Steve Burgess, M.D., MBA
Dr. Steve Burgess started CME Vacations after seeing a need for high quality, up-to-date CME for hospitalists. He works as a hospitalist in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and keeps all the CME content at CME Vacations current, reading dozens of studies every week. He received his medical degree from Texas Tech, is adjunct faculty with Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, and a member of Alpha Omega Alpha. He practiced in Texas, but moved north since the skiing is much better in Colorado and Wyoming than in Texas.
Robert L. Fogerty, M.D., MPH
After receiving his Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Boston College, Robert L. Fogerty received his MD and MPH degrees from Northwestern University and completed training in Internal Medicine at Yale New Haven Hospital. In 2011, he joined the Yale faculty as a founding member of the Academic Hospitalist Program. His academic interests include safety and quality of care in the inpatient setting and cost-effective care. Publications include the Journal of Hospital Medicine, JAMA Internal Medicine, and The New England Journal of Medicine. He is also the co-founder & Past-President of the Society of Hospital Medicine Connecticut Chapter, faculty in the High Value Practice Academic Alliance (HVPAA) training programs, and a founding member of the Hospital Capacity Management Consortium. In his current role as Senior Medical Director, Clinical Leadership, Dr. Fogerty works to support medical directors across multiple clinical specialties at Yale New Haven Hospital.
Rodney Young, M.D., FAAFP
Rodney Young, M.D. is a family physician, Professor, and Chairman of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) School of Medicine in Amarillo. He is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha national medical honor society, a Distinguished Alumnus of the Texas Tech School of Medicine, and has received numerous faculty honors including the President’s Outstanding Clinician Award, Dean’s Distinguished Service Award, and Dean’s Clinical Teaching Award. He maintains an active teaching and clinical practice, including inpatient attending rounds at BSA Hospital, a busy clinic practice at Texas Tech, and was named the 2018 Texas Family Physician of the Year by the Texas Academy of Family Physicians.
Zina D. Hajduczok, M.D.
Dr Zina D. Hajduczok graduated college Phi Beta Kappa in Biology, then attended Medical School at the State University of New York at Buffalo. She is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and in Cardiology, after completing Residency and Cardiology Fellowship training at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. She spent nine years in academia at SUNY Buffalo, where her research interest and publications were involved in Cardiac CT and Echocardiography. She has been Director of three western NY hospital Echo labs. In 1999, she went on to private practice in Lewiston, NY, where she was voted Top Doctor in 2016 and 2017 and was a Delegate to the New York State Medical Society House of Delegates. In 2017, she moved to Washington State, and has worked as a Hospitalist at the Critical Access Hospital on Whidbey Island, and leads their UM department, Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehab department, and is a mentor for clinical trainees from the University of Washington in Seattle.
Deborah Brackett, M.D.
Dr. Deborah Brackett graduated at the top of her class from the University of Health Sciences in Antigua after practicing as chiropractor for many years and running a rehabilitation center. After graduating from medical school, she joined the University of Wyoming Family Medicine Residency because of it’s focus on rural medicine. She is board certified in Family Medicine; has practiced in critical access hospitals and frontier clinics providing care in clinics, nursing homes, emergency department and providing inpatient services in Wyoming and Hawaii. She has been Chief of Staff, Medical Director, and Trauma Director at multiple facilities. Dr. Brackett enjoys teaching and has trained multiple students and advanced practice practitioners in a broad range of rural medicine topics. She is currently developing an Essentials of Inpatient Medicine course and has a special interest in equipping providers with information that is scientifically based, clinically relevant and easily usable.
Ryan Harden, M.D., M.S.
Ryan Harden, M.D., currently serves as an advisor and Biochemistry Thread Director at the University of Minnesota Medical School, Duluth Campus. Additionally, Dr. Harden has a clinical practice at Gateway Clinic in Sandstone, and Moose Lake as well as a hospital practice at Essentia Health Moose Lake Minnesota. Dr. Harden teaches United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) preparation courses in various topics. He has given lectures all over the world, including, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Canada, and Poland. Additionally, he has been a panelist and host for the television program "Doctors On Call." Dr. Harden has been involved in community programs to prevent and treat prescription drug abuse as well as working closely with pharmacists to improve patient compliance with prescription medicines. His recreational interests include spending time with his family, fly fishing, cross-country skiing, ice hockey, motorcycling, scuba diving, waterskiing and studying World War II history.
Jason Ackerman, M.D.
Jason Ackerman, MD received his Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Spanish from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon and then spent several years as an economic development consultant in Portland, Oregon. He attended University of Washington for medical school and completed training in the Yale Primary Care Internal Medicine residency. He returned to his hometown in Wyoming and practiced in a hospitalist/outpatient internal medicine hybrid model before getting board certified in Addiction Medicine in 2019. He currently runs an Addiction Medicine clinic in Sheridan, Wyoming and is using telehealth to improve access to addiction services in the region.
Matthew Burke, M.D.
