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September is the American Medical Association's (AMA) Women in Medicine month, created to recognize the growing number of women in the profession. To celebrate, department chairs offered (just a few!) suggestions of the outstanding women at UVA Health. They are also being highlighted on the Committee on Women in Medicine & Science Facebook page all month long.

Thank you to all of the women listed below — and to all women of UVA Health — for their dedication to medicine, compassion for our patients, and tireless pursuit of excellence.

Nassima Ait Daoud Tiouririne, MD | Associate Professor of Psychiatry & Neurobehavioral Sciences. Behavioral Medicine Center, Outpatient Psychiatry, Center for Leading-Edge Addiction Research.

Kristen Atkins, MD | Division Chief of Anatomic Pathology. Dr. Atkins is a nationally recognized expert in gynecologic and breast pathology and cytopathology, who is known for her expertise in effective communication. She teaches communication skills locally and has given several well-regarded workshops on this topic at national meetings.

Rita Basu, MD | On July 1, 2021, Dr. Basu was appointed as Chair of the UVA Institutional Review Board for Health Sciences Research (5-year term). She has had a long and productive career as an expert in the Ethics of Research and Human Subject Protection, having served on the Institutional Review Board (IRB) as the Associate Medical Director for three years and as Chair of the IRB for over a decade at Mayo Clinic.

Brittany Behar, MD | Assistant Professor in Plastic Surgery and has been given the responsibility of associate program director and diversity officer. These two leadership roles are critical to her department and she performs them in an exemplary fashion.

Donna Broshek, PhD, ABPP-CN | John Edward Fowler Professor of Psychology. Dr. Broshek directs the Neurocognitive Assessment Lab and co-directs the UVA Acute Concussion Evaluation Clinic.

Juliana Bueno, MD | Vice Chair of Education for the Department of Radiology & Medical Imaging, overseeing the operations of all educational programs for medical students, residents (two ACGME residencies, 41 residents), and fellowships (25 fellows), while also serving as the Program Director of its Diagnostic Radiology Residency (32 Residents). Dr. Bueno is also the Medical Director of the department’s Diversity and Inclusion program, which has 4 funded residents supported by an endowment that helps to drive initiatives related to diversity, equity, and inclusion for the department and trainee pipeline.

Leigh Cantrell, MD, MSPH | The first female chair (interim) of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UVA. She is a national expert in robotic surgery, serving as chair of the Robotic Surgeon’s Group at UVA Medical Center. She is a respected educator, clinician, and clinical investigator, and active nationally in women’s cancer societies and educational programs within Obstetrics and Gynecology. She has served as the OBGYN Residency Director for the past five years, leading the program through its most recent reaccreditation with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). In addition, the Institutional Graduate Medical Education Committee Annual Program Review has provided the program with exceptional feedback under Dr. Cantrell’s leadership.

D. Jeannean Carver, MD | Head of the Division of Pediatric Critical Care and has been leading that division which has been greatly challenged during the pandemic with increased volumes and high acuity.

Brittany Cavanaugh, DO | At University Physicians Orange, Dr. Cavanaugh has implemented a hepatitis C treatment protocol for direct care by primary care physicians, which has rapidly led to patient cures while enhancing patient access and convenience.

Sherita Chapman, MD | Selected to participate in the World Stroke Organization’s future leader program and has assumed chair of the National Medical Association’s Neurology and Neurosurgery committee. 

Anelyssa D’Abreu, MD, PhD | Participated in the American Academy of Neurology’s Women Leading in Neurology Program. This highly competitive program empowers women to tackle gender disparities head-on and advance to the top levels of leadership.

Beth Davis, MD, MPH | Recently received a grant related to children and autism, behavioral and mental health, has led Project ECHO in Central Virginia as part of the Virginia Mental Health Access Program (VMAP), an effort to increase the skills of primary care pediatricians to address behavioral and mental health concerns in their practice.

Lauren Dunn, MD | Awarded the prestigious Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research Grant supporting a project to evaluate the effect of self-care on anesthesiology resident wellness. Dr. Dunn and several colleagues in the Department of Anesthesiology have long been dedicated to not only exploring clinician wellness, but in examining the interplay of gender, race, and ethnicity in patient perceptions. (Other phenomenal women from Anesthesiology contributing to this important include Drs. Allison Bechtel, Katie Forkin, Julie Huffmyer, and Amanda Kleiman.)

