Our Star Faculty

At Renaissance School of Medicine, we are proud of numerous achievements of our faculty who were awarded many national and international awards.

• School of Medicine awards
• Stony Brook University Distinguished Professors
• External awards

Bettina Fries, MD, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, professor of Medicine, and Molecular Genetics and Microbiology in the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, has been named a 2022 fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Dr. Fries is a nationally recognized physician-scientist who specializes in mycology and also conducts research on antibodies in relation to vaccine development. Dr Fries’ work spans a wide range of disciplines, but her research chiefly investigates the pathogenesis of chronic fungal infections and the development of monoclonal antibodies against multidrug-resistant bacteria.

Congratulations to our new SUNY Distinguished Professor, Dr. Danny Bluestein, and new SUNY Distinguished Service Professors, Drs. Judith Ann Crowell and Lawrence Hurst!

Dr. Danny Bluestein's research interests include the elucidation of physical forces that regulate cellular function in flowing blood and the translation of this knowledge to numerical and experimental strategies aimed at optimizing the thromboresistance of mechanical circulatory support devices, multiscale modeling of thrombosis, and enhancing clinical diagnostics of cardiovascular diseases processes and progression for developing strategies to achieve better clinical outcomes of procedures and devices for patients who suffer from these diseases.

Judith Ann Crowell, MD, is a board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrist and professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University.

Lawrence Colwyn Hurst, MD, is board-certified in orthopaedic surgery with more than 30 years of practice experience and additional qualifications in surgery of the hand. His dedication to his patients and to the field of hand surgery is evident through his long list of teaching and research credentials, as well as his exceptional quality of care.

Dr. Danny Bluestein Department of Biomedical Engineering	Dr. Judith Ann Crowell Department of Psychiatry	Dr. Lawrence Hurst Departments of Orthopedics

John Fleagle, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Anatomical Sciences at Stony Brook University’s Renaissance School of Medicine, has won the Charles Darwin Lifetime Achievement Award. Granted by the American Association of Biological Anthropology (AABA), the award will be presented at the association’s annual conference held April 19-22 in Nevada. Known as the AABA’s most prestigious honor, this yearly award recognizes a senior member of the association who has exhibited a lifetime of contributions and commitment to biological anthropology.

Professor Fleagle’s presence in the field of biological anthropology spans half a century. Much of his work has centered around investigating primate evolution, primate locomotion, and broad patterns of evolution and adaptation across many taxa. From Argentina to India, his fieldwork has taken him across the world. In Ethiopia, Professor Fleagle directed a groundbreaking study that uncovered fresh insights into the African origin of homo sapiens.

Professor Fleagle is a MacArthur Fellow, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a member of three graduate programs at Stony Brook University – the Doctoral Program in Ecology and Evolution, the Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Anthropological Sciences, and the program in Anatomical Sciences.

Aesculapius Award for Excellence in Medical Education Dr. Eva Swoboda, Dept. Obstetrics and Gynecology	Early Career Research Excellence Award Dr. Dongyan Tan, Dept. Pharmacological Sciences	Early Career Research Excellence Award Dr. Pawan Kumar, Dept. Microbiology and Immunology	Senior Research Excellence Award Dr. Elliott Bennett-Guerrero, Dept. Anesthesiology	Senior Research Excellence Award Dr. Alan Turner, Dept. Anatomical Sciences
Excellence in Faculty Mentoring Award Dr. Elinor Schoenfeld, Dept.  Family, Population and Preventive Medicine	Excellence in Clinical Service Award Dr. Marina Charitou, Dept. Medicine	Excellence in Student Mentoring Award Dr. Kamal Buttar, Dept. Family, Population and Preventive Medicine	Excellence in Student Mentoring Award Dr. Uchechi Oddiri, Dept. Pediatrics

We are delighted to present the inaugural class of RSOM Graduates of the SUNY Clinical Leadership Academy aiming to to support the development of high-potential physicians to serve as physician leaders and support SUNY’s academic medical centers. The SUNY Clinical Leadership Academy officially launched on June 8, 2021 and concluded on January 25, 2022.

