Twenty new faculty start at DOM in summer months of 2025

Twenty new faculty have started (or will start) in the Department of Medicine this summer.

Among them nine are hospitalists in the Division of Inpatient Medicine. Three will start in the Division of Cardiology. Two each will start in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism; Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine, or PACCS; and the Division of Rheumatology. And one each will start in the Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, or GI, and the Division of Nephrology.

New faculty for June, July and August with their current start dates, titles and divisions include:

June 9, 2025

Malay Chaklader, PhD, MBA, Instructor/Research Scholar, Division of Cardiology | Dr. Chaklader comes to us from Dallas’ University of Texas Southwestern, where he was a research instructor, assistant instructor and postdoctoral research fellow working with now DOM Cardiology chief Hesham Sadek, MD, PhD, since 2020. He earned a bachelor’s (2005) and master’s degree (2007) in biotechnology from the University of Burdwan in West Bengal, India. His doctorate, also in biotechnology (2014), is from India’s University of Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine. He also holds a master’s in business administration degree (2025) from Rushford Business School in Lucerne, Switzerland. Dr. Chaklader served in India and the U.S. as a postdoctoral researcher, research scholar and flow cytometry consultant between 2014 and 2019, with the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine, University of South Dakota, Sioux Falls; Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven, Belgium; and Ohio’s Cleveland Clinic Department of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Sciences, before joining UTSW in December 2020. Research publications.

June 13, 2025

Lizaveta Yerashevich, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor, Inpatient Medicine | Dr. Yerashevich earned her medical degree (2018) from the Belarusian State Medical University in Minsk, Belarus. She did an anesthesiology internship (2018-19) at the E.V. Kumova Third City Clinical Hospital in Minsk, then moved to the U.S. where she completed her IM residency training (2022-25) at Ascension Saint Agnes Hospital in Baltimore. She received a number of awards for research during medical school and did well in the American College of Physicians Doctor’s Dilemma and Medical Jeopardy competitions while at Ascension Saint Agnes.

July 1, 2025

Khurram Butt, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor, Division of Cardiology | Dr. Butt grew up and completed medical school (2013) in Lahore, Pakistan. He moved to the U.S. for his internal medicine residency training at AdventHealth (2016-19) in Orlando, Florida. During residency, he developed a keen interest in cardiovascular medicine and was involved in various scholarly activities related to the field. After completing residency, he moved to Tucson and worked as a hospitalist in the Department of Medicine’s Division of Inpatient Medicine before completing his Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship Program (2025) in the Division of Cardiology. Dr. Butt was part of the Division of Cardiology’s winning Arizona Chapter – American College of Cardiology Jeopardy team that was a runner up at nationals in April. He’s currently also a fellow in the division’s Advanced Cardiovascular Imaging Fellowship and expected to complete that in June 2026. Research publications.

Samuel G. Cook, DO, Assistant Clinical Professor, Division of Rheumatology | Dr. Cook recently graduated as a fellow in the Rheumatology Fellowship Program at the Division of Rheumatology and Arizona Arthritis Center in the University of Arizona College of Medicine Tucson’s Department of Medicine. He joined the college’s faculty (2022) as a hospitalist in the Division of Inpatient Medicine, after completing his IM residency training at Dayton, Ohio’s Wright State University (2019-22). He earned his medical degree (2019) at the Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine at Glendale, Arizona’s Midwestern University. He served previously as a medical scribe for Emergency Care Consultants in Minneapolis for two years after completing his bachelor’s degree in kinesiology (2013) at Arizona State University. Research publications.

Madison Hoffer, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor, Division of Inpatient Medicine | Dr. Hoffer earned her bachelor’s degree at Idaho State University (2017) and her medical doctorate from the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle (2022). She did her IM residency training at the U of A College of Medicine – Tucson (2022-25). In 2016, she participated as a student volunteer in the Idaho Condor Medical Humanitarian Team mission to Cuzco, Peru, to provide health care services to locals in Cuzco and surrounding villages. Research publications.

