MedCat Alumni Selected for Leadership Positions
Three MedCat alumni have been recently selected to leadership positions within Student Affairs. Richard Amini, MD, has been named the associate dean for student affairs, Daniel C. Butler, MD, will join COM-T as an assistant dean of student affairs and will serve as the new house dean for the Tortolita House, and Elaine H. Situ-LaCasse, MD, has accepted the position of assistant dean for student affairs and will serve as the new house dean for the Catalina House.
Dr. Amini is a professor of emergency medicine and became the interim associate dean for student affairs earlier this year. In the past decade, he has served COM-T in several other roles, including as the director of evidence-based medicine, director of emergency ultrasound, and director of the Personalized Active Learning (PAL) program. Dr. Amini became an assistant dean of student affairs in 2015 and served in that capacity until he was named interim associate dean. Dr. Amini earned his medical degree at Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine in Chicago before completing his residency in emergency medicine (2008) and fellowship in emergency ultrasound (2013) at the College of Medicine - Tucson.
Dr. Butler is a "double Wildcat," having earned his bachelor's (2009) and medical degrees (2014) at the University of Arizona. Following Dr. Butler's internship in internal medicine at COM-T, he completed his residency in dermatology at Harvard Medical School and its affiliated hospitals. Dr. Butler is currently an assistant professor of dermatology and director of the Geriatric Dermatology and Aging Skin Clinic at the University of California at San Francisco. He has extensive experience advising, mentoring, and coaching medical students and trainees, and has won several awards for teaching. At UCSF School of Medicine, he serves as a curriculum coach, providing academic guidance to students and supporting their professional and personal development. In addition, he has completed more than 50 publications, won several grants and plans to further grow his research endeavors here.
Dr. Situ-LaCasse is a Wildcat through and through, having earned her medical degree (2013) and completed residency training (2016) in emergency medicine and a fellowship in emergency ultrasound at COM-T (2021). She has completed more than 30 research projects and won several local grants and a state grant for her ultrasound research, and has authored or co-authored more than 30 publications. Dr. Situ-LaCasse has won both teaching and clinical excellence awards at COM-T. She is currently a Scholar of the National Foundation of Emergency Medicine's Scholars and Mentors program and is passionate about student education and strategic planning for residency success.