Current Residents

Bianca Jenkins, MD

Medical School: Central Michigan University College of Medicine

Bianca is a recipient of the National Health Service Corps Scholarship, the Hurt Family Endowed Scholarship and a Central Michigan University School of Medicine Mission Based Awardee. She was a co-founder and executive board member of her school’s chapter of the American Medical Women’s Association and an executive board member of her chapter of the Student National Medical Association. Bianca also volunteered with CMU Street Medicine and the Free Medical Clinic of Greater Cleveland.

Esmeralda Rosales, MD

Medical School: University of Illinois College of Medicine

Esmeralda was awarded the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation Scholarship, the Kaiser Permanente Medical School Scholarship, and the Cavero and Cieslak Scholarship. She was also inducted into the Golden Humanism Honor Society and a member of the Urban Medicine Program. Esmeralda was actively involved in her chapter of LMSA and co-founded a school organization called Physicians for Human Rights. Prior to medical school, she was an AIDS United AmeriCorps Health Educator and worked with Erie’s Lending Hands for Life Program.

Jessica McGee, MD, MPH

Medical School: Saint Louis University School of Medicine

Jessica created a curriculum for middle school students, which encompassed physical activation and nutrition and was taught through the program, Empowering Youth Today. She also served as an active member of the Admissions Committee for her medical school. Jessica volunteered with the Saint Louis University Health Resource Center, providing healthcare to underserved persons and served on the fundraising committee for this organization. She assisted in the pre-matriculation program for under-represented minority medicals students in the summer prior to their first year.

Lukasz Jaros, MD

Medical School: Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Lukasz has been volunteering at Community Health Chicago since undergrad, initially as a Polish translator and then as a medical team member. He created a mentorship program and continued to mentor students interested in applying to the medical field while in medical school as part of NU Feinberg Connections, Phi Delta Epsilon board member, and through personal connections. Lukasz was also a recipient of the Polish American Medical Society Scholarship and the Women’s Eleemosynary Foundation Scholarship.

Maria Granadillo Castellon, MD

Medical School: Universidad Central del Caribe School of Medicine

Maria served as a volunteer with Helping Hands Medical Missions Venezuela where she served indigenous and underserved communities in the Venezuelan Amazon. She also served as a volunteer for the Padre Venard Medical Student Clinic and as interim Medical Director for part of her experience. In addition, Maria participated as a member of her school’s LCME accreditation survey preparation team. Prior to transitioning to medicine, Maria worked in development for Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Foundation.

Nohemi Herrera, MD

Medical School: University of Illinois College of Medicine

Nohemi has been an active member of her school’s chapter of the Latino Medical Student Association and served as Community Service Chair and Social Chair. Nohemi was a Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation: Jay G. Hirsch Medical Student Fellow and was also one of ten students awarded nationally the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) Summer Medical Student Fellowship. She conducted research with Dr. Marilyn Griffin over the course of 12 weeks in the summer of 2016 and presented their research on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome at AACAP's annual meeting in New York in October 2016.

Saad Siddiqui, MD

Medical School: Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine

Saad was awarded the John R. and Margaret C. Tobin Outstanding Leadership Award for the Class of 2020. Saad completed the Bioethics Honors program, where he focused his research on the development of a hospital violence intervention program, and served as a member of the Loyola Dean’s Leadership Council. He has also been a presenter in the Ministry Department’s Interfaith Spirituality Series where he presented on Islam, Muslims, and culturally relevant information for the medical community. Saad was a member of the Class of 2020 Board and was Co-President of SAMSA.

Sydney Doe, MD

Medical School: Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Sydney is a recipient of the National Health Service Corps Scholarship, was elected as a member of the Gold Humanism Honor Society, and was awarded the Student Senate Service Award in 2017. She was elected as student delegate to represent the Student Congress at the American Academy of Family Physicians Congress of Delegate. Sydney was also awarded the Highest Scoring Student Abstract by the Women’s Caucus of the American Public Health Association when presenting her research on Secondary School Experiences of Menstrual Hygiene Management.

Bushra Anis, MD

Medical School: Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University

Bushra grew up in Sri Lanka, started a health camp for refugee women in northern Sri Lanka after the 26 yr civil war; volunteered at a homeless shelter in med school as part of an education coalition for health advocacy and helped to start a culinary medicine initiative at Temple.

