Resident and Fellow Bios
PGY-1
Kathryn Brimanson, MD – she/her
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Katie spent her undergraduate and medical school years in Florida. Her favorite class in undergrad was a course on Jane Austen. In med school, histology was her favorite class. She loves pathology for the ability to work behind the scenes while having a large impact on patient care. Future goals include becoming a medical examiner and living in Edinburgh, Scotland. Katie chose our program because of the wonderful people in the department. She’s thrilled to be in Baltimore and is excited about the Maryland Renaissance Festival held each fall. More importantly, she has two pets, a dog named Sirius and a cat named Remus. Her favorite food is pasta, and in her free time, she enjoys sewing her own clothes, crocheting, reading and writing.
Miranda James, MD – she/her
Nova Southeastern University
Miranda grew up in Melbourne, Florida. She attended the University of Florida for undergrad and majored in chemical engineering before heading off to Nova Southeastern University for medical school. She discovered pathology when shadowing pathologists in undergrad and has been interested in the specialty since then. She thinks she is interested in GI pathology or hematopathology for fellowship, but is also open-minded. She’s excited to be living outside of Florida for the first time and getting to experience real seasons in Baltimore. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, running, movies and museums.
Elisa Wang, MD – she/her
Stony Brook School of Medicine
Elisa was born in Toronto, Canada and was raised in New York. Her family has since moved to New Jersey. Elisa first discovered a love of brightly colored tissue stains from her father, who is a practicing surgical pathologist. She went to Wellesley College where she studied biology and Chinese; afterwards, she did a short stint in a cancer genomics lab. She then went on to Stony Brook University for medical school, where she took every possible opportunity to escape the OR and go to surgical pathology. Elisa would like to one day become a type of surgical pathologist, where she can continue to look at pretty stains. In her free time, she enjoys trying to recreate her mother's cooking, watching niche YouTube video essays and min-maxing cozy games.
Nate Williams, MD – he/him
West Virginia University School of Medicine
Nate is known for his love of sports and enjoying the occasional dad joke. Hailing from West Virginia, he brings a lighthearted charm to his work. When not at his microscope, Dr. Williams can be found playing basketball. He has the impressive ability to dunk on a 9-foot hoop! He also enjoys fishing (he once caught a turtle by accident, but don't worry, he threw it back) and engaging in strategic chess games. He's a movie enthusiast, particularly fond of The Shawshank Redemption and gangster films like Scarface and Goodfellas. He infuses his work with a winning blend of sports, laughter and West Virginia charm.
Justine Yu, MD – she/her
University of Maryland School of Medicine
Justine grew up in Southern Maryland with aspirations of being a scientist. She loved the lab life so much that she completed a BS in biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins, a PhD in bioengineering at the University of Maryland, College Park (developing and 3D-printing biomaterials for tissue regeneration) and finished medical school at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Now that she has finally graduated, she is excited to spend even more time in academia studying pathology. When she’s not handling very tiny and/or squelchy things, she enjoys going to museums, PC gaming and building upon her expanding Lego collection.
PGY-2
Lo Tamburro, MD – they/them
Western Michigan University
Lo grew up in the metro Detroit area. They did undergrad at the University of Michigan, studying microbiology and medical anthropology, then went straight into med school at Western Michigan University Homer Stryker MD School of Medicine, where they took on many extracurriculars but still managed to graduate. Now they're in residency and hoping to do a forensics fellowship because of their mild fascination with death and love of all things public health. Lo hopes to do some research on the intersections of queer health and pathology at some point, as well. In their free time, they enjoy exploring local cemeteries, spending all their money on concerts and theatre, rewatching Fleabag for the millionth time and chilling with their cats — Arya and Felix.
Andreah De La Hoz, MD – they/them
University of Louisville School of Medicine
Andy was born and raised in Maryland and is thrilled to come back home for residency training. As a part of a military family, they have lived all over the country, including Kentucky, Tennessee, Florida, Louisiana and briefly California. At the age of 10, Andy discovered pathology when their mother was studying for a nursing career and took them along to a general pathology class. Andy was instantly hooked and began a lifelong passion for pathology. They studied pathology in their free time and worked in toxicology and forensics labs. Andy is interested in forensic pathology but is keeping other options open. Outside of medicine, Andy's passions include real football (Liverpool fan), music (loves David Bowie), anime and manga, and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
Rhaya Murray, DO – she/her
Western University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine
Rhaya grew up in Redlands, California—the home of good citrus and breakfast burritos. She went to college at Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, TX, where they erroneously believe that breakfast tacos reign supreme. After completing her degrees in biology and chemistry, she went back to California and worked as a lab manager for a respiratory physiology and neurobiology research lab at Loma Linda University, CA. She stayed in sunny SoCal and went to Western University of Health Sciences for medical school. Now she's in Baltimore desperately trying to find decent tacos. Rhaya is considering being a GI pathologist but might change her mind to anything else anatomic pathology related. When she's not at the microscope, Rhaya can be found swing dancing and knitting and wearing in vintage clothes.
Catherine Lee, MD – she/her
Northeast Ohio Medical University
Cat was raised in Dublin, Ohio, home of the Memorial Golf Tournament. In high school she enjoyed golfing and dancing. She matriculated into a combined undergraduate and medical school program at the University of Akron and Northeast Ohio Medical University and discovered the pathology field during a surgical pathology rotation. In her free time, she enjoys exploring new restaurants and coffee spots, drinking boba, traveling the world, attending concerts, watching TikToks and spending time with family and friends. She has a pet Sheba Enu named Russet.
