Medical Advisory Board

Gordon Cohen, MD, PhD, MBA served until 2016 as professor and vice chair of surgery, as the Julien I.E. Hoffman Endowed Chair of Cardiac Surgery and as chief of pediatric cardiothoracic surgery at the medical school of the University of California, San Francisco. In addition, Dr. Cohen served as chief of strategic program development for the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital. Prior to his tenure there, Dr. Cohen was chief of cardiothoracic surgery and surgical director of the cardiac transplant program at Seattle Children’s Hospital. He was also co-director of the hospital’s heart center. He’s been a professor in the Department of Surgery and associate division chief of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Washington. Dr. Cohen also served as a cardiothoracic surgeon consultant at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London and a senior lecturer at the University College London.

Dr. Cohen’s clinical interests include complex neonatal repairs, pediatric heart surgeries, heart-lung and lung transplantation, mechanical cardiac assist and heart failure. Dr. Cohen received his MD from Tulane University School of Medicine and earned a PhD in pharmacology from UCLA in 1996. His PhD advisor, Dr. Louis Ignarro, received the Nobel Prize in 1998. Dr. Cohen received his MBA from the University of Tennessee School of Business. He completed residencies in cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Washington Medical School and in general surgery at the UCLA Medical Center. Dr. Cohen is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, a member of the elite American Surgical Association, and numerous other professional societies. Highly respected by his peers, Dr. Cohen was named to the list of the US News & World Report “Top Doctors,” which denotes the top one percent of physicians in the nation practicing in any given specialty.

Jonathan Aviv, MD, FACS is the clinical director of the Voice and Swallowing Center™‚ a division of ENT and Allergy Associates, LLP and author of the wellness book Killing Me Softly From Inside. He’s held multiple posts at Columbia University‚ including professor of otolaryngology/head and neck surgery and director of both the laryngology division and the Voice and Swallowing Center. He’s the inventor and developer of a key endoscopic testing technology and a pioneer in the use of an unsedated, upper endoscopy procedure. Dr. Aviv received his MD from Columbia University, and completed an internship in general surgery and a residency in otolaryngology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, as well as a fellowship in microvascular head and neck reconstruction.

Dr. Aviv was chair of the speech‚ voice and swallowing disorders committee of the American Academy of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery‚ a technical advisor to the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research and former president of both the American Broncho-Esophagological Association and the New York Laryngological Society.

Frederick M. Azar, MD is an orthopedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine in Memphis. He is chief of staff at the Campbell Clinic, as well as a professor and director of the sports medicine fellowship program in the University of Tennessee-Campbell Clinic Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Biomedical Engineering. He served as director of that department’s residency program for 10 years. Dr. Azar is team physician for the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies and was selected as the 2012 team physician of the year by athletic trainers from all 30 NBA teams. He also serves as a team physician for the University of Memphis, Christian Brothers University and Christian Brothers High School.

Dr. Azar received his MD from Tulane University and served a residency in orthopedic surgery at the University of Tennessee followed by fellowship in sports medicine at the American Sports Medicine Institute in Birmingham, Alabama. He was also an American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine traveling fellow.

Dr. Azar is active in other national and international groups and professional societies. He has written and edited numerous peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and other publications. Dr. Azar serves on the Board of Directors of ALSAC/St. Jude Children’s Hospital.

Regina M. Benjamin, MD, MBA served as the 18th Surgeon General of the United States. As America’s doctor, she provided the public with the best scientific information available on how to improve their health and the health of the nation. She also oversaw the operational command of 6,500 uniformed public health officers around the world who promote and protect the health of the American people. She likewise served as chair of the National Prevention Council.

From her early days as the founder of a rural health clinic in Alabama, which she kept in operation despite the destruction of Hurricanes Georges and Katrina, to her leadership in the worldwide advancement of preventive healthcare, Dr. Benjamin has forged a career that has been recognized around the world.

