Chicago Medical School Faculty Leadership
Lecia Apantaku, MD
lecia.apantaku@rosalindfranklin.edu
Associate Professor of Surgery
Assistant Dean for Faculty and Global Development
Chicago Medical School
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
Dr. Apantaku earned her MD from the Chicago Medical School and her general surgery residency was completed at the Chicago Medical School Affiliated Hospitals. Her main area of interest is educational research and her practice expertise is breast surgery.
Dr. Apantaku has 27 years of experience in academia. Currently, she is the Director of Undergraduate Education for the Chicago Medical School’s Department of Surgery and the Course Director for first year Essentials of Clinical Reasoning.
She is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and active in the National Board of Medical Examiners, the Association for Surgical Education and the American Cancer Society.
Marjorie A. Ariano, PhD
marjorie.ariano@rosalindfranklin.edu
Professor of Neuroscience
Associate Dean, Undergraduate Studies
Chicago Medical School
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
Dr. Ariano received her PhD in Anatomy from UCLA. She trained as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Southern California with an emphasis in biochemistry.
After completing postdoctoral training, she became Assistant Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology at the University of Vermont, rising to the rank of Associate Professor with tenure. Dr. Ariano moved to the Chicago Medical School CMS) in 1992 as a Professor of Neuroscience.
She spent 25 years investigating how dopamine receptors were changed in animal models of Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases.
She was an ELAM fellow (2005-06) and directed the Office for Faculty Development at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science prior to becoming the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies at CMS.
Inis Jane Bardella, MD, FAAFP
inis.bardella@rosalindfranklin.edu
Professor, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine
Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Global Health Initiatives
Chicago Medical School
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
Dr. Bardella received her MD from the Temple University School of Medicine. Since 1996, her academic focuses have been medical school curriculum development and evaluation, and faculty development and evaluation.
Dr. Bardella leads efforts to develop faculty who are fully engaged and valued as teachers, role models and mentors; and develop equitable global partnerships that prepare students, residents and faculty to meet the health needs of the world, especially the poor.
Her faculty development endeavors include local, national and international program development, direction and evaluation, publications, presentations, and organizational leadership.
Globally, Dr. Bardella works with medical education development in Albania, Kosovo and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Previously, she consulted in Kyrgyzstan and was visiting faculty at the National University of Rwanda.
Jim Carlson, PhD, PA-C
james.carlson@rosalindfranklin.edu
Assistant Professor, Physician Assistant Department, College of Health Professions
Assistant Dean for Evaluation and Assessment, Chicago Medical School
Director of Interprofessional Simulation
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
Mr. Carlson earned an MS from the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science Physician Assistant Program in 2001 and has since worked in a variety of patient care settings. Additionally, he earned a Masters of Arts in Teaching from Rockford College in 1999.
He has published numerous works focused on medical and health sciences education with particular interests in performance assessment, simulation-based team training, and the application of informatics technology within medical education.
In 2010, Mr. Carlson was awarded the Breitman-Dorn Endowed Research Fellowship and won the Lawrence Medoff Award for excellence in teaching, research, and service to the University. In 2011, he was awarded the Outstanding Basic Science Professor of the Year by Chicago Medical School students at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science.
Ronald S. Kaplan, PhD
ronald.kaplan@rosalindfranklin.edu
Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Chicago Medical School
Vice Dean for Research
Chicago Medical School
Vice President for Research
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
Dr. Ronald S. Kaplan received his PhD from New York University and post-doctoral training at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He then joined the faculty of the Department of Pharmacology at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine (1986) and subsequently was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure (1991) and then Professor (1996).
Dr. Kaplan moved to the Department of Biochemistry at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science as a tenured Professor in 1997. He became Vice-Chair (2002) and then Chair (2006) of the department. In 2010, Dr. Kaplan assumed responsibilities of the Vice Dean for Research of Chicago Medical School and in July 2011, he stepped down as Department Chair to become the Vice President for Research at the University.
His research focuses on the structure-based mechanism of membrane transport proteins and has been funded by NIH for over 20 years.