PGY-3
Leah Benton, MD – she/her
University of Tennessee College of Medicine
Leah was born and raised in Georgia. She received a BS in biology from Emory University, followed by an MS in biochemistry and molecular and cellular biology at Georgetown University. She attended medical school at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC). She is interested in surgical pathology and hematopathology. In her free time, Leah enjoys hiking, cycling, listening to music, crabbing, playing basketball and attempting to learn how to rollerblade.
Sarah Helman, MD – Chief Resident – she/her
University of Maryland School of Medicine
Sarah is known as a "Maryland for lifer." She grew up in Elkridge, MD and received an undergraduate degree in cell biology and molecular genetics from the University of Maryland, College Park. After graduating, she continued her tour of Maryland with a 2-year post-bac at the NIH in Bethesda, MD, studying T-cell immunotherapies for HPV-associated cancers. Then she attended medical school at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, where she fell in love with pathology and decided to stay for residency. Sarah is interested in pursuing fellowship training in hematopathology. In their free time, Sarah and her fiancé, Connor, enjoy walking around a nearby lake, hiking, sharing their enthusiastic love of Maryland and snuggling with their cat, Samwell (of House Tarly).
Autumn LaRocque, MD – Chief Resident – she/her
Quillen College of Medicine at East Tennessee State University
Autumn was raised in western North Carolina but has since lived all over the country—Monterey, CA was her favorite location to date. She attended Wellesley College as a neuroscience major, and though she intended to go straight into medical school, she instead took a seven-year detour working at Starbucks. She then joined the U.S. Army Reserve, where she still serves today, and eventually attended medical school at East Tennessee State University. Her favorite part of Baltimore is Camden Yards—home of the Baltimore Orioles! In her free time, she can be found with her family at any of the sports bars in the suburbs, watching games and eating cauliflower wings. After residency, she hopes to run a coffee shop with her family and grow all of her own food hydroponically; so far, only lettuce and basil seem to be working out.
Pauline Shih, MD – she/her
University of Maryland School of Medicine
Pauline grew up in Clarksville, Maryland. She graduated from Miami University of Ohio, where she received degrees in biology and medical laboratory science before attending medical school at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. She is interested in general surgical pathology and enjoys seeing a wide variety of cases. In her spare time, she takes runs around the Inner Harbor with her fiancé, plays field hockey and hikes. Her favorite parts about Baltimore include the food and the proximity to her family.
PGY-4
Kavi Patel, MD – he/him
Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California
Kavi grew up in London and then hopped across the pond to Southern California at the age of 8. He graduated from UCLA summa cum laude before heading over to USC for medical school, where he was captain of the quidditch and bocce ball teams. Following a brief stint as an internal medicine resident, he decided to pursue a career in pathology. His professional interests include cytology and surgical pathology. In his free time, he enjoys visiting museums—the Museum of Bad Art in Somerville, Massachusetts is his favorite; live music—jazz, soul and world; and cultural attractions and hiking.
Kathryn Rice, MD – she/her
University of Cincinnati School of Medicine
Kathryn grew up in 7 midwestern states. As an undergrad, she was a math major at Transylvania University in Kentucky and spent her college summers working as a tech in a molecular genetics lab. She enrolled in med school at the University of Cincinnati and was involved in pediatrics research at Cincinnati Children's. Her professional interests are in forensics and pediatrics, as well as medical education. Some of her hobbies include music, home improvement, gardening, baking and painting. Future plan include moving to a small farm with a fixer-upper house and planting a giant vegetable garden.
Erika Wheeler, MD – she/her
Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University
Erika grew up in the small town of Hopkinton, Massachusetts, where the Boston Marathon starts. Though she never has run in the marathon (yet), she did pursue track and field through high school and into college, where she was a heptathlete for the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays. After majoring in neuroscience and having no idea what she wanted to do with her life, she took a job as a lab technologist in a JHU biophysics lab doing science she only superficially understood. Finding this comfortable but unfulfilling, she was mentored to go to medical school and traveled farther down the East Coast to Florida Atlantic University Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine. Here she struggled to decide between pathology and surgery, ultimately choosing surgery, again through mentorship. This brought Erika back up to Baltimore for a general surgery residency at Sinai Hospital. During her third year, she panicked because she realized she didn't want to do surgery for the rest of her life. She then was strongly reminded of her interest in forensics and pathology and, through even more mentorship by none other than Dr. Molavi, Erika found her way to University of Maryland pathology residency on track for forensic pathology fellowship. In her free time, she enjoys walking in the woods, rolling D20s for D&D and spending time with her cat, Chessie (short for Chesapeake).
Hematopathology Fellow
Mohamman A. Khan, MD – he/him
Dow University of Health Sciences
Ali was born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan, but moved to the United States in high school. He grew up playing cricket and at one point was the #1 bowler in the Washington Cricket League. He attended medical school at Dow University of Health Sciences in Pakistan and was the first member of his family to attend medical school. After medical school, he worked as a histology technician and research assistant in Chicago. There found the spark and inspiration that propelled him into a career in pathology. He did his residency at East Tennessee State University, where he met another of our outstanding residents (and current chief residents) Dr. Autumn LaRocque. Ali is married to a family medicine physician, with whom he has two children. He is not an enormous Harry Potter fan, but his wife is. His favorite food is chicken biryani.
Cytopathology Fellow
Jonathan Jacobs, MD – he/him
New York Medical College
Jon was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio and after high school attended George Washington University for biomedical engineering, where he decided to pursue medicine as a career. After obtaining his undergraduate degree as an EMT, he spent several years in that field, eventually obtaining a master's degree in biomedical science from Tufts University. While at Tufts, he also worked in a neuroscience lab. In 2018, Jon graduated from New York Medical College spent a year in internal medicine before finding pathology. He is interested in cytology and data science. In Jon's spare time, he runs, bicycles about Baltimore and enjoys hiking and camping—from the Adirondacks to the Appalachians to the Rockies.
UMMC Pathology Residency
