Residency Programs

Internal Medicine at Good Samaritan

 an  Educational Innovations Project Program

of the Residency Review Committee in Internal Medicine of the ACGME
    Faculty 

Faculty and Program Administration

Alan I. Leibowitz, MD, FACP, Chief Academic Officer in Medical Education at Good Samaritan, was formerly our Program Director since 1989. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology. Prior to that, he served as Dean for Student Affairs at the University of South Florida College of Medicine in Tampa and is currently Professor of Clinical Medicine and Associate Head, Department of Medicine, University of Arizona College of Medicine.

 

 

 

Cheryl O'Malley, MD, FACP, is Program Director in the department of Internal Medicine. Dr. O’Malley is a native of Phoenix and left only shortly to complete her bachelor’s degree in Biology at the University of Notre Dame in 1994.  She returned to Arizona to receive her M.D. from the University of Arizona in 1999 and then entered the Combined Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Residency Program at Good Samaritan and Phoenix Children’s Hospital.  She is board certified in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics. During her residency, she served as Chief Resident in Pediatrics.   In 2003, she joined the faculty at both Phoenix Children’s and Good Samaritan and currently is our Program Director in Internal Medicine.  She is actively involved with the medical students at the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix campus, where she is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine. Most days, you will find her attending on the inpatient medicine wards and in both Internal Medicine and Pediatric clinics.  She also sees children at the St. Vincent de Paul clinic.   Her primary focus is inpatient adult medicine, resident education, the American College of Physicians, and faculty development programs.  If you come to her house for journal club or a “craft night” you will see that she loves home improvement shows and spending time with her family.

Mary Ellen Dirlam, MD, PhD, MS, serves as Medical Director of the Samaritan Academic Faculty Association at Banner Good Samaritan and also serves as an Associate Director of Internal Medicine. She received her PhD in Biochemistry from Arizona State University and her master's degree in Clinical Research Design and Medical Biostatistics from the University of Michigan. She holds a faculty appointment at the University of Arizona as Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine. She is board-certified in Internal Medicine.

 

 

Richard Gerkin, MD, MS is a clinical faculty member in the Department of Medicine.  He has a faculty appointment at the University of Arizona as Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine.  He received his master's degree in Clinical Research Design and Medical Biostatistics from the University of Michigan.  He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiology, and Medical Toxicology.  He was formerly the Medical Director of the Phoenix Fire Department Health Center.  He currently teaches evidence-based medicine, participates in journal clubs of most of the residency and fellowship training programs, runs the research rotation for 2nd year medical residents, and offers support to investigators with study design and statistical analysis.  His research interests include neuroimaging in Alzheimer’s Disease and endothelial dysfunction.  His other interests include karaoke, military strategy, chess, apologetics, spinning and video/music production.   

Donna Holland, MD, is the Program Director of the Combined Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Residency Program.  A native Texan, Dr. Holland received her medical degree from the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in Houston in 1992.  She came to Phoenix to complete residency training in the Combined Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Program at Good Samaritan, and has never made it back to Texas.  She is board certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics.  She is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University Of Arizona College Of Medicine and directs the Combined Medicine/Pediatrics fourth year clinical rotation for medical students.  She is an Associate Program Director for the Pediatrics Residency Program affiliated with Phoenix Children’s Hospital and Maricopa Medical Center.  She is very involved in resident education, junior faculty development projects, and community outreach.

Harvey Hsu, MD, serves as Director of the Internal Medicine Center and Director of the Residency Medical Informatics Department. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine.  Dr. Hsu originally moved to Phoenix in 1974, then went to the University of Washington for his undergraduate years.  After graduating with a degree in Computer Science he attended medical school at St. Louis University.  He completed his residency at Good Samaritan in 1999 and has been a faculty member since.  Current projects involve web site design, palm pilot programming, and Microsoft Access database programming.  The most exciting project he is working on currently is implementing the Electronic Health Record system in the outpatient setting. 

