The event was moderated by KDKA-TV Health and Medical Editor Maria Simbra, M.D. and featured St. Clair physicians Stephen M. Colodny, M.D., Chief of Infectious Disease, John T. Sullivan, M.D., MBA, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, and Family Medicine physician Ruth Christoforetti, M.D., as well as Mayo Clinic physicians Stacey Rizza, M.D., FIDSA, Infectious Diseases Consultant, Executive Medical Director for International Practice, and Andrew D. Badley, M.D., Professor of Medicine and Molecular Medicine, Chair – Molecular Medicine.
The virtual town hall is in recognition of St. Clair’s fourth anniversary as a member of the exclusive Mayo Clinic Care Network.
Dr. Colodny earned his medical degree at New York Medical College in Valhalla, N.Y., completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Bayside Medical Center in Springfield, Mass. and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in infectious disease at Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Conn. He is board certified in internal medicine and infectious diseases. Dr. Colodny is Chief of the Infectious Diseases Division at St. Clair Hospital and practices with Pittsburgh Infectious Diseases, Ltd.
Dr. Sullivan specializes in anesthesia. He earned his medical degree at the University of Michigan Medical School and completed a residency in anesthesiology at Massachusetts General Hospital, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School. Dr. Sullivan also earned a master’s in business administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill. Prior to joining St. Clair, he served as Associate Chief Medical Officer for Academic Affairs at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and as Professor of Anesthesiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Ill. Dr. Sullivan served as a Commander in the Naval Reserve, following 31 years of active duty.
Dr. Christoforetti earned a medical degree at Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, D.C. She completed a residency in Family Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, New York City, serving as Chief Resident in her last year. After her residency, Dr. Christoforetti continued to serve Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine for almost five years as an Assistant Attending and Assistant Professor. Dr. Christoforetti also served as an Attending Physician for the Western Connecticut Medical Group and Assistant Professor for Ross University School of Medicine in Wilton, Conn.
Dr. Rizza specializes in infectious disease at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, where she is Executive Medical Director for International Academic Affairs. Dr. Rizza is a Professor of Medicine and serves as the Associate Dean of Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences, the Associate Director for Diversity and Inclusion, Mayo Clinic Transplant Center. She is President of Mayo Clinic Staff. Dr. Rizza has held roles within the Infectious Disease Society of America, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She earned her medical degree at the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine. Dr. Rizza completed an internal medicine residency and infectious disease fellowship at Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education, followed by a post-doctoral fellowship in HIV and HCV immunology at the University of California, San Francisco.
Dr. Badley specializes in infectious disease at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, where he is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and treats patients afflicted with a variety of infectious diseases. He is Chair of Mayo Clinic task force on SARS-CoV2/COVID-19 research, overseeing all research activities, including clinical trials related to the virus and the disease. Dr. Badley is founder and Director of the Office of Translation to Practice, Associate Chair of Research in the Department of Medicine, and Chair of the Department of Molecular Medicine at Mayo Clinic. Dr. Badley earned his medical degree at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He completed an internal medicine residency and clinician investigator training in infectious diseases at Mayo Clinic.
Dr. Simbra is an award-winning health and medical editor at KDKA-TV, Pittsburgh, where she has been a member of the news team since 2002. Dr. Simbra has been a clinical assistant professor of neurology at UPMC and, prior to that, was in private practice as a neurologist. She earned her medical degree at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She also holds a master’s degree in public health, with a focus on how the mass media affect public health, as well as a master’s degree in journalism and mass communication. Dr. Simbra has taught medical journalism to journalism students and medical students at Pittsburgh area universities. Prior to medical school, Dr. Simbra graduated summa cum laude with degrees in biology and chemistry from West Virginia University. The Morgantown, W.Va., native resides in Upper St. Clair with her husband, an infectious disease physician, and their daughter.