People

Class of 2011

Garreth Biegun, MD

University of Massachusetts Medical School

My true passions in life come in the following order: (1) Debbie (spouse) & family (2) Medicine and (3) Skiing. Many people would argue that skiing is second, but I wouldn't be down here in RI if that was true. Though I have lived outside of New England (Ithaca for college; Alta for a winter; Australia for 6 months; South America for 4 months), I keep finding my way back. When I'm not working I spend a lot of time in the mountains (VT especially); I skied 60 days in my fourth year of med school, I'm on the volunteer ski patrol at Sugarbush, and I spend nearly every vacation in the back country either in VT or out west. In the summer I run, road bike, mountain bike, rock climb, and now Debbie takes me sailing. In medicine my area of interest is wilderness medicine, though I have dabbled in research and other academic pursuits. I guess I also like to teach: I have helped teach wilderness medicine courses and am a certified CPR instructor. I'm really happy to be here at Brown... even if it is farther from the mountains. The three things that made me fall in love with Brown were: (1) that it's the only big hospital in town so we see the full spectrum of society; (2) it's a rigorous program where you can truly learn to handle the busiest of EDs; (3) everyone down here seems extraordinarily friendly!

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Jamieson Cohn, MD

Boston University School of Medicine

I grew up in Wisconsin, go Badgers. I moved to DC to attend GW for undergrad. Went to Beantown for Medschool and have a been a Redsox fan ever since. My wife is psychiatry resident at Brown and this is a picture of us in Tierra del fuego, Argentina.

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John Haran, MD

University of Massachusetts Medical School

I am John. I grew up wicked far away in Worcester, Mass and graduated from UMASS medical school. That is where I met my wife Francesca who is also an emergency medicine resident here at Brown. We love to travel and in medical school we spent two months in Ecuador and Peru where the photo is taken at the summit of Mount Pisco in central Peru at 18,400 feet. In the hospital my research focuses on immune responses to respiratory infections. Out of the hospital we love hiking, camping, skiing, going to the Pats/Celtics/Red Sox games, and hanging out at the beach. More recently our son Wesley has been taking up all of our free time and seems to be growing nicely into a linebacker for the Patriots, at least that is what I hope.

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Ellen Hsu, MD

University of Connecticut School of Medicine

I grew up in Andover, MA, a little suburb outside of Boston best known for its prep school and being the hometown of the IRS. I love competitive sports and my favorites are basketball, volleyball, and squash. It's been a lot of fun exploring Providence with my husband and I'm trying to get him to frequent some of RI's beautiful bike paths with me. I have a burgeoning interest in international emergency medicine and computerized decision support.

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Katherine Kimbrell, MD

Harvard Medical School

I grew up in Virginia and went to college at UVA, where I somehow managed to get an education despite the fact that I seem to only remember having fun. After graduating, I took a year off to travel and spent six months working in Lusaka, Zambia for an HIV public health research project. After my year of adventuring, I moved to Boston for medical school, where much to my surprise I discovered that I actually like snow! During my short time in Providence I’ve found great restaurants, awesome bike trails, and great beaches nearby, not to mention my amazing fellow interns! When I’m not working, I’m cultivating my patio garden, cooking, hanging out with my husband Kenny and our cat Mo, or planning my next trip out of the country.

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Victoria Leytin, MD

University of Connecticut School of Medicine

I was born in Russia, and moved to NYC at a young age with my family. College took me to (relatively) upstate NY, then medical school to Connecticut. Now, finding myself so near the water in Rhode Island; my desire is to pick up surfing as well as to continue to hike, run, and ski any chance I get. I also love to travel – the picture was taken during my (unofficial) day-long stint as a snake charmer in Queensland, Australia - that particular snake I call Fluffy. My hope is to be able to spend some time working in a Latin American country, as the Spanish I picked up from two months of elective time in Costa Rica is quickly fading. I can’t wait to explore Rhode Island, and am excited to be part of a program with such incredible faculty and co-residents!

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Lindsay MacConaghy, MD

University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry

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Katherine MacElhannon, MD

Emory University School of Medicine

I'm a newly transplanted Southerner learning to love life in New England. I've traded water skiing for snow skiing, orange picking for apple picking, the Florida Keys for Martha's Vineyard, the Altanta Braves for the Boston Red Sox, and coffee and chicory for apple cider. Although the latter is really more of a supplement than a substitution. My newest development (as of about 5 minutes ago when I read Garreth's blurb) is an aspiration to learn how to sail - G can you put in the word to Debbie for me? So far, Rhode Island Hospital has been an amazing place to study medicine. The patient population is sick and diverse, the faculty are committed to teaching and have a wide array of research interests, and the residents are a really fun group to work with!

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Matthew Siket, MD

University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey/New Jersey Medical School

I'm new to Rhode Island, but not New England. Here's my story...I grew up in Yarmouth, Maine, a small coastal town just north of Portland. After four years at Syracuse University, I moved to Hoboken, NJ so that I could work in a gene therapy lab in Manhattan. Shortly thereafter I became a student at the New Jersey Medical School in Newark, NJ. Now I come to Rhode Island with my wife of one year, Meghan, who is an attorney at a Providence law firm. We love all that Providence has to offer, and the ease of access to all the activities we cherish like hiking, biking, skiing, and kayaking. We've settled in to a home in Cranston with our new puppy Chloe and couldn't be more pleased with our decision to move to RI.

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Devin Sokolowski, MD

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

I grew up in upstate New York and received a degree in piano performance at Ithaca College. I realized I loved making and performing music, but I needed more of the human connection and the sciences in my future profession, so medicine settled into the perfect career path for me. I completed med school at the University of Pittsburgh, where I realized emergency medicine in specific was the perfect choice for me. I came to Providence because of the great small city diversions (it has a heaping of personality, activities and delightful food), the amazing diversity and number of patients seen through our emergency department, the people (the faculty, residents and staff are some of the most brilliant, warm, and fun people I’ve met), and the program itself. I feel like this program is an ideal mix of great clinical experiences, strong teaching, and lends me the opportunity to pursue my own special interests in the field. Outside of medicine, my favorite thing is playing music - I still need to work out how to navigate residency successfully and be in a superstar band. I’m also quite passionate about skiing, biking, climbing, video gaming, hitting the beach, unwinding with friends in pubs, and every now and then, reading non-medical books.

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Erik Wang, MD

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine

I grew up in Massachusetts, found my way to college at Dartmouth, and then worked as an EMT in Connecticut before going to med school in Nashville.  I love spending time outdoors with my wife Brianne, especially hiking, trail running, road/mountain biking, and snowshoeing.  In Providence, we have found a great place to live with plenty of diversions from residency life.  There is a great vibe from the residents and faculty here, and I'm always amazed by the talent around me.  Brown is a great program to be a part of and a truly awesome place to learn Emergency Medicine.

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Matthew Zuckerman, MD

University of Michigan Medical School

I'm Matt Zuckerman. Originally from Arizona, land of the dry heat, the Grand Canyon, the bolo tie. It was there that I met my wife. Deciding that Arizona was too hot, we spent the next four years in Michigan, braving cold winters and hot football rivalries. We continued the Eastward migration, coming to Rhode Island for residency.

When I get out of the hospital I like to relax at home with my wife, but Providence is also a great town for going out to restaurants and taking in some of the local culture. We like living on the East Side because it's so close to downtown and the river, but also near many of the shops and restaurants around Brown/RISD. Weekend trips to the beach or Boston are always a great way to explore the area also.

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