Faculty & Staff
The Griffin Hospital teaching faculty consists of a complement of hospital-based physicians in all major disciplines in addition to community-based, practicing internists, specialists and family practitioners. The majority of the Griffin Hospital teaching staff hold Yale Medical School appointments and many teach at Yale as well as at Griffin Hospital. Yale faculty actively participate in the residency teaching program at Griffin in the role of attending physician, performing work rounds with the house staff and conducting an on-going lecture series.
The Yale University School of Medicine has a major involvement in the Griffin Hospital teaching program. Residents are exposed to the Yale University faculty at Griffin Hospital regularly in various conferences and rounds. In addition, the residents, when taking electives at Yale-New Haven Hospital, are exposed to all of the Yale faculty as well as other Yale residency teaching programs. This combination of community based teaching and university exposure provides for an excellent learning experience.
Ramin Ahmadi, MD, MPH, is the Director of the Internal Medicine residency program, and co-Director of the combined Internal Medicine/Preventive Medicine Residency Program. He is Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at Yale School of Medicine where his academic activities have included teaching of a course titled "Introduction to Health and Human Rights" to second year public health students and a seminar," Medicine, Society and Public Health", to second year medical students. Dr. Ahmadi has designed several innovative curricula at Yale and Griffin Hospital. His proposal for academic partnership between internal medicine residency program and Oxford Health Plans received the PQE 1998 award, a national grant supported by Pew Charitable Foundation. He is the President of Griffin's Faculty Practice Plan and the founder the Griffin Center for Health and Human Rights.
Margie Bliga is Residency Coordinator for all Griffin Hospital Residency Programs. She is responsible for working with the Departments of Internal and Preventive Medicine to coordinate all administrative aspects of resident applications, rotations credentialing, and evaluation.
Dr. Kenneth Dobuler MD completed his medical school training at Yale University School of Medicine, where thereafter, he was a resident in internal medicine and a pulmonary critical care fellow. Dr. Dobuler has been at Griffin Hospital for the past 26 years. His interests are in pulmonary medicine, pulmonary critical care and sleep medicine. Dr. Dobuler is Board Certified in hyperbaric and undersea medicine, and provides oversight for Griffin Hospital’s Hyperbaric Medicine Center. Dr. Dobuler is Chairman of the Graduate Medical Education Committee at Griffin Hospital. For the past 10 years, Dr. Dobuler has been Chairman of the Department of Medicine. He is an Associated Clinical Professor of Medicine at the Yale University School of Medicine.
Seema D'Souza, MD is the Associate Director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program. She completed her Internal Medicine residency and Chief Residency at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City. Dr. D'Souza is responsible for coordinating and integrating project activities, including coordination of all resident rotations, both in the combined IM/PM and new IM programs. She plans each resident's yearly schedule based on the requirements of various blocks and ensures that there are no significant schedule conflicts. Dr. D'Souza works with Dr. Ahmadi to implement all curriculum changes, collection of resident and program evaluation materials, and works with faculty to prepare "how to" manuals for the categorical and combined programs as well as new templates for curricula in women's health, HIV/AIDS, and genetics. Dr. D'Souza's research interests include improved techniques in medical education, women's health and quality assurance.
Salman Fazal, MD is the Chief Resident for the Internal Medicine Residency Program at Griffin Hospital. He finished his medical school at King Edward Medical College, Lahore, Pakistan. Dr. Fazal completed his internship & residency at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science/Chicago Medical School. He is ABIM certified and fully licensed to practice medicine in the State of Connecticut. He is planning to join Hematology/Oncology fellowship at Western Pennsylvania Hospital/Temple University program in July 2007. He is a member of Graduate Medical Education Committee and Clinical Competence committees and is an active participant in medical education of medical students. Dr. Fazal precepts in the outpatient clinic on Tuesday afternoon and also is part of medical team at Integrative Medical Center at Griffin Hospital.
James F. Jekel, MD MPH is C.E.A. Winslow Professor of Public Health Emeritus at Yale University and Professor Emeritus of Public Health at the Yale School of Public Health. He was the director of Yale Preventive Medicine Residency Program for 17 years and past chair of Preventive Medicine Department at Griffin Hospital. He is a world-renowned expert in epidemiology and community health research design and evaluation, is the principal author of a leading textbook, Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Preventive Medicine. He is a member of the Preventive Medicine Advisory Committee and the chair of the Preventive Medicine Competency Committee.