Dr. Benjamin holds a BS in chemistry from Xavier University, an MD from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and an MBA from Tulane University. She completed her family medicine residency in Macon, GA. Dr. Benjamin is the recipient of 22 honorary degrees.

She is the former associate dean for rural health at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine and past chair of the Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States. In 1995, she became the first physician under age 40 and the first African American woman elected to the American Medical Association Board of Trustees. She served as president of the American Medical Association Education and Research Foundation and chair of the AMA Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs. In 2002, she became the first African American female president of a state medical society in the United States when she assumed leadership of the Medical Association of the State of Alabama. Dr. Benjamin is a member of the Institute of Medicine and a fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians. She was chosen as a Kellogg National Fellow and a Rockefeller Next Generation Leader. Past board memberships include the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, Catholic Health Association and the Morehouse School of Medicine.

TIME magazine named Dr. Benjamin one of the “Nation’s 50 Future Leaders Age 40 and Under” and she was featured in the 1995 New York Times article, “Angel in a White Coat.” She was on the December 1999 cover of Clarity magazine, featured in the 2002 People magazine article, “Always on Call,” and featured on the January 2003 cover of Reader’s Digest as one of the national publication’s “Everyday Heroes.” ABC’s World News Tonight with Peter Jennings named Dr. Benjamin “Person of the Week” and CBS This Morning named her “Woman of the Year.”

In 1998, Dr. Benjamin was the U.S. recipient of the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights. She received the 2000 National Caring Award (inspired by Mother Teresa) and was recognized with the Papal Honor Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice from Pope Benedict XVI. In 2008, she was honored with a MacArthur Genius Award fellowship. In 2011, Dr. Benjamin became the recipient of the Chairman’s Award during the international broadcast of the 42nd NAACP Image Awards. In May 2013, Reader’s Digest ranked her No. 22 out of the “100 Most Trusted People in America.”

Gayatri Devi, MD is a clinical associate professor at the New York University School of Medicine and an attending physician at Lenox Hill Hospital. She’s board-certified in neurology, with additional certifications in pain medicine, psychiatry and behavioral neurology. She is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American Academy of Neurology.

Dr. Devi has specialized in the early diagnosis and treatment of memory disorders related to aging and menopause for more than 20 years.

Dr. Devi completed her training at SUNY Downstate, serving as chief neurology resident. She followed that with a behavioral neurology fellowship at Columbia University, then a position as assistant professor at SUNY Stony Brook and director of the Long Island Alzheimer’s Disease Center. She established New York Memory and Healthy Aging Services in 1999 and has more than 50 publications in peer-reviewed journals on the topic of memory loss. Dr. Devi has presented at numerous conferences and serves as a consultant to the New York State Committee for Physician’s Health and to the NFL. She is the author of the books Estrogen, Memory and Menopause, What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Alzheimer’s Disease and A Calm Brain.

Brian Hainline, MD , serves as chief medical officer of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). There, Dr. Hainline oversees the NCAA Sport Science Institute, a national center of excellence whose mission is to promote and develop safety, excellence and wellness in college student-athletes, and to foster life-long physical and mental development. The NCAA Sport Science Institute works with member institutions throughout the United States. He’s been involved in sports medicine for more than 30 years, including serving as chief medical officer of the U.S. Open Tennis Championships and the United States Tennis Association.

Dr. Hainline is co-author of Drugs and the Athlete, and played a pivotal role in the rollout of athlete drug testing and education worldwide. He is currently vice chair of the American Academy of Neurology’s sports neurology section and clinical professor of neurology at both New York University and Indiana University. He received his medical degree from the University of Chicago.

Kimberly G. Harmon, MD is board-certified in family practice with a certificate of added qualification in sports medicine. She’s the director of the University of Washington Primary Care Sports Medicine fellowship and a professor in family medicine, orthopedics and sports medicine. Dr. Harmon is section chief at the UW Sports Medicine Center at Husky Stadium and the head physician for Husky football. She is a past president of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine and currently serves on their foundation board.

