Illinois Medicine

PRENDERGAST NAMED EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF U I PHYSICIANS GROUP Heather M. Prendergast, MD '94, MPH '07, MS '14, EMHA '19, MBA '23, has been named executive director of the University of Illinois Physicians Group (UIPG). "I am excited to serve in this role," says Dr. Prendergast. "UIPG is shaping the future of healthcare through innovation and advanced clinical care. Our mission is to improve community health and deliver comprehensive quality health services to underserved and underresourced communities." A graduate of UI COM, Dr. Prendergast completed her residency in emergency medicine at the University of Maryland Medical Center. She joined the UI COM Department of Emergency Medicine faculty in 1998 as a clinical instructor and rose to full professor in 2015. She has served as vice chair for academic affairs in the Department of Emergency Medicine since 2011. She also earned an MPH, an EMHA and a master's in clinical and translational science from the University of Illinois Chicago. Dr. Prendergast was named assistant dean for clinical affairs at UI COM in 2016 and promoted to associate dean in 2019. After the retirement of Patrick Tranmer, MD, in 2020, she served as interim director of UIPG. Since 2018, she has also served on the board of directors include a wide range of topics in clinical anesthesia and operating room planning and management. He mentored nearly 200 students and residents during his tenure at the University of Chicago, many of whom are now faculty members at universities across the country. ROSS NAMED IAFP PHYSICIAN OF THE YEAR Joseph Ross, MD, associate professor of clinical family medicine at UICOMR, was named the Illinois Academy of Family Physicians (IAFP) 2022 Physician of the Year. His selection was based on input from his colleagues, peers and patients. Dr. Ross is the first family medicine physician from Rockford—and the first from UICOMR—to earn this distinction. The award recognizes Dr. Ross' commitment to family medicine, his leadership as a role model for students and residents, and his service to his patients and the greater Rockford community. A graduate of the Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, Dr. Ross completed his family practice residency at the Rockford Medical Education Foundation (now the UICOMR Family Residency Program) and his faculty development fellowship at Michigan State University's Office of Medical Education Research and Development. He has served on the UICOMR faculty since 1984. for Cook County Health. Her academic research interests include cardiovascular disease and minority health. GLICK APPOINTED HEAD OF ANESTHESIOLOGY David Glick, MD, MBA, has been appointed head of the Department of Anesthesiology. Dr. Glick joined the COM after serving most recently as professor of anesthesia and critical care and section chief of multi-specialty adult anesthesia at the University of Chicago, where he also served as medical director of the post- anesthesia care unit and preoperative care area. Dr. Glick earned his MD at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine after earning a BA from Princeton University. He completed a residency in general surgery at Washington University in St. Louis, a residency in cardiothoracic surgery at Stanford University, and a residency in anesthesia at the University of Chicago. He also earned an MBA at the University of Chicago. Dr. Glick has received the Pritzker School of Medicine John D. Arnold, MD, Mentor Award for sustained excellence in mentoring medical students twice since its inception in 2012. He was elected to the Association of University Anesthesiologists in 2013 and named a Bucksbaum Institute for Clinical Excellence Senior Faculty Scholar in 2015. His research interests AJILORE AND DARBAR APPOINTED CO-DIRECTORS OF MSTP Olu Ajilore, MD, PhD, and Dawood Darbar, MBChB, MD, FACC, FAHA, FHRS, have been named co-directors of the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) at UI COM. Drs. Darbar and Ajilore previously served as associate directors of the program. The MSTP prepares students for careers as physician-scientists through a combined training program that leads to MD/PhD degrees. Graduates are well positioned to identify and pursue interdisciplinary approaches to important biomedical problems and help bridge the basic and clinical sciences. Dr. Ajilore is the Center on Depression and Resilience Professor in the Department of Psychiatry. He graduated from Harvard University with a degree in biology and earned his MD and PhD through the MSTP at Stanford University, where he researched the negative effects of stress hormones on the brain. He joined the research track residency at UCLA, where he transitioned into neuroimaging in major depression. His lab currently uses computational neuroimaging techniques and digital biomarkers to better track and treat neuropsychiatric disorders. Dr. Ajilore also serves as the associate head for faculty development and the director of 12 | Summer 2023 Heather M. Prendergast Joseph Ross David Glick Olu Ajilore

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