• Azin Abazari, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, Residency Program Director / Mentor: Dr. Robert Honkanen
• Thomas Corrado, Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology, Medical Director of Perioperative Services / Mentor Dr. Sergio Bergese
• Bettina Fries, Professor of Medicine and Division Chief Infectious Disease / Mentor Dr. Vincent Yang
• Sandeep Mallipattu, Professor of Medicine and Division Chief Nephrology / Mentor Dr. Vincent Yang
• Stephen Probst, Associate Professor of Anesthesiology, Division Chief of Neuroanesthesia/ENT Anesthesia / Mentor Dr. Kenneth Rosenfeld
• Sritha Rajupet, Director of Population Based Health Initiatives; Deputy Director Division of Graduate Medical Education / Mentor Dr. Dorothy Lane
• Massimiliano Spaliviero, Clinical Assistant Professor of Urology; Attending Surgeon / Mentor Dr. Wayne Waltzer

Many thanks also go to Dr. Laura Fochtmann, Dr. Margaret McGovern, Dr. Julie Agris and the faculty of the Program in Health Policy & Management for teaching and participating in the Academy.

Congratulations to Drs April Castillo (Family, Population and Preventive Medicine) and Amanda Levinson (Psychiatry) for their selection as the inaugural 2021 awardees for the Long Island Network for Clinical and Translational Science (LINCATS) Mentored Clinical and Translational Research Career Development Program.

Dr. Castillo's project is titled 'Assessing whether antenatal colostrum expression improves duration of breastfeeding and rates of breastfeeding exclusivity'.

Dr. Levinson's project is titled 'Developing an Ecologically Valid Toolkit for the Assessment of Postpartum Maternal Reward Responsiveness'.

Congratulations to our new Distinguished Professors, Drs Carol Carter and Vincent Yang! Dr. Carter from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology is recognized for her seminal work on how pathogens escape from infected cells by exploiting cellular machinery, and thus led to a new approach to antiviral HIV drug development. Dr. Yang is the Chair of the Department of Medicine, and his work focuses on identifying the causes and treatment of gastrointestinal malignancies. He studies Krüppel-like factors (KLFs), a group of proteins with important physiologic functions, including the ability to convert somatic cells to induced pleuripotenti stem cells with remarkable therapeutic potential.

Dr. Carol Carter Department of Microbiology and Immunology	Dr. Vincent Yang Departments of Medicine and Physiology and Biophysics

Congratulations to the 2022 SUNY Chancellor’s Awardees, recognized for their outstanding contributions to our school!

Dr. Todd Griffin Dept of Obstetrics and Gynecology Excellence in Faculty Service	Dr. Susan Larson Anatomical Sciences Excellence in Teaching	Dr. Kaveh Sadigh Department of Medicine Excellence in Teaching
Jessica Koos HSC Library Excellence in Librarianship	Mary J. Allen Office of the Dean RSOM Excellence in Professional Service

Congratulations to Dr. Clinton Rubin, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Dept. of Biomedical Engineering on 2022 Outstanding Mentor Award and to Dr. David Montrose from the Department of Pathology on SBU Faculty Trustees Award!

Dr. Clinton Rubin Department of Biomedical Engineering Outstanding Mentor Award	Dr. David Montrose Department of Pathology SBU Faculty Trustees Award

Aesculapius Award for Excellence in Medical Education Dr. Kaveh Sadigh, Dept. Medicine	Early Career Research Excellence Award Dr. Joshua Plotkin, Dept. Neurobiology and Behavior	Senior Research Excellence Award Dr. Congwu Du, Dept. Biomedical Engineering	Excellence in Clinical Service Award Dr. John Ferretti, Dept. Radiology	The Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award Presented by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation Dr. Rina Meyer, Dept. Pediatrics
Excellence in Faculty Mentoring Award Dr. Clinton Rubin, Dept. Biomedical Engineering	Excellence in Student Mentoring Award Dr. Kevin Zacharoff, Dept. Family, Population and Preventive Medicine	Excellence in Resident/Fellow Mentoring Award Dr. Smadar Kort, Dept. Medicine	Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring Award Dr. Miguel Garcia-Diaz, Dept. Pharmacological Sciences	Leadership Award Dr. Jennie Williams, Dept. Family, Population and Preventive Medicine