Purpose:

The SSOM Faculty Ambassadors program is an SSOM Dean’s Office initiative established to enhance bi-directional faculty communication in the spirit of improving shared governance. 

Membership:

Each basic science and clinical department in the SSOM has at least one faculty ambassador representative. Additional representative slots may be allocated given the number of faculty in a department. Roughly this will equate to 1 ambassador per 25 faculty in a department.

Faculty Ambassadors will be appointed by their department Chair to serve a two-year term beginning July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2027.  Current Ambassadors are eligible to be re-appointed by their Chair. 

The Faculty Ambassadors will select a representative chairperson from the committee who will attend monthly Dean’s Cabinet meetings for a two-year term.  This role will further facilitate bi-directional communication and faculty participation in SSOM policy, administrative and strategic plan initiatives. 

Eligibility:

Faculty Ambassadors must be full-time SSOM faculty members who are willing and able to:

• represent the concerns of their constituent group of faculty members
• present the Faculty Ambassador report at their Department Meetings
• collaborate on ways to improve faculty communication
• communicate group discussions and SSOM activities, as appropriate
• attend Faculty Ambassador meetings or arrange for a substitute
• relay department concerns and issues to the leadership of the medical school

Meetings:

Meetings are held bi-monthly on a Monday from 5 - 6 p.m.

Contact:

If you have questions regarding the SSOM Faculty Ambassadors program, please contact the SSOM Dean’s Office at [email protected].  

New Faculty Ambassador Members as of July 1, 2025 - June 30, 2027  

Department	Faculty Ambassador	E-mail
Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine	Umar Kamal, MD	[email protected]
Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine	Eric Pedone, MD	[email protected]
Cancer Biology	Maurizio  Bocchetta, PhD	[email protected]
Cell and Molecular Physiology	Daniel Hu, PhD	[email protected]
Emergency Medicine	Chantel Hilliard-Watts, MD	[email protected]
Emergency Medicine	Jeffrey Heiferman, MD	[email protected]
Family Medicine	Dennis  Nwachukwu, MD	[email protected]
Medical Education	Cynthia Chaidez, PhD	[email protected]
Medicine	Margaret Tsien, MD	[email protected]
Medicine	Vasil Peev, MD	[email protected]
Microbiology and Immunology	Makio Iwashima, PhD	[email protected]
Molecular Pharmacology and Neuroscience	Eric Villalon Landeros, PhD	[email protected]
Neurological Surgery	Joseph Serrone, MD	[email protected]
Neurology	Eugene Schnitzler, MD	[email protected]
Neurology	Rick Gill, MD	[email protected]
Obstetrics and Gynecology	Anne Peiffer, MD	[email protected]
Ophthalmology	Felipe de Alba, MD	[email protected]
Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation	Nate  Jones, MD	[email protected]
Otolaryngology	Andrea Ziegler, MD	[email protected]
Pathology	Robert  Pooley, Jr., MD	[email protected]
Pediatrics	Almas Syed, MD	[email protected]
Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences	Elizabeth  Simmons, PsyD	[email protected]
Radiation Oncology	Tamer  Abdelrhman, MD, PhD	[email protected]
Radiology and Medical Imaging	Atul Mallik, MD, PhD Representative, SSOM Dean’s Cabinet	[email protected]
Radiology and Medical Imaging	Emad Allam, MD	[email protected]
Surgery	Jacqueline Kalmoe, MD	Jacqueline. [email protected]
Surgery	Khalil Qato, MD	[email protected]
Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery	Zaid  Abdelsattar, MD	[email protected]
Urology	Ahmer  Farooq, DO	[email protected]
HSC Library Representative	Elizabeth  Huggins, MALIS	[email protected]
Vice Dean of Research	Meharvan (Sonny) Singh, PhD	[email protected]
Chair, Dean, SSOM	Sam J. Marzo, MD	[email protected]