwin’s clinical practice is as an academic hospitalist. Special interests include quality improvement, care transitions and patient safety. Dr. Baldwin joined the faculty of UConn Health in 2013 from Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Needham, MA, where she served as Director of Hospital Medicine. She also worked as an academic hospitalist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston after completing her residency in Internal Medicine at BIDMC in 2007.
Anthony Dotur, M.D.
Core Faculty, UConn Health
Dr. Dotur has been an assistant professor at UConn Health since completing his residency training in internal medicine at the University of Connecticut in 2006. His time at UConn was briefly interrupted when he left in the summer of 2008 to work as a hospitalist at Baptist Health Center in Jacksonville, Florida, but he returned to UConn Health in 2009. He earned both a Bachelor of Science and Masters of Science from St. John’s University (Queens, NY) and then completed his medical school training at Ross University School of Medicine. Dr. Dotur has been active in both graduate and undergraduate medical education, serving as a clinical/faculty preceptor for the second year medical school course Development of Clinical Care. In addition, he serves as the medical director of one the busiest inpatient hospital units, UT3. He has an interest in patient safety, functioning as the physician champion of the Prevention of Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infection Committee and as a member of the Medication Safety Committee.
Kirsten Ek, M.D., FACP
Core Faculty, Health Equity Track Director, UConn Health
Dr. Kirsten Ek is an assistant professor of medicine and hospitalist at UConn Health. She completed her M.D. degree and residency training in Internal Medicine at the University of Connecticut. She holds a public health certificate on Climate Change and Health from Yale University. She is involved in both undergraduate and graduate medical education. She is course director for the UConn School of Medicine’s stage one community-focused health systems science longitudinal course. She leads the Health Equity Track for the Internal Medicine Residency Program and is faculty advisor to the student-run Sustainability Interest Group. She received a teaching award for Outstanding Inpatient Clinical Preceptor in 2018, and the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award in 2020. Her interests include developing climate, environmental health, patient advocacy, and health equity-related curriculum. She is part of a committee currently developing Connecticut’s affiliate of the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health, Connecticut Health Professionals for Climate Action.
Pooja Hebbal, M.D.
Well-Being Chair, Hartford Hospital
Dr. Hebbal graduated from the JJM Medical College in India, after which she completed her Internal Medicine Residency at the Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, New York. Board-certified in Internal Medicine.
Dr. Hebbal joined the Department of Medicine in July 2020 as an Academic Hospitalist. She functions as the inpatient physician lead for the resident-run floors at Hartford Hospital. Collaborates with residents on inpatient Q/I, throughput, and hospital operations. She is also the Site Director for UConn medical students' internal medicine rotations at Hartford Hospital. She is fluent in English, Kannada, and Hindi. Her personal interests include do-it-yourself home improvement projects, painting with watercolors, reading novels related to mystery, feminism and World War 2, and driving her kids to their extra-curricular activities. She is a strong supporter for resident well-being.
David Ozimek, M.D.
Core Faculty, UConn Health
Dr. Ozimek received his undergraduate degree from Middlebury College in Molecular Biology (with a minor in English Literature) and his medical degree from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at UConn and served as chief medical resident at Harford Hospital, before joining the division of General Internal Medicine at UConn. While in residency he completed a certificate program in Health Professional Education at UConn through the Clinician Educator Track. He now serves as a clinician educator in several roles in both undergraduate and graduate medical education, including an assistant director of the Inpatient Medicine Clerkship, and quality improvement coordinator for the Internal Medicine Residency Program.
Diana Sewell, M.D.
Core Faculty, UConn Health
Dr. Sewell was born and raised in South Africa and is a graduate of the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. She completed residency training at the Hospital of St. Raphael, New Haven, Connecticut where she also served as chief resident. Dr. Sewell is board-certified in Internal Medicine.
Dr. Sewell worked as a hospitalist clinician educator at a community hospital for nine years before joining the teaching faculty at UConn in 2020. Her academic interests include hospital safety and quality, and improving the care of patients with diabetes admitted to the hospital.
Dr. Sewell is a fellow of the American College of Physicians where she has been actively involved in the Connecticut Chapter. She has served as the Chapter Meeting Planning Committee Co-Chair since 2014 and Chair since 2022. In 2022 she received the American College of Physicians Laureate Award for excellence and service to the Chapter.
Nicole Silverstein, M.D., FACP
Core Faculty, UConn Health
Dr. Silverstein grew up in sunny California. She attended the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and then completed her internal medicine residency, including a chief medical resident year at UConn’s Internal Medicine Residency Program. Her area of expertise and interest lies in the perioperative treatment of patients and she is the director of the Consultative Medical Service at UConn John Dempsey Hospital.
Ruchir Trivedi, M.D.
Core Faculty, UConn Health
Dr. Trivedi joined UConn as a resident in 2007 and continued as a chief resident and a fellow in the Division of Nephrology at UConn. After completion of his training, he continued as a core faculty member in the Department of Medicine maintaining strong ties with the residency program. Dr. Trivedi did his medical school from India and received further training in medicine and nephrology at the National Health Service, United Kingdom. Dr. Trivedi is a passionate teacher and a strong advocate for innovations in teaching and evidence based teaching methods. His academic interest includes medical education, clinical hypertension and blood purification techniques such as CVVH and plasmapheresis.
Dr. Trivedi has successfully mentored the research interest of many residents. We are proud that many of our residents have been able to publish and present their work in leading scientific journals and at national and international conferences.
Cunegundo Manuel Diego Vergara, M.D., FACP
Core Faculty, Department of Medicine, Hartford Hospital
Dr. Vergara received his Bachelors of Arts in chemistry from the College of The Holy Cross (Worcester, MA) in 1987 and his M.D. degree in 1992 from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), Newark. After graduating from UMDNJ, he completed his internship and residency in internal medicine in 1995 at the NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. He is certified in internal medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine.
Dr. Vergara currently holds the rank of associate professor of Medicine at the UConn School of Medicine and adjunct staff at the UConn School of Pharmacy. He currently serves as the medical director of Ambulatory Care Practice at Hartford Hospital and is a core teaching faculty for the UConn Internal Medicine Residency Program.