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Upstate announces new faculty appointments

SYRACUSE, N.Y.— Upstate Medical University has announced the following new faculty appointments:

Sam Benjamin, M.D., has joined the Department of Medicine as assistant professor. Benjamin earned his medical degree from Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic, in 2002. He completed his internal medicine residency training in 2009 at Upstate Medical University, where he also served as chief resident. He completed a medical oncology fellowship at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba, this past summer. His areas of interest are breast and genitourinary cancers. Benjamin resides in Syracuse.

Avrille George, M.D., has joined the Department of Medicine as assistant professor. Dr. George earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Brooklyn College in 2001 and a medical degree from Ross University School of Medicine in the West Indies in 2006. She completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at SUNY Downstate in 2009. This year, she completed a fellowship in infectious diseases, also at SUNY Downstate. George resides in North Syracuse.

Haider Khadim, M.B.B.S., has joined the Department of Medicine as assistant professor. Dr. Khadim received his M.B.B.S. degree from King Edward Medical College in Lahore, Pakistan, in 2002. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Upstate Medical University in 2008, where he also completed a fellowship in hematology/oncology in 2011. Khadim, who is fluent in several languages, conducts research on basic cancer biology, general hematology and benign and malignant hematology, including leukemias and lymphomas requiring bone marrow or stem cell transplant. Khadim resides in Cicero.

Rakesh Vijay Khanna, M.D., FRCS, has joined the Department of Urology as assistant professor. Dr. Khanna earned his medical degree from McGill University, Montreal, in 2003, where he also completed a residency in urology in 2008. He completed a fellowship in minimally invasive and robotic surgery at the Cleveland Clinic in 2011. Khanna resides in Jamesville.

Kris Kitisin, M.D., has joined the Upstate Cancer Center as assistant professor of surgery, with specialty in hepatobiliary surgery and liver tumors. Kitisin received his medical degree from Georgetown University Medical School in 2002, where he also completed internships and residencies in general surgery. He completed a fellowship in surgical oncology and hepato-pancreato-biliary at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in 2011, where he also served as a clinical instructor. Kitisin resides in Manlius.

Barbara Robinson, M.D., has joined the Upstate Cancer Center as assistant professor of surgery, specializing in thoracic malignancies, including lung and esophageal tumors. Robinson comes to Upstate from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, where she was an advanced fellow of cardiac surgery, specializing in adult congenital, and minimally invasive surgery. She also served as an instructor of thoracic surgery at the hospital and Harvard Medical School. Robinson received her medical degree from Stanford University Medical School in 1990 and her master's in physiology and biomedical sciences at the Mayo Clinic in 2000, where she completed her residency in general surgery. Robinson resides in Syracuse.

Rajan Khanna, M.D., has joined the Department of Medicine as a hospitalist. Khanna earned his MBBS (bachelor of medicine and bachelor of surgery) at the Pt. Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Rohtak, India, in 2003, where he also served as a house officer in the intensive care unit in 2004. Dr. Khanna was a physician in the Department of Internal Medicine at Deep Medical Center in Fairdabad, India, from 2005 to 2006 and a physician in the Department of Cardiology at Fortis Escorts Hospital and Research Institute in Faridabad, India, in 2007. He completed his residency in internal medicine categorical program at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center in New York in 2010, where he also served as chief resident in internal medicine. Khanna resides in Camillus.

Dorothy C. Pan, M.D., has joined the Department of Medicine as assistant professor. Pan received her medical degree from Weill Medical College of Cornell University in 1995. She completed her residency in internal medicine at Montefiore Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1998 and a fellowship in medical oncology and hematology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in 2001. Her research interests have included non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. Pan resides in Syracuse.

Michael Poiesz, M.D., has joined the Department of Medicine as assistant professor. Poiesz earned his medical degree from Upstate Medical University in 2005. He completed his internal medicine residency training in 2008 at Tufts Medical Center and a hematology/oncology fellowship at New York University Medical Center in 2011. Poiesz' research is in gastrointestinal, breast cancers and viral-related malignancies. Poiesz resides in Tully.

Tasaduq Fazili, M.D., has joined the Department of Medicine as clinical assistant professor, specializing in infectious diseases. He served previously as a clinical assistant professor of medicine at Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City. He also served as an infectious disease physician at Texas County Memorial Hospital in Houston, Mo., and at Phelps County Regional Medical Center in Rolla, Mo., from 2002 to 2007. Dr. Fazili earned his medical degree from the University of Kashmir in Srinagar, Kashmir, in 1994. He completed his residency in internal medicine at SUNY Buffalo in 1999 and a fellowship in infectious diseases at Albany Medical Center in 2001.

Bhaskara Reddy Madhira, M.D., has joined the Department of Medicine as a hospitalist and clinical assistant professor. Madhira earned bachelor's degrees in medicine and surgery (M.B.B.S.) at Rangaraya Medical College in Kakinada, India, in 2004. He is pursuing a master's degree in biology at Missouri State University, in Springfield, Mo. He was a research fellow in kidney transplant at the University of California, Los Angeles, from 2007 to 2008, and completed his residency in internal medicine at Rochester General Hospital in 2011.

Birendra Prasad Sah, M.D., has joined the Department of Medicine as clinical assistant professor, specializing in pulmonary and critical care. Sah earned a medical degree from P. Koirala Institute of Health Science in Dharan, Napal, in 2001. He completed his residency in internal medicine (2008) and a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care (2011) at Upstate Medical University. Previously he worked as a resident in the Emergency Department and Intensive Care Unit at Patan Hospital in Lalitpur, Nepal, and as a resident at Kathmandu Hospital Pvt. Ltd, in Kathmandu, Nepal.

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