Dr. Harmon is also on the medical advisory board for the NBA Players Association and the Nick of Time Foundation. She is an associate editor for the British Journal of Sports Medicine, and serves as a consultant to the NCAA and the U.S. Department of Defense. Her research interests include sudden cardiac death in athletes, the use of biologics such as platelet rich plasma in musculoskeletal medicine, concussions and sickle cell trait in athletes. Dr. Harmon earned her medical degree from Indiana University.

Byron D. Joyner, MD, MPA is a professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He completed his urology residency at Massachusetts General Hospital after graduating from Harvard Medical School. He served a research fellowship at Children’s Hospital Boston and two years of training at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto in pediatric urology.

He served in the U.S. Army as chief of pediatric urology at Madigan Army Medical Center for four years. Dr. Joyner is director of the urology residency program and recently was appointed associate dean of graduate medical education at the University of Washington. He trained in the Seattle Children’s teaching scholars program and received the University of Washington’s Julian S. Ansell Teaching Award for his approach to teaching residents about interpersonal and communication skills and professionalism. This past year he completed his MPA at the University of Washington. He is recognized internationally for his innovative contributions to medical education, professionalism and ethics.

Mary E. Klotman, MD is dean and vice chancellor for health affairs of the Duke University School of Medicine, as well as the R.J. Reynolds Professor. Dr. Klotman earned her undergraduate and medical degrees, followed by an internal medicine residency and a fellowship in infectious diseases, at Duke. She subsequently moved to the National Institutes of Health, where she was a member of the Public Health Service and worked in the tumor cell laboratory.

Dr. Klotman then joined the faculty at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, where she was a professor of medicine and microbiology and held the Irene and Dr. Arthur M. Fishberg Chair in Infectious Diseases. There, she oversaw a research program in HIV. She also served as chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases for 13 years and was co-director of Mount Sinai’s Global Health and Emerging Pathogens Institute. She returned to Duke in March 2010 to become chair of the Department of Medicine and became the dean in 2017.

Dr. Klotman has focused on process improvement and faculty development at Duke, as well as moving from a fee-for-service practice to a multidisciplinary one focused on population health. Dr. Klotman currently serves as an associate editor of JCI and Annual Reviews of Medicine. She was elected as a member of Institute of Medicine in October 2014.

Paul E. Klotman, MD has served as president, CEO and executive dean of the Baylor College of Medicine since 2010. He received his BS from the University of Michigan and his MD from Indiana University. He completed his medical training at Duke University Medical Center, where he became associate professor before moving to the NIH in 1988. There, he became chief of the molecular medicine section.

In 1993, he became chief of the Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory in the NIDR/NIH. In 1994, he moved to Mount Sinai School of Medicine as the Irene and Dr. Arthur M. Fishberg Professor of Medicine and the chief of nephrology. In 2001, he was selected as chair of the Samuel Bronfman Department of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He became the school’s president in 2010.

Dr. Klotman’s research has blended basic and clinical research in molecular virology and AIDS. He is the author of more than 200 publications and served as a visiting professor and lecturer internationally on HIV. Dr. Klotman has been elected to both the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians and sits on the editorial boards of journals in the United States and in Europe. He has chaired numerous study sections, including those with the NIH, the American Heart Association, the National Kidney Foundation and the VA research service.

Dr. Klotman likewise serves on the scientific advisory boards of several biotech, pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, and on the boards of several companies with interests in natural resources and conservation.

Clifford Y. Ko, MD, MS, MSHA, FACS is the director of research and patient care at the American College of Surgeons. He oversees the organization’s quality improvement programs, including the bariatric surgery and cancer accreditation programs, the trauma and pediatric surgery verification programs, and the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program.

Dr. Ko’s work focuses on quality measurement, process improvement and reliability in surgical care. He has advised national and international efforts in surgical quality, including the World Health Organization, the Institute of Medicine and the National Quality Forum. Dr. Ko has received grant funding to study quality of care from multiple national agencies, published hundreds of peer-reviewed manuscripts and has written more than 20 book chapters. He frequently speaks nationally and internationally, and was recognized by Becker’s Hospital Review as one of the top 50 experts in patient safety.