 

Michelle Huddleston, MD, is an Associate Program Director of the Combined Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Residency Program. She is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics. A native of North Carolina, Dr. Huddleston received her bachelor’s degree in Biology at East Carolina University in 1990 and remained at East Carolina to receive her Doctorate of Medicine in 1995. She then traveled to Phoenix, Arizona as a newlywed with her husband, Sam.  Michelle completed residency training in the Combined Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Program at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center and Phoenix Children’s Hospital in 1999. She joined the faculty at both Phoenix Children’s and Good Samaritan where she currently directs the Adolescent Program.  Along with Dr. Randy Christensen, she staffs the Crews‘n Health Mobile, a mobile van that provides medical care for homeless adolescents. Her care for the homeless extends to a younger population at the Thomas J. Pappas Elementary School, a school-based medical clinic for homeless youth.  Her primary focus is adolescent healthcare and resident education. Outside of work she enjoys scrapbooking, rubberstamping, cooking and spending time with her family.

 

Emily Mallin, MD is an Academic Hospitalist in the Department of  Internal Medicine. She was born and raised in Phoenix, but has traveled far and wide in pursuit of her medical education.  Starting in Tucson, she received her undergraduate degree in Psychology and Spanish from the University of Arizona.  She then moved to New York where she completed a post-baccalaureate premedical program from Columbia University.  She graduated medical school from the Sackler School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University in Israel in 2004, before returning to Phoenix to complete her residency and chief resident year in Internal Medicine at Good Samaritan.  She is board-certified in Internal Medicine and loves that she gets to teach medical students and residents for a living.  Her other loves include travel and languages, skiing, and hearing her daughter's laugh.  

 

Richard Manch, MD, FACP, FACG, is the Medical Director for both the Samaritan Academic Faculty Association and the Banner Good Samaritan Liver Transplantation Program.  He is also the Director of the Liver Disease Center at Banner Good Samaritan and the chairman of the Accreditation Board of the Banner Office of Continuing Medical Education. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, and holds a master's degree in Health Administration. Dr. Manch is a Clinical Professor of Medicine with the University of Arizona College of Medicine.

 

Peter P. McKellar, MD, FACP has been an Associate Director of the program since 1977.  He is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases. His interests are in learning and teaching all areas of clinical medicine.

 

 

 

 

KeriLyn Gwisdalla, MD, is an Associate Program Director and Director of Recruitment for the Internal Medicine Residency. She graduated from the University of Arizona College of Medicine in 1995 and came to BGSMC where she completed her residency in Internal Medicine in 1998. Subsequently she served as Chief Resident and joined the faculty in 1999.  Dr. Gwisdalla is the Director of the Internal Medicine Clerkship for the University of Arizona medical students at BGSMC, and also serves as Assistant Director of the Internal Medicine Residents' Clinic. She is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and is board-certified in Internal Medicine. Her current interests are faculty and resident professional development, and creating and maintaining an excellent environment in which to learn medicine. Along with Dr. Peterson, she holds the retreats "How to Be a Great Resident Workshop I and II " and promotes a balance between physical, mental and emotional health during residency. When she's not at work or with her family, you will usually find her at a yoga class.

Jayne Peterson, MD, FACP is Director of the Good Samaritan Internal Medicine Residents' Outpatient Clinic. She obtained her undergraduate degree in Biology at Arizona State University and medical degree at the University of Arizona. She did her Internal Medicine residency at Presbyterian University of Pennsylvania Medical Center in Philadelphia. She is board certified in Internal Medicine, is an Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine Program and an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of Arizona. Her passion is to teach ambulatory medicine and to care for the underserved. She feels fortunate to have the perfect job that allows her to develop the ambulatory curriculum for our Internal Medicine residents and work with medical students during their Internal Medicine Outpatient rotations in a clinical setting which cares for the less fortunate.  She volunteers at St. Vincent de Paul Free Clinic. Current projects include participation in the Arizona Diabetes Initiative which is working to improve Diabetes outcomes in our state, Internal Medicine faculty development and teaching residents about the Quality Improvement process.

Gary H. Salzman, MD,  has been a practitioner and teacher of Geriatric Medicine for 30 years. He is certified in both Internal Medicine and Geriatric Medicine. He is also a Certified Medical Director for Long Term Care, a Certified Clinical Densitometrist, and is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Arizona. He has served as Medical Director of Nursing Homes in Phoenix, and is the current Medical Director of an Alzheimer’s Assisted Living Facility in Phoenix. He has directed the Geriatric Medicine Fellowship Training Program at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center since 1999. Dr. Salzman is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Alzheimer’s Association of Phoenix, and has served on the Board of Directors of the Arizona Geriatrics Society. He was selected as Geriatrician of the Year in 2006 by the Arizona Geriatrics Society.

