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Upstate names four to head clinical departments

 

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Upstate Medical University has named four individuals to lead various clinical departments at the academic medical center. The appointments were made by Upstate Senior Vice President and College of Medicine Dean Steven J. Scheinman, M.D.

John Epling, M.D., M.S.Ed., has been named chair of the department of Family Medicine. Epling succeeds Andrea Manyon, M.D., who accepted a position at the University of Buffalo.

Epling, who joined Upstate in 1999, most recently served as vice chair of the department of Family Medicine. He co-directs Upstate's Preventive Medicine Program, the Studying, Acting, Learning and Teaching Network (SALT-Net, the department's practice-based research network), and serves as medical director of the Central New York Region Office of the New York state Area Health Education Consortium (AHEC). He holds joint appointments as associate professor in the departments of Family Medicine and Public Health and Preventive Medicine.

His research focus is evidence-based medicine, quality improvement and human performance technology.

Among his honors are the Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) Honor Medical Society's Teaching Award, the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine Resident Teaching Award, the Sister Mary Vera Recognition Award from Vera House, and the Gordon Rhode Dewart Prize for Academic Excellence at Brown.

Epling received his medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston (1992) and completed his residency in family practice at the U.S. Naval Hospital, Charleston, S.C. (1994) and in family medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston (1995). He served for two years on the Family Practice Residency faculty at the U.S. Naval Hospital, Jacksonville, Fla. He received the M.S.Ed. degree from Syracuse University (2004).

Epling resides in Manlius.

Robert K. Silverman, M.D., has been named professor and chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Silverman succeeds Shawky Badawy, M.D., who led the department as chair for the past 13 years. Badawy remains a professor of obstetrics and gynecology and director of Upstate's division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility.

Silverman, who joined Upstate's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1988, serves as division chief of Maternal-Fetal Medicine; obstetrical director of the Regional Perinatal program; and director of the Regional Genetics program. He also serves as director of High-Risk Obstetrics and as chair of the Obstetrics/Gynecology Quality Assurance Committee at Crouse Hospital.

A member of numerous professional organizations in the fields of obstetrics and gynecology, maternal-fetal medicine, and genetics, Silverman is a recognized expert in obesity in pregnancy. He serves on many state and national committees and is a peer reviewer for several journals including the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Obstetrics.

Silverman received a bachelor's and master's degree (1979, 1980) from the University of Illinois. He earned his medical degree from the University of Illinois (1984). He completed a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Oakwood Hospital, Dearborn, Mich., (1988), where he served as the obstetrics/gynecology administrative chief resident. He completed a fellowship in maternal-fetal medicine at Upstate Medical University (1990).

Silverman resides in Fayetteville.

Gennady Bratslavsky, M.D., has been named professor and chair of the department of Urology. Bratslavsky succeeds Imad Nsouli, M.D., who has served as interim chair of the department since 2009.

Bratslavsky comes to Upstate from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), where he was a staff clinician with the NCI's Urologic Oncology Branch since 2007. He also served as a clinical fellow in urologic oncology from 2005 to 2007. Since August 2010, he has served as a consultant to the Gastroenterology and Urology Devices Panel of the Medical Devices Advisory Committee for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and as a Steering Committee member of the Genitourinary Oncology Center of Excellence for the Clinical Research Center of the National Institutes of Health.

Bratslavsky has recorded many firsts in complex surgeries for urologic cancer. He is also accomplished in both clinical and laboratory research on urologic cancer, including the first robotic removal at the NCI of the bladder and prostate in a male, as well as anterior exenteration in a female. He has published more than 50 peer-reviewed manuscripts and a dozen chapters and invited editorials.

Bratslavsky received a degree in premedical studies and nursing from Kiev Medical School in Kiev, Ukraine, (1991) and a bachelor's degree from Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y. (1995). He earned his medical degree with distinction in research from Albany Medical College (2000), where he also was a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. He completed his residencies in general surgery and urology at Albany Medical Center Hospital,

Bratslavsky resides in Syracuse.

Lawrence S. Chin, M.D., has been appointed professor and chair of the Department of Neurosurgery. He succeeds David Carter, M.D., who currently serves as interim chair of the department.

Since May of 2006, Chin has served as professor and chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at Boston University School of Medicine and as neurosurgeon-in chief at Boston Medical Center.

He has served as professor of neurosurgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where he directed the neurosurgery residency program (1997 to 2006) and was medical director of the University of Maryland Gamma Knife Center and Maryland Brain Tumor Center (1996-2006).

Chin is the recipient of numerous honors, awards and visiting professorships and has held a range of leadership positions in the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, and other organizations. His work has been published in several peer-reviewed journals and he serves as a reviewer for the Journal of Neurosurgery, Neurosurgery, Neurosurgical Focus, Journal of Neuro-Oncology, Endocrine Practice and World Neurosurgery.

Chin received his bachelor's degree, summa cum laude, (1983) and his medical degree with honors (1987) from the University of Michigan. His post-graduate training in general surgery was completed at the Los Angeles County General Hospital (1988) and in neurological surgery at the University of Southern California (1994). He is a diplomate of the American Board of Neurological Surgery.

Chin lives in Jamesville.

 

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