Meet The Faculty
Mayo Clinic's campus in Jacksonville, Florida is a comprehensive medical facility providing advanced programs in education and research that support the highest quality patient care.
Our campus includes the Mayo Clinic Hospital, patient care buildings including the Davis, Mayo, Mangurian, and Cannaday buildings, the Birdsall and Griffin Research Buildings, the Stabile education building, and the Discovery and Innovation building.
From the program director
We are a highly selective, collegial residency that combines supportive mentorship and unique individualized training pathways, all within the vast support and incredible structure of the Mayo Clinic enterprise. Our program champions excellence in all endeavors.
We have a diverse, accomplished, committed, and team-oriented group of trainees. Excellent resident camaraderie, morale, and junior-senior teaching have been critical to our success. In our program, you will develop successful mentor-mentee relationships with world-renowned experts in their field. Our learning environment maximizes opportunities for personal achievement in a superb yet intimate academically focused environment.
Mayo Clinic's campus in Florida is truly a special training opportunity. Our facilities are state-of-the-art and teaching opportunities abound. We are committed to your professional growth and personal well-being. We believe there is joy in serving others, driving innovation, and developing leaders for the future of medicine.
Mary Ann Hedges, M.D.
Internal Medicine Residency Program Director
Associate Chair for Education, Department of Medicine
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science
Consultant, Division of Community Internal Medicine
Program faculty
One of the greatest advantages to training at Mayo Clinic is the approachability, accessibility, and collegiality of the faculty in our Department of Medicine.
In addition to caring for patients in clinical practice, Mayo Clinic's faculty is committed to teaching and facilitating the growth of medical knowledge. Many of our faculty members have published and lectured extensively and are highly regarded in their fields.
You work closely with these individuals throughout your training in the Internal Medicine Residency.
Associate program directors
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Razvan Chirila, M.D. Dr. Chirila is an associate program director and has a special interest in medical education, systems-based practice, and health care administration, with emphasis on resource utilization and clinical documentation. He serves as dedicated support for the preliminary medicine residents within our program and also oversees the outpatient rotations in general internal medicine. |
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J. Colt Cowdell, M.D., M.B.A. Dr. Cowdell is an associate program director with a focus on curriculum development, quality improvement, and hospital medicine. His career interests include quality improvement and healthcare administration. He is gold certified in the Mayo Clinic Quality Academy, is the quality director for advanced care at home (ACH), and serves on the Mayo Clinic enterprise quality review board. |
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Abdallah El Sabbagh, M.D. Dr. El Sabbagh is an associate program director with a focus on innovation. He is an interventional cardiologist with a career interest in percutaneous therapies in valvular and structural heart disease. |
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Ebone Hill, M.D. Dr. Hill is an associate program director and serves as the chair of our Clinical Competency Committee. She has a special interest in the clinical learning environment, diversity, equity and inclusion, recruitment and retention, milestones evaluations, and faculty development. |
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Brian Lacy, Ph.D., M.D., FACG Dr. Lacy is an associate program director with a focus on research and scholarly activities. His career interests include functional and motility disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. He is proud to have formerly served as Editor in Chief of the American Journal of Gastroenterology for six years and is honored to be on the board of directors of the Rome Foundation, a global organization that focuses on research and clinical care for patients with functional bowel disorders. Dr. Lacy has more than 215 PubMed peer-reviewed articles published to date. |
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Cara Prier, M.D. Dr. Prier is an associate program director with a special interest in well-being. Her career interests include primary care, medical education, and improving well-being among healthcare professionals. She is serving in an expanded role in CIM clinic leadership and the new collaborative Sulzbacher initiative with Mayo Clinic. She also serves as a Trained Peer Supporter for the HELP Program (Healing Emotional Lives of Peers). She is silver certified in Mayo Clinic's Quality Academy. |
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Michael Smerina, M.D. Dr. Smerina is an associate program director with a special interest in inpatient medicine, health care administration, obesity, and ethics. He serves as a physician adviser and is the clinical vice chair of the hospital internal medicine division. |
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Jose Valery, M.D. Dr. Valery is an associate program director and oversees the outpatient rotations for internal medicine residents. He is a primary care physician in Community Internal Medicine. Career interests include preventive health, research ethics, and medical education. |
Core faculty
