Pediatric Residency Program: Our Alumni
Meet some of the alumni of the Mass General for Children Residency program, learn about their experiences in the program and find out where they are today.
Catherine Aftandilian, MD
Clinical Instructor in Pediatric Oncology, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Stanford
“I loved my time at MGfC. I'm stilling trying to get back there despite the fact that the weather in California is just a bit better than the weather in Boston!”
Read Catherine Aftandilian's story
Name: Catherine Aftandilian, MD
Graduation Year: 2011
First Position Out of Residency: Fellowship in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Stanford Children's Hospital
Current Position(s): Assistant Professor in Pediatric Hematology-Oncology and Ambulatory Medical Director at Stanford
MGfC and My Career: I loved my time at MGfC. I'm stilling trying to get back there despite the fact that the weather in California is just a bit better than the weather in Boston! The people are wonderful, and I feel like I received an excellent education. I still email Drs. Weinstein and Friedmann in the heme/onc department for advice, and I'm always very excited when I see them at conferences. I miss many of the attendings, nurses and residents and always love coming back for a visit!
Anna Goldenheim, MD
Boston University Medical School
"I feel so grateful for having the opportunity to train at MGfC."
Read Anna Goldenheim's story
Name: Anna Goldenheim
Graduation Year: 2018
First Position Out of Residency: Primary Care Pediatrician at Woburn Pediatrics
MGfC and My Career: I feel so grateful for having the opportunity to train at MGfC. The faculty, nurses, staff, and residents were all incredibly smart and wonderfully kind. It is an honor to be an alumna of such a special place.
Aisha James, MD, EdM
Mount Sinai Medical School
"I built an incredible network of mentors and friends during residency."
Read Aisha James's story
Name: Aisha James, MD, EdM
Graduation Year: 2018
First Position Out of Residency: Assistant in Pediatrics and Medicine, Mass General Hospital Everett Family Care; Instructor, Harvard Medical School
Current Positions: Associate Director, Diversity & Equity Committee, Mass General for Children
Director Advocacy Program, Mass General for Children
Primary Care, MGH Everett Family Care & MGH Sickle Cell Disease Program
MGfC and My Career: I built an incredible network of mentors and friends during residency, and was thrilled to accept an attending position doing Med-Peds primary care at MGH Everett Family Care. I was extra excited to be able to continue the advocacy work I started in residency, through education, legislative action and community organizing.
Lisa Lovas Bakhos, MD
Attending Physician, Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Neptune, NJ
“Looking back at my time at MGfC, I realize how amazing it was for my development as the physician I am today.”
Kathryn S. Brigham, MD
Graduation Year: 2007
Current Position: Assistant Medical Director, Pediatric Population Health Management, at MGfC
Medical and Educational Director, Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, at MGfC
“I clearly loved MGfC, since I chose to come back! Not only did I receive a fantastic and well rounded education at MGH, but I made lifelong friends!”
John D’Orazio, MD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Kentucky
“MGfC was a superb place for me to learn pediatrics. I often advise medical students to look for residencies that give them true opportunities to 'fly on their own' a bit with patient care, and MGfC certainly provided such times for me.”
Genevieve Daftary, MD, MPH, FAAP
Graduation Year: 2011
Current Position(s): Medical Director of Practice
Medical Director of School and Early Childhood Partnerships
“I always tell people that I chose MGfC because I knew I wanted to be a great primary care pediatrician, and I knew that meant being given real decision making opportunities as a resident and the chance to consistently see bread and butter pediatrics AND the rare diagnoses.”
Jason Harris, MD
Graduation Year: 2001
Current Position: Chief of Pediatric Global Health, Massachusetts General Hospital; Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
“I've been at MGfC for 25 years and it all started with a life changing experience as a resident at MGfC!!! When I think about why MGH is a special place to work, it starts with the quality of my colleagues and how we support each other.”
Emily Herzberg, MD
Current Position: Neonatology Director for the Fetal Care Program and the Chief of Neonatology for Salem Hospital
Graduation Year: 2016, after which I did a Pediatric Chief Resident year from 2016-2017
First & Current Position Out of Residency: After my chief year, I did a Neonatal-Perinatal medicine fellowship at Boston Children's Hospital. I then came home to MGfC and joined the Neonatology faculty in 2020. I serve as the Neonatology Director for the Fetal Care Program and the Chief of Neonatology for Salem Hospital.
“I can't imagine my life without MGfC! It was and continues to be an incredible place to train. I learned so much about medicine and beyond and built a community of lifelong friends and mentors who have helped me to achieve my early career goals.”
Anna Larson, MD
University of Minnesota
"MGfC is such a special to work and study. Here, the sometimes terrifying transition from tentative early resident to true clinician is one that is made easier through incredible support and a collaborative spirit."
Elizabeth (Betsy) McKeen, MD
Primary Care Pediatrician at Belmont Cambridge Health Care in Cambridge, MA
“Although I clearly was not the only resident in my class at MGfC, I often felt like I was. From the moment I arrived, the faculty enthusiastically reached out to get to know me as person as well to discover my interests and goals as a pediatrician.”
Hasan Merali, MD
Sommer Scholar, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
“I initially came to MGfC as a one-year preliminary resident and was supposed to continue to a career in ophthalmology. However, after just 6 months of challenging and exciting pediatric rotations taught by the most caring faculty members, I decided to stay for the full residency.”
Vi Thuy Nguyen, MD
Kaiser San Diego Partner Physician, Medical Director Pediatrics Otay Mesa Clinic, Pediatric Asthma Lead
“Every day I am grateful for my clinical training and the pediatric attendings that invested in us. I often think back to the words of wisdom of Drs. Pasternak, Ezekowitz, Kinane, Levitsky and company imparted to us on those late night teaching rounds.”