Brian Karsif, MD MPH graduated from Columbia University in 2002 with a Master's in Public Health and completed his residency in General Preventive Medicine and Public Health in 2002 at Griffin Hospital. He is certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Currently, he is the Chairman of the Institutional Review Board (IRB). Dr. Karsif works with the Department of Public Health in New Haven and for Planned Parenthood of Connecticut.
David L. Katz, MD, MPH is an expert in nutrition and preventive medicine with 15 years of clinical experience. He serves as a leading nutrition consultant, authoring columns for the New Haven Register, WTNH in New Haven, Connecticut, O, The Oprah Magazine and eDiets.com. and was featured on a PBS series about the obesity epidemic; he is also the author of The Way to Eat. Founder and director of the CDC-funded Yale Prevention Research Center, Dr. Katz has served as principal investigator for numerous studies related to cardiovascular risk modification, obesity prevention and control, nutrition effects on health, behavior change and chronic disease prevention. He ishe recipient of several teaching awardscourses at the Yale Schools of Medicine, Public Health and Nursing, including courses in nutrition, preventive medicine and public health.
Gail Labadia MD is a Primary Care Faculty and Geriatric and Palliative Care Specialist at Griffin Hospital. She graduated from New York University of School of Medicine, NY. Dr. Labadia finished her residency at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, NY. She also did fellowship from Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program at Yale University. Lateron, Dr. Labadia completed her Fellowship in Geriatrics at Yale University. She supervises the Geriatrics piece of the Combined IM/PM and Categorical IM programs and its expansion. Dr. Labadia holds appointment as Assistant Professor of Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine.
Jennifer Lawrence is the Assistant Residency Coordinator, and is responsible for coordinating resident rotations and research activities for the Department of Medical Education. Ms. Lawrence joined the staff in 2001, and has interests in primary education.
Asha Marhatta, MD is one of the faculty members at Griffin Hospital. She completed her medical school from Delhi University, India. Dr Marhatta graduated from Griffin Hospital Internal Medicine Residency Program in 2005. Dr Marhatta was chief resident at Griffin Hospital in 2005-2006 and is currently clinical academic hospitalist. She is ABIM board certified and fully licensed to practice medicine in the State of Connecticut. Dr. Marhatta conducts morning reports and conducts inpatient service rounds two months per year. She is a member of GMEC and Clinical Competence committees and is an active participant in medical education of residents and medical students. She is also actively involved in implementation of Consolidated Medicine Reconciliation (CMR).
Haq Nawaz, MD, MPH is the Chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine, Program Director for the Preventive Medicine Residency Program, Director of Clinical and Scientific Research Program at Griffin Hospital, and Director of Research at the HRSA-funded Women's Health Coordination Center. He also is a research faculty at the CDC-funded Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center, Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Yale School of Medicine. He received his MPH from the Yale School of Epidemiology and Public Health in 1997. As director of research for the hospital, Dr. Nawaz supervises all residents' research and community projects, and is responsible for developing all preventive medicine curricula and establishing new community-based rotation sites. He is the principal investigator of the women's longitudinal cohort study ("Valley PRIDE" study). Dr. Nawaz is a member of Graduate Medical Education Committee, Institutional Review Board, Library committee, and Clinical Competence Committee. He himself is a graduate of Griffin Combined Internal Medicine-Preventive Medicine Program. His research interests include cardiovascular risk reduction, obesity prevention, and behavior modification.
Dr. Howard Quentzel MD completed his medical education at New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY. Thereafter he completed his residency training in Internal Medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital, NY. He did his fellowship in Infectious Diseases at New York Medical College, NY. Dr. Quentzel is Chief of Infectious Diseases at Griffin Hospital and is actively involved in housestaff teaching activities. He is the Chairman of the Infection Control Committee and also holds the appointment of Assistant Clinical Professor at Yale University School of Medicine.
Dorothea Wild, MD, MPH is the Associate Program Director of the Combined Internal Medicine/Preventive Medicine Residency Program, Associate Director of Research, and Research Affiliate at the Department for Health Policy and Management of the Yale School of Medicine. She is a graduate of Griffin Hospital's Combined Internal Medicine/Preventive Medicine Residency and received her Master's of Public Health in Health Management at the Yale School of Public Health. Her research activities lie primarily in the area of hospital quality improvement, medical errors, disease modeling, and cost-effectiveness of screening for isocyanate-induced asthma. Her current work focuses on equity in the allocation of HIV monies, medical error reporting, and the effectiveness of screening for noise-induced hearing loss. Dr. Wild conducts morning report twice/week, attends on the inpatient service two months per year, coordinates the preventive medicine resident rotations and lectures, and conducts journal club each month. She also gives lectures on health policy, quality of care, health management, and clinical preventive medicine.