Brenda Shinar, MD, is Director of the Preliminary Medicine Residency Program and an Associate Director of the Internal Medicine Program. She received her MD from the University of Arizona College of Medicine in 1997, and completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Good Samaritan in 2000. She served as Chief Resident in Internal Medicine from 2000-2001, and then joined the faculty as an Academic Hospitalist. She is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of Arizona and is board certified in Internal Medicine. Dr. Shinar enjoys reading, playing the violin, and anything to do with Cavalier King Charles Spaniel dogs. She grew up in the Phoenix area and loves living in the southwest where she resides with her husband, Ron, and their dog, Teddy.

 

 

 

Heather Bartz, DO is an Assistant Program Director in Internal Medicine.  Dr. Bartz received her undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences from the University of California at Davis in 1997.  She ventured from Northern California to the Midwest for medical school and graduated from Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2002.  Many of her medical school clinical rotations were in Phoenix and she fell in love with Arizona as well as the Med-Peds program.  In 2006, she completed the Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Program at Banner Good Samaritan/Phoenix Children’s/Maricopa Medical Center.  During her 4th year of residency she served as Med/Peds Chief Resident and loved being chief so much she served as an out of training chief resident for both the Internal Medicine and Pediatrics Programs..  In July of 2007, she joined the Internal Medicine/Med-Peds faculty at Good Samaritan/Phoenix Children’s Hospital.  You will find her in many places including the adult medicine inpatient wards and the outpatient medicine, pediatric and adolescent clinics.  Outside of work she enjoys sprint distance triathlons, hiking, and spending time with her husband and 2 Jack Russell Terriers.

 

Sara C. Stimson, MD is an Assistant Program Director in Internal Medicine. Dr. Stimson received her undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences from the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas in 1996. After teaching high school biology and coaching three sports for a brief stent she travelled to Houston to complete her medical school training at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston in 2002.  The Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Program in Phoenix was the main draw out of Texas and she completed her combined training at the the Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Program at Banner Good Samaritan/Phoenix Children's/Maricopa Medical Center in 2006.  Her love for teaching continued as a combined Internal Medicine/Pediatric Chief Resident which she completed in 2007.  She now has joined the Internal Medicine/Med-Peds faculty at Banner Good Samaritan/Phoenix Children's Hospital where she spends time in both the outpatient and inpatient settings and continues to remain dedicated to the growth and development of young physicians and medical students.  Outside of work she enjoys spending time with her partner, 2 dogs and cat, listening to music and hiking.

 

Cori Norgaard, DO

 

 

 

 

 

Bridget Stiegler, DO
Hospitalist for Academic Medical Service












Lori Porter, DO
Hospitalist for Academic Medical Service







                                                    



Christina Bergin, MD is an Academic Hospitalist in the Department of Internal Medicine.  A native of Chicago, she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology and Preprofessional Studies from the University of Notre Dame in 2003.  After graduating from Loyola University Chicago’s Stritch School of Medicine in 2007, she completed her residency training in Internal Medicine here at Banner Good Samaritan.  She served as Chief Resident from 2010-2011, and subsequently joined the faculty as an academic hospitalist.  She is board-certified in Internal Medicine, and enjoys being able to teach residents and medical students every day.  Her professional interests include resident education, patient satisfaction, and improving physician-patient communication.  Outside of work, she loves hiking, photography, and spending time with her husband, daughter, and dog.












Veterans Affairs Medical Center

VAMC Hospitalist Physicians

 

Ruth Franks, MD  Ruth Franks, M.D. is an Associate Program Director (APD) of the combined BGSMC and VA Medical Center residency program at the VA Medical Center where she is also a faculty hospitalist.  She is board certified in Internal Medicine.  She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Arizona in Molecular and Cellular Biology and then attended the University of Arizona for her medical school training which she completed in 2004.  She moved to Phoenix to complete her internal medicine residency in 2007 at BGSMC and the VA.  Her love of teaching residents and students was obvious when she accepted a position to be one of the Junior Faculty/Chief Resident of the same program from 2007-2008.  In July 2008 she accepted a position as a faculty hospitalist and APD for the VA.  She was born and raised in Arizona and has truly found a home here in her work and her play.  She loves distance runs on the Phoenix Mountain Preserve with her young son and husband, entertaining family and friends at her home, skiing (water and snow), and playing softball.