Current national initiatives for Dr. Ko include overseeing the writing of the ACS Quality Manual and development of a geriatric surgery quality program. Clinically, Dr. Ko’s practice focuses on colorectal cancer. At UCLA, he is the Robert and Kelly Day Professor of Surgery, and has won the faculty teaching award three times. He’s also professor of health services at the UCLA School of Public Health.

Dr. Ko received his bachelor’s in biology, a masters in biological and medical ethics and an MD from the University of Chicago. He also earned a master’s in health services from UCLA. Dr. Ko completed his surgery residency at UCLA Medical Center and took specialty training at the Lahey Clinic in Boston in colon and rectal surgery.

Robert C.J. Krasner, MD served as attending physician to the U.S. Congress along with the U.S. Supreme Court for 10 years. He also performed contingency planning for medical emergencies at the U.S. Capitol, joint sessions of Congress and all presidential inaugurations. Dr. Krasner was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for his work.

Dr. Krasner also served in Ethiopia caring for Emperor Haile Selassie, at a submarine base in Sardinia, under three ambassadors at the American Embassy in London, as a tropical disease field and bench researcher in Panama and Indonesia, and as a clinician, teacher, department head and medical director at hospitals in California and Maryland.

Currently, Dr. Krasner works as a clinical professor at New York University School of Medicine and as an adjunct professor at Cornell University Medical Center. He’s past president of the New York Occupational and Environmental Medicine Association and of the Physicians Scientific Society. From 2001 to 2003, Dr. Krasner served on a presidential task to improve care for veterans.

Jennifer H. Mieres, MD, is one of the leading experts and patient advocates in the fields of cardiovascular disease in women. As senior vice president of Northwell Health’s Center for Equity of Care, she oversees the division of Diversity, Inclusion & Health Equity and the Katz Institute for Women’s Health. There, Dr. Mieres is responsible for the strategies, programs and initiatives focused on the elimination of health and gender disparities. She is a professor of cardiology, occupational medicine, prevention and epidemiology and the associate dean of faculty affairs at the Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine.

Dr. Mieres is a leading advocate for patient-centered healthcare and medical education reform. Following her Emmy-nominated documentary A Woman’s Heart, she became executive producer of a two-part documentary series Rx: The Quiet Revolution and Doctors of Tomorrow. The films have been featured on PBS and in educational institutions.

Dr. Mieres is a national spokesperson for the American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women campaign and has served there as chair of several national committees and on the board of directors. She’s also served as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for WomenHeart, a national coalition for women living with heart disease. She received her medical degree from Boston University.

Darin A. Portnoy, MD, MPH is an associate professor at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine and a professor with the family medicine residency program at Montefiore Medical Center in New York. He has a career-long commitment to medical humanitarian aid. He’s served as vice president of the International Board of Doctors without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, MSF) and is the past president of Doctors without Borders USA.

Dr. Portnoy joined MSF in 1997 as a field doctor and field coordinator for tuberculosis programs in Uzbekistan. He’s run cholera programs in El Salvador and coordinated emergency health care for Chechen refugees. His humanitarian work has taken him throughout Africa, including in South Sudan, Darfur, Nigeria, Liberia and Ethiopia.

He serves on the board of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative and is on a committee for Human Rights Watch. His earlier career took him to clinics and hospitals in rural Colorado and Navajo Indian reservations.

Dr. Portnoy received his MD and MPH from Tulane University. He completed his residency in family medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern School of Medicine.

Robert C. Robbins, MD is the president of the University of Arizona and an internationally recognized cardiac surgeon with expertise in congestive heart failure. His research work includes stem cells, aspects of cardiac transplants, bioengineered blood vessels and vascular devices.