Kathleen Fuchs, PhD | Dr. Fuchs is a diplomate of the American Board of Professional Psychology in clinical neuropsychology and serves as an examiner for the oral boards. In addition to her general clinical practice, she is the neuropsychologist for the James Q. Miller MS Clinic. She has been involved in patient, community, and professional education and currently serves on the editorial board for the International Journal of MS Care. In 2011 she was named to the National MS Society’s Health Professionals Volunteer Hall of Fame. Dr. Fuchs is also affiliated with the UVA Memory & Aging Care Clinic and has partnered with the local chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association to present several community outreach programs.

Francine Garrett-Bakelman, MD, PhD | Assistant Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry/Molecular Genetics. Dr. Garrett-Bakelman’s research involves understanding the biology of acute myeloid leukemia, focusing on older patients and epigenetics. She has also collaborated with NASA on research on zero gravity and was the first author of an important Science paper studying the effect of zero gravity on stem-cell function. This year Dr. Garrett-Bakelman was awarded the prestigious Pew-Stewart grant for Cancer Research, one of five such scholars in the United States.

Andrea Garrod, MD | Dr. Garrod became Medical Director of the UVA Children’s Battle Building and led its family-conscious workgroup for the Department of Pediatrics. She also leads the efforts to bring a nationally known speaker and woman leader in academic medicine for the first-ever Nancy McDaniel lectureship on Women Leadership in Academic Medicine.

Leisa Gonnella | Chief Operation Officer in Dermatology and instructor in the School of Medicine. A gifted academic administrator, she has a superior ability to process data into its most relevant aspects and is a great partner to the Dermatology Chair.

Ebony Hilton, MD | Recipient of the 2021 UVA Martin Luther King Jr. Award, Dr. Hilton is committed to breaking down healthcare disparities especially as it relates to COVID. She has been an active volunteer distributing COVID tests to underprivileged neighborhoods, posting educational podcasts about COVID, and helping through multiple media avenues discussing issues of racial disparity.

Amber Inofuentes, MD | Dr. Inofuentes leads the hospitalist group as they expand and stretch to fight COVID. She also directs the HOME program to care for high-user patients, with both compassion and cost-effective, team-based care.

Mary (Lee) Jensen, MD | Chair of the FDA Neurologic Device panel (yearly and ad hoc meetings for the FDA-related new neurologic devices coming to the FDA panel for evaluation); Chair of the Society of Neuointerventional Surgery Foundation (oversees research and philanthropic programs)

Karen Johnston, MD, MSc | The Harrison Distinguished Professor of Neurology and Associate Vice President for Clinical and Translational Research at the University of Virginia. Dr. Johnston was the founding chair of the University of Virginia's Academy of Distinguished Educators and also the director of the UVA internal K12 scholars program for career development in clinical and translational research. She also directed the American Neurological Association Junior Faculty Career Development Symposium, the American Academy of Neurology Research Career Development Symposium and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Clinical Trials Methods Course Career Development Program. She is currently the director of the integrated Translational Health Research Institute of Virginia (iTHRIV).

Ann Kellams, MD | Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs, Founder of and Director of UVA Breastfeeding Medicine program, and President-elect of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, an international, physician-only organization with over 1,000 members.

Susan Kirk, MD | Chair of the UVA Faculty Senate for the 2021-2022 academic year. Dr. Kirk is the Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education, overseeing all clinical training for the doctors in that program. She is also a member of the Institutional Review Committee for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.

Lale Kostakoglu, MD, MPH | Division Chief of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging; runs the Division’s clinical, research, and educational programs, and serves as the Program Director for its ACGME-accredited fellowship; American College of Radiology/Eastern Collaborative Oncology Group (ECOG/ACRIN); co-chair of the Lymphoma, Myeloma, and Leukemia subcommittees ECOG-ACRIN

Tracey Krupski, MD | President-elect of the Mid-Atlantic section of the American Urological Association.

Pamela Mason, MD | Electrophysiology Director since 2018. Former Fellowship Director. Awardee of the Department of Medicine’s Clinical Excellence Award and Excellence in Education Award. Academy of Distinguished Educators Award for “Providers with Outstanding Records for Patient Care and Patient Experience.”  Expert in lead (pacer/implantable cardioverter defibrillator) extraction.

Tara McGehee, MD | Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology. Dr. McGehee has served as the Associate Program Director for the Ophthalmology Residency Program, contributing to the expansion of the residency to 12 residents, the development of an new Ophthalmology Residency PGY-1 program, and the addition of a new rotation for junior residents at the VA Salem Hospital. During this period, she also won the Ophthalmology Resident Teaching Award. In June 2021, she was appointed Director of the Ophthalmology Residency Program. As of August 2021, she became the GME Program Director.

