Our Team

Maisa Abdalla, MD, MPH

Clinical expertise: Inflammatory bowel diseases, including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, and all aspects of general gastroenterology and hepatology

Nicholas Bartell, MD

Clinical expertise: General gastroenterology and hepatology with a special interest in medical pancreatology

Tanya Bruckel, MD
Medical Director of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Endoscopy at UR Sawgrass
Associate Program Director, Gastroenterology Fellowship Training Program
Safety and Quality Officer, Gastroenterology division

Clinical expertise: General gastroenterology and hepatology with a special interest in inflammatory bowel disease

Janice Cheong, MD

Clinical expertise: General gastroenterology and hepatology with a special interest in motility

Naoki Chiba, MD, MSc

Clinical expertise: General gastroenterology and hepatology

Arthur J. DeCross, MD

Clinical expertise: Inflammatory bowel diseases, including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, celiac disease, and the specialized nutritional support of gastrointestinal disorders

Ahmed Dirweesh, MD

Clinical expertise: Advanced endoscopic procedures, including endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) and the study of bile and pancreas ducts (ERCP); pancreaticobiliary disease, hepatobiliary disease, GI malignancies and gastroenterology consultations

Priya Farooq, MD

Clinical expertise: Liver transplant (pre- and post-transplant care), cirrhotic and chronic liver disease, viral and autoimmune hepatitis, hepatic encephalopathy, hepatobiliary malignancies and other liver diseases

Jonathan Huang, DO, AGAF, FAASLD
Director, Digestive and Liver Disease Center for Research

Clinical expertise: Cirrhotic and chronic liver disease, viral and autoimmune hepatitis, hepatic encephalopathy, hepatobiliary malignancies and other liver diseases

Research interests: Fatty liver disease, primary biliary cholangitis, primary sclerosing cholangitis, hepatic encephalopathy, and other liver diseases

Vivek Kaul, MD, FACG

Clinical expertise: Advanced therapeutic endoscopy, Endoscopic Ultrasound, ERCP, Esophageal Endotherapy and Hepatobiliary disease

Shivangi T. Kothari, MD
Therapeutic Endoscopy Lead

Clinical expertise: Interventional endoscopic ultrasound, advanced therapeutic ERCP, esophageal endotherapy for Barrett’s esophagus, double balloon enteroscopy, and pancreatic-biliary disorders

Research interests: Development of EUS FNA techniques, endoscopic ablation and therapy of Barrett’s esophagus, and evaluation of new devices and technology in the diagnosis and treatment of biliary and pancreatic diseases

Truptesh H. Kothari, MD, MS
Director, Developmental Endoscopy Laboratory

Dr. Kothari leads the Bariatric Endoscopy Program at Strong Memorial Hospital.

Clinical expertise: Intragastric balloon placement, revision procedure for gastric bypass (e.g., endoscopic outlet reduction); interventional endoscopic ultrasound, diagnostic and therapeutic ERCP, intraluminal stent placement, esophageal endotherapy for Barrett’s esophagus, Achalasia, Zenker’s myotomy, and pancreatic-biliary disorders

Marie Laryea, MDCM, FRCPC

Clinical expertise: Liver transplant (pre- and post-transplant care), cirrhotic and chronic liver disease, viral and autoimmune hepatitis, hepatic encephalopathy, hepatobiliary malignancies and other liver diseases

Mark A. Levstik, MBBC, LRCPI, LRCSI, BAO, FRCP(C)
Chief, Comprehensive Liver Center
Chief, Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Clinical expertise: Liver transplant (pre- and post-transplant care), cirrhotic and chronic liver disease, viral and autoimmune hepatitis, hepatic encephalopathy, hepatobiliary malignancies and other liver diseases

Research interests: Liver transplant quality, live donor liver transplantation and non-invasive liver fibrosis measurement (FibroScan)

Danielle Marino, MD
Medical Director of the Hereditary Cancer Screening and Risk Reduction Program
Program Director of the Gastroenterology Fellowship Training Program

