June 24, 2020

The College of Medicine proudly congratulates our faculty, residents, alumni and students who have recently been inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha and the Gold Humanism Honor Societies.

Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society

This year, 44 members of the College of Medicine community were inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society’s Drexel chapter (Delta Zeta). Election to Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) is an honor signifying a lasting commitment to professionalism, leadership, scholarship, research and community service. A lifelong honor, membership in the society confers recognition for a physician's dedication to the profession and art of healing.

The 2019-2020 alumni inductees are:

• Ernest Leber, MD '98, an emergency medicine physician for Tower Health Phoenixville Emergency Care and associate professor in the College’s Department of Emergency Medicine.
• Judette Louis, MD '00, MPH (The Johns Hopkins University, '98), the James M. Ingram professor and chair of the Obstetrics & Gynecology Department at the University of South Florida’s Morsani College of Medicine.
• Karima Sajadi-Ernazarova, MD '04, an emergency medicine physician for Crozer Chester Medical System and associate professor in the College’s Department of Emergency Medicine.
• Gary Wayne Stewart, MD '04, chief of Foot and Ankle Surgery in the Atlanta Medical Center’s Department of Orthopedic Surgery.

The faculty inductees for 2020 are:

• Jane Azizkhan-Clifford, PhD, a professor and chair for the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, and the associate dean for medical student research.
• Jennifer L. Hamilton, MD, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Family, Community, and Preventive Medicine, and the director of the College’s Family Medicine clerkship.
• Leon McCrea II, MD, MPH, is an associate professor in the Department of Family, Community & Preventive Medicine, the director of the College’s Family Medicine Residency program, and an assistant dean for diversity, equity and inclusion.

The resident inductees for 2020 are:

• Lame Balikani, MD, a pathology resident at Allegheny General Hospital.
• George DeKornfeld, MD, a vascular surgery resident at Allegheny General Hospital.

The student inductees for 2020 are:

Gold Humanism Honor Society

The Gold Humanism Honor Society recognizes students and faculty who are exemplars of compassionate patient care and who serve as role models, mentors and leaders in medicine. Seniors are nominated for induction by their peers; faculty members are chosen by a committee of faculty and administration.

The faculty inductees, who taught College of Medicine students at their residency sites, are:

• Gazi Abdulhay, MD, chief of gynecological oncology at Crozer-Chester Medical Center.
• Jayaram Thimmapuram, MD, an academic hospitalist in WellSpan York Hospital’s Department of Internal Medicine.
• Maya Therattil, MD, a physical medicine & rehabilitation (PM&R) at St. Lawrence Rehabilitation Center, and PM&R Pathway Director for the Drexel University College of Medicine.
• Sara Wallach, MD, chair and program director of the Department of Medicine at St. Francis Medical Center.

Student inductees are: