The People
Our program has always been regarded as a place where friendly and collegial relationships flourish between faculty and house staff.
Pediatric Residency Program Directors
The Department of Pediatrics has brought together a team of committed physicians, educators and mentors to deliver a comprehensive and innovative curriculum that will challenge residents to excel and will address multiple learning styles. This team has developed and will continue to expand the varied and rewarding clinical experiences, the innovative didactic curriculum, an inclusive system for evaluation, and opportunities to develop skills in areas of communication, child advocacy, research, and patient safety. Residents learn from a talented faculty at the bedside, in the classroom, in simulations, and in rich discussions. We are proud of the program and know it will meet the needs of any resident, whether that resident is seeking a career in primary care or looking for an academic position in the subspecialties.
Program Directors
Residency Program Director: Olamide Ajagbe, MD
Olamide Ajagbe, MD
My name is Olamide (Mide) Ajagbe, and I am the new program director for the residency program. I went to medical school in Nigeria and did my pediatric residency and chief residency at Nassau University Medical Center in Long Island, NY. I moved to Syracuse immediately after that. I have worked here at Upstate as a pediatric hospitalist for twelve years and as an associate program director for seven years. I am passionate about improving belonging, diversity, equity, and inclusion in medical education and patient care. I co-chair the Department of Pediatrics DEI committee, care for patients, and teach our medical students, residents, and fellows how to become empathetic, culturally aware and excellent pediatricians at the Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital. I am excited to lead this exceptional program to continue achieving our goals of fostering our diverse residents' professional growth and lifelong learning while providing compassionate and comprehensive patient and family-centered care to our diverse community!
Vice Chair for Medical Education: Ann S. Botash, MD
Ann S. Botash, MD
Dr. Botash is from New York and attended medical school at SUNY Upstate Medical University. She was pediatric resident and chief resident at SUNY. In 1991, she became Co-Director of the Pediatric Residency Program, currently she serves as the Vice-Chair for Medical Education in the Department. She also served as our interim chair in 2018-2019. Her clinical expertise is in General Pediatrics and Child Abuse, where she is a national figure. Locally she directs the McMahon/Ryan Child Advocacy Site and nationally serves as the Vice Chair and President Elect of the Helfer Society. She directs the Child Advocacy Training program and training in Systems Based Practice. Nationally she has given numerous presentations and workshops on Child Abuse and developing Child Advocacy Programs and has authored numerous publications on this topic.
Associate Residency Program Director: Heather Wasik, MD
Dr. Wasik is our newest associate program director. She is a pediatric nephrologist who started working here at Upstate in 2019. She originally from Buffalo, NY. She attended medical school at the University of Pittsburgh and then spent the next six years in Baltimore, MD completing her pediatric residency, a fellowship in Pediatric Nephrology, and her MHS in Clinical Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins. Her academic work involves medical education, quality improvement initiatives aimed at decreasing complications in patients receiving chronic dialysis, and registry-based research focused on improving outcomes in children with chronic kidney disease.
Associate Residency Program Director: Manika Suryadevara, MD
Dr. Suryadevara attended medical school and completed her pediatric residency, chief residency, and infectious disease fellowship here at SUNY Upstate Medical University. She has been a pediatric infectious disease attending here on faculty since 2012, spending the first few years of her career also providing care as a pediatric hospitalist. Her academic work includes the design, development, and implementation of an immunization advocacy program with a focus on improving provider vaccine confidence, communications strategies, and delivery practices, with an ultimate goal of protecting the community from vaccine-preventable diseases..
Residency Program Administrator: Patty Mondore, MA
Ms. Mondore is from the Upstate, New York. She received her BA from Houghton College and her Masters from Syracuse University in Music Education. She taught music (K-12) in a public school for a few years after graduating. In her spare time she is also a prolific writer (nine books currently in print, and a columnist for the Thousand Islands Sun newspaper), and a singer/song writer/keyboard player with several music CD's and music videos of her own inspirational songs. She also loves to explore the amazing natural beauty of CNY either by hiking or from her kayak. She has been the Pediatric Residency Administrator here at Upstate since 1990 and is the creator of Patty's Pediatric Page. Patty also uses her writing abilities to edit the Pediatric Crier, the departmental newsletter.
Associate Residency Program Coordinator: Aubrey Mariani, MA
Ms. Mariani is from Syracuse, New York. She graduated from Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Arts as a double major in Political Science and Psychology and then went on to earn a Master of Arts in Child Advocacy & Policy from Montclair State University. She spent nearly a decade in the nonprofit sector as a caseworker, behavior specialist and care manager. Along with assisting with program coordination for the Pediatric Residency Program, she is the Program Coordinator for the Pediatric Hospital Medicine Fellowship Program. In her spare time Aubrey enjoys travelling, being with family, hiking and activities with her pup Buddy.