 

Christopher Kurtz, M.D.  Christopher Kurtz, M.D. is co-director of the Program at the VA Medical Center. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center. He graduated from the University of Arizona in 1995 with a degree in molecular and cellular biology. He received his M.D. from the University of Virginia in 1999; while there he was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society. He completed his residency in internal medicine at BGSMC/VA hospital in 2002. When not working hard to educate future physicians he enjoys world travel, eating at one of the many wonderful restaurants in the Phoenix area, and satisfying his inner artist by playing the piano and guitar.

 

 

Darren Deering, D.O.  After receiving his Bachelors of Science degree from Truman State University in 1995, Dr. Deering attended the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in Kirksville, Missouri.  Following graduation from K.C.O.M. in 1999, he completed a Traditional Rotating Osteopathic Internship in Long Beach, California.  He then completed a combined Internal Medicine and Pediatrics Residency at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center & Phoenix Children’s Hospital.   During his last year of residency, he served as a Chief Resident in the combined Med/Peds program.  Dr. Deering’s primary interest is in resident and medical student education and he currently serves as an Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency at the VA Medical Center. In addition to teaching, he enjoys traveling, trying new restaurants and spending time with his family and friends.

 

David Carl Houghton, MD  grew up in the beach communities of Orange County, California. He graduated from the University of California-Irvine with a BS in biology in 1992 after serving for two years as a missionary in the Spanish-speaking towns of the Rio Grande Valley. He was then commissioned as an officer in the US Public Health Service and attended medical school at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Maryland.  After receiving his MD degree in 1996, he completed a Med-Peds residency in our program, serving as pediatric chief resident. Since then he has practiced full spectrum primary care for the underserved in the Salt Lake City area, frontier emergency medicine in arctic Alaska, and community hospital medicine/critical care at Phoenix Indian Medical Center.  He served in the National Health Service Corps program for disaster preparedness and is now part of the Air Force Reserve’s aerospace medicine program.  Dr. Houghton has been a full time academic hospitalist at both Good Sam and the VA, and has continued to moonlight in pediatric urgent care, pediatric hospital medicine, and Banner’s critical care telemedicine program.  He and his wife are the parents of four teenagers.  He enjoys outdoor activities, photography and video production.

Michael Garrett, M.D.  Dr. Garrett went to medical school at the University of Washington in Seattle, and did his medical residency training at Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix. He is board certified and recertified in both Internal Medicine and Geriatrics. When he is not reading journals, he is in his workshop wondering why the parts aren’t going together, in the kitchen pondering why the latest brownie recipe didn’t quite come out, or on another Arizona hiking trail trying to keep up with his wife and dog.

 

 

 

Rebecca Hawkins, M.D.  Rebecca Hawkins, M.D. attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School and remained there for her residency training. In 1981 she relocated to Phoenix and was a teaching attending at Maricopa Medical Center, where she stayed for two years before joining the teaching staff at the Carl T. Hayden VAMC. She holds a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine position with the University of Arizona. She is board certified in Internal Medicine. In addition to her love of working with medical students and residents, her special interest is in end-of-life care as well as the care of our women veterans. Dr. Hawkins enjoys skiing, scuba diving, exploring our beautiful state, gardening and making jewelry.

 

Paul Duntley, M.D.  Dr. Duntley is a native of New York State. He attended the University of Dallas and then S.U.N.Y. Buffalo for Medical School. He relocated to sunny Arizona for residency and a chief year at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center. He then worked for 9 years as a primary care Internist with an emphasis on Geriatrics in Sun City, Arizona. He is board certified in Internal Medicine. He has been at the Phoenix Veterans Hospital for 5 years as a teaching attending with some part-time duties participating in some of the numerous research projects available at the VA. He enjoys woodworking and numerous outdoors activities. He is also a Flight Surgeon in the Air Force Reserves.

 

 

 

James V. Felicetta, MD, is Chief of the Medical Service at the Carl T. Hayden Phoenix VA Medical Center and is Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of Arizona. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Endocrinology, and Geriatrics. 

