The Department of Internal Medicine room at the Gallery of Specialties.

Expert physicians, professors, department chairs and division chiefs from the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine came to the downtown campus Sept. 14 to speak to students about their specialties during the first ever Gallery of Specialties.

The round-robin style event, organized by the Department of Medical Education, was the first full-student event held in the downtown campus since it opened in 2019.  Students had the option to visit three of the specialties, sit in on their information sessions and participate in a question and answer session.

Haywood Brown, MD, USF Health Morsani College of Medicine professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and vice dean of Faculty Affairs, speaking with second-year medical student Janae Cornwall.

“This event represents everything we wanted to do with this building,” said Bryan Bognar, MD, MPH, FACP, vice dean and chair of the MCOM Department of Medical Education. “The ability to flex the space, create intimate settings for the doctors to speak to students, and have all the students be here at one time is truly beyond anyone’s wildest dreams.”

Across the four-year medical school journey, each student will narrow down what they plan to specialize in, and eventually apply for residencies in that specialty.   The event offered students an inside look at what it takes to be competitive in certain specialties, what it takes to be successful in their specialties, and with whom they will likely be working if they decide to pursue residencies at USF Health.

Summer Decker, PhD, Morsani College of Medicine professor and director of 3D Clinical Applications for the USF Health Department of Radiology speaking with two medical students interested in pursuing radiology as a specialty.

Some USF Health leaders, experts, and world-renowned doctors took time out of their schedules to pass on their knowledge and passion for their specialties, including Charles Lockwood, MD, MHCM, USF Health executive vice president, MCOM dean and international expert in obstetrics and gynecology..

“This is a great event.  They are getting to meet the experts, ask questions they wouldn’t normally get to ask, and truly get an in-depth understanding of how to navigate applying for residencies in the specialties,” Dr. Lockwood said.

One student described the event as “It was an opportunity to reaffirm or reconsider the specialty I want to pursue. I know what I want to do and this was an opportunity to address some misconceptions and ask more in-depth questions so I have a clearer picture of what it takes to be a successful doctor in this specialty.”

Patricia Emmanuel, MD, chair of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Department of Pediatrics explainsher specialty to students during the Gallery of Specialties event.

“It’s great that so many leaders, division chiefs and chairs showed up to this,” said Haywood Brown, MD,  USF Health Faculty and Academic Affairs senior associate vice president,  Morsani College of Medicine associate dean of diversity, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology professor.  “This is the true testament to how invested they are in helping our medical students succeed.  Additionally, it’s great to figuratively ‘take off the executive leader hat’ and just speak to students about our specialties.  Before I became an executive, I was, and still am, a passionate OBGYN.”

Full list of specialties and representatives from the event:

Anesthesiology: Jason Hall, Stephanie Lewis, Nan Schwann, Jeffrey Weiss, Peter Wu

Dermatology: Cynthia Bartus, Basil Cherpelis, James Grichnick, Joshua Levin

Diagnostic Radiology: Summer Decker, Krishna Nallamshetty

Emergency Medicine: David Burmeister, Mama Greenberg, Enola Okonkwo, Shawn Quinn, Andrew Thomas

Family Medicine: Eric Coris, Eduardo Gonzalez, Drew Keister, Elizabeth Lawrence, Oliver Oyama, Sassnk Peramsetty, Kira Zwygart

General Surgery: Swaroop Bommareddi, Lucian Lozonchi, Michael Pasquale, Daniel Relles, Adham Saad, Murray Shames, Jason Weinberger

Internal Medicine: Brian Costello, Aryanna Jordan, Vandin Lalldass, Jose Lezama, Michelle Ouelette, Asa Oxner, Harold Paul

Interventional Radiology: Cliff Davis, Glenn Hoots, Jamil Shaikh

Med Peds:  Erika Abel, Patricia Emmanuel

Neurosurgery:  Walter Jean

Neurology: Alfred Frontera, Clifton Gooch, Milind Kothari, Megan Leary

OB/GYN: Christina Black, Amy Brown, Haywood Brown, Charles Lockwood, Catherine Lynch, Bri Anne McKeon, Stephanie Lynch

Ophthalmology: Swetangi Bhaleeya, Mitchell Drucker, John Jarstad, Masayuki Kazahaya, Mamta Patel

Otolaryngology/ENT: Kestutis Boyev, Mathew Mifsud, Tapan Padhya, Arjun Parasher, Abhay Sharma

Pathology: Anne Champeaux, Nicole Riddle

Pediatrics: Stephen Ford, Nathan Hagstrom, Kristen Pendergast, Meridith Plant, Kris Rooney

Plastic Surgery: Michael Harrington, Robert Murphy, Randolph Wojcik

PM&R: Clifton Gooch, Kristopher Kaleibe, Marissa McCarthy, Jeffrey Radecki

Psychiatry: Glenn Catalano, Daniel Fallon, Zeeshad Javid, Edward Norris, Deborah Sanchez

Radiation-Oncology: Jessica Frakes, Dennis Sopka

Radiology: Devang Gor, Errin Hoffman

Urology: Rafael Carrion, Justin Parker, Trushar Patel

Vascular Surgery: Mila Ju, Desiree Picone

More photos from the event: 

Story and Photos by Freddie Coleman, USF Health Communications and Marketing