Dr. Robbins is a prolific writer and has served as guest editor of the Circulation Surgical Supplement and published more than 292 peer-reviewed articles during his career. He was professor and chairman of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Stanford University, director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, president of the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation, president of the Bay Area Society of Thoracic Surgeons and chair of the American Heart Association Cardiovascular Surgery and Anesthesia Council. He sits on the boards of numerous non-profits.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Millsaps College in 1979 and a medical degree from the University of Mississippi in 1983. He completed his general surgical training at the University of Mississippi in 1989 and his cardiothoracic training at Stanford in 1992. Dr. Robbins completed post-doctoral research at Columbia University and the National Institutes of Health, and fellowships at Emory University and Royal Children’s Hospital.

Edward (Ted) H. Shortliffe, MD, Ph.D., MACP, FACMI is a professor and senior advisor to the College of Health Solutions at Arizona State. He is also a scholar-in-residence at the New York Academy of Medicine and holds positions as adjunct professor of biomedical informatics at Columbia University and as adjunct professor of public health at Weill Cornell Medical College. He received a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics from Harvard and both a PhD in Medical Information Sciences and a MD from Stanford University.

After training in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Shortliffe joined Stanford University as chief of general internal medicine and associate chair of primary care. He moved to Columbia University in 2000 when he was appointed chair of biomedical informatics as well as professor of medicine and computer science and was subsequently appointed the Rolf A. Scholdager Professor of Biomedical Informatics. He later served as founding dean of the University of Arizona College of Medicine and as president of the American Medical Informatics Association.

Dr. Shortliffe currently holds faculty positions at Columbia University, Weill Cornell Medical College and Arizona State University, and is scholar-in-residence at the New York Academy of Medicine. He has been elected to fellowship in the American College of Medical Informatics and the American Association for Artificial Intelligence and is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Biomedical Informatics. Dr. Shortliffe has received numerous national awards and recognitions and written more than 300 articles and books in the fields of biomedical computing and artificial intelligence, including a major textbook.

Ida Sim, MD, PhD is a primary care physician, informatics researcher and entrepreneur. She’s professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, where she co-directs biomedical informatics at UCSF’s Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute. Her current research focuses on the use of mobile apps and sensors to improve health and manage disease for populations and individuals and to make clinical research faster and less expensive. She’s also a co-founder of Open mHealth, a non-profit organization breaking down barriers to mobile health app and data integration through open software architecture. Dr. Sim is also a co-investigator with the Mobile Data to Knowledge NIH Center of Excellence. Dr. Sim received her MD and PhD from Stanford University.

Dr. Sim was the founding project coordinator of the World Health Organization’s International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, where she led the establishment of the first global policy on clinical trial registration and defined the common 20-item trial registration data set all registers worldwide now adhere to. She served on the Institute of Medicine’s committee on responsible clinical data sharing and is now the technical lead of the MRCT Framework for Data Sharing initiative to build a single global portal for sharing clinical trial data.

Dr. Sim has served on multiple advisory committees on health information infrastructure for clinical care and research, including committees of the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. She’s a recipient of the United States Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), a fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics and a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation.

Tadataka (Tachi) Yamada, MD is a venture partner at Frazier Healthcare Partners. He was previously executive vice president, chief medical and scientific officer and a board member of Takeda Pharmaceuticals. He joined Takeda after serving as president of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Global Health Program, where he managed $9 billion in programs aimed at solving world health challenges. Previously, he served as chairman of research and development and as a board member of GlaxoSmithKline. He’s also served as chair of internal medicine and as physician-in-chief at the University of Michigan Medical Center.

Dr. Yamada holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Stanford University and an MD from New York University School of Medicine. In recognition of his contributions to medicine and science, he was elected to U.S. National Academy of Medicine, the Academy of Medical Sciences (UK) and the National Academy of Medicine (Mexico) and he has received an honorary appointment as Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. He is a past president of the Association of American Physicians and of the American Gastroenterological Association and he has served as a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. He’s currently a member of the National Academy of Medicine and serves on the board of the Clinton Health Access Initiative.