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Muhamad Alhaj Moustafa, M.D., M.S. Dr. Muhamad Alhaj Moustafa is a core faculty member and is a hematologist oncologist at Mayo Clinic in Florida, specializing in lymphoma and histiocytic diseases. He is committed to education, clinical care excellence, patient experience, and research. Dr. Alhaj Moustafa enjoys mentoring future physicians and emphasizes wellbeing and work-life balance. Dr. Alhaj Moustafa is dedicated to creating an educational environment that nurtures the skills and aspirations of future healthcare leaders, ensuring they are well-prepared to meet the challenges of modern medicine. |
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Ronald Butendieck, Jr., M.D. Dr. Butendieck is a core faculty member with a focus on rheumatology didactics for the Internal Medicine Residency. Winner of the Top Teacher in Rheumatology award multiple times, Dr. Butendieck is a former graduate of the Mayo Clinic in Florida internal medicine residency and rheumatology fellowship and specializes in Behçet's disease. |
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Daniel Dudenkov, M.D. Dr. Dudenkov is a core faculty member and has a special interest in medical education, faculty development, and POTS. |
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S. Michael Gharacholou, M.D., MSc Dr. Gharacholou is a core faculty member with a focus on general cardiology didactics. His career interests include the management of coronary and peripheral artery disease. He is an interventional cardiologist and is vice chair of research for the Department of Cardiovascular Disease, faculty for the Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and scientific reviewer for the Mayo Clinic IRB. |
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Anna Gorelik, M.D. Dr. Gorelik is a primary care physician and board-certified geriatrician. She is a core faculty member with a special interest in geriatric medicine, curriculum development, and medical education. |
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Melissa Lyle, M.D. Dr. Lyle is a core faculty member with a focus on cardiovascular disease and advanced heart failure and transplantation. She has a special interest in amyloidosis and heart transplantation for patients with cardiac amyloidosis, and is the cardiology lead for the Multidisciplinary Amyloid Clinic. |
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Gautam Matcha, M.D. Dr. Matcha is a core faculty member with a focused interest in simulation-based education. He completed a fellowship in medical simulation in 2018. His professional interests include point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS), with a particular emphasis on expanding its application and scope within the hospital medicine setting. Additionally, he has a special interest in exploring the utility of virtual reality (VR) in inpatient clinical practice. |
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Edson Mwakyanjala, M.D. Dr. Mwakyanjala is a core faculty member with a focus on Resident as Teachers, morbidity and mortality, and community engagement within the Internal Medicine Residency. His interests include patient safety and patient education. He additionally serves as a member of the Mayo Clinic in Florida Community Engagement Committee. |
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Swetha Reddy, M.B.B.S., M.D., F.A.S.N. Dr. Reddy is a core faculty member with a special interest in medical education and diversity, equity and inclusion. Her clinical and research interests include sepsis management and critical care nephrology. She serves as the Chair of Sepsis Workgroup Committee and the Director of the Medical Intensive Care Unit Morbidity and Mortality Meetings. |
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Hollie Saunders, M.D. Dr. Saunders is a core faculty member with a focus on pulmonary vascular disease and right heart failure with a special interest in chronic thromboembolic disease and advances in pulmonary hypertension. |
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Kamal Shair, M.D., M.Eng. Dr. Shair is a core faculty member with a focus on innovation. His career interests include hospital medicine and medical education. He is gold certified in Mayo Clinic's Quality Academy with interests in high value care, patient safety and experience. |
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Taryn Smith, M.D. Dr. Smith is a core faculty member with a focus on community engagement and women's health. Her career interests include menopause, female sexual health, and complex contraception. She is a North American Menopause Society (NAMS) Certified Menopause Practitioner and serves as a board member of the Mission House. |
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Richard Taylor, M.D. Dr. Taylor is a core faculty member with a focus on palliative care for cancer patients. He has a particular interest in the multidisciplinary approach to palliative oncology and quality improvement with integration of palliative care in oncology practices. |
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Christopher Trautman, M.D. Dr. Trautman is a core faculty member with a focus on medical education, quality improvement, and digital innovation. His career interests include acute kidney injury, chronic kidney disease, and glomerulonephritis. He serves as the internal medicine residency board review director. |
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Ashley Zeman, M.D. Dr. Zeman is a core faculty member and has a special interest in obesity medicine, medical education, and complex chronic conditions. She also supports the Ehlers Danlos Clinic at Mayo Clinic in Florida. |