Kenneth E. Neet, PhD
kenneth.neet@rosalindfranklin.edu
Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Associate Dean for Research
Chicago Medical School
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
Dr. Neet received a BS in Chemistry in 1958 and a PhD in Biochemistry in 1965 from the University of Florida. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley and joined the Biochemistry faculty of Case Western Reserve University in 1967.
He received a Faculty Research Award of the American Cancer Society in 1968 and a Faculty Scholars Award from the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation in 1980.
Dr. Neet became Chair of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in 1990 and Associate Dean for Research in 2004.
Currently, he is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Biological Chemistry and was Treasurer of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from 2000 to 2006. His research interests are in structure-function studies of neurotrophins.
Gordon Pullen, PhD
gordon.pullen@rosalindfranklin.edu
Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Assistant Dean of Basic Sciences
Chicago Medical School
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
Dr. Pullen graduated with a BS in Biology from Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL) in 1976 and earned a PhD in Physiology from Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science (RFUMS) in 1982.
He accepted a post-doctoral position at the North Chicago VA Medical Center, now known at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center, and in 1988, moved to a position as the Director of the Thyroid Research Lab there.
In 1992, Dr. Pullen joined the faculty at RFUMS and currently is the Assistant Dean of Basic Sciences and Assistant Professor of Physiology.
His teaching interests are in cardiac pharmacology. He devotes significant time to counseling students at the Chicago Medical School, the Biomedical Sciences Program and the Pre-matriculation Program at RFUMS.
Douglas Reifler, MD
douglas.reifler@rosalindfranklin.edu
Professor, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine
Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Medical Education
Chicago Medical School
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
Dr. Reifler was appointed Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Medical Education in June 2011. He is a general internist whose academic interests include medical humanities and the professional acculturation of medical students.
He completed his bachelor’s degree at Harvard College and his MD at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Reifler spent 22 years at Northwestern University, first as a resident in Primary Care Internal Medicine, then as a fellow in General Internal Medicine, and later as a full-time faculty member. At Northwestern, he was Curriculum Committee chair, and he developed innovative interdisciplinary learning environments.
At the Chicago Medical School, Dr. Reifler’s first major project has been to implement a learning community and mentoring system.
Terrianne Reynolds, MPH
terrianne.reynolds@rosalindfranklin.edu
Clinical Instructor of Medicine
Assistant Dean for Planning
Chicago Medical School
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
Ms. Reynolds has more than 20 years experience in business, strategic planning, patient care and medical education. She joined the Chicago Medical School (CMS) at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in 2004 and assisted the Dean with three different Liaison Committee for Medical Education (LCME) accreditation site visits, successfully receiving full accreditation status until 2011-2012. She serves the Dean and school as the Coordinator for the LCME full accreditation site visit for September 2011-2012.
Ms. Reynolds is also the lead for the CMS strategic planning process, in partnership with the Dean. On behalf of CMS, Ms. Reynolds accepted the Richard Goodman Award 2006-2007 for Strategic Planning from the Association for Strategic Planning (ASP). Ms. Reynolds was previously the Vice President for the ASP National Board ans is currently Vice President for the ASP Chicago Chapter.
Michael J. Zdon, M.D.
michael.zdon@rosalindfranklin.edu
Professor and Vice Chairman Department of Surgery
Associate Dean for Continuing Medical Education
Chicago Medical School
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
Dr. Zdon received his MD from Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine and completed his surgical training at Kansas University Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas. He began his academic career as Assistant Professor at Yale University Medical School and has been a full time faculty member at Chicago Medical School since 1988. He is active in the practice of general surgery with special expertise in the area of endocrine surgery. His research interests have included cellular mechanisms of intestinal secretion and diseases of the thyroid and parathyroid.
Dr. Zdon has served and chaired numerous University and Medical School committees and currently chairs the University Institutional Review Board. He has served as Vice Chair of Surgery since 1990, previously served as Program Director of the General Surgery Residency, and is currently a site coordinator for the Surgery Clerkship. He has been recently appointed Associate Dean for Continuing Medical Education.