Carla Villarreal, MD

Medical School: Oakland University William Beaumont

Carla was awarded the M3 Family Medicine clerkship award and 2 certificates for community service while in medical school. She worked for Teach for America in Detroit prior to medical school. In medical school she served as a Hispanic Outreach Services Mentor through which she connected medical students with Hispanic youth to educate and guide them on healthy living choices as well as pursuit of academic interests. She was the community service chair for both her school’s chapter of AMWA and LMSA and was the vice president of the Lifestyle Medicine Interest Group. She helped start up a small clinic in a shelter and volunteered at her school’s free clinic. She has a teaching certificate in secondary education and is fluent in Spanish as well as speaking some French.

Carol Platt, DO

Medical School: Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine of Midwestern University

Carol is graduating at the top of her class as a member of Sigma Sigma Phi Honor Society and was awarded the TOUCH service award for her community service. She is an Associate Board Member for EverThrive supporting the health of women and children through policy initiatives and is an associate board member of Urban Initiatives empowering youth through sports and recreation. She is a member of the leadership committee for the National Outreach for Diversity at Midwestern University. She volunteered at her school’s free clinic and worked as a perinatal educator. She worked as a Spanish interpreter at multiple underserved clinics and as a teacher through CPS for several years for 4th and 5th graders. She is fluent in Spanish.

Christina du Breuil, MD

Medical School: University of Illinois College of Medicine

Christina graduated AOA from UIC where she participated in research looking at health interventions for Latino caregivers of children with disabilities. She gave health education talks at Deborah’s House as part of her Urban Medicine program and participated in research on music in China. She was a staff minister on campus in college where she ran weekly Bible study and gave presentations on spiritual topics. She speaks French and some Chinese.

Eric Sullivan, MD

Medical School: University of Chicago The Pritzker School of Medicine

Eric is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi Research Society. While at U of C he participated in a NIH funded research project exploring how med school curriculum influences interest in primary care and he conducted research on STD testing on female sex workers in India. He served on his medical school’s diversity and inclusion steering committee, was the class representative on the Dean’s Council, was the co-founder and co-president of Pritzker’s chapter of Doctor’s for America and was the co-president of his school’s FMIG. He facilitated discussion groups amongst co-students on topics of race, identity and class, was the co-president of his school’s AMSA chapter and the co-president of the Health Policy Interest Group. He volunteered at several free clinics, a domestic violence shelter and was a volunteer with regional Native American organizations. He co-led a course on health disparities along with several other required medical school courses and was a community service fellow. He was an associate board member for Urban Initiatives and he speaks some French.

Lucia Rodriguez, MD

Medical School: Michigan State University College of Human Medicine

Lucia has focused much of her academic career on partnering advocacy with cultural competency. In medical school she worked on a project assessing the barriers and access to health care of Latino populations, she worked on another project regarding resiliency in children of Flint who had experienced Adverse Childhood Events and she studied accessibility to properly provided translator services for a population of Spanish speaking patients. She wrote a resolution for the AMA promoting LGBTQ/gender neutral intake forms and a similar resolution for the Michigan State Medical Society. She volunteered with the Hispanic Latino Collaborative and was a board member for her school’s chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility as well as the co-president of her school’s chapter of LMSA. She is fluent in Spanish.

Nicole Paprocki, DO

Medical School: Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine of Midwestern University

Nicole is graduating at the top of her class as a member of Sigma Sigma Phi Honor Society, was elected as a member of the Gold Humanism Honor Society and was a Schweizer fellow through which she founded the Scholars de Salud Program which is a mentoring program for high school students serving to increase access to health careers and education among youth from under-resourced backgrounds on Chicago’s Southwest side. She worked as a teacher through the Teach for America Program and is a National Health Service Scholar. She is the student board member for Family Medicine Midwest, is part of the AAFP Family Medicine Leads program, was awarded the TOUCH award, the Osteopathic Family Medicine Student Award and the United States Public Health Service “Excellence in Public Health” award. She has held leadership positions in her medical school for the AMA, the ACOFP (American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians) and Chicago Scholars. She has done volunteer work with the refugee population of Chicago, was the student ambassador for The Health and Dignity of Women through Americans for UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) and has volunteered at various free clinics throughout Chicago and in Peru. She speaks some Spanish.

Stephen Whitfield, MD

Medical School: Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Stephen rotated with us on both inpatient and outpatient and was a great fit for Erie clinic! He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the Gold Humanism Honor Society. During medical school he served on the Inclusion and Bias Task Force through which he helped to assess the curriculum for biases in education. He wrote a curriculum for health for incarcerated men at Cook County Jail and wrote several resolutions to the city regarding asking banks to divest from support of private prisons and the Dakota Access pipeline as well as asking the AAFP to write a position paper against medically unnecessary surgery in the intersex infant population (which was passed). He worked as a researcher for the Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health investigating barriers to health care experienced by MSM. He speaks Spanish.