Clinical expertise: All aspects of general gastroenterology and liver disease, with particular interest in eosinophilic esophagitis, inflammatory bowel disease, colon cancer screening and prevention, and the diagnosis and management of hereditary cancer syndromes

Research interests: Quality improvement

Amulya Penmetsa, MD

Clinical expertise: General gastroenterology and hepatology

Gopal Ramaraju, MD

Clinical expertise: Liver transplant (pre- and post-transplant care), cirrhotic and chronic liver disease, viral and autoimmune hepatitis, hepatic encephalopathy, hepatobiliary malignancies and other liver diseases

Lawrence J. Saubermann, MD
URMC GI Lead at Highland Hospital

Clinical expertise: Inflammatory bowel disease

Brandon S. Sprung, MD
Associate Fellowship Training Program Director and Section Lead, General GI

Clinical expertise: General gastroenterology and inflammatory bowel disease

Patrick Twohig, MD, MPH

Clinical expertise: General gastroenterology and hepatology

Asad Ullah, MD

Clinical expertise: Advanced endoscopic procedures, including endoscopic ultrasound and the study of bile and pancreas ducts (ERCP); pancreaticobiliary disease, GI malignancies and gastroenterology consultations

Jonathan Huang, DO, AGAF, FAASLD
Director, Digestive and Liver Disease Center for Research

Research interests: Viral hepatitis, hepatic encephalopathy, autoimmune hepatitis, hepatobiliary malignancies, and other liver diseases

Lawrence J. Saubermann, MD

Research interest: Intestinal mucosal immune system and how it is involved in inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, microscopic/lymphocytic colitis, and celiac sprue

David Yule, PhD

Research interest: Intracellular calcium signaling in cells

Chelsea DiBella
Senior Human Subjects Research Coordinator

Kailyn Estabrooks
Human Subjects Research Coordinator

Munazza Zakir-Ullah
Human Subjects Research Coordinator

Jordan Barber, NP

Elise N. Bauman, NP

MacKenzie Both, PA

Julia Burke, PA

Michael Colicchio, PA

Jessica D’Acquisto, NP

Allison D'Angelo, PA

Colin Donahoe, PA

Sarah Enslin, RPA-C
Lead APP

Daniel Ferreri, PA

Katherine Gorski, PA

Victoria Howard, PA-C
Lead APP

Nadia Khan, DNP

Sarah Mohammadi, PA

Courtney Preston, NP

Jacob Scott, PA

Allison Zeznick, PA

Richard Padula, MS
Division Administrator

Courtney Holtz, BSN, RN-BC
Assistant Director of Ambulatory Nursing for GI

Season Pucci (Eggleston), MS, RN
Nurse Manager for AC4-GI

Jessica DeLaura, BA
Sr. Financial Analyst

Caitlin Dwyer, BSN, RN
Nurse Manager for Sawgrass GI

Stacy Martinez, BS
Administrative Assistant

Tim Lee, MD

Residency
University of Rochester Internal Medicine Residency Program

Medical School
Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo

Natalie Mitchell, MD

Residency
Walter Reed National Military Center Internal Medicine Residency Program

Medical School
University of Alabama/Birmingham

Sahaj Mujumdar, MD

Residency
Thomas Jefferson Internal Medicine Residency Program

Medical School
Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine

Monica Patel, MD

Residency
University of Rochester Internal Medicine Residency Program

Medical School
Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University

Peter Fields, MD

Residency
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Internal Medicine Residency

Medical School
Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo

Alexandra France, MD

Residency
University of Rochester Internal Medicine Residency

Medical School
SUNY Upstate Medical University

Robin Wilson, MD

Residency
Boston Medical Center Internal Medicine Residency

Medical School
Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo

Andrew Brown, MD

Residency
University of Michigan Internal Medicine Residency

Medical School
Medical College of Wisconsin

Michelle D'Souza, MD

Residency
Cooper University Hospital Internal Medicine Residency/Camden, NJ

Medical School
Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA

Natalie Penn, MD

Residency
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry

Medical School
SUNY Buffalo Medical School