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 program 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.
Program Director, Internal Medicine Residency
Associate Chair for Education, Department of Medicine
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science
Consultant, Division of Community Internal Medicine
See full profile
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.
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Razvan Chirila, M.D. Dr. Chirila is a core faculty member and has a special interest in medical education, systems-based practice, and health care administration, with emphasis on resource utilization and clinical documentation. He oversees the outpatient rotations in general internal medicine. |
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Lauren Cornell, M.D. Dr. Cornell is a core faculty member with a focus on breast medicine. Her career interests include individualized management of women at elevated risk for breast cancer, hereditary breast cancer syndromes, and breast cancer survivorship. She serves as the Director of Medical Grand Rounds and serves on the Community Engagement Committee at Mayo Clinic in Florida. |
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Jennifer Cowart, M.D., SFHM, FACP (she / her) Dr. Cowart is a core faculty member with a focus on quality and safety, healthcare advocacy, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Her career interests include quality improvement within hospital medicine, hypertension, and clinical pharmacology. She serves as the Patient Safety Officer at Mayo Clinic in Florida, is a member of the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) Public Policy Committee, and was elected the Southern Society of General Internal Medicine Membership Chair-Elect for 2022-2023. |
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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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Nancy Dawson, M.D. Dr. Dawson is an associate program director for faculty development and serves as chair of the Clinical Competency Committee for the residency. She is gold certified in the Mayo Clinic Quality Academy and has career interests in patient safety and quality, anticoagulation safety and management, and patient handovers. |
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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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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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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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Ebone Hill, M.D. Dr. Hill is a core faculty member and serves as the vice chair of our Clinical Competency Committee. She has a special interest in 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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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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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 Florida Community Engagement Committee. |
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Ivan Porter, II, M.D. Dr. Porter is an associate program director with a focus on learning environment and diversity, equity and inclusion. He is also the assistant dean for MCSGME enterprise for Diversity Equity and Inclusion. Career interests include community engagement, appointment access, health care disparities, and social media use in medical education. |
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Cara Prier, M.D. Dr. Prier is a core faculty member with a special interest in well-being. Her career interests include primary care, medical education, and improving well-being among healthcare professionals. She also serves as a Trained Peer Supporter for the HELP Program (Healing Emotional Lives of Peers). She is silver certified in the Mayo Clinic Quality Academy. |
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Michael Smerina, M.D. Dr. Smerina is a core faculty member with a special interest in health care administration, obesity, and ethics. He serves as a physician adviser and is a member of the hospital medicine division. |
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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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Christopher Trautman, M.D. Dr. Trautman is a core faculty member with a focus in 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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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. |
