News Release Archives

People On The Move at The University of Arizona College of Medicine

October 28, 2009

Thoracic Surgeon Jonathan Daniel, MD, Joins UA Department of Surgery

Jonathan Daniel, MD, a thoracic surgeon specializing in benign and cancerous diseases of the lung and esophagus, has joined the UA College of Medicine Department of Surgery as assistant professor of surgery. He is practicing at University Medical Center, Tucson Medical Center and St. Joseph's Hospital.

Prior to his appointment, Dr. Daniel was with Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School in Boston, where he completed a dedicated thoracic surgery residency under David Sugarbaker, MD. He earned his medical degree from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine in East Lansing and completed his residency training in general surgery at the Michael Debakey Department of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He also completed a molecular research fellowship at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

His clinical interests include multidisciplinary approaches to thoracic malignancies, such as lung, esophagus, thymus, chest wall and pleural tumors. Dr. Daniel uses minimally invasive techniques for lung resections, reflux disease, achalasia and emphysema. In addition, he is a member of the lung transplantation program. Co-author of several journal articles, Dr. Daniel's research interests include nanotechnology applications for the treatment of lung cancer.

He is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research, American College of Surgeons and American College of Chest Physicians. He is certified by the American Board of Surgery.


Tun Jie, MD, MS, Joins UA Department of Surgery and UMC Abdominal Transplant Team

Tun Jie, MD, MS, has joined the UA Department of Surgery as assistant professor of surgery. He also joins the abdominal transplant team at University Medical Center. Dr. Jie specializes in abdominal organ transplant and liver, pancreas and biliary surgery, and has expertise in laparoscopic and minimally invasive surgery. He has research interests in diabetes, pancreatic disease, islet transplant, transplant immunology and health informatics.

He received his medical degree from the State University of New York (SUNY) Health Science Center at Brooklyn (SUNY Downstate Medical Center) College of Medicine and his master's degree in health informatics from the University of Minnesota. His post-graduate training includes an internship and residency in general surgery at the University of Minnesota, where he also completed a research fellowship at the Diabetes Institute for Immunology and Transplantation; was a National Library of Medicine fellow in health informatics, Department of Health Informatics; and was a surgical infectious disease fellow.

He is the recipient of a number of awards, including the Distinguished Teaching Award and the David Gaviser Surgical Research Award from the University of Minnesota School of Medicine and the Young Investigator Award from the International Congress of the Transplantation Society. He has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals and abstracts at national and international meetings.


Alfred M. Cohen, MD, Named Surgical Director at Arizona Cancer Center

Alfred M. Cohen, MD, clinical professor of surgery, UA College of Medicine Department of Surgery, has been named surgical director at the Arizona Cancer Center and will join the center's leadership team. He will guide the team to realign and restructure the management of cancer treatments, including lung, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, liver, colorectal, thyroid, bladder, kidney and skin. He also will work with faculty and staff to facilitate cancer care and surgical referrals from University Medical Center and private practices.

Dr. Cohen received his medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore; he received his general surgery residency and also served as co-director of surgical oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He received surgical oncology and laboratory research training at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda.


UA College of Medicine Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Welcomes New Faculty

Heather A. Reed, MD, and Celia P. Valenzuela MD, have joined the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson. Both also have joined University Physicians Healthcare, the medical practice of the physicians of the UA College of Medicine.

Dr. Reed has been appointed assistant professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology. She has a special interest in teaching and working with medical students and residents, and she is developing the use of simulation technologies to improve the quality of health-care education. She earned her medical degree from Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C., and completed her residency at the UA.

Dr. Valenzuela has been appointed assistant professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology. Her interests include minimally invasive surgical procedures. She is dedicated to providing compassionate and comprehensive care to women of all ages from adolescence through menopause and to eliminating health-care disparities and the under-representation of women and minorities in medicine. She has a background in neuroscience, and her research interests involve understanding the role that hormones play in brain function. Dr. Valenzuela earned her medical degree from the UA College of Medicine, graduating as a member of Alpha Omega Alpha (the only national medical honor society), and also completed her residency training there. Prior to medical school, she obtained a master's degree in neuroscience from the University of California, Irvine. She is fluent in Spanish.

Irene Kitzman, MD, Heads New Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic

Irene Kitzman, MD, assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at the UA College of Medicine, is heading University Physicians Healthcare's new Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic on the University Physicians Hospital and Clinics campus. The clinic offers comprehensive mental health services to adults ages 18 and older.

The clinic provides much-needed access to additional mental health services in Southern Arizona, offering high-quality, state-of-the-art consultation, evaluation and treatment, and also plays an important role in the hospital's psychiatric residency program. Dr. Kitzman will provide clinical leadership and supervision of third-year residents.

Dr. Kitzman has a master's degree in learning disabilities from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., and received her medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship and residency training in psychiatry at Yale University in New Haven, Conn. She has been a board certified psychiatrist since 1985, and was in private practice in Fairfield County, Conn., for 25 years before joining the UA Department of Psychiatry.


Salvatore Albani, MD, PhD, Publishes Vision of Translational Medicine in Nature Medicine

Salvatore Albani, MD, PhD, director of the Arizona Arthritis Center and a translational medicine scientist at the UA College of Medicine, outlined the challenges and opportunities presented by translational medicine in the September 2009 issue of Nature Medicine, one of the word's leading biomedical research journals.

In "The Advancement of Translational Medicine - From Regional Challenges to Global Solutions," which he co-authored with Berent Prakken of the Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands, Dr. Albani offers suggestions for maximizing translational research in academia, industry and government worldwide.