Dr. Smith is a graduate of our department’s Emergency Ultrasound Fellowship. She completed her residency training at NYU/ Bellevue, and completed a Masters of Medical Education from the University of Pennsylvania. Her goal is to provide an educational buffet of dynamic learning experiences for each resident as an adult learner. She is dedicated to customizing the training program to fit each resident’s learning needs. It is her belief that these are the training grounds for the future leaders of healthcare.

Interests: Innovative Learning Curriculums, Health Disparities Research, Resident Wellness, and FeminEM Blog Contributing Author

Dr. Willis is a graduate and former Chief Resident of our residency program, and has been APD since 2013 and starting 2019, is now the Program Director. As alum of SUNY Downstate College of Medicine, and now PD, Dr. Willis brings his commitment to the education and career planning of our medical students and residents. Dr. Willis is also very involved with the residency conference series.

Interests: Student and Resident Education, Presentation Design, and Clinical Efficiency

Dr. Schechter has been dedicated to resident education since graduating from our prestigious EM/IM program. As an Emergency Ultrasound Faculty, and former director of resident ultrasound education, he helped develop the first observation unit in the HHC system. His goal with the EM/IM residency program is to continue to uphold its tradition of high quality training while advancing the program for the better. Dr. Schechter recently helped establish an EM/IM/CCM track, only the 6th in the country.

Interests: Education, Observation Medicine, Ultrasound

Dr. Janairo attended medical school at Rutgers NJMS. She is a graduate and former chief resident of our residency program. She completed a Simulation Fellowship at Maimonides before returning to become Assistant Program Director. She hopes to use her simulation training for both residency education and quality improvement initiatives.

Interests: Simulation, Medical Education, Quality Improvement, Global Health, and Health Disparities

Dr. Hassel is a graduate of our EM/IM residency program and one of the Assistant Program Directors for the EM program. He serves as the PGY 3 Class Dean and the Kings County Site Director. He brings over a decade of experience at Kings County to
help create the best clinical experience possible.

Interests: Resident and student mentorship, medical education, board certification preparation

Natassia is a graduate and former Chief Resident of our residency program. She is passionate about resident education and physician wellbeing. As a recent graduate, she is excited to carve out a new role in the leadership team while growing and learning with program.

Interests: Resident Education, Physician Well being, Administration

Dr. Riddhi Desai is a graduate and former chief resident from St. Joseph’s University Medical Center in Paterson, NJ. In 2024, she completed a fellowship in Medical Education at Maimonides, and received a Masters in Medical Education from the University of Pennsylvania. Her passion within education lies in bedside teaching, developing curricula to bridge knowledge gaps, mentorship and recruitment.

Interests: Resuscitation, Women’s professional development, Procedural medicine, Slide design

Dr. Gernsheimer is a former Director of the Lincoln Emergency Medicine Residency Program, and has been instrumental in educating many Emergency Medicine residents, including many of our administrative faculty. He has been teaching and advising medical students at SUNY Downstate since he joined the campus. He has been actively involved in teaching the Clinical Skills and Physical Exam courses to the first and second year students, and in teaching the Emergency Medicine clerkships and electives.

Interests: Geriatric Emergencies, Infectious Disease Emergencies, and Medical Education

Ms. Cole graduated from SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University with her MPH in Health Policy & Management. She has worked in healthcare and higher education and committed to continuously being a liaison for better health and the community. She is honored to be apart of the coordination and management of effective and confident Emergency Medicine leaders. She serves as the backbone of the residency, program, directors, and residents.