This year, 64 Katz School faculty members earned promotion to a higher academic rank, including 34 promoted to associate professor and 28 to full professor. Three tenured faculty members were promoted to full professor, while two additional faculty members earned tenure. 

Goldberg connected these achievements to Temple’s distinctive sense of purpose. “At Temple, we have grit…and we have heart. We are a Temple Family,” she said. “We stay for the mission, and we stay for each other.” 

That commitment has particular significance at Katz, this year celebrating its 125-year history of preparing physicians and other health professionals to serve communities, advance medicine and improve health. Faculty, Goldberg noted, are the people who ensure that legacy continues. 

“You are truly the keepers of the mission,” she said. “And it is through you that our students, residents and fellows carry it forward—into their work and their communities.” 

The same spirit is evident in the experiences faculty create beyond the classroom and clinic. Goldberg credited faculty with fostering the extracurricular programs, activities and traditions that help students deepen their understanding of what it means to be “Temple Made.” 

The evening also recognized 12 faculty members entering retirement, marking the conclusion of careers that collectively represent decades of service to the school and its communities. 

Among them was Ray Moyer, MD, from the department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, whose 50-year Temple career has included caring for generations of patients, student-athletes and Temple students while mentoring future physicians and athletic trainers. 

Goldberg described the retirees’ contributions to students, patients, science, healthcare and the North Philadelphia community as transformative. Their influence, she said, has left “an indelible legacy” at the school. 

The celebration also recognized three tenured faculty members who have been promoted to full professors, and one faculty member receiving tenure: Conception Estaras, MD, in the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, who was promoted to associate professor with tenure.

For Goldberg, however, the evening was ultimately about something larger than individual accomplishments. Promotion, tenure and retirement may mark different stages of a faculty career, but each represents a contribution to the continuing story of the Katz School.

“I talk a lot about Katz’s bold and bright future,” she said. “You are carrying Katz forward into that future, with your drive to serve, discover and lead.” 

And that, she suggested, is the lasting power of a faculty community: the knowledge, traditions and examples passed from one generation to the next. 

“The positive change our students create begins with you,” Goldberg said. 

Promoted to Associate Professor 
Sean Baskin, DO — Anesthesiology 
Eric DeVeaux, MD — Anesthesiology 
Paige McLaughlin, MD — Anesthesiology 
David Paul, DO — Anesthesiology 
Yuan Gao, MD — Biomedical Education and Data Science 
Kathleen Keefe, PhD — Biomedical Education and Data Science 
Brian Tuohy, PhD — Center for Health Justice and Bioethics 
Jordan Becker, MD — Emergency Medicine 
Carly Blick, MD — Emergency Medicine 
John Cernetich, MD — Emergency Medicine 
Nevin McGinley, MD — Emergency Medicine 
Rita McKeever, MD — Emergency Medicine 
Lauren Murphy, MD — Emergency Medicine 
Michelle Romeo, MD — Emergency Medicine 
Jennifer Rosenbaum, MD — Emergency Medicine 
Jeffrey Smietana, MD — Medicine/Cardiology 
Paul Guido, MD — Medicine/Endocrinology 
Rajiv Bhuta, MD — Medicine/Gastroenterology 
Rebecca Kim, MD — Medicine/GIM 
Hirva Bakeri, MD — Medicine/Hospitalist 
Alexander Chau, MD — Medicine/Hospitalist 
Nicole Desai, DO — Medicine/Hospitalist 
Shahnaz Duymun, DO — Medicine/Hospitalist 
Vikranth Induru, MD — Medicine/Hospitalist 
Paul Leone, MD — Medicine/Hospitalist 
Yusuf Rahman, DO — Medicine/Hospitalist 
Stephanie Spivack, MD — Medicine/Infectious Diseases 
Enid Sun, MD — Medicine/Rheumatology 
Xin Zhou, MD — Neurology 
Isabel Eisner, MD — Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences 
Mehri Mollaee, MD — Pathology and Laboratory Medicine 
Amanda Gavin, MD — Psychiatry and Behavioral Science 
Syed Andrabi, MD — Radiology 
Jeffrey Rosenblum, MD — Urology 

Promoted to Professor 
Amanda Hargrove, MD — Anesthesiology 
Jon Livelsberger, DO — Anesthesiology 
Yuliana Salamanca-Padilla, MD — Anesthesiology 
Larissa Salas, DO — Anesthesiology 
Ryan Gibbons, MD — Emergency Medicine 
Harry Goett, MD — Emergency Medicine 
Maura Sammon, MD — Emergency Medicine 
Kraftin Schreyer, MD — Emergency Medicine 
Cherie Lisa Vaz Wicks, MD — Medicine/Endocrinology 
Ajaykumar Rao, MD — Medicine/Endocrinology 
Jill Allenbaugh, MD — Medicine/GIM 
Sam Stern, MD — Medicine/Hospitalist 
Daniel Mueller, MD — Medicine/Infectious Diseases 
Michael Mullen, MD — Neurology 
Leslie Barnes, MD — Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine 
Ryan Schreiter, DO — Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine 
Mohamed Alsammak, MD — Pathology and Laboratory Medicine 
Ilona Duffy, MD — Pediatrics/Primary Care 
Konstantin Chernukha, MD — Radiology 
Mansoor Khan, MD — Radiology 
Rohit Soans, MD — Surgery/General 
Zoe Maher, MD — Surgery/Trauma 
Sean Duffy, MD — TMS-Pulmonary 
Rohit Gupta, MBBS — TMS-Pulmonary 
Parth Rali, MBBS — TMS-Pulmonary 

Tenured, Promoted to Professor 
Liselotte Jensen, PhD — Microbiology, Immunology & Inflammation 
Ilker Sariyer, PhD — Microbiology, Immunology & Inflammation 
Umadevi Sajjan, PhD — Microbiology, Immunology & Inflammation 

Awarded Tenure 
Concepcion Estaras, PhD — Cardiovascular Sciences (Promoted to Associate Professor with tenure) 
Erica Golemis, PhD — Cancer and Cellular Biology 

Retired 
Mary F. Morrison, MD, MS, FACP — Psychiatry — 18 years of service 
Judith Litvin (Daniels), PhD — Biomedical Education and Data Science — 34 years of service Steven G. Kelsen, MD — Thoracic Medicine and Surgery, Pulmonary — 39 years of service David J. Fish, MD — Anesthesiology — 10 years of service Gerald H. Sterling, PhD — Biomedical Education and Data Science — 36 years of service Sanjiv Dewan, MD — General Surgery — 13 years of service 
Kevin Williams, MD — Cardiovascular Sciences — 17 years of service 
Philip Cohen, MD — Medicine, Rheumatology — 12 years of service 
Steven Berney, MD — Medicine, Rheumatology — 47 years of service 
Ray Moyer, MD — Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine — 50 years of service 
Ellen Tedaldi, MD, MACP — Medicine, General Internal Medicine — 39 years of service Jonathan Anolik, MD — Medicine, Endocrinology — 11 years of service