Six divisions split 16 promotions for DOM faculty members in 2025

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Sixteen faculty from the Department of Medicine have earned advancement in the latest round of promotion and tenure announcements from the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson.

Their distribution covers six DOM divisions, including the Division of Infectious Diseases with four promotions, the Division of General Internal Medicine, Geriatrics & Palliative Medicine and Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine with three promotions each, and two promotions each for the Division of Cardiology, Division of Hematology & Oncology, and Division of Nephrology.

“I would like to take this moment to acknowledge this year’s faculty on their academic promotion. Advancement in academic rank requires perseverance, hard work, and dedication to the academic and clinical mission. As such, these faculty should be congratulated for their milestone achievements,” said DOM Chair James K. Liao, MD, the Robert S. and Irene Flinn Endowed Professor in Medicine at the College of Medicine – Tucson.

Those promoted include:

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  Tushar Acharya, MD, MPH, will be an associate professor in the Division of Cardiology. 

  Dr. Acharya also is serving a second term on the American Heart Association’s Diabetes Committee of the Council on Lifestyle & Cardiometabolic Health. He earned his medical degree from India’s Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences and his master’s in public health from Harvard University. His residency training was at UCSF’s Internal Medicine Residency Program in Fresno, California, where he also was chief resident. He completed his cardiovascular disease fellowship there as well, before doing a cardiovascular imaging fellowship at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. He holds a dual appointment in the Department of Medical Imaging.

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  Venkatesh K. Ariyamuthu, MD, will be a professor (Clinical Scholar Track) in the Division of Nephrology. 

  Dr. Ariyamuthu also is medical director of the Kidney & Pancreas Transplant Program at Banner – University Medicine Tucson. Dr. Ariyamuthu earned his medical degree and completed his residency training at Madras Medical College and in Chennai, India. His fellowship training was at the University of Missouri, Columbia. He joined the U of A faculty in 2020, having served on faculty at UTSW, Loyola and Northwestern prior to that.

• Danielle Avila, MD, will be an associate clinical professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases. 

  

  Dr. Avila is principal investigator of the division’s HIV Clinical Care and HIV Programs (including the Petersen HIV Clinics) as well as the Arizona chapter of the Pacific AIDS Education & Training Centers. She earned her medical degree from the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara, Mexico, and holds a master’s degree in biomedical sciences from Colorado State University, where she also earned her bachelor’s degree in biology. Dr. Avila completed her residency training at Billings Clinic in Billings, Montana, and her fellowship training at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
  
   

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  Joy Bulger Beck, MD, MS, will be an associate clinical professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine, Geriatrics & Palliative Medicine. 

  An internist, Dr. Bulger Beck also is director of the college’s Transition to Residency Bootcamp. She earned her medical degree from the College of Medicine – Tucson and completed her residency training at the Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. She served as an internal medicine physician at Providence Health & Services in Valencia, California, before joining the College of Medicine – Tucson faculty in 2019.

• Julia B. Jernberg, MD, MBA, will be a clinical professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine, Geriatrics & Palliative Medicine. 

  

  Dr. Jernberg is a geriatrician and also director of the department’s Ambulatory Medicine Clerkship, the college’s Health & Societies Thread, and the university’s Health & Climate Group. She earned her medical degree from the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago, completed her residency training at Case Western Reserve University/University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center and did fellowships in geriatric medicine at the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics in Madison, and integrative medicine at the College of Medicine – Tucson.
  
   

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  Ricklie Julian, MD, will be an associate professor (Clinical Scholar Track) in the Division of Hematology & Oncology. 

  She earned her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Florida, then did two years of basic science research at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. Her medical degree is from George Washington University. She completed her residency training at Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, New York, and her fellowship training at the New York School of Medicine, also in New York City.
   
   

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  Amy Klein, MD, will be an associate clinical professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine, Geriatrics & Palliative Medicine. 

  Dr. Klein also is program director of the Hospice & Palliative Medicine Fellowship as well as medical director of palliative medicine at Banner – University Medicine Tucson. She was a winner of the Torchbearer Award presented by the college’s Women in Medicine & Science Committee and participated in its SSWIMS Fellowship, to graduate in June with three other DOM faculty. Dr. Klein earned her medical degree from the University of Iowa Roy J. & Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine in Iowa City, did her residency training through the university in Des Moines, and completed her hospice and palliative medicine fellowship training at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland. Joining the U of A faculty in 2018, she also works with the Cancer Center’s Supportive Care Clinic.

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  Iyad S. Mansour, MBChB, will be an associate clinical professor in the Division of Nephrology. 

  Before moving to the U.S. in 2013, Dr. Mansour worked at the King Hussain Cancer Center in Amman, Jordan. He earned his medical degree from the Misr University for Science & Technology in Giza, Egypt, and did his residency and fellowship training at the College of Medicine – Tucson.
   

• Saif Mashaqi, MD, will be a professor (Clinical Scholar Track) in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine. 

