Mid-Atlantic
Regional
Elections

Jane Abernathy, MD, MS

Bio-sketch

I am an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where I serve as the Program Director for the Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. I also co-chair the Johns Hopkins Bayview Hospital Ethics Committee and teach bioethics across all Johns Hopkins residency programs through the Berman Institute of Bioethics.

I completed medical school at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, where I also earned a Master’s in Bioethics, and subsequently trained in Primary Care Internal Medicine.

My scholarly and professional interests center on primary care workforce development, bioethics, and care for the underserved. I am particularly focused on preparing the next generation of physicians to navigate the moral and structural challenges of modern healthcare with humility, curiosity, and compassion, and on building educational systems that sustain meaning and humanism in clinical practice. My current work also explores ethical and structural barriers to care for undocumented patients and seeks to design training models that equip clinicians to advocate effectively for access, dignity, and justice in the care of marginalized populations.

Personal Statement

SGIM has long represented the intersection of my passions—primary care, ethics, and education. As Program Director for the Johns Hopkins Bayview Primary Care Residency and co-chair of our hospital ethics committee, I see every day how mentorship and community can sustain meaning in medicine. My work focuses on developing a diverse, committed primary care workforce and fostering spaces where clinicians can reflect, learn, and lead with compassion. As SGIM Regional President, I would strive to strengthen connections across institutions, amplifying innovation and collaboration that bridge training and practice. SGIM has been a constant source of inspiration, and I hope to give back by helping strengthen our collective voice for equity, humanism, and the future of general internal medicine.

Jason Ojeda, MD

Bio-sketch

I am a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University. I attended the University of Pennsylvania for medical school and was drawn to internal medicine but unsure about pursuing general internal medicine. I was fortunate to do my residency training in a primary care program at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, where I really discovered my love for general internal medicine and grew passionate about educating and mentoring the next generation of general internists. This led me to establish the primary care residency program at Thomas Jefferson University in 2014 and I have remained as the program director since that time. To promote the education of general internists on a national level, I became the co-chair of the Primary Care Program Directors’ Forum and Interest groups through the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine (AAIM) and the Society for General Internal Medicine (SGIM). I am also on the Item-writing task force for the American Board of Internal medicine.

Personal Statement

I attended my first Society of General Internal Medicine meeting in 2011 and that was instrumental in my professional development as a general internist. Since that time, I have relied on SGIM to be my professional home where I can meet collaborators and reconnect with colleagues and friends. Through the years, I have served as a workshop and abstract reviewer and also as a panel member and grant reviewer for the “Proud to be SGIM” campaign through SGIM. I have been able to introduce all of my primary care residents to SGIM by bringing them to the national meeting each year and have seen how critical it is to their development as future academic internists. I would love to become more involved on a local level and continue to help foster excitement around general internal medicine.

Jillian Kyle, MD

Bio-sketch

Jillian Kyle is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. She completed medical school at The George Washington University in 2015 and internal medicine residency (women’s health track) at UPMC in 2018. She completed an Academic Clinician Educator Scholars (ACES) fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh in 2020 before joining the faculty. She is actively involved in the education and advising of residents as faculty in the internal medicine residency and as a continuity clinic site director. At the medical school, she is director of the Adult Outpatient Medicine Clerkship and is a clinical skills preceptor for pre-clerkship students. Clinically, her outpatient practice includes primary care and fibromyalgia referral patients, and she serves as a ward attending on the general medicine inpatient teaching service. Her scholarly interests include advancing fibromyalgia care and education, and resident and student outpatient training. At SGIM she has served as the Mid-Atlantic Regional Membership Chair and as a member of the Membership committee.

Personal Statement

In my fourth year of medical school, I fell in love with GIM. While many possible career paths exist for a medicine-bound student, I looked to those whose careers I most wanted to emulate to help guide my path. The internal medicine program director at my medical school took me under her wing and helped me write my first SGIM abstract. The excitement for a generalist life was born.

