Chiefs’ Roast and Toast 2021 – Honoring the departing IM chief residents

The J. Willis Hurst Internal Medicine Residency Program recently hosted the annual Chiefs’ Roast and Toast to honor (and roast) the 2020-2021 outgoing chief residents, Amalia Aldredge, Chris Massad, Liz McCord, Hima Veeramachaneni, Eli Wilber, and Patrick Zakka.

This year’s event celebrated the residents’ hard work and diligent progress with their education during an unprecedented year. Because of COVID-19, the event was held in a warehouse space and attendees were limited to residents-only.

Karen Law, MD, program director of the internal medicine residency program, provided opening remarks on the challenging year and the optimism of the road ahead. The event continued with the announcement of awards to faculty, residents, fellows, and staff who have shown dedication to Emory’s internal medicine residency program. The presentations concluded with our traditional “roast” of the chief residents, and their closing remarks and reflections on the year.

See below for a full list of award winners.

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Juha P. Kokko Teaching Award

This award represents the single most outstanding teaching attending the residents work with at any of the hospital sites.

• Samantha Alonso, MD

Joyce P. Doyle Award

The award recognizes an individual who has shown exceptional dedication toward Dr. Doyle’s vision of tirelessly working on the behalf of residents to make this the best program in the country.

• Stan Sonu, MD, MPH

Golden Apple Award

This award recognizes the most outstanding inpatient attending and subspecialist attending at each hospital.

• Annie Massart, MD (EUH)
  • Subspecialists: Kunal Bhatt, MD and Kelly Kaysen, MD
• Noble Maleque, MD (Midtown)
  • Subspecialists: Stephanie Cantu, MD and Jesse Jacob, MD
• Samantha Alonso, MD (Grady)
  • Subspecialist: Sarah Johnson, MD
• Jason Williams, MD (VAMC)
  • Subspecialist: Lynn Schlanger, MD

Most Outstanding Fellow Award

This award recognizes the most outstanding fellows who engage our residents with teaching and enthusiasm for their subspecialty.

• John Lisko, MD (Cardiology)
• Aditi Nayak, MD (Cardiology)
• Nirja Mehta, MD (Infectious Diseases)
• Carlos Saldana Ochoa, MD (Infectious Diseases)
• Lucy Witt, MD (Infectious Diseases)
• Dhruv Amratia, MD (Pulmonary)
• Payal Patel, MD (Pulmonary)

Laurence Sperling Outstanding Research Mentor Award

This award recognizes the faculty mentor and fellows who most deeply supported resident involvement in research. 

• Faculty: Robin Klein, MD (General Internal Medicine) and Giorgio Roccaro, MD (Digestive Diseases)
• Fellows: Bianca Yoo, MD (Cardiology) and Richard Ramonell, MD (Pulmonary)

Best Conference Leadership Award

This award recognizes the highest quality hospital-based conference from each of the hospitals in our system.

• EUH: Hunt Case Conference (Dan Hunt, MD)
• EUHM: Hoofbeats (Amalia Aldredge, MD)
• GMH: BST Mode/BST Mode Storytellers (Kimberly Manning, MD; Hima Veeramachaneni, MD, and Eli Wilber, MD)
• VAMC: Case Conference (Sara Markley, MD and Patrick Zakka, MD)
• Ambulatory: Core Conference (Jennifer Spicer, MD)

Outstanding Resident Teacher Award

This award is presented to PGY2 and PGY3 residents who show the greatest dedication to resident teaching and medical education.

• PGY2: Shub Agrawal, MD
• PGY3: Vanessa Van Doren, MD

Golden Stethoscope Award

This award is presented to residents from each class who exemplify superior clinical skills, judgement, and use of evidence to support practice.

• PGY1: Deanna Gill, MD
• PGY2: Shub Agrawal, MD
• PGY3: Annie Ho, MD

Outstanding Advanced Practice Provider (APP) Award

This award recognizes the most dedicated and impactful APPs in our system who play instrumental roles on teams and in teaching.

• Mabel Yuyun, NP (EUHM ICU)
• Gregory Conner, NP (EUH ICU)

Outstanding Nurse Award

This award recognizes the most dedicated and impactful nurses in our system.

• Mary “Tomsy” Thekkan, RN (EUHM ICU)

Compassionate Resident Physician

This award recognizes the residents from each class who represent exemplary humanism towards patients, colleagues, and all members of the health care team, serving as role models for integrity, altruism, respect, empathy, and service combined with clinical excellence.

• PGY1: Emma Kofmehl, MD
• PGY2: Kemi Fatade, MD, Kevin Shah, MD and Nicole Treadway, MD
• PGY3: Samuel Huxley, MD, Austin Gitomer, MD and Dylan Baker, MD

Citizenship Award

This award is bestowed by the chief residents upon the residents from each class who most exemplify program engagement and citizenship throughout the year.

• PGY1: Alexander Matelski, MD and Tre’Cherie Crumbs, MD
• PGY2: Shub Agrawal, MD and Kemi Fatade, MD
• PGY3: Sam Huxley, MD, Vanessa Van Doren, MD and Shivang Desai, MD

Outstanding Residents in Primary Care Award

These awards recognize the residents who display leadership and excellence in primary care, as well as respect, accountability, and integrity.

• Grady PCC: Charlie Fortin-Leung, MD (PGY1), Nicole Treadway, MD (PGY2), and Lucia Cotton, MD (PGY3)
• 1525: Rahul Patel, MD (PGY1), Anudeep Neelam, MD (PGY2), and Samuel Huxley, MD (PGY3)
• MOT: Aakriti “Alisha” Arora, MD (PGY1), Avni Amratia, MD (PGY2) and Matthew J. Brown, MD (PGY3)

House Cup MVP

The following residents were awarded the most points for their House:

• Doyle: Vanessa Van Doren, MD (PGY3)
• Leeper: Alexander Matelski, MD (PGY1)
• Wenger: Lakshmi Katta, MD (PGY3)
• Logue: Maya Isaacsohn, MD (PGY2)
• Beeson: Jennifer Prevot, MD (PGY2)
• Higgins: Ashley Urrutia, MD (PGY2)
• Manning: Taylor Corriher, MD (PGY1)