Department of Medicine Welcomes New Leadership

By Office of The President | Feb 21, 2023

Downstate welcomes the newest member of the Department of Medicine’s leadership's specializing in Gerontology, Hepatology, and critical care. Sushil K. Ahlawat, M.D., MS, MBBS, FACP, FASGE, AGAF, professor of medicine, chief, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, is board certified in Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology, and Transplant Hepatology. A trained interventional gastroenterologist with expertise in advanced endoscopic procedures, Dr. Alhawat specializes in endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), diagnostic and interventional endoscopic ultrasound (EUS), endoscopic mucosal resection/polypectomy, endoluminal stent placement, and deep small bowel enteroscopy.

Dr. Alhawat earned his medical degree from the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Rohtak (India) and an M.S. in Clinical Research from Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, MN; he completed his internal medicine residency at Montefiore Medical Center. Dr. Ahlawat most recently served as Professor of Medicine and the Director of Endoscopy at the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark, NJ.

Michael Fingerhood, M.D., MPH, is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Disease, and Critical Care Medicine and joins Downstate as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and Associate Director of Critical Care Services. Dr. Fingerhood recently completed a stint at Saint Barnabas Health System in the Bronx, where he was a member of the pulmonary and critical care division and was instrumental in COVID-19, GME, and quality improvement initiatives; he was an attending physician at NYC-HHC Elmhurst Hospital. Dr. Fingerhood holds M.D. and MPH degrees from the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, where he was a Digestive Disease Research Foundation (DDRF) fellow. Dr. Fingerhood completed an Internal Medicine residency at NYU Langone Medical Center, a fellowship in Pulmonary Disease at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital, and another fellowship in Critical Care Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center.

Ashish Rai, M.D., also joins Downstate as a clinical assistant professor of Medicine in the Pulmonary and Critical Care Division. He provides critical care to patients while developing his healthcare disparity research among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Dr. Rai graduated from D.Y. Patil School of Medicine in India, completed his Internal Medicine residency training at Mass General Brigham Salem Hospital, and has a Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine fellowship at NYU Long Island School of Medicine. An early career researcher in global lung health care disparities, Dr. Rai was awarded a travel grant to conduct research among biomass and tobacco-exposed COPD patients in rural and urban India to evaluate the effectiveness of pulmonary rehabilitation in a low-to-middle-income setting. Dr. Rai has also conducted clinical studies among COVID-19 patients with acute respiratory failure to evaluate the efficacy of lung and diaphragm ultrasound in predicting the requirement for invasive ventilation.

Samer Abujaber, M.D., is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Pulmonary Disease and has a particular interest in medical education joins Downstate as a clinical assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Abujaber earned his medical degree at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and completed a clinical internship as the Irish Health Service Executive. He then moved to Boston to join an NIH-funded research lab at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital before completing his internal medicine residency, chief residency, and a fellowship in Medical Education at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, MA. Dr. Abujaber completed his Pulmonary and Critical Care fellowship training at Steward St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Boston. 

Tags: Department of Medicine