Class Notes

What’s New? Your fellow alumni want to know!

Please send your professional and personal news and photos to: rwjmsalumni@rwjms.rutgers.edu, with the subject “Class Notes.”

In addition to updates we receive from alumni, we use public news information and stories to share in our Class Notes section.

2025

• Irene Koc, MD, who is currently pursuing residency training in ophthalmology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, coauthored a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Ophthalmology that shows pickleball eye injuries are on the rise. 

2017

• Jonathan Tsui, MD is a vitreoretinal physician and surgeon at RWJBarnabas Health's Jersey City Medical Center and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in New Jersey.  He recently coauthored a study on pickleball and eye injuries that was covered in The New York Times.
• Kameron Rezzadeh, MD, FACS, is a plastic surgeon based in Beverly Hills, California. He recently published a peer-reviewed study challenging long-held assumptions in rhinoplasty symmetry. 

2008

• Xequiel Hernandez, MD, provides comprehensive primary care and family medicine for adults and families throughout Manhattan as part of the Manhattan Restorative Health Sciences team.
• Nicole Zuber, MD, is a psychiatrist affiliated with Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, specializing in child, adolescent, and adult psychiatry.

2006

• Jennifer Tan, MD, is currently an assistant professor of dermatology at Harvard Medical School and an attending physician in the dermatology program, as well as the director of community health at Boston Children’s Hospital.

2000

• Aaron Auerbach, MD, MPH, FCAP, was recently appointed as a governor to the Board of Governors for the College of American Pathologists (CAP). He currently serves as the director of research, repository, and education, and is a senior hematopathologist at the Joint Pathology Center in Silver Spring, Maryland.

1999

• Todd S. Miller, MD, is a board-certified neuroradiologist who specializes in the diagnosis and minimally invasive treatment of conditions affecting the brain and spine. He is fellowship trained in diagnostic and interventional neuroradiology and also serves as a clinical professor and researcher in the Department of Radiology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. His research interests focus on image-guided pain intervention, cerebrovascular disease, socioeconomics, quality and safety.

1997

• Ravi D. Goel, MD, is a comprehensive ophthalmologist, cataract and refractive surgeon. He is based in his hometown of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and is an instructor at the Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia. He is also a cataract surgeon at the Wills Eye Surgical Network. In 2023 he established the Ravi D. Goel Endowed Scholarship at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and this year two students became the fourth and fifth recipients of the award.

1996

• William Franckle, MD, FACS, is a board-certified plastic surgeon in Vorhees and Sewell, New Jersey, and at the Virtua Center for Surgery, serving Voorhees, Sewell, and surrounding areas. He offers advanced plastic surgery and non-surgical cosmetic treatments.
• Jared Saul, MD, is the chief medical officer for commercial healthcare and life sciences at Amazon Web Services (AWS). There he leads a global team of health care and life sciences experts that leverages the world’s most comprehensive and widely adopted cloud platform to drive transformative solutions in the industry. Dr. Saul is also an entrepreneur who created Saul Ventures, LLC, an investment incubator and innovation vehicle.

1995

• Aalpen A. Patel, MD, has been promoted to chief clinical and innovation officer at MedQuest Associates. Dr. Patel was a practicing physician with Geisinger Health System, prior to joining MedQuest in March 2025. In his new role he will oversee all functions related to clinical practices and innovation in product development.

1994

• Catherine J. Datto, MD, is the senior director for global medical affairs at Rocket Pharmaceuticals.
• Sukumar Nagendran, MD, is the president and head of research and development at Taysha Gene Therapies, where he has worked since 2000. He has served as a member of the Board of Directors of Solid Biosciences since September 2018 and has had leadership positions at Jaguar Gene Therapy, AveXis Inc., Quest Diagnostics, Pfizer Inc., Novartis, Daiichi Sankyo, and Reata Pharmaceuticals. Before moving to the biotech industry, Dr. Nagendran practiced internal medicine, with a focus on diabetes and cardiovascular disease. He is a Mayo Alumni Laureate and founding member of the Robert Wood Johnson Legacy Society. He is also the sponsor for the Fonseca-Nagendran Scholar Award at the American Diabetes Association, as well as the Jerry Mendell Translational Science scholarship at the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy. In addition to Solid Biosciences, Dr. Nagendran also serves on the Board of Directors of SalioGenTherapeutics, Taysha Gene Therapies, Coave Therapeutics, and Medocity, Inc. He was the recipient of the medical school's 2022 Distinguished Alumni Award.

1982

• Marilyn J. Heine, MD, was elected to the American Medical Association Board of Trustees in 2022. She is an emergency medicine and hematology oncology physician in Pennsylvania and a clinical assistant professor at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia.

1980

• Lynn Helmer, MD, FACP, MBA, is the founder of Volunteers in Medicine, which works with small businesses and larger health care organizations.

1979

• Winston Joseph Scott, MD, practices ophthalmology. He has three offices: two in East Orange, New Jersey, and one in Livingston, New Jersey.

Internship/Residency

• Christopher Garcia, MD, is a family medicine physician with Florida Medical Clinic Orlando Health in Zephyrhills, Florida. When not busy at the office, he enjoys playing tennis and foosball.
• Jeremy Philip Johns, MD, hematologist and medical oncologist, has joined the Franciscan Physician Network and is seeing patients at the Franciscan Health Cancer Center Munster and Franciscan Health Infusion Center Munster in Indiana. In addition to completing fellowship training in hematology and medical oncology at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Dr. Johns also completed his internal medicine residency training at the medical school.
• Francis Kang, MD, is a partner radiologist at University Radiology Group who currently serves as the clinical chief of interventional radiology at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, as well as the faculty advisor, associate program director of the Integration Interventional Radiology Residency, and associate program director of the Independent Interventional Radiology Residency. With a focus on interventional oncology, Dr. Kang contributes to advancing treatment options for patients facing hepatocellular carcinoma and metastatic liver lesions in the Gastrointestinal/Hepatobiliary Program at Rutgers Cancer Institute.
• Christopher Michel, MD, a spine surgeon with training in minimally invasive and complex spine care, joined The Centers for Advanced Orthopaedics' Parkway Division in Hagerstown, Maryland.
• Jay Dinesh Patel, MD, is a board-certified family medicine physician with Elmwood Family Physicians in Marlton, New Jersey.