The Team
Roger Zoorob, MD, MPH, FAAFP, is the Frank S. Royal Sr. Professor and Chair of the Department of Family & Community Medicine at Meharry Medical College, Director of Family Medicine Program at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and the Chief of Family andCommunity Medicine at the Metro Nashville General Hospital. Dr. Zoorob completed his Doctor of Medicine and Master of Public Health degrees at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, Faculty Development Fellowship at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, and Family Medicine residency training at Anderson Memorial Hospital in South Carolina. Dr. Zoorob leads several funded grants to include Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Disparity and Behavioral Change/Training Family Physicians in an Urban Underserved Area, Administrative Units in Primary Care, Export -Health Disparities Research Core. Other research and academic interests and expertise include using behavior modification and health services research in the areas of chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidemia, adolescent and adult immunization, and case-based learning strategies in graduate medical education.
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Carolyn Szetela, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Education and Associate Director of the Program in Clinical and Research Ethics at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. Dr. Szetela completed her degree in philosophy, with a medical ethics specialization, at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville (1998). She designs and presents ethics curricula and conferences for medical students, practicing physicians, and researchers. Her major areas of interest include behavioral and social medicine, children in medical research, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, and the prevention of harms due to alcohol and drug misuse. She is a Co-Investigator with the FASD Southeast Regional Training Center. She also serves as Vice-Chair of the Nashville General Hospital ethics committee, and serves on Meharry’s Institutional Review Board, and the Ethics and Regulatory Subcommittee of the Research Centers in Minority Institutions, Translational Research Network. As an ethics teacher for medical students and others, Dr. Szetela encourages knowledge competencies along with role play and reflection upon attitudes to help build students’ and trainees’ confidence in knowing and honoring ethical practices.
Mohamad Sidani, MD, MS, is appointed Associate Professor and Clinical Director at theMeharry Medical College Department of Family Medicine since January 2007. Prior to that, he served on the faculty of Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center (LSUHSC) in New Orleans, Louisiana for the past 10 years, 8 as Associate Residency Program Director. He is board certified in Family Medicine and Geriatric Medicine. Dr. Sidani received hisbachelor’s degree in biology-chemistry major and medical degree from American University of Beirut; and he received his master’s degree in clinical research at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Michigan. He completed Family Medicine residency at American University of Beirut and Anderson Memorial Hospital at Anderson, South Carolina; and he completed a fellowship in Geriatric Medicine at the University of Michigan. He has received recognition and many awards; to name a few, the (LSU) Clinical Faculty Recognition Awardee in 2002, 2004, 2005, and 2006; the United Health performance Physician designation in 2004; Resident Teacher Award (The Society of Teachers of Family Medicine), June 1991. He has published articles in the American Family Physicians, and has written chapters for major medical books. He is an experienced principal investigator for various grants, has chaired the curriculum committee at LSU and been member of various hospital committees. He has given lectures on primary care topics at regional and national conferences as an invited speaker. Dr. Sidani is an individual who has a track record of doing outstanding teaching, research and clinical work at LSUHSC and at Meharry Medical College.
Muktar Aliyu, MD, MPH, DrPH serves as a consultant to the center and is involved in the development of an FASD education curriculum and its dissemination to residents, medical students and other health professionals, and the local and international dissemination of significant findings. He will also contribute to publications and scholarly activity of the center. Dr. Aliyu is a Preventive Medicine board-certified physician and doctoral-trained epidemiologist with substantial teaching and research experience both in the United States and his native Nigeria. He has published more than 60 peer- reviewed articles in the field of maternal and child health, including adverse fetal outcomes associated with risky lifestyle choices such as smoking and alcohol use in pregnancy. Dr. Aliyu is the recipient of numerous honors, including the prestigious William J .Summerskill award for outstanding achievement in research from the Mayo Foundation and the Meharry Medical College Deans’ Award for Excellence in Teaching. He is a member of the American College of Preventive Medicine, the American Medical Association, and the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, among others.
Kristy M. Durkin, MSW, LCSW is a social worker for The Department of Family and Community Medicine and The FASD Southeast Regional Training Center, at the Meharry Medical College. Ms. Durkin has over 17 years of experience working in the social services field. She received her bachelor’s degree in social work from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and her master’s at the University of Alabama. Ms. Durkin has two years of PhD education from the University of Alabama. Her dissertation studies are in the area of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. Ms. Durkin has extensive experience as a clinician, educator, program director and researcher in the area of at-risk youth and older adults. By having these experiences she has acquired a special sensitivity and understanding of these populations and serves as an asset in the multidisciplinary team approach with medical care professions. Ms. Durkin has given numerous workshops and presentations at regional and national conferences on secondary traumatic stress, prenatal drinking, underage drinking and risky behavior, and international and rural health care needs of older adults.
Carmela Joy Hayes, BA, is the Program Coordinator for the FASDSoutheast Regional Training Center. She has gained valuable experience by having coordinated a period of the previous CDC Fetal Alcohol Syndrome grant. She enjoys her role providing administrative and technical support to the Principal Investigator and his team in coordinating the training, compiling information for the grant and the reports, and acting as the liaison for affiliate faculty and collaborators. Her professional experience is varied and includes the airline, hotel /arena Human Resources (HR), and medical residency and grants in academic institutions. Immediately prior to Meharry Family & Community Medicine and FASDSoutheast, she had worked at Vanderbilt University Human Resources and Vanderbilt Chemistry department in Nashville, TN as Employee Relations Representative and Executive Assistant respectively, and at the United Center-Bismarck Enterprises in Chicago, IL, as Assistant Director of Human Resources. She continues to learn grants application and administration through her deep involvement and participation in the Family and Community Medicine department and FASDSoutheast endeavors .
Yasmin Suzanne Nable Senturias, MD, is a Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrician and Assistant Professor at the Department Of Pediatrics and Clinic Director of the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Clinic at the Weisskopf Child Evaluation Center at the University Of Louisville. She also serves as Co - Investigator for the University of Louisville site for FASD Southeast. Dr. Senturias completed her medical degree and pediatric residency as well as Chief Residency at the University of the Philippines. She then completed postdoctoral fellowships in Developmental -Behavioral Pediatrics and Community Pediatrics at Yale University and Pediatric Residency at the Children's Hospital Medical Center of Akron. For the past few years, she has been very active in training physicians, nurses, social workers, drug-alcohol abuse counselors as well as medical and allied health students on fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. She is involved with the Kentucky Statewide Taskforce on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders that aims to improve capacities for diagnosis, prevention and intervention in FASD in the state of Kentucky.
Samuel MacMaster, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the University of Tennessee’s College of Social Work, where he has focused on community-based research related to substance abuse and HIV. A former substance abuse counselor, he teaches graduate level clinical courses in program evaluation and substance abuse treatment. Dr. MacMaster has three books and over fifty peer-reviewed publications in the substantive area. He is active in the evaluation and research of community-based projects throughout the country, and is particularly interested in barriers to service access and the importance of cultural specific services.