Viet Do, DO,  grew up in the Bay Area of Northern California, graduated with his undergraduate degree at Northern Arizona University with B.S. in Biology. Initially started medical school at Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine but transferred to Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine; graduated in 2003. Next he did his Internal Medicine residency at BGSMC/VA, finished 2006. Viet worked in the community from 2006 until 2011 as a hospitalist at Banner Boswell and Banner Del Webb in primarily geriatric population, then returned to his roots this year in July. Married to his wife, Michelle, since 2002 and they have 3 children, Aiden, Brooklyn, and Avery.  He is also involved with Governor’s Office of Boards and Commissions as an appointed member of the Arizona Parent’s Commission on Drug Education and Prevention. In the future, he hopes to continue his involvement in the public service arena.

 

Maricella Moffitt, MD  Dr. Moffitt completed medical school at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston in 1986. She completed residency training in Internal Medicine at the University of Texas in Houston in 1989 and was selected as a chief resident in 1990. She joined the faculty in the Department of Medicine at Maricopa Integrated Health System in June of 1990 and remained there until 2005. She has held many academic and administrative positions including: Clerkship Director, Associated Program Director in Internal Medicine Residency, Co-Program Director Med-Peds Residency, and Director of Medical Education/Academic Affairs. During her tenure at MIHS she was elected president of the Medical Staff and served as a medical staff officer from 1998-2003. She has received numerous teaching and service awards. Currently, she is the Director of the Doctoring Curriculum at the University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix. She hold the Academic rank of Associate Professor of Medicine.  

Tuberculosis and Public Health have always been interests. Dr. Moffitt obtained a Masters in Public Health from the University of Arizona in the Charter Class 1993-1994. As part of an internship project she responded to an RFP from the CDC. She was subsequently funded over one million dollars for a five year project in clinical trials of new methods for the treatment of Tuberculosis, in addition she participated in the CDC’s Tuberculosis Trials Consortium (TBTC.)

Clinically she has practiced and taught Internal Medicine as faculty at Maricopa Integrated Health System and now at the Carl T. Hayden VA in Phoenix. She continued to provide TB care at Maricopa County Public Health Tuberculosis Control which she had done for 16 years leaving in 2006 to join the faculty at the University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix. She also served as the Chief Medical Officer, TB Control and as Deputy State Tuberculosis Control Officer.

M. Keith Piatt, MD, is Associate Chief of Staff for Ambulatory Care at the VA Medical Center and is board-certified in Internal Medicine.

Critical Care Faculty

Robert A. Raschke, MD, MS, Director of Critical Care Services at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center.  He holds a faculty appointment at the University of Arizona as Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine. He too, received his master's degree from the University of Michigan in Clinical Research Design and Medical Biostatistics. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Critical Care Medicine.

 

 

 

Thomas M. Bajo, MD, is Associate Director of Critical Care Services at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center and a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Critical Care Medicine and Infectious Disease.

 

 

 

 

 

Gregory Chu, MD, is a staff intensivist. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Critical Care Medicine.

 

 

 

 

 

Jennifer O'Hea, MD, FCCP is a staff intensivist. She is board certified in internal medicine, critical care, and pulmonary medicine. Born and raised in Dubuque, Iowa, she received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Notre Dame in psychology and pre-professional studies in 1993. After completing medical school at the University of Arizona in Tucson, she was proud to join the ranks of the "lifetime membership" at Good Samaritan. Here she has completed residency, chief residency, and fellowship, and has been on staff since 2005. She believes that the nurses and doctors at Good Samaritan are unmatched, and she loves covering the night shifts in the ICU.  Outside of work, she enjoys running her 2 kids around, running in general, and playing the bagpipes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Khazin, MD is a staff intensivist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ricki Long, MD is a staff intensivist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

David Morro, MD is a staff intensivist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Huw Owen-Reece, MD is a staff intensivist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maria P. Rocha, MD, is a staff intensivist at the VA Medical Center. She is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Medicine and Critical Care Medicine.

Clement Singarajah, MD, is Director of Critical Care at the VA Medical Center. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Medicine and Critical Care Medicine.

Fellowship Directors

Cardiology

Ken Desser, MD - BGSMC 
Robert Halligan, MD -VAMC

Interventional Cardiology

Nathan Laufer, MD - BGSMC
Timothy Byrne, DO - BGSMC

Pulmonary Medicine

David Baratz, MD - BGSMC
Richard Robbins, MD - VAMC

Gastroenterology

Michele Young, MD - VAMC 

Geriatrics

Gary Salzman, MD - BGSMC

Endocrinology 

Sylvia Vela, MD - VAMC

Medical Toxicology

Steven Curry, MD - BGSMC