2020-21 Strategic Hires

Syed Osman Ali, MD
Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery (Cardiothoracic Surgery and Transplantation)
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Before USF:  Loyola University, Chicago, IL; and Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH (advanced robotics and minimally invasive cardiac training)
Expertise: Minimally-invasive heart surgeries, including minimally invasive mitral valve repairs using robotics/mini-sternotomy and minimally invasive aortic valve replacement; multiarterial coronary artery bypass grafting and complex coronary revascularizations; lung transplantation and ECMO; video-assisted thoracic surgery (lung/mediastinal and chest wall surgery).

K. Dean Arnatoukis, MD, MBA
Assistant Professor and Vice Chair of Clinical Research, Department of Surgery
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Co-director, Aortic Disease Center, Tampa General Hospital
Before USF: University of Florida
Expertise: Treatment of complex aortic disease with fenestrated/branched endovascular (minimally invasive) surgery, aortic aneurysms and dissections, peripheral arterial disease, cerebrovascular occlusive disease, mesenteric ischemia.

Yaёl Bensoussan, MD, MSc
Assistant Professor of Laryngology and Director, USF Health Voice Center, Department of Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Before USF: University of Southern California (Fellowship in laryngology); University of Toronto (Residency in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery, and Master of Science in system leadership and innovation)
Expertise: Laryngology; diagnosis and advanced treatment of voice, airway and swallowing disorders; optimizing vocal performance and health; state-of-art medical and surgical therapies, including awake laser therapy (pulsed KTP laser therapy), In-office vocal fold injections and other laryngeal procedures.

Swaroop Bommareddi, MD
Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery (Cardiothoracic Surgery and Transplant)
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Before USF:  University of Wisconsin Hospitals, Madison, WI (Fellowship in thoracic transplant and mechanical circulatory support)
Expertise: End-stage heart and lung disease, heart and lung transplantation, mechanical circulatory support, cardiogenic shock, machine perfusion for heart transplantation, donation after circulatory death

Ashutosh Dharap, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular Medicine
USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Center
Before USF: HackensackMeridian Health, JFK Medical Center, Edison, NJ
Expertise: Regulation of gene expression and pathophysiology by noncoding RNAs in cerebral ischemia; ischemic stroke; epigenetics; miRNA; lncRNA; RNA-protein interactions; transcriptomics.

Oliver Flouty, MD
Assistant Professor, Department of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Before USF:  University of Iowa, University of Oxford, and University of Toronto (Fellowships in epilepsy and functional neurosurgery)
Expertise:  Surgical implantation of devices in the brain and spinal cord for adults with movement disorders, epilepsy and pain. Specialized techniques include: Stereotactic frame-based and robotic surgery to treat movement disorders and diagnose epilepsy; MRI-guided high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) to treat tremors; stereotactic and open treatment modalities for epilepsy; laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT) for epilepsy; vagus nerve stimulation for epilepsy; open, percutaneous, gamma knife, and electrical field stimulation to treat trigeminal neuralgia; and spinal cord and dorsal root ganglia stimulation to mitigate chronic pain.

Jose Herazo-Maya, MD
Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine (USF Health Heart Institute)
Associate Division Chief of USF Health Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Before USF:  Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT; NCH Healthcare System, Naples, FL
Expertise: Inflammatory and fibrotic disorders of lung tissue; gene profiles in blood as predictors of outcomes in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and COVID-19; precision medicine.

Christopher Nickel, MD
Assistant Professor, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Before USF: Emory University, Atlanta, GA (Fellowship in head and neck oncologic surgery and microvascular reconstruction)
Expertise: Head and neck cancer surgery, microvascular reconstruction, transoral robotic surgery, systems-based quality improvement.

Lindsey Ryan, MD
Assistant Professor, Department of Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery, Division of Rhinology and Skull Base Surgery
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Before USF:  Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University (Fellowship in rhinology and advanced skull base surgery)
Expertise:  Medical and surgical treatment of diseases of the nose and paranasal sinuses including chronic sinusitis, nasal polyps, allergic rhinitis, nasal obstruction, nasal and sinus tumors; treatment using endoscopic sinus surgery and endoscopic or open skull base surgery.

Alexander Staruschenko, PhD
Professor, Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology
Director, Hypertension and Kidney Research Center
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Before USF:  Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI
Expertise:  Water and electrolyte homeostasis in the kidney; role of renal ion channels in the control of kidney function and blood pressure; hypertension; chronic kidney disease; diabetic nephropathy.

Richard Tuli, MD, PhD
Professor and Division Chief of Radiation Oncology, Department of Radiology
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Director of Radiation Oncology and Deputy Director of the Cancer Institute
Tampa General Hospital
Before USF:  Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, NYC
Expertise: Comprehensive, personalized treatment of pancreatic, gastrointestinal and metastatic cancers; integrating new targeted molecular treatments, including PARP inhibitors and immune therapies, with advanced radiation technologies.

Kunal Vakharia, MD
Assistant Professor, Department of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Before USF:  Mayo Clinic (complex cranial and skull base fellowship)  
Expertise: Brain surgery; focus on complex cranial and cerebrovascular pathologies, including aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations and fistulas, carotid and cerebro-occlusive disease, acoustic neuromas, pituitary adenomas, meningiomas, and other skull base tumors.

Da-Zhi Wang, PhD
Professor of Medicine and Director, Center for Regenerative Medicine, USF Health Heart Institute
Endowed Chair in Cardiovascular Research
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Before USF: Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA
Expertise:  Molecular mechanisms and cardiovascular biology and medicine, non-coding RNAs, stem cells, reprograming and gene editing, heart regeneration, cardiovascular development, function and disease.

Zhigao Wang, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine (Cardiovascular Sciences), USF Health Heart Institute
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Before USF: UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX
Expertise: Molecular mechanisms of necrotic cell death pathways; development of compounds to help treat necroptosis-related inflammatory diseases, including cardiac disease/defects, infections, ischemia injury, neurodegeneration, and cancers.

Hariom Yadav, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair
Director, USF Center for Microbiome Research
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Before USF: Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC
Expertise: Role of microbiome and gut leakiness in age-related disorders by influencing gut-brain axis; development of microbial therapies, including probiotics, postbiotics, fermented foods, and modified diets to improve cognitive decline and age-related disorders; using cutting-edge concepts, technologies and models, and translating them to human use.

Yao Yao, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology, USF Health Heart Institute
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Before USF: University of Georgia College of Pharmacy, Athens, GA
Expertise: Blood-brain barrier, stroke, neurodegenerative disorders, laminin biology, extracellular matrix.

2020-21 Strategic Promotions

Haywood L. Brown, MD
Newly appointed USF Health Senior Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs, and Vice Dean of Faculty Affairs, USF Health Morsani College of Medicine

Associate Dean for Diversity, USF Health and Morsani College of Medicine
Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology (Maternal-Fetal Medicine)
Before USF:  Duke University Medical Center
Expertise:  Women’s health disparities and advocacy; reduction in maternal mortality racial disparity; redefining postpartum care and telemedicine in ob/gyn; diversity and inclusion in faculty, student and staff recruitment and retention; care of women at high risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes, particularly underrepresented and underserved populations.

Eric Coris, MD
Newly Appointed Chair of the USF Health Department of Family Medicine

Professor of Family Medicine
Professor of Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
Head Team Physician, USF Athletic Medicine
Co-director, USF-MPM Sports Medicine Fellowship
Assistant Team Physician, Tampa Bay Bucanneers
Before USF:  The Ohio State University College of Medicine
Expertise:  Primary care sports medicine; heat-related illness, sudden cardiac death, and concussion in athletes; innovation in musculoskeletal education, research and clinical care.

Clifton Gooch, MD
Newly appointed Co-Vice President of Clinical Trials and Translational Research, USF Health and Tampa General Hospital

Professor and Chair, Department of Neurology, USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Tampa General Hospital Endowed Chair in Neurology
Before USF: Columbia University, NYC
Expertise: Clinical/translational research and therapeutics in neuromuscular, neurodegenerative and neuroimmunological diseases; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS); electrophysiology; policy affecting academic neurology at the local, state and national levels.

Mark Moseley, MD, MHA, CPE
Newly appointed Associate Vice President, USF Health

Chief Clinical Officer, USF Health
Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs, USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Professor of Internal Medicine (Emergency Medicine)
Before USF:  The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and the OSU College of Medicine
Expertise:  Clinical leadership of university’s health science colleges; health administration; enhancement of multidisciplinary care; faculty recruitment and retention; business of medicine and medical economics; patient satisfaction; telehealth; emergency medicine; observation medicine.

Sarah Običan, MD
Newly appointed Director of Maternal-Fetal Medicine Division, Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology, USF Health Morsani College of Medicine

Associate Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology
Medical Director, MotherToBaby Florida
Before USF: Columbia University
Expertise: Fetal echocardiography and ultrasounds; teratology and reproductive toxicology, birth defect and exposure medicine; fetal therapy including fetal shunts, fetal blood transfusions and laser interventions for twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome.

Gopal Thinakaran, PhD
Newly appointed CEO, USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Center and Research Institute

Professor of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine
Eric Pfeiffer Endowed Chair in Alzheimer’s Research
Associate Dean for Neuroscience Research
Before USF: University of Chicago
Expertise: Alzheimer’s disease — cellular and molecular biology of the disease; molecular pathology; preclinical models; advanced microscopy; translating discoveries to promote therapeutic strategies.

David Wilson, MD
Newly appointed Director of Electrophysiology Laboratory, Tampa General Hospital

Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine (Cardiovascular Sciences)
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Expertise: Transvenous lead extraction, complex atrial fibrillation ablation, epicardial ablation, electrophysiology procedures without fluoroscopy, conduction system pacing, left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) device placement, percutaneous removal of cardiac masses, ventricular tachycardia (VT) ablation, complex pacemaker/ICD implants and management.