Resident Representatives and Faculty Mentors

Recruitment & Inclusive

Gabrielle Fonteaux is currently a PGY-2 in the department of Emergency Medicine. She is a graduate of the Howard School of Medicine and seeks to serve her patients, both clinically and through her work with the Diversity, Inclusion and Equity Housestaff council.

 

Christine S. Persaud, MD
Assistant Professor
Division of Sports Medicine Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Rehabilitation Medicine
Faculty Mentor for Inclusion

 

Teresa Y. Smith, MD, MSEd

Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education and Affiliations and ACGME Designated Institutional Official
Faculty Mentor for Recruitment

 

Mentorship and Retention

Keesandra Agenor is an emergency medicine resident at SUNY Downstate. As a native of the area, she holds the community of Brooklyn really close to her heart. At the same time, she is well aware of the unique challenges that students underrepresented in medicine face in pursuing medicine without access to mentors or role models in their community.

I seek to serve as the resident representative of the Mentorship & Retention subcommittee to work effortlessly to create relationships with high school and college students in the community to increase recruitment of diverse medical students, and provide opportunities for current medical students and residents to find faculty mentors that can provide guidance and support in their future endeavors.

 

Harjinder Gill, MD

Clinical Assistant Professor / Hospitalist
Faculty Mentor for Mentorship and Retention

 

Community Engagement

Abhilahsa Ahuja is a PGY-2 resident in the department of Pediatrics at SUNY Downstate. As physicians, we have an inherent tendency to work for our patients’ mental and physical well-being. Through all the years of medical training, I have learned that nothing affects a person’s well-being more than the resources available to them. The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion House-staff Council, is an opportunity for me to employ my passion for creating an atmosphere of adequate resources for the community I serve daily and give them equal opportunity to have a healthy lifestyle. Working through this council, we are taking baby steps together towards a much more strengthened community.

 

Christina Guillen, MD, FAAP


Associate Designated Institutional Official of Diversity & Inclusion
Faculty Mentor for Community Engagement

 

Christina Pardo, MD, MPH, F.A.C.O.G.


Assistant Professor Vice Chair, Quality & Innovation
Director, Division of Health Equity
Faculty Mentor for Community Engagement

 

Education and Advocacy

Natassia Buckridge is an Emergency Medicine PGY-2 resident. Like many in the Flatbush community, she is an immigrant from the Caribbean (Jamaica) and grew up in the neighborhoods surrounding Kings County Hospital/SUNY Downstate. I joined DEIHC because of my appreciation of the many resources that allowed me to get to where I am today and desire to give back. I am passionate about teaching and hope to combine my interest in diversity and equity with medical education.

 

Pamela Janairo, MD an Assistant Program Director in the Department of Emergency Medicine and faculty mentor for the education sub-committee. She has a background and training in simulation, as well as health disparities research and is looking to bridge these two interests through medical education. Her goal as the faculty mentor for the educational sub-committee is to create longitudinal educational initiatives and curricula that address health disparities and social medicine that will be incorporated into residencies throughout our institution.

 

Ramon E. Gist, MD

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and the Acting Director for Pediatric Critical Care Medicine
Faculty Mentor for Social Justice

 

Research

Laura N. Uwakwe is a Pediatric Dermatology Research Fellow. I am a Brooklyn native, who completed my undergraduate education at Tufts University, prior to obtaining my MD at SUNY Downstate. I have a strong interested in dermatology, specifically hair and scalp disorders, and I am currently doing a pediatric dermatology research fellowship under the tutelage of Dr. Sharon Glick. I was inspired to volunteer in the DEI council because as a product of the NYC public school system, and as the first person to obtain a doctorate degree in my family, I know how tough it has been to navigate the medical field without access to pipeline programs as a teen, or without mentorship available to me as a medical student. Thus, I am sensitized to the plight of URM physicians in training, and I hope that my experiences can be of use to the mission of this council.

 

Stanley Fisher, MD

Professor
Department of Pediatrics
Faculty Mentor for Research