Andre Kweku Johnson, MD, PhD, MBA, Assistant Clinical Professor, Division of Inpatient Medicine | Dr. Johnson earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry (2008) from Atlanta’s Moorehouse College and his doctorates (2019) from Texas A&M University in Bryan, Texas, with his PhD research focused on neuroscience and neuroimmunology. He also holds a master of fine arts degree from the Vermont College of Fine Arts in Montpelier (2016). He completed his IM residency training (2019-22) at the University of California, Riverside’s Riverside Community Hospital. He recently graduated from the Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine Fellowship (2022-25) in the DOM’s Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine. Research publications.

Arunima Kaul, MBBS, Assistant Clinical Professor, Division of Inpatient Medicine | Dr. Kaul earned her medical degree (2019) from Bharati Vidyaapeeth University Medical College in Pune, Maharashtra, India, and completed her IM residency training (2022-25) at Montefiore Wakefield Hospital, an affiliate of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, in the Bronx, New York. In between, she served as a junior physician at the Sidhu Hospital in Doraha, Ludhiana, India. Research publications.

Eileen Montalvan, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor, Division of Endocrinology | Dr. Montalvan earned her medical degree (2015) from the Universidad de Panamá Facultad de Medicina in Panama City, Panama. She completed the first year of her internship at the Hospital Doctor Arnulfo Arias Madrid in Panama City and her second year at the Hospital Regional de Chepo in Chepo, Panama. Then, she worked as a general practitioner (2017-20) in Panama City, before completing her IM residency training (2020-23) at North Alabama Medical Center in Florence, Alabama. Her Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism Fellowship training (2023-25) was at the U of A College of Medicine – Tucson. She was chief fellow in her second year of the fellowship.

Aung Myint Myat, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor, Division of Inpatient Medicine | Dr. Myat’s medical education was at University of Medicine 1, Yangon, Myanmar, where she graduated and did her internship in 2019. Afterward, she served as a primary care physician at Yar Pyae Charity Clinic (2019-20) in Yangon and a medical officer at Xiang Hao Hospital (2021-22) in New Taipei City, Taiwan. She did her IM residency training (2022-25) at St. Barnabas Hospital, in New York City. Research publications.

Asongu Josephine Ncho, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor, Division of Inpatient Medicine | Dr. Ncho earned her medical degree (2013) from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock. She completed her IM residency training at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. She then served as a hospitalist/nocturnist in Los Angeles, primarily at Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital (2017-25), where she served as associate medical director of the hospitalist program and later its quality director.

Sharanyah Srinivasan, MBBS, Assistant Clinical Professor, Division of Cardiology | Dr. Srinivasan earned her medical degree (MBBS) in 2016 from SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre in Potheri, Tamil Nadu, India. She served as a house officer at the Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital (2015-2016), in Chennai, India, and then was a research assistant at Apollo Hospital’s Diabetology Section (2016-17) also in Chennai, before moving to the U.S. to be a research trainee at Mayo Clinic Phoenix’s Cardiovascular Medicine Department (2018-19). She completed her IM residency training at the South Campus program (2019-22) and a Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship (2022-25) at the U of A College of Medicine – Tucson. Research publications.

Niharika Vennelaganti, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor, Endocrinology | Dr. Vennelaganti earned her medical degree (2017: MBBS) from Sri Ramachandra University in Chennai, India. Her IM residency training (2020-23) was the U of A College of Medicine – Tucson, during which she presented a number of metabolism-related posters, case studies and QI projects at conferences and won the Outstanding Resident in Endocrinology Award for 2021-22. She completed her endocrinology fellowship training (2023-25) at the University of California, San Diego. Research publications.

Kevin White, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor, PACCS division | Dr. White earned a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Arizona in 1996, then earned his medical doctorate from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland, in 2001. His IM residency training (2001-04) was at the U.S. Air Force’s Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, where he also completed his Allergy and Clinical Immunology Fellowship (2006-08). Since then, he’s worked as an allergist and clinical immunologist at Royal Air Force Lakenheath air station in Suffolk, England, and been core academic faculty in the Allergy and Clinical Immunology Fellowship at USAF’s San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium at Wilford Hall, with an academic appointment — now as an associate professor — at Bethesda’s Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, too. His most recent rank has been as a lieutenant colonel and his military service includes a 2005 deployment as an intensive care physician in Balad, Iraq, with the 332nd Air Force Theater Hospital, a Level 1 trauma center providing care to military personnel and civilians there.

