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Each month, the Dean’s Office recognizes and celebrates the achievements of our students, faculty, and staff with this summary.


Abdul Alraiyes, MD, FCCP, associate professor of medicine, received the 2022 Distinguished AABIP Service Award from the American Association for Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology (AABIP). The award was given during the AABIP annual meeting in August and recognized Dr. Alraiyes for his “exceptional loyalty, dedication and meritorious service to the organizational mission.”

Dr. Abdul Alraiyes receiving his award


James Nardini

Congratulations to James Nardini, CMS ’23, who has been selected as the recipient of the Midwest Regional Medical Student of the Year Scholarship Award by the American Academy of Emergency Medicine Resident & Student Association. This award recognizes one fourth-year medical student in each region who has demonstrated dedication to the specialty of emergency medicine through leadership, advocacy, research, and academic excellence. We’re proud to have James representing CMS and the whole Midwest!


Joseph Rumenapp

Joseph Rumenapp, CMS ’25, has been awarded the National Health Service Corps Scholarship through the Health Resources and Services Administration. The scholarship supports those going into primary care specialties who will serve in Health Professional Shortage Areas. 

The Health Resources and Services Administration connects primary health care clinicians to people in the United States with limited access to healthcare. Their mission is to build healthy communities by supporting qualified health care providers dedicated to working in areas with limited access to care.


Eliza Hofman

Eliza Hofman, MFA, CMS ’25, presented at the American Psychiatric Association’s Mental Health Services Conference, held October 13-14 in Washington, DC. Her presentation, “Project I See Me _____: Mental Health Literacy through Entertainment,” was a collaboration with Deepak Penesetti, MD, and Natasha Gambhir, DO. The project seeks to show the power of mental health literacy in entertainment and describe its clinical basis in Play Therapy. The goal of Eliza and her collaborators is to drive the national mental health conversation taking place outside of the clinic and make entertainment a public health partner (instead of a risk) in the timely national conversation on mental health.


Dr. Daven Morrison

On October 6, Daven Morrison, MD, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, presented “Addressing the Inevitable, Invisible Psychological Wounds of First Responders” as the keynote presentation at the Kansas City Crime Commission’s “First Responder Mental Health Summit,” a full-day program targeting rising rates of suicide, mental illness, and PTSD in first responders. This event was a combined day of education and training for both police departments and fire services.

Dr. Morrison also authored a paper on burnout titled “Getting Serious About People Over Profit: Addressing Burnout by Establishing Meaning and Connection,” published in the July/August issue of the Physicians' Leadership Journal.


Dr. Hector Rasgado-FloresHector Rasgado-Flores, PhD, professor of physiology and biophysics, co-authored a chapter titled “LMSA Physician/Faculty Advisors: A Critical Partner in Supporting LHS+ Medical Students in Latina/o/x/e, Hispanic or of Spanish Origin+ (LHS+)” in the book Identified Student Leaders in Medicine: More Than 50 years of Presence, Activism, and Leadership (Springer, In Press).

Dr. Rasgado also recently gave the following presentations:

  • "Tracking and Addressing Microaggressions and Discrimination Faced by LHS+ Identified Medical Students," given at the University of New Mexico.
  • “Music as a Therapeutic Tool,” given at the Universidad Guizar y Valencia in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico.
  • "Latino Medical Student Association Physician/Faculty Advisors: A Critical Partner in Supporting UiM Medical Students," given at Morehouse Medical School in Atlanta, GA.
  • "Promoting UiM Students Reaching Higher Education," given at Mundelein High School in Mundelein, IL.

Dr. Henry SackinHenry Sackin, PhD, professor of physiology and piophysics, Center for Proteomics and Molecular Therapeutics, was the first author of a Clinical Cardiology Case Report entitled, “Sustained Suppression of Premature Ventricular Contractions by a Three-Month Pacing Adjustment,” published in the 2022 Cureus Journal of Medical Science. The paper addresses how pacemaker adjustments can be used to mitigate arrhythmia-induced cardiomyopathy in heart failure patients.