  

  Dr. Mashaqi joined the U of A in 2019, coming from the University of North Dakota School of Medicine & Health Sciences and the Sanford Sleep Center in Jamestown, North Dakota, where he was medical director. He grew up in Amman, Jordan, earning his medical degree there at the University of Jordan School of Medicine. He completed his residency training and pulmonary disease fellowship at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. Then, he did two more fellowships (in Sleep Medicine and Critical Care Medicine) at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.
   

• Saman Nematollahi, MD, will be an associate professor clinical scholar in the Division of Infectious Diseases.  

  

  Dr. Nematollahi also is program director of the Infectious Diseases Fellowship, and an assistant director of the department’s Internal Medicine Clerkship. He earned his medical degree at the College of Medicine – Tucson as well as a master’s of education in health professions degree from Johns Hopkins University, where he also completed his fellowship training. His residency training was at New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City. A member of the Alpha Omega Alpha and Gold Humanism Honor Society, Dr. Nematollahi was previously chair of the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) Fellows Subcommittee and liaison to the executive committee of the IDSA Medical Education Community of Practice. He’s currently chair of the American Society of Transplantation ID Community of Practice Education Workgroup. In addition, he’s on the Infectious Disease Fellows Network Executive Committee and serves as research director for The Clinical Problem Solvers and CardioNerds podcasts.

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  Alexander Perry, MD, MPH, will be an associate clinical professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases. 

  Dr. Perry also serves as co-associate clinical director for the division and director of its Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy (OPAT) Program. He earned a master’s degree in biomedical engineering from ASU before earning his medical degree and master’s in public health from the University of Arizona in Tucson. He completed his residency training at the Oregon Health & Science University, where he also did his fellowship training.

• Swathy Puthalapattu, MBBS, will be an associate clinical professor in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine. 

  

  Dr. Puthalapattu is a critical care medicine specialist at the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System and works with fellows on rotation there. She earned her medical degree from Sri Venkatesvara Medical College NTR in India and did her residency training at the University of Connecticut in Farmington, Connecticut. She did her fellowship training at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. She is board-certified in internal medicine, pulmonary disease and critical care medicine.
  
   

• Alejandro Recio Boiles, MD, will be an associate professor (Clinical Scholar Track) in the Division of Hematology & Oncology. 

  

  An oncologist, Dr. Recio Boiles also is associate program director of the division’s Hematology and Medical Oncology Fellowship, assistant director of the Community Outreach and Engagement Program at the U of A Cancer Center and medical director of the Arizona Clinical Trials Network. He earned his medical degree from the Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, which is northwest of Mexico City. He did his residency training at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, New York. He joined the U of A faculty after completing his fellowship training here in 2019. As a member of the U of A Cancer Center’s Prostate Innovative Working Group, Genitourinary Cancer Clinical Research Team, and Phase 1 Clinical Research Team, he also has served an integral role in the Cancer Center’s community outreach through its ROSA Café and Let’s Taco ’Bout Cancer events.

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  Brentin L. Roller, DO, MPH, will be an associate clinical professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases. 

  A staff physician at the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System where he was Clinician of the Year in 2022 and Investigator of the Year in 2021, Dr. Roller earned his bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from UC Davis and his medical degree from Touro University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine in Vallejo, California, where he also earned a master’s in public health degree. He did his residency training and his fellowship training at the College of Medicine – Tucson. He has been the SAVAHCS site director for the DOM’s Internal Medicine Residency Program since 2019.
   

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  Amitoj Singh, MD, MPH, will be an associate professor (Clinical Scholar Track) in the Division of Cardiology and Department of Medical Imaging. 

  Dr. Singh earned his medical degree from the Government Medical College Patiala in Punjab, India. He did his residency training at Saint Peter’s University Hospital/Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, New Jersey, where he also earned a master’s in public health degree through Rutgers and the Clinical Research Organization Management Program at Drexel University. He did his cardiovascular disease fellowship training at St. Luke’s University Hospital in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and his advanced medical imaging fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School in Boston. He served three terms on the American Heart Association’s Cardiovascular Disease in the Young Committee and is currently a member of the Council on Clinical Cardiology and Council on Cardiovascular Radiology & Intervention.

And, last but not least:

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  Daniel Combs, MD, will be an associate professor (Clinical Scholar Track) with tenure in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine. 

  With his primary appointment in the Pulmonary Division of the Department of Pediatrics, Dr. Combs also is a researcher with the Center for Sleep, Circadian & Neuroscience Research at the U of A Health Sciences. He earned his medical degree from the College of Medicine – Tucson and did his residency and fellowship training here as well. He focuses his studies on the cognitive and quality of life effects of sleep disorders in children with special health care needs.

To find out more about advancing your career in the Department of Medicine, please reach out to Joseph Alpert, MD, DOM vice chair for appointments and promotion, and Terri Buchanan, DOM faculty appointments coordinator.

Congratulations, one and all!