David S. Reitman, MD, MBA
Medical Director, American University Student Health Center; Attending in Adolescent Medicine, Georgetown University Hospital
“As a resident at MGfC, I always knew that I wanted to specialize in Adolescent Medicine. After graduation, I did a year of private practice in anticipation of starting an adolescent medicine fellowship at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC.”
Melissa Stockwell MD, MPH
Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Population and Family Health, Columbia University
“My time at MGfC steered me into the path of combining pediatrics and public health. Throughout my training there I was always taught to look not just at the child that I was caring for, but at the whole family and even at times the community.”
Julia von Oettingen, MD
Attending Physician, Pediatric Endocrinology, Montreal Children’s Hospital; Assistant Professor, McGill University
“MGfC was the place I made lasting friends, the place that let me pursue my passion and prepared me for a wonderful career in global pediatric endocrinology.”
Elisabeth Winterkorn, MD
Medical Director and Primary Care Pediatrician, Children's Medical Office of North Andover
“When I started at MGfC I knew I liked to teach, I liked neurology and brain development, and I liked kids. The last part, while trite, was what brought me to pediatrics.”
Christa Borgman, MD
Graduation Year: 2017
Current Position: Pediatric Hospitalist, Mass General for Children
“MGfC was the perfect place for me to do my pediatric residency. Not only did I receive phenomenal training and build a network of fantastic colleagues, but I also made life-long friends.”
Timothy Ferris, MD
Fellow, general pediatrics, MGH.
“All of my administrative and policy roles have called on my training, experience, and mentors from MGHfC. Whether it was as SVP for population health for Mass General, CEO of the physicians organization, founding member of the HHS physician payment policy advisory council or in my current role as National Director of Transformation for the NHS in England, I have daily relied on this experience to guide my thinking and decisions. And I had so much fun, making lifelong friends.”
Kelly Gardner, MD
Attending Physician, Pediatric Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine, Mass General for Children
"MGfC is the best of both worlds - access to the incredible resources of the Harvard system while training in a small, supportive environment."
Rob Meyer, MD
Graduation Year: 1977
Current Position: Co-Director, Physician Wellness, MGfC
"On the day I interviewed at MGfC (then known as the Children’s Service), I knew for certain that this was where I wanted to train, and my love and admiration persist to this day. Its dedication to compassionate patient care and academic excellence inspires me today as it did during residency; the nurturing and supportive culture of the MGfC community remains its signature quality, despite its more than doubling in size over the years. To continue my affiliation with MGfC as a member of the faculty is an honor, privilege and one of the joys of my professional journey."
Christopher J. Moran, MD
Graduation Year: 2007
Current Position: Program Director, MGfC Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition Fellowship
Research Director, MGfC Pediatric IBD Program
"The most amazing thing about my training at MGfC is that my mentors here really focus on their trainees."
Howard Weinstein, MD
Unit Chief, Pediatric Hematology-Oncology – Mass General for Children (1996 – present)
Alan R. Ezekowitz Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
"I was born in Brooklyn, grew up in Baltimore and graduated from Cornell University and the University of Maryland School of Medicine."
Annie Murray, MD, MPH
Pediatric Infectious Physician, Pediatric Primary Care Physician and Associate Director for the Pediatric Clerkship at MGfC
Read Annie Murray's story
Name: Annie Murray, MD, MPH
Graduation Year: Resident 2010-2013, Chief Resident 2013-201
First Position Out of Residency: Pediatric Infectious Diseases Fellow at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School Patient Safety and Quality Fellow
Current Position(s): Pediatric Infectious Physician, Pediatric Primary Care Physician and Associate Director for the Pediatric Clerkship at MGfC
MGfC and My Career: The people at MGfC are amazing! The mentorship I received from the humble yet expert clinicians at MGfC helped me to choose to pursue a specialty in Pediatric Infectious Diseases and helped me to come back to MGfC after completion of my fellowship training in 2017. Throughout my fellowship training I continued to text and email with my many mentors at MGfC, and I missed the everyday family-like feel and endless support that MGfC colleagues provided during my residency training. I also developed my interest in Patient Safety and Quality during my residency at MGfC. As an intern, I was encouraged to get my feet wet in a few quality improvement projects, and these projects sparked my interest in the field.
Later in residency, I chose to participate in an improvement project supported by the Partners Clinical Process Improvement Leadership program (CPIP) and I further developed skills and competencies in quality improvement methodology. I was also invited to participate in several patient safety and quality committees with the leadership at MGfC to provide a resident perspective regarding issues of patient safety. This exposure and supplemental training inspired me to further pursue patient safety and quality as part of my career. In 2017, I completed a fellowship through Harvard Medical School in Patient Safety and Quality and earned a Master of Public Health degree in Clinical Effectiveness at Harvard School of Public Health. My research focus for both my Infectious Diseases fellowship and Patient Safety and Quality fellowship was the prevention of childhood infections.
In addition to the fantastic clinical training that MGfC offered me, I also had the opportunity to further my academic career during residency through work on scholarly projects, conference and poster presentations, and teaching opportunities. On top of all that, I developed amazing friendships with my fellow residents who remain a huge part of my life both professionally and socially. I am forever grateful for my residency training experience at MGfC, and I am so thrilled to be back at MGfC as faculty. I love my current clinical roles in Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Pediatric primary care at MGH. As the associate core clerkship director for the HMS students at MGH, I am also able to pursue my passion for teaching as a large part of my career. I am very excited to have protected time and tuition support to participate in the Harvard Macy Course for Educators in Health Professions this year in 2022-2023 to further my growth as a clinician educator.