When I entered residency, I met many dedicated physicians who balanced a busy primary care panel while being tremendously skilled educators. They went yearly to the SGIM meeting and came back even more passionate than before. I pursued medical education fellowship and joined these mentors and colleagues at SGIM myself. Since then, I have found the love of learning new things, fostering connections, and re-establishing bonds with former colleagues at meetings. I feel so lucky to be a part of a strong group of generalists both locally, regionally, and nationally.

Two years ago, I joined regional leadership as the mid-Atlantic regional membership co-chair and then chair. I have learned so much about participating in an organization at a larger level and have loved connecting with colleagues both regionally and nationally. I am applying for the mid-Atlantic regional secretary-treasurer position to continue my growth and participation in the regional leadership team.

Anna Rubin, MD, MHPE

Bio-sketch

Dr. Anna Rubin is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine and Health Sciences and a primary care physician at the GW Medical Faculty Associates (MFA). She serves as the Associate Chief Quality and Population Health Officer for the GW MFA, leading organization-wide quality initiatives, supervising quality reporting, and managing participation in a national ACO. She also serves as an Assistant Program Director for population health for the Internal Medicine Residency Program. She co-developed the panel management and intervisit care curricula to educate residents in providing high-quality ambulatory care in the modern healthcare system. She has led multiple QI projects with residents, focusing on how to leverage EHR tools for QI and turn projects into scholarship. Dr. Rubin is co-PI of a DC Health grant supporting Lean Transformation in Primary Care, which uses Lean process improvement methodology to improve care quality, patient access and equity, and clinical team satisfaction. She is an Epic Physician Builder and educates faculty and trainees on best practices for efficiency and improving quality outcomes.

Dr. Rubin graduated from Tufts University School of Medicine and completed Internal Medicine Residency and Chief Medical Residency at Massachusetts General Hospital. She joined the faculty of GW in 2019. She is board certified in Internal Medicine.

Personal Statement

I am an academic general internist and clinician educator passionate about primary care. I’m interested in serving as Membership Chair to deepen my involvement in SGIM and help grow and support our Mid-Atlantic community. I find joy in relationships- seeing patients, mentoring trainees toward GIM careers, and learning from colleagues- as well as in problem-solving. As a quality leader at GW, I bring strengths in improving workflows, creating solutions, and measuring impact, while centering on our humanity and the need to maintain joy and purpose in our work. I would be thrilled to help strengthen our membership, promote engagement and participation in our region, and create a welcoming and lively community for current and future generalist colleagues.

Nichole Smith, MD

Bio-sketch

I am an Assistant Professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania with a concurrent clinical appointment in the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. In this role, and in my previous roles as Resident and Ambulatory Chief Resident, I have participated in research focused broadly on health equity, with interests in chronic disease outcomes for survivors of community and police violence, transitions of care for vulnerable patient groups, and community engagement as a domain of medical education. As Core Faculty in the internal medicine residency program, I continue to educate medical students and residents on these topics and am developing an Urban Health Equity Track for highly motivated residents. I have developed research skill sets both in quantitative analysis and qualitative methods using trauma-informed approaches to developing focus group questions surrounding often sensitive topics in the realm of social determinants. My unpublished current work focuses on optimizing clinical workflow for transitions from the inpatient or community setting to the primary care clinic for individuals with limited access to healthcare resources, including newly insured patients, recently incarcerated patients, and patients with substance use disorders. I have also participated in prior medical education research projects regarding the development of sustainable, effective health equity curricula for medical students and resident physicians.

Personal Statement

As an Assistant Professor of General Internal Medicine and Core Residency Faculty for Urban Health Equity at the University of Pennsylvania, and in my clinical work with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, I have demonstrated passion for and commitment to the advancement of health outcomes for marginalized populations. Similarly, I find immense meaning in mentoring a diverse community of trainees and peers in pursuit of health equity. I have served on the SGIM National Health Equity Commission since 2023 and look forward to deepening cross-institutional collaborative relationships at the regional level. Now more than ever, our patients and communities rely on the advocacy of thoughtful physicians dedicated to justice and compassion. It would be my honor to stand with a powerful team of regional SGIM leaders to serve that mission.