Ahmad Abdl-Haleem, DO

Medical School: Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine

Ahmad is a National Health Service Scholar with a life long dedication to caring for vulnerable and underserved populations. During Medial school he served on the board of the Muslim Student Association through which he helped to coordinate health care for underserved refugee populations. He also volunteered at the student run free clinic. In 2009, he traveled with a human rights organization to the Gaza strip where, in addition to assisting in providing health care, he helped transport and assemble playground equipment for children impacted by the ongoing unrest in that area. He speaks some Spanish.

Yasmine Goelzer, MD

Medical School: Rush Medical College

Yasmine served as a leader in her school's Med-Peds Interest Group. She volunteered at the school's free clinic and volunteered on medical mission trips to both Guatemala and Chile. Prior to medical school she spent a year as a chemistry teacher in a boarding school in Jordan followed by collaborating with elementary school teachers in developing science lessons while in college. She used her experience with education in medical school as an evaluator of the M1 student curriculum helping to develop improvements. She is fluent in Spanish and French and has served as a medical interpreter in both languages.

Lauren Knazze, MD

Medical School: University of Illinois Chicago

Lauren ia a native Chicagoan who was a member of her school's Urban Health Program that teaches leadership skills to people interested in advancing health equity and addressing health disparities. She has participated in research related to diabetes and gestational diabetes and has served as a mentor to multiple high school students interested in pursuing medicine as a career. She speaks some Spanish.

Ari Pence, MD

Medical School: University of Illinois Urbana

We loved Ari when she rotated with us. She has an extensive background in leadership. While in medical school she served as the Family Medicine Interest Group leader, the student government president and she founded THRIVE, a health and wellness program designed to introduce medical students to positive ways to cope with the extensive stressors of medical education. She was inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society for her commitment to community outreach, pre-med and medical student education and humanism in medicine. Prior to medical school she served as a associate visiting instructor to the University of Illinois teaching about social determinants of health and health disparities. She designed and led a study abroad course in Australia to teach undergraduates about the health and societal disparities between indigenous and non-indigenous Australian populations. During medical school, she was a teaching assistant in multiple classes and led multiple student volunteer activities earning her many awards. She is fluent in Spanish.

Julian Sacca-Schaeffer, MD

Medical School: Temple University

Julian is a native of NYC with a strong interest in community health and underserved care. He was a student leader for an after school program for elementary and middle school children helping with health and safety community education. He belonged to his school's family medicine interest group and volunteered at the community free clinic serving uninsured and undocumented immigrant populations. He is a musician who has used his musical skills to explore health and wellness through music and art. He speaks Spanish well.

Oanh Truong, MD

Medical School: Louisiana State University School of Medicine

Oanh immigrated from Vietnam with her family at a young age and grew up in Louisiana. Her back-ground inspired her commitment to addressing health disparities and serving vulnerable communities both in the US and abroad. She was an active volunteer in her medical school's clinic for the homeless population and participated in medical mission trips exploring and addressing disparities in underserved communities in Vietnam, Peru, Guatemala, and Haiti. She served as the President of her school's "Tiger Cubs", and organization which mentors at-risk youth in the community who aspire to careers in health care. She participated in a service learning program that explored leadership and quality improvement in care coordination at community health centers. She worked as a student advocate helping to educate Asian American and Pacific Islander communities of policies and civil rights issues impacting them and advocating for them on a legislative level. She is fluent in Vietnamese.

Kevin Volkema, DO

Medical School: Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine

Kevin is committed to caring for vulnerable populations as demonstrated by his extensive volunteer and leadership work at his school's student run free clinic as well as serving on a medical mission trip to Nicaragua earning him the community service TOUCH award 2 years in a row. He served as the Vice President of his school's Student Osteopathic Medical Association and helped to coordinate curriculum around advocacy and fundraising. He speaks Spanish well.

Evan Wittke, MD

Medical School: Loyola University

Evan has a strong commitment to serving vulnerable and marginalized populations. Throughout medical school he volunteered with the Homeless Ministry providing mobile health care to this at risk population. He also volunteered medical services and mentorship in an overnight shelter for homeless LGBTQ youth. He worked with a medical student organization providing mentorship and education to at risk high school students in the community interested i pursuing careers in health care. He served in a leadership role for a LGBTQ student run interest group and served on the admissions and recruitment committee for his school. Time he spent working in a HIV clinic sparked an interest in him to continue working with the HIV population. He speaks some Spanish.