August 1, 2025

Mohammad Bakeer, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor, Division of Inpatient Medicine | Dr. Bakeer earned his medical degree (2018) from the Hashemite University School of Medicine in Al Zarqa, Jordan. He did an internship (2018-19) at King Hussein Hospital in Al Salt, Jordan, and, during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-22), served as a per diem physician at the Life Care Center in Al Fuheis, Jordan, a COVID lockdown volunteer at Jordanian Medical Services in Al Salt, Jordan, a clinical investigator/physician at ACDIMA BioCenter in Amman, Jordan, as well as a cardiology extern at Sam Houston Heart & Vascular in Houston, Texas. He completed his IM residency training (2022-25) at Hurley Medical Center (affiliated with Michigan State University) in Flint, Michigan. Research publications.

Asma Mohammadi, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor, Division of Inpatient Medicine | Dr. Mohammadi earned her medical degree (2017) from M.N.R. Medical College in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. She served as a general practitioner (2017-19) at Hafsa Hospital in Hyderabad. Moving to the U.S. in 2020, she did a number of research assistantships, observerships and clinical externships, including at Miami’s Larkin Community Hospital, Claremont Medical Center in Claremont, California, Detroit’s Heart & Vascular Institute, UP Health System Hospital and Aspirus Hospital, both in Hancock, Michigan, and Chicago’s John H. Stroger, Jr., Hospital. She also was a research assistant at Omaha’s University of Nebraska Medical Center, a research coordinator at Los Angeles’ Insight Global, and a COVID-19 case manager at SoCal Edison in San Bernardino, California. Afterward, she did her IM residency training (2022-25) at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Research publications.

Marni Sarazen, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor, PACCS division | Dr. Sarazen earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and Spanish (2016) from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She got her medical degree (2019) from Milwaukee’s Medical College of Wisconsin. Afterward she completed her IM residency training (2019-22) and Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine Fellowship (2022-25) at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson, where she served as PCCM chief fellow in 2024-25.

August 18, 2025

Ibrahim Yaghnam, DO, Assistant Clinical Professor, GI division | Dr. Yaghnam holds an associate degree in nursing (2012) from the Community College of Philadelphia, a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry (2013) from Philadelphia’s Temple University, and a medical degree from Weill Dornell Medical College in New York City. She completed her IM residency training (2018-21) at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania, where she also trained as a clinical fellow (2021-24) in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and was an Advanced Endoscopy Fellow (2024-25). Research publications.

Justin Dunn, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor, Division of Rheumatology | Dr. Dunn earned a bachelor’s degree in sports medicine from Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, then completed his medical degree at Loma Linda University School of Medicine in California. His IM residency training (2019-22) was done at the University of Texas Health San Antonio, where he also served as chief resident (2022-23). Afterward, he completed his rheumatology fellowship at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. Research publications.

Taesoo Kim, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor, Division of Nephrology | Dr. Kim earned a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics (2015) from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. He completed his medical studies (2019) at Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, Nebraska. Research publications. His IM residency training (2019-22) was at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon, and his nephrology fellowship (2022-25) at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston. Research publications.

August 27, 2025

Letisha Bowman, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor, Division of Inpatient Medicine | Dr. Bowman received a diploma in clinical medicine and community health from the Mbale School of Clinical Medicine in Mbale, Uganda, in 2005, after which she served as a physician assistant at the CURE Children’s Hospital Center for Neurosurgery in Mbale. She earned her medical degree (2012: MBChB) from the Makerere University School of Medicine in Kampala, Uganda. She completed an internship at Kampala’s St. Francis Nsambya Hospital, after which served as a physician at Savana Sunrise Projects Clinic in Kampala, then moved to the U.S., where she was a volunteer physician at several medical facilities in Arkansas and Georgia. Her IM residency training (2022-25) was completed at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Amarillo.

Several more physicians may join the department this summer, depending on resolution of visa, titles or contract issues, as summer technically doesn’t end until Sept. 21 —which precedes the autumnal equinox by one day.