PIHPS: The Professionals In Health Podcast Series

Dr. Ramanathan received his M.D. from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and completed his internship in general surgery and residency in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at Johns Hopkins. Upon completion of his residency, he received additional fellowship training in advanced endoscopic sinus and minimally invasive skull base surgery at Johns Hopkins.

He maintains a very busy clinical practice primarily focused on complex revision endoscopic sinus surgery, endoscopic approaches to the orbit (DCR), and the endoscopic management of sinonasal and skull base tumors including inverted papilloma, esthesioneuroblastoma, and pituitary tumors. 

As a surgeon-scientist, Dr. Ramanathan also directs an National Institutes of Health R01 funded laboratory to study the role of air pollution in causing chronic rhinosinusitis. He is the recipient of numerous prestigious research awards and grants. He has published over 70 peer reviewed articles, reviews, and book chapters and is frequently invited to speak about his research at national and international meetings.

Dr. Clarence Lam is a state senator representing District 12 (Baltimore and Howard Counties) in the Maryland General Assembly, where he serves on the Senate Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs Committee. He is currently one of only three doctors in the Maryland legislature. He previously served in the Maryland General Assembly as a state delegate from 2015-2019 and was assigned to the House Appropriations Committee and the Environment & Transportation Committee.

He serves on the faculty of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health as an assistant scientist in the Department of Health Policy and Management. He leads the school’s preventive medicine residency program as its program director and practices clinically as the medical director of occupational medicine at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.

Dr. Lam is a graduate of Case Western Reserve University where he completed his Bachelor of Arts in political science and biology. He earned his medical degree from the University of Maryland and his Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University. He completed his residency training at Johns Hopkins, where he also served as chief resident, and is board-certified in preventive medicine.

Lauren Small is a writer and novelist with a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature. She holds an appointment as assistant professor in pediatrics in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she directs AfterWards, a program in narrative medicine.

In addition to narrative medicine, Small has strong interests in social justice and the history of psychiatry. She has published two novels and is co-author of a handbook on writing. She has also written numerous articles, essays, short stories, and profiles. She has contributed to the “On Being” blog of American Public Radio, is co-author of two research articles on narrative medicine, and is a Pushcart Prize nominee.

Small has presented her work at numerous regional and national conferences. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

Dr. Christmas is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Divisions of Geriatric Medicine and General Internal Medicine at Johns Hopkins. She is a practicing geriatrician, focusing her clinical work in primary care of the elderly. She is a clinician educator and the director of the Primary Care Leadership Track at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, an avid runner, and the proud mother of two amazing teens.

Dr. Rachel Aaron is an Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. She is a clinical psychologist by training and specializes in Rehabilitation Psychology. Dr. Aaron works with patients who have chronic pain and other medical conditions (chronic disease, illness, injury) that impact physical functioning to live a value-driven life despite impairment. Her research, which has been funded by prestigious awards and national fellowships, examines the role of emotional factors, such as emotion regulation, that contribute to the development and maintenance of chronic pain. Her research also involves developing and testing chronic pain interventions using novel approaches and design.

Rachel Hisim, CRNP, is a nurse practitioner working in the Johns Hopkins Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.  

Robert Wardlow is a graduating MD/PhD Candidate at JHUSOM. He will be matching into Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery. He is originally from southern New Jersey and earned his B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).

Marisa M. Clifton M.D, F.A.C.S. is an Assistant Professor of Urology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and serves as the Urology Residency Program Director and the Director of Robotic Education. She is also the Vice Chair for Safety and Quality for the Department of Urology. She is Director of Women’s Health at the Brady Urological Institute and is fellowship trained and board certified in Urology with subspecialty certification in Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery.

Dr. Clifton received her medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and completed her residency in urology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. She completed her fellowship in Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery at The Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. Her research interests include medical education and clinical outcomes after surgery.

Dr. Brian Holly is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiology and Division of Interventional Radiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He completed his medical school and residency at the University of Maryland Medical Center and later completed a fellowship in Interventional Radiology at Johns Hopkins. He is the Director of the Johns Hopkins IVC Filter Clinic and the Program Director for the Residency in Vascular and Interventional Radiology. His current interests include vascular malformations, venous thromboembolic disease, complex IVC filter retrievals, adrenal vein sampling, prostate artery embolization and clinical education in Interventional Radiology.

Dr. Chisolm attended the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) for her undergraduate degree, where she studied Visual Arts, with a concentration in Film. She studied medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and completed residency training in general psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM).

Board-certified in both general psychiatry and addiction medicine, Dr. Chisolm has over 3 decades of clinical experience in these fields. In addition, she has served as PI or co-investigator on multiple nationally funded research projects, and has published over 80 scientific, clinical, and medical education papers on psychiatric disorders and humanistic medical practice, as well as articles (and one book) on the use of social media in medicine, several book chapters, and a psychiatric textbook.

Dr. Chisolm is currently the Vice Chair for Education for the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at JHUSOM. Last year, she completed a fellowship in art museum-based health professions education at the Harvard Macy Institute, and is currently piloting an elective at the Baltimore Museum of Art for fourth year medical students at Johns Hopkins focused on the ‘big questions’: what it means to be human, to be a physician, and to lead a good life (for doctors and patients). Dr. Chisolm has also developed an app (Bedside Education in the Art of Medicine [BEAM]), which allows busy clinical teachers to use paintings and poems to reflect on the human experience of illness with their patients and learners in the hospital.