After graduating Dartmouth College, Dr. Burke completed his medical degree at Albany Medical College (where he was once treated for an acute pediatric leukemia). He trained at the Family Medicine Residency at Brown University before moving to Washington, DC to enroll in Georgetown University's fellowship in Primary Care Health Policy. Since completing this fellowship he has worked in various sectors including at the federal level (Department of Health and Human Services), in academic Family Medicine (in DC, Baltimore and Seattle) as well as in urgent care. He previously served as a member of the board of the American Academy of Family Physicians (2016-17). Dr. Burke has strong interests in the intersection of climate change and human health and has worked in various academic and professional settings to build awareness and advocacy capacity within the primary care community.
Mikelle Maddox, M.D.
Dr. Mikelle Maddox is the Inpatient Medicine Residency Core Faculty Member at the South Baldwin Regional Medical Center Family Medicine as well as a hospitalist with South Baldwin Hospitalist Group. She was a Colonel when she retired from the United States Air Force where she served in multiple stateside and overseas assignments, including Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. She received her medical degree in 1997 from the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Maryland. She completed her internship at the 81st Medical Group at Keesler Air Force Base and her residency at Saint Louis University. Dr. Maddox is board-certified by the American Board of Family Medicine.
Pahresah Roomiany, M.D., M.S., FACP
Dr. Pahresah Roomiany is a Hospitalist at Duke Health. She received her MS in Microbiology at Idaho State University studying immunodiagnostic assays for detection of Blastomycosis before attending medical school at the University of Utah. After this, she completed a residency in Internal Medicine at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Since graduation, she has worked at Duke Health focusing on medical and physician assistant student education as well as Internal Medicine and Family Medicine resident education in her role as associate program director for hospital medicine education. Dr. Roomiany also writes educational content and has worked with the ABIM in standard setting for the internal medicine certification exam. She is CHEST/SHM certified in point-of-care ultrasound and teaches POCUS in the Duke School of Medicine.
Evelyn Sbar, M.D.
Evelyn Sbar serves as physician for the United States Federal Government. She is trained as a family practice physician with additional qualifications in headache medicine. While she is a Texas native, she has worked for the Department of the Army in Germany, the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity in Wisconsin, until returning to her roots as Vice-Chair of TTUHSC Family Medicine Residency Department in Amarillo from 2014-2022. Grandchildren have brought her back to the Midwest with a current duty station in Illinois. She is member of the National Alpha Omega Alpha honor society, a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Practice, and author/co-author of numerous publications. Her current practice focuses on the medical care of disadvantaged populations and public health.
Alan Sbar, M.D.
Alan Sbar trained as a general surgeon at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. Originally from the East Coast, he obtained his Bachelor's degree in Biochemistry from Rutgers University in New Jersey and completed his medical degree
at George Washington University in Washington, DC. After many exciting active duty adventures as Commander of a Forward Surgical Team in Europe, he returned to the states where he focused on rural surgical care and surgical infectious disease management.
Rural surgical extension services through his teaching position as TTUHSC in Texas led him to a primary care position with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. He now considers himself a reformed surgeon providing primary care and minor surgical expertise
to the Federal Government.
Kenna Payne, Pharm.D., BCPS
Dr. Kenna Payne is an Associate Professor at TTUHSC School of Pharmacy at our Amarillo Campus with a clinical practice focusing on inpatient family medicine. She is an alumnus of TTUHSC SOP, graduating in 2005. As Associate Dean for Professional Development, she is responsible for the development of student professionalism and development and enhancement of alumni relations on all campuses of the School of Pharmacy. She also works with the Associate Dean for Career and Development to administer the activities of the School Office of Professional Affairs and carry out programs of the office on all SOP campuses.
Marleah Dean Kruzel, PhD
Marleah Dean Kruzel (PhD, Texas A&M University) is an Associate Professor at the University of South Florida, a Collaborator Member in the Health Outcomes & Behavior Program at the Moffitt Cancer Center, and a member of the Tampa General Cancer Institute. As a communication scientist with expertise in healthcare communication, her research and teaching focuses on utilizing communication to improve health experiences and outcomes for patients, family members, and clinicians. Dr. Dean Kruzel is an award-winning scholar, and her research has been published in top-tier, peer-reviewed journals such as Genetics in Medicine, Academic Medicine, Social Science & Medicine, Patient Education & Counseling, Health Communication, and the Journal of Genetic Counseling. Dr. Dean Kruzel’s research is and has been funded by the National Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.
Jennifer Clark, FNP-C
Jennifer is a board-certified nurse practitioner with eleven years of combined primary care experience as a registered nurse and nurse practitioner. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Angelo State University and her Master of Science in Nursing from Texas Tech University. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in human development and Family Studies from Texas Tech University. She currently practices in a primary care clinic in Decatur, TX.
Özlem Carlson, MBA
Özlem Carlson manages most of the business aspects at CME Vacations as the COO. She completed her BS in Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin and returned to earn an MBA from the McCombs School of Business. While studying Chemical Engineering she considered attending medical school but decided on a different path and as such is thrilled to now be involved in medical conferences. Özlem has over 25 years’ experience in major systems development and implementation at Fortune 500 companies. She has also been involved in several small, entrepreneurial companies as well as an avid real estate investor.
Nellie Guthner
Nellie Guthner has had experience in a wide variety of businesses throughout the years. As a small business owner, wife and mother of two fantastic teens she's well accustomed to unique circumstances and navigating changing schedules. As CME Vacations' office administrator, Nellie handles the day to day administrative tasks and is always happy to answer your calls, emails, and inquiries.