Trish Millard, MD | Assistant Professor of Medicine. Dr. Millard’s work focuses on older women with breast cancer. This year, she has initiated an important trial, the POWER study, which looks at pre-operative hormonal therapy for older women. She is the recipient of a grant from the American Cancer Society for this work. Dr. Millard also serves as an Assistant Program Director for the Hematology/Oncology fellowship, and leads the effort on resiliency and wellness.

Margaret Noland, MD | Vice-Chair of Dermatology. A graduate of UVA School of Medicine, Dr. Noland is passionate about quality care and education, and combines this with unique strategic program development and business intelligence.

Jennifer Pierce, MD | Associate Chief of the Musculoskeletal (MSK) Division, which has the largest MSK Fellowship program in the country (9 fellows); Director of the Department’s Global Health Residency Leadership (GHRL) track, which has a partnership with Mbarara University Science & Technology (MUST) Radiology program in Uganda — traveling with UVA Residents in the GHRL track to MUST twice a year to provide education, as well as virtual lectures (pre-COVID); American Board of Radiology Core Exam question writer.

JoAnn Pinkerton, MD | Dr. Pinkerton is internationally recognized as a leader in women's health, specifically in the menopausal period. She currently serves as the Medical Director for the Midlife Health Center at UVA Health, a multi-disciplinary clinic offering gynecologic and endocrine services. Dr. Pinkerton has published more than 90 articles and her supporters have given over $500,000 to support Charlottesville-based community endeavors. Community-education events have allowed members of the UVA faculty to share cutting-edge developments in women's health while community leaders focused on support and services. The most recent Multicultural Health Fair in October 2019 brought together international, African American, and Latino communities to provide a range of medical services and information regarding healthcare services in our area.

Carrie Rochman, MD | President of the Department of Radiology Alumni Society. In this role, she coordinates a bi-annual alumni Continuing Medical Education event and helps to grow philanthropic support for resident education initiatives. Co-Director of the UVA Breast Cancer Center (along with Dr. Shana Showalter); Co-Director of an Annual UVA Breast Care CME conference (along with Dr. David Brenin).

Debbie-Ann Shirley, MD, MPH | Dr. Shirley led the COVID-19 efforts for the Children’s Hospital, is Medical Director of the UVA COVID clinic, and recently became Division Chief for Pediatric Infectious Disease. A recent interview with her about children and COVID went viral across the nation.

Siobhan Statuta, MD, FACSM | A sports medicine physician who works across Family Medicine, Physical Medicine, and Rehabilitation’s Runner’s Clinic. Dr. Statuta serves as one of three primary care team physicians for the illustrious UVA Division 1 Athletes. This past year she was honored by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) by becoming a Fellow of ACSM, as well as being accepted into the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) international diploma course “Mental Health in Elite Sport,” which she successfully completed with distinction.

Agnieszka (Agnes) Swiatecka-Urban, MD | Dr. Swiatecka-Urban join the faculty as the Division Chief of Pediatric Nephrology, has hit the ground running with numerous initiatives, providing both reach and growth for pediatric nephrology services.

Angela Taylor, MD | Coronary Care Unit (CCU) director since 2019, Dr. Taylor co-director the Diabetes Cardiovascular Clinic. She has received the Department of Medicine’s Clinical Excellence Award and Research Excellence Award and has been listed on the Best Doctors in America list. She initiated the National Cardiogenic Shock Initiative at UVA. With Dr. Coleen McNamara, she has been program project co-investigator for more than 10 years.

Yuh-Hwa Wang, PhD | Interim Vice Chair of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, she is a member of the Core Course in Integrative Biosciences (CCIB) Executive Committee, the Biomedical Sciences (BIMS) Curriculum Committee, the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) Admissions and Advisory Committee, and Faculty Director of the Genome Analysis and Technology Core (GATC). Dr. Wang teaches in the Foundation of Medicine curriculum, CCIB 6000 (the core course for first-year BIMS PhD students), and she is a currently a member of 12 PhD dissertation committees. She also mentors graduate and undergraduate students in her own lab. Her research program on DNA fragility is well supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health. She has received the Swortzel Award and support from the UVA Cancer Center.

Jeanne Young, MD | Medical Director for Dermatology. Dr. Young is an operational wizard, able to secure necessary resources and distribute them in an equitable way. She has spearheaded the development of the clinic that cares for transgender populations and has completed an